Nice try Adorama

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

Veteran
So, I come across Adorama selling an item on Ebay and it's a Cooke 20-100mm T3.1 Varotal Zoom lens. But the listing says "(Arriflex Mount)- Please Read."


Before I scroll down to read the description, the following thoughts cross my mind within seconds.
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"Oh look, it's a vintage Cooke zoom, I love these. This isn't as good as the 18-100, my favorite vintage cooke zoom but look at that price... listed as 'Buy-It-Now' for $4,200. Huh. These lenses usually fetch around $6,000 in good condition. Maybe it's because the lens isn't PL mount and a high quality adapter costs about $400-$500. Since I already own one of those, this might be a good buy."
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I scroll down...
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"Oh, the item rating on Adorama's scale is a 'G' for Good. Let's see what the description of grade 'G' is."
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'G Good- Appears to have been used very heavily with multiple dings, scrapes, scratches and heavy brassing. Glass may have fungus, excessive dust and/or scratches that can affect picture quality.'
Click to expand...
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"Jesus. Well that doesn't sound like 'good' condition to me, but that description is for the classification grade, not this particular item. Let's see what the item description says..."
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Please note: Lens is in POOR CONDITION. Focus group is cocked and out of its track. Zoom groups collide with focus groups. MANY SCRATCHES on front element, rear element and inside. Zoom, focus and iris lube is dry.
Click to expand...

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"Holy #$%^#% #$%^! .....For $4,200? I can buy this exact lens, perfectly working, for $6,000."



So I'll stop my inner monologue and simply say that Adorama has some major cojones to try and sell this lens for $4,200.

Even as the lowest-low point of being a 'for parts' lens, this doesn't seem like a good buy considering there are many scratches on not only the front and rear elements but on the inside... haha... the inside. What?! Probably from all those zoom groups colliding with the focus groups and what not. Who knows.

The end of the story is that I made a best offer of $50 on this lens. If accepted, (I highly doubt it) maybe I will turn this into a lamp or something useful. Maybe I'll wait until the next time I'm on a production that rents the same 5:1 Cooke zoom and do a little switcheroo and drop this one on set in front of the producer just to see his/her face go white. For $50 the possibilities are numerous. For $4,200, the possibilities are simply regret and a lesson learned.

If anyone is interested a 20-100 T/3.1 Cooke lens, here is the same one for $5,900 at Visual Products. This lens comes with 6 months parts and labor warranty on what is a completely working lens in actual good (not adorama good) condition. Although if shopping for a vintage Cooke zoom, you really should go with the 18-100 T/3. It's the best of the bunch.


As a big cinema lens guy, I just needed to share this experience with someone. Thanks for reading.
 
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I should add, that I've bought items from Adorama in the past. Most recently, a 2x PL extender/doubler listed as 'Excellent' condition and it truly was. No complaints.

With the above story, I'm not suggesting Adorama does deceptive listings. In fact, they were rather straight forward with the issues in the description. My commentary above is simply a matter of their ridiculously wishful pricing on this zoom.
 
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Well, I don't know what to tell you, Ryan - but that's my experience of eBay, more than Adorama. I'm not saying you can't ever get good deals on eBay, because I keep hearing people claim all sorts of amazing deals on eBay - BUT... maybe I'm doing it wrong, but my experience of eBay is like what you describe Adorama, except full time, all the time - to an absolutely ridiculous degree. Here's what I mean - doesn't matter what I search for, I can only find items (often used!), for prices HIGHER than brand new from B&H or Amazon. It's insane. I mean, why would anyone ever buy stuff from a dodgy eBay seller for MORE than you can get brand new from a totally reliable place like B&H?? What happens even more often, is that there'll be an item in the used section of B&H or a deal or a discount or something, and then out of curiosity I'll check eBay for the same item, and be shocked to see that on eBay it's even higher price than new on B&H. Plus a lot of retailers - like Adorama, simply sell stuff at retail price on eBay and it's a worse deal than on their own site. I can only surmise that eBay is basically a place where you troll for suckers hoping someone will buy your junk without ever checking prices elsewhere because people "assume" that eBay is cheap... which it in my experience almost never is. Moral of the story to me, is that Adorama would not try to pull a stunt like that in their own used section (on Adorama's site), but they feel quite OK, looking for a sucker on eBay. Sellers keep doing it, so it must be working - I can't explain it, because I would never buy like that on principle... I need a substantial discount to buy on eBay - if I can find the same item for the same price on B&H, I would buy from B&H every time; same thing if the items is only like 1% cheaper on eBay, it's not worth the risk and the unknowns to buy from eBay - I'd rather pay that 1% extra and buy from B&H where I know I can always get 100% customer service and no-hassle returns. For me to buy from eBay, I'd need like a 20% discount at least compared to B&H... but that pretty much almost never happens. Then again, maybe I just have no luck with eBay, and YMMV. Bottom line, I think I'd put your experience not so much down to Adorama, but to eBay... seems to me, eBay brings out the worst in everybody.
 
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