I thought this was weird enough to deserve a post, especially since there have been a lot of posts about buying things on Ebay. What's weird is that I've been called "dishonest" because I returned a guitar purchased on Ebay.
It was a Palmer guitar that was described as "in exellent condition", which turned out to be unplayable (with a buzz on the 1st fret G string). It also had scratches on the fretboard from a capo, and bubbles in the pickguard.
Palmer made really great guitars back in the 70's and 80's and then disappeared. Apparently someone is now making Palmer guitars that are very inexpensive (about $100 US). My hope was to get a nice vintage Palmer, but that didn't happen.
I began to "sense" that something was up when communications took a long time -- it was about two weeks before it got shipped, and my email and Ebay messages weren't responded to. After it arrived, I immediately sent an email stating that the guitar was not acceptable. A few days went by without response.
Immediately I made a dispute claim in PayPal.
There's a time limit for these claims and I didn't want to miss it.
The Ebay seller responded quickly and stated that the guitar was in excellent condition.
I sent an email with photos of the neck, fretboard, body and pickguard that clearly showed the marks.
The seller sent an email stating that his father, a guitar player of 20+ years, had inspected the guitar personally, and that he would not refund the shipping charges.
My counter-offer was to send the guitar back at my expense and, if his father thought that the guitar was not in "excellent, like new" condition, the seller would refund the entire amount (auction plus shipping to me). I figured we each would share in the expense.
I mailed the guitar back and about a week later Paypal notified me that the entire amount was refunded.
I'm out $30 to ship it back, which is a bit of a bummer, but not bad for a lesson in the real world.
Everything would have been fine until the seller sent me an email stating that he was sick of dishonest people like me that returned items because they didn't get something for nothing.
Oh well. (My ego can withstand it).
So, here's the summary of what to do on Ebay.
Check the seller's reputation and look at their feedback. Is it a physical store, or just some guy?
Better deals are possible with people, but the risk is higher too.
Use PayPal, especially if it is a person. They are set up specifically for Ebay auctions.
Keep your radar up, and if something doesn't seem right, take immediate action.
Act with honesty and integrity, even if other's don't do the same.
I'm now looking at a nice old Yamaha.
1 watt of pure tube tone - the Living Room Amp!
http://www.naturdoctor.com/Chapters/Amps/LivingRoomAmp.html
Paper-in-oil caps rule!
I recently had a similar experience on e-bay. I bought an old gibson culumn speaker from "some guy." He said it was in excellent condition. When I got it, large portions of tolex were missing, the cab was wet inside from water damage, and due to the water, it was literally disentigrating. I e-mailed him, and of course he knew nothing about it. The shipping was $70, so I wasn't about to send it back. I ended up keeping it, because luckily, I bought it for the speakers inside, which were still good. In the end, even though he was dishonest, I got 4 1963 oxford 10" guitar speakers for $160 total.
Ebay can be fun, but ebay can also be a horror story. I don't really trust people enough to buy anything that is expensive on ebay. I usually buy old records or out of print cds. I looked for years for a good deal on the Laser Disc of 38 Special WIld eyed and Live. Got it for 10 bucks, great deal.
I wanted to try the Linux operating system and the best way to try it is to get a Knoppix CD. This cd is an operating system within itself. It doesnt use your hard drive or install on your hard drive. Its pretty cool. I ordered this CD from a guy who sells a lot of em and so I figured that I would be fine since his rating was almost perfect and he had sold a lot of stuff. Well something went wrong, I don't know what it was but I never got the CD. I emailed him over and over. He said he mailed it, then he said he mailed another one. He told me that he sent me 2 and that was enough. We eventually made a deal that he would refund my paypal account and I would do business elsewhere.
All I can do is guess what happened. I guess that he sent only the first one(USPS could have lost it???). And just thought it got stuck in the mail, but when it never showed up, he thought I was a thief. He even called me a thief. LOL. Its always good for a businessman to call a customer a thief. Remember that.
Moral of the story, if there is one. Even if you do everything right, something can go wrong.
I ordered the CD from another Ebayer and had it in 3 days. COOL.
My dad would always talk about retirement, and allude to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And I say all you've got at the end of the rainbow is death. You're riding the rainbow right now. - Mark Borchardt
How much was he charging for a Knoppix disc?
You can download it for free. You shouldn't need to pay anybody for something which is (legally) free. You can get a copy from here:
If you are on a slow connection and the download is too big pm me and I'll send you a copy. I've also got the latest copies of most of the popular versions of linux and a lot of distributions do a Live CD version to try before you commit these days.
To get back on topic I'm rapidly falling out with ebay. I've been very lucky with it so far but my wife has had a bit of a saga.
Their policy on ticket touts for festival and concerrt tickets is what winds me up. They practically encourage them. :twisted:
I don't think I would ever use ebay for something as big as a guitar or amp. I think the risks are jusst too great. I know a lot of people on these boards have had a lot of success but I'm very cynical I'm afraid. I work too hard for my money to get ripped off.
I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time.
It was them that turned me to drink.
Perhaps a guitar or amp is too big of a risk.
I've set it up so that I can search for guitar stuff for sale within 50 miles, which is nice since shipping isn't a problem, and you can see the item in person before paying.
1 watt of pure tube tone - the Living Room Amp!
http://www.naturdoctor.com/Chapters/Amps/LivingRoomAmp.html
Paper-in-oil caps rule!
I didn't realise you could do that. Will have to investigate further.
Thanks for the tip.
8)
I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time.
It was them that turned me to drink.
Yeah, you can search for items locally, which actually ends up making the items a little cheaper as well since you can probably drive to get the item for less than the shipping cost.
I've bought 10 - 15 guitars on eBay and I've had most of them be excellent experiences. I've also bought 40 - 60 different parts on ebay (pickups, etc) and for the most part been happy. My mantra is that if the guitar is selling for less than $150 you need to be careful, but you can still get a very solid guitar at that price through eBay (ie, not ripped off). I wouldn't buy a $1500 guitar on eBay, but if I could snatch a $800 Fender for $600 I might try it.
The key is (as stated before):
- look at feedback - and if there is negative, look at what it says.
- look at number of transactions. People with 70 - 300 transactions and 99 - 100% feedback are good bets. Too few transactions are risky, too many and the seller can screw you and not impact their personal rating on eBay
- look for MANY pictures. If the listing has three pictures I'd stay away. For selling a guitar I always have at least 7 pictures to really show the detail
- look for claims that are just silly. For instance, "this Squier plays as good as my PRS!" Also, if the guitar is a 10 year-old guitar played by the guy's son and he lists it as "mint" I would be suspicous. Especially if there are only 2 pictures to back up his claim!
- look for reasonable shipping. I've found that people who ship guitars for $15 - 25 (USA) tend to be the real deal. When people post a $40 shipping cost I get suspicious that I'm dealing with someone just trying to take my money.
- I avoid "reserve" auctions whenever possible. Do you want to sell the guitar or not? I can't stand a person selling a 2001 MIM strat with a gigbag with a reserve of $320 (plus $35 shipping) Dude, I can buy it new 5 minutes away for $360. I think reserve auctions turn people off like crazy. If you want to sell the guitar for $300, just start the bidding at $300 and save everyone the agaony of trying to guess your reserve.
- Avoid all auctions that do not take PayPal. Yeah, I'm gonna send a $600 money order to somebody in Texas (or Connecticut for you Texas people) that I've never met. Buyers (and sellers) have recourse through PayPal. I really don't understand the "no PayPal" people anyway. Yeah, you lose a little money with the PayPal fees, but you get paid immediately, you have recourse if you get stiffed, and more people will look at your auction.
Ok, those are the quick hits I can think of. I know a lot of people hate eBay and what it's done to the vintage guitar market, but as a "guitar tinkerer" I think it is the best thing since sliced bread. 15 years ago you would be forced to pay top dollar for a replacement bridge, or a strap, or tuners, or even strap pegs. Now, you can get perfectly fine parts directly from other people. Plus, what did you do with your old pickups 15 years ago when you replaced them with Dimarzios? You threw them in a box. Now, you can get $20 for the pickups. I think it is a great way for individual guitarist to swap with other guitarists and re-use parts. AND - if you have that old Squier that you learned how to play on and you've stepped up to a sweat G&L ASAT and don't need the Squier any longer, now you have a way to get a decent value for the Squier - AND someone else gets to USE the Squier to learn on (or modify, or re-build).
Generally, I think it is a WIN-WIN for the guitar players and builders. It is a LOSE-LOSE for stores and direct retailers.
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
- Avoid all auctions that do not take PayPal. Yeah, I'm gonna send a $600 money order to somebody in Texas (or Connecticut for you Texas people) that I've never met. Buyers (and sellers) have recourse through PayPal. I really don't understand the "no PayPal" people anyway. Yeah, you lose a little money with the PayPal fees, but you get paid immediately, you have recourse if you get stiffed, and more people will look at your auction.
I completely agree with that - I will only bid if the seller takes PayPal, and when I sell something, I will only ship to confirmed addresses through PayPal. This means PayPal has verified the person's address with their credit card company. I think this helps weed out potential scammers, though it's not foolproof.
One other hint: if it's a real store behind the ebay auction, and it's an item they list regularly, sometimes you can call them and negotiate a really good deal. That's how I got my Alvarez 12-string.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience, PRNDL. Best of luck finding the guitar you want. Red-label Nippon Gakki Yamaha? Really shocking how much they're going for, even in junk condition, but they supposedly sound great.
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
How much was he charging for a Knoppix disc?
You can download it for free. You shouldn't need to pay anybody for something which is (legally) free. You can get a copy from here:
If you are on a slow connection and the download is too big pm me and I'll send you a copy. I've also got the latest copies of most of the popular versions of linux and a lot of distributions do a Live CD version to try before you commit these days.
To get back on topic I'm rapidly falling out with ebay. I've been very lucky with it so far but my wife has had a bit of a saga.
Their policy on ticket touts for festival and concerrt tickets is what winds me up. They practically encourage them. :twisted:
I don't think I would ever use ebay for something as big as a guitar or amp. I think the risks are jusst too great. I know a lot of people on these boards have had a lot of success but I'm very cynical I'm afraid. I work too hard for my money to get ripped off.
The guy was charging about $5 dollars total I think, heck its been a while. I think I paid a dollar or so more for the next guy. That dood is still selling those CDs. Apparently he is a good seller cuz I read his feedback recently and it's still good. Some how mine got lost, it happens I guess.
I have the old fashioned internet. I called 2 weeks ago about getting DSL. Their price was about $53 bucks, if I buy a modem I think they will knock off $5. I am way too poor for that. So I can't download that big of a file.
I just recently got a full version of Linux. I signed up for it online(FREE). I didn't really expect to get it. I really expected junk email. Oh well since I am playing guitar a lot more these days I don't mess with the PC as much but one day I will check it out.
My dad would always talk about retirement, and allude to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And I say all you've got at the end of the rainbow is death. You're riding the rainbow right now. - Mark Borchardt
