Some people.

[Tim Streater]

Presumably, last Tuesday fortnight. Otherwise he might have said "Some years ago, I sold ..." or "In 2001 I sold ...".

[Dave Liquorice]

Not at all, you are not reading what is written. The only information given about the sale date is that it was some time in the past.

However that doesn't stop you accusing me of being cheeky by selling a camera for which the film may no longer be available. Therefor you must have some idea of when I sold the camera, either that or you are making a false accusation.

The message was posted to illustrate that there are some daft buggers on eBay who buy things without, apparently, understanding or reading perfectly clear and factually correct item descriptions.

[Brian Reay]

People collect such things.

Plus, there may well be sources of (outdated?) APS film.

Like all hobbies, photography has followers who have 'niche' interests. I met someone who collected those disc cameras. He had a stock of film and the means to process it. He was experimenting with recycling the discs by using bits of 35mm film.

Not my scene, I'm a normal radio amateur ;-)

[Brian Reay]

It may be worth hanging on to it. Some 'old technology' brings silly money once it becomes collectable.

[Tim Streater]

Well all right. But the way you phrased it implied (to me) that it was a recent sale. I sold a couple of Olympus OM-1 cameras on ebay during the summer, so yes, people buy old stuff. But there is at least B/W film still available for those. When I looked up APS cameras it appeared that the film hasn't been made since 2011.

Did your purchaser try to get his money back? Sounds like your description was quite adequate.

[Adrian]

This one?

TBH, I'm very unsurprised. You could have made it a LOT clearer in the description and photos. Not everybody's familiar with "rear projection" as a concept, and "DLP" is even more opaque.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes they can. But that's not under 50 quid. If it had been faulty, perhaps

50 quid would have been OK. Would you expect to pick up a working 45" LCD for 50 quid?

Most on Freecycle seem to know the difference between a CRT set and LCD - so I'd assumed those paying real money for something would know what they're bidding on? And large screen rear projection sets were common enough at one time.

Right. But I'd guess that would come under a collector's item - so I'd expect even more the buyer to know the spec.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes.

Then it's easy enough to ask the buyer a question if it's not clear to you what you're bidding on. Especially if you wanted an LCD or plasma specifically.

Would have been more interesting if it had been paid for via Paypal. How would the buyer claim their money back? Wrongly described? ;-)

As it happened, the lady in question offered to pay for it anyway. Which I thought a nice touch. She wanted it for her son at uni - and phoned him up to see if it would do. And he wasn't having it. ;-) No reply to the second chance so I'll re-list it.

[Adrian]

I think you're missing my point... There's a big flat-looking TV, with something that you don't really understand. It's a cheap big flat TV, right?

When you re-list it, take a side-on photo, and describe what it is - in layman's language - and isn't.

[whisky-dave]

Maybe like some on here that can't tell the difernce between digital and fi lm.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

With a very large base showing - unlike any LCD TV. And the same could near enough apply to some widescreen CRT sets or indeed any TV which was basically just a screen.

Might take a side on pic, but love to know how you'd describe it. To anyone with a grain of sense rear projector says exactly what it is. Perhaps I should say it's a great ugly lump of a thing. Just what's needed to get people interested. ;-)

[Clive George]

To me it doesn't look different to an LCD or plasma from those photos at a glance. Remember, you're the one who has had the thing for years, the people seeing your auction may never have seen or heard of what you've got (I think I was aware of rear projection TV, but might have only seen one in the flesh, and never your model). So yes, a side view would help.

[Roger Mills]

I like to think that I've got a few grains of sense, but I don't have a very clear concept of exactly what a rear projector TV is. I've heard the term, and I've just had a look at Wikipedia - which didn't really enlighten me very much.

So I'm not altogether surprised that some people didn't understand what they were bidding for.

[Andy Burns]

Doesn't matter how you describe it, once you include a photo of it from the side, nobody will want it :-P

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If you were interested in it and didn't understand what DLP rear projection was, wouldn't you find out?

Or even Google the model if you didn't know it? The first hit here says exactly what it is.

It's not like there was some flowery description designed to confuse. ;-)

[Roger Mills]

Yes, indeed I would. But we who frequent this NG are almost certainly not typical of the population as a whole.

[Scion]

Dave Plowman (News) put finger to keyboard:

Front and side photos, "NOT LCD/PLASMA" in large letters, "floor standing in large cabinet" with dimensions in feet. You'll then sell it to someone who actually wants a rear-projection TV.

[Adrian]

Indeed.

"This is not a LCD or Plasma-style modern flat TV. It's old tech, circa (age), with the picture projected from behind the screen. Back in the day, this allowed a much bigger and better-quality picture than was available using the then-current tube technology. "

Sell the sizzle, not the sausage! Explain to the punters WHY they want this bloody great big ugly white elephant of a thing.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

According to many here that won't mean a thing to the average used TV buyer.

But it's not floor standing. Which makes it rather different from many rear projection sets. In terms of the front aspect, it's little different to an LCD. And in practice will fit on the same sort of stand as an LCD. The only real disadvantage is you can't hang it on a wall. It's nothing like a big CRT set with a vast tube neck sticking out the back.

Far too limited a market. It will be fine for any who don't want to wall mount it. And rather better for their health too - the most stupid place to put a TV ever.

[Chris J Dixon]

And the dimensions are?

Chris