B Stock

My very first eBay purchase was what you're describing as "B Stock." I think the name my particular seller used was "factory second." It's an Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor II hollow body jazz guitar. The "second" turned out to be a big blur in the finish on the back of the guitar (where no one can see it when you're playing) and that was it. Turned out to be a fine guitar.

But (and there's always a but, isn't there? :wink: ), different sellers (and buyers) have different standards and sometimes some of the flaws (bad necks, frets, fingerboards, electronics, etc.,) may not have been found. You have to be careful. Make certain you and the seller are on teh exact same page in regard to a return, should you need one.

Peace

B stock, 'seconds' or blems all have surface flaws.
it will be very very rare if there is a more serious electronic, neck break, gapping- chasm neck joint flaw.
blems have no resale, historic or collector value.
what you get is what you get.

some blems are so minor it is silly.
there is nothing wrong with B stock.
a non playable guitar is destroyed at the factory.

The ad sounds very honest and straightforward and mentions the problems that cause a guitar to be rated B stock. To me that is a good sign.

I would read the seller's feedback. If the vast majority are very happy with their purchase, then most likely you will be too. But read the policy on returns carefully before making a bid.

Does anyone have any expreienc ebuying guitars on EBay listed as "B Stock"? This particualr seller describes B Stock as:

A "B" stock guitar is a guitar that didn't meet Washburn's high standards for a new guitar and can't be sold as a brand new Washburn A stock guitar. It will either have a blemish, be a return item from a store, a repo item from a store that didn't pay for it, a show sample, rep sample, or display item that has been used a couple times and can't be sold as new, or any other item that Washburn can no longer sell as perfect. P. Hill Auctions gets 100% of these guitars and we grade them for cosmetic condition, have our guitar techs go over them for playability, and then describe them and sell them. Each guitar is guaranteed to be accurately as described and working just the way we say it is.

Anyone had any particularly good or bad experiences with this?

THanks,

The guitar I bought from this particular dealer was listed as a factory second. In fact, it was used, huge belt buckle rash on the back, dropped on the end strap pin which crushed it in a bit. The pictures are usually fuzzy enough that you can't see much of what is wrong. IMHO. Plus the bridge was cracked. I wasn't sure of this problem from the photos but I thought it didn't look right. It was not mentioned anywhere in the ad. That said, the guitar still sounds good and it cost me less than $100 shipped. So I can't really complain too much. Still I thought he was pretty heavy on the spin. I mean it really wasn't just a factory second, it had been played and dropped. He never responded to me after I received the guitar until I left neutral feedback. Then he responded within the hour with negative feedback for me. Then "graciously" offered to remove my negative feedback if I would remove his neutral. His justification was that "I could have returned the guitar simply by paying the $40 or so return shipping and that since I was getting a $500 (list price) guitar I really had no room to complain." I didn't take him up on his offer.

Obviously a lot of people have had fine experiences with this particular seller so I'm a bit of an anomaly, and obviously I'm not objective but that is my story. Again, to me, the guitar (it was a Washburn D10S) still sounded good and considering I would have still had to pay $40 to ship the thing back I figured I would just chalk it up to experience. My mom is using it and if it gets bad enough I'll just make project out of trying to replace the bridge.

This is all very helpful. Thanks!