I think I outsmarted myself here. I found a lens on German eBay. The price was good, but the seller would ship to Germany only.
So I contacted him. My German is no good (thru Babblefish translations), but on previous bids, many Germans spoke English. He did not, but allowed me to bid. So I won the auction. And now I asked to arrange payment. The seller sent me his account # and bank #, looking for a wire transfer(?). So I contacted my bank. After 36 hours of fooling around, I found my 'personal banker'. I sent her FAX instructions to wire him Euros. So she sent him Dollars, and charged me $35 for the transaction. When the wire arrived at his bank, it was $20 short (some mystery charge). And, they charged him another 13 Euros in fees. So I was 30 Euros short. I went to the American Express office. For another $31.27, I got 30 Euros to mail him. After postage, paying for this lens is going to cost me another $70 over my winning bid. So I will keep reminding myself, Don't bid unless it is a really good deal! Regards, Bob S. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
