Some of you may be familiar with the name David Guest, he has around 500 16mm features which he inherited from his father. He is currently advertising two Debrie projectors on Ebay, untested, but known to be working when last used 5 years ago. As he is an experienced cine man, wouldn't you think the obvious thing to do is plug them in and see if they run, and maybe run a short (400ft) film through them, rather than letting someone buy something not knowing if it works or not.

Robert it is the obvious thing to do. These machines should be tested before advertising them for sale. After all it only takes a few minutes to do so. I refuse to believe that someone has " not enough time " to test them. Of course it could be a case of the "sold as seen" routine in order for the seller to accept no responsibility as to the running condition of the projectors. Therefore "NO REFUND". Spares or Repair is another way of doing it. Which means it may or may not be working. Best forget it I think.

I don't have plans for any more projectors, but it does annoy me sometimes seeing someone advertise a projector they say belonged to their father who used it regularly, and now he has died and they are clearing out his stuff. They don't know if the projector works or not.

Wenn Sie hier auf Links zu eBay klicken und einen Kauf tätigen, kann dies dazu führen, dass diese Website eine Provision erhält.

I've had two successes and two failures buying machines through eBay. The two successes did need some TLC and minor work to make them run as they should however. One of my machines was found in an antique mall. I was able to find an outlet nearby and test it out without anyone looking over my shoulder. It has been one of my better projector purchases, but it also needed a bit of work and TLC.
But the listings on eBay can be vague at times and it makes you wonder if it is out of ignorance on the sellers part or if it is intentionally so, in order to cash in on a sale. If the seller has 100% feedback and DOES offer returns, you are going to be better off buying from a seller such as that, IMO.

Good points made Tim,and I do think that sellers really don't know anything about film gear more often than not.They find (or inherit) film equipment and go solely on how it looks with minimal testing. Buyer beware as we have all probably experienced.