Nothing Burgers anyone?
Have ya' gone to check out a scope, and when you get there it wasn't exactly what
you were expecting? If looking on-line (eBay etc.) you must depend on a description,
a few photos, and perhaps a few questions. And if you buy that scope "sight unseen"
then the biggest disappointment usually comes from the damage during shipping.
Buying locally, on some occasions, can turn out to be far better than expected. Often
that involves great eyepieces or extra parts etc etc. A great example in my case was
Baby Blue: https://www.cloudyni...?hl= baby blue
I was just expecting a painted Palomar Jr. and WOW, what an unexpected little treasure
that turned out to be. Oh joy!! 
After making arrangements to buy locally here are some situations you may find
yourself in after getting ready to take delivery of your expected optical treasure:
A: The seller already sold it. Likely to someone who offered more?.
B: The seller decided not to sell it. Huh? Was it sold to someone who offered more?
C: The seller now wants more than you agreed on.
D: The scope is not uh..."exactly" as described but more like a Nothing Burger.
Yeah, sure, it's still a scope (and what's cooler than that) but certainly not what was
depicted, described or expected. I've dealt with all of these situations before and
wanted to share one recent experience with you.
Yesterday I picked up a Sears Discovery model 4-6344 that was advertised locally and
was described as in "MINT" condition. There were three pics with it in the ad and all three
of them had cloudynights printed on them. I thought perhaps a CN member was selling it
locally and also on cloudynights? Anyway, the pics used were "not" from the "actual"
scope for sell but were taken from a similar scope posted in the past on cloudynights.
Well...it was advertised for $185 so I contacted the seller and offered $120. He said yes.
I went to pick it up the next day and got all excited just looking at the great condition of the
wood box. Not perfect (mint?) but really nice. Far better than most boxes that I've received.
I opened up the box and everything inside was "SHINY, SHINY, SHINY." Oh JOY. There
were some typical tray and bracket paint scratches and one minor tube scratch. Not mint
overall, but pretty darn close. Rather as expected actually.
But...after taking inventory...I noticed.. a few of the parts... were missing. Mint huh? 
One of the felted finder scope protector rings was missing along with four of the .965 dink
eyepieces (and their eyepiece cases)and the top (and least important?) Styrofoam piece.
Not a deal killer... but still? What it did have was in newish condition, and it appeared to
have hardly been used. It even had the manual and a star graph. So what the heck?
Then the HORROR set in.
It was then that I noticed that Everything from the cell forward was missing. No cell,
no lens, no lens cap, no dew shield. The soul of the scope was gone. It made me sick.
I TELL YA'
All that was left was
A Big Fat Giant Disappointing NOTHING BURGER.
It was now more like a Dinky, No-meat Veggie, Remnant Burger. 
My $40 offer for what was actually there was accepted.
Hey, Parts is Parts.
