# Testing The Water - Stupidly???



## Bareges (Aug 18, 2005)

I am wodering what the opinions, if any, are - I have through Ebay UK left a bid on a white 3133 Strela that Juri levenberg is offering, amongst the other 888 items he seems to have on the German Ebay, and am currently in the running at approx Â£90.00.

I don't know whether this is a good idea but were I to get it, I think that might be quite a reasonable price (?).

I have never used Ebay before - got to start somewhere/sometime.

Whilst on the topic I thought that many of the Russian offerings on the UK site seemed to be very expensive - Still as I'm very much a learner at this stage there's a big knowledge/experience gap to be filled-.


----------



## DavidH (Feb 24, 2003)

...forget about lifting one for Â£90. That is not going to happen. When available they sell new in the UK for about Â£200 and worth it.


----------



## MIKE (Feb 23, 2003)

Hi and welcome to the Forum









I don't know if you should be "talking"about another dealer here







though I don't think "our Roy" has any thing to worry about









I have delt with him once with out problem but his postage to the U.K. I thought was expensive so a cheap bracelet was not that cheap in the end







I have found a similar dealer in Germany who only charges 3 Euro to send a bracelet and it took three days from winning to receiving it









Back to the Strella, as David said, I can't see you getting it for Â£90

Juri has done them with a buy now of 189 Euro (aprox if I remember right) so even with his postage not a bad price.

Anyway good luck they are a great looking watch,indeed one that is on my wish list









MIKE..


----------



## Bareges (Aug 18, 2005)

Mike and David,

Thank you both for your comments - I am sure right I won't get it but I thought it might be a good way of testing the water.

The only reason for mentioning another dealer was to provide full information having asked for opinions.

Having recently found RLT I have bought some bits & pieces through them and the service has been very good.

Having read of the difficulty of tracking down strelas (presumably originals) I have been looking around the Net and like everyone else doing the same found a few.

Call it a learning experience.

I'll keep watching the site here because there are currenly negotiations going regarding Poljots!


----------



## Xantiagib (Apr 22, 2005)

Be very careful with Mr Levenberg...

I've heard some interesting experiences about sales with him:

seems to be pot luck - you can get a good product cheaply and quickly,

sometimes I've heard people waiting ages,

sometimes they've not received anything and taken ages to get a refund,

sometimes they've been sent an inferior item.

Some of his items have dodgy redials (but there seems to be a market for these so he sells them)

I'm sure its just that this one man show is too busy to conduct any decent customer service.


----------



## Bareges (Aug 18, 2005)

Xantiagib,

Thank you very much for your advice.

I put a bid in via eBay more to learn about eBay and how it works as I have never used it before. If the watch had come (or not in the light of your comments) at Â£ equivalent to 135 Euro I believe that it would have been a good buy.

In the event I was, as predicted by others on the Forum, outbid and have not bothered to pursue the matter.

To be honest having found RLT (although I know that he cannot fulfil all wishes) I would rather give him an order or wait and see what he manages to get. At least I know who I am dealing with.

Thank you, 'forewarned is forearmed'.


----------



## Xantiagib (Apr 22, 2005)

Don't be put off ebay just because of mr levenberg - mr levenberg is an example of ebay going bad and hence is educational. Ebay is great for vintage watches and the like - for new watches best not to use ebay.

the way he works (and many others) is:

a:: sell loads of items at quite low start prices

b:: hide all bidder's IDs (so you never know who out bid you)

c:: he then gets a friend to try and raise your bid just when you thought you were getting a bargain

d:: if auction is not going as well as he wants then he ends the auction for no reason

if you lose he just relists the item by ending the auction or carrying out the transaction with his colleague.

if you keep bidding you successfully raises the price of an item to a level he will make money on. You were attracted by the low price and you normally bid above that price.

if you were outbid and did not rebid you may be contacted with a second chance offer which is his way of cuttling his losses and letting you have the item at the price you were bidding anyway....

do that with 800+ items on ebay and it becomes so labour intensive that the poor guy has no time for manners or customer service.


----------



## Bareges (Aug 18, 2005)

Xantiagib,

Thank you for the follow through very instructive............I have to confess I can see how people get hooked on eBay.

What you say seems to be wholly supported by the number of items 'our friend' currently has on eBay - 888 - last time I checked.

"Caveat emptor" obviously very much to the fore...........thank you for the tip of steering clear of new purchases via eBay I was beginning to form that opinion having browsed for a while.

800 plus items on simultaneously seems to make a bit of a mockery of the auction process...........one lives and learns!!


----------

