Page 1 of Buying expensive things on E-bay

I`m on the verge of spashing out £1200 for a Canon Xl1s on Ebay. The price is a steal, I`m hoping the transaction won`t be. The goods will be shipped from Italy, and the camera is 220v Pal.
Has anyone spent a large sum of cash on E-bay? The guy selling it has over 200 reviews, nearly all of them excellent, it seems to be a pretty secure deal.
Or am I mad for even considering wiring £1200 to a person I don`t know in Italy?
Many thanks for any other buyers/sellers suggestions
Lee

Have you taken leave of your senses?

If it was on sale in the UK then maybe but ITALY...... My mother dear, god bless her always says "A fool and his money are easily parted" not suggesting your a fool but think about what your doing, dont drop a bollock, £1200 lighter and no camera would just be to much!

If you`re set on this, then for gawd`s sake use escrow - a third party holds the cash until you get the camera. no camera - no cash.

Personally, I wouldn`t touch it with a 10ft barge pole....

SN

Run, Lee, Run!!

There`s a cautionary tale of an ebay nightmare - "FrankenBook - The True Story" -
at -

http://www.macads.co.uk

eBay`s great for stuff like, eh, DVD`s, CD`s and games, but not for stuff like this. Although it is a mighty fine camera and a good price.

Good Luck!

On a business trip to Italy 10 or more years ago, I remember being approached outside a motorway services by a guy selling very cheap Canon and Sony video camera`s.
Although the price was a steal I wasn`t interested but a colleague went with him, had a look and was so keen he asked me to lend him all my lire to buy it, of a suspicious mind, I refused.
On the flight back to Heathrow we read about several people who had when they opened the shrinkwrapped packaging found they had bought wooden blocks carved to fit the foam lining in the box.

Needless to say, well stung, they got nothing back.
My colleague went a bit pale when I showed him the article.;-))
Be very cautious.

P.

Thanks for the information guys, I`ve decided NOT to buy it. It may be more expensive in Britain but at least you know that you`re buying a camera and not a few lumps of wood.