so i'm looking at the digitech distortion factory. its close to $AU300 in my local store and on ebay for $AU178. I've been wondering for a while, if there's any reason why i *shouldnt* buy stompboxes, or multi effects units or anything else similar for that matter from ebay. the ebay store in question is in singapore. I have a mate who insists on never buying anything guitar related from ebay for fear of getting a poor product or no warranty. just wondering if anyone knows what the big deal is? is there a real reason why one wouldnt want to buy pedals on ebay?
link is here
thanks
-Chris
I've bought almost all my equipment on eBay and - with a few exceptions - been very happy with the products. I usually only buy from individuals selling their personal equipment. I've had excellent luck.
Now, the Singapore issue is different than regular eBay purchases. I hesitate to buy items outside of North America simply because I have little recourse if the transaction go awry. No, of course, being in Austraila you need a greater leap of faith than me. I have bought one item from Singapore and was very happy with it.
Anyway... I'd recommend eBay for guitar-related purchases.
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
If you decide to buy on eBay - always check the feedback for the seller, this provides information on how satisfied the previous buyers are - if they only have limited feedback (less than 100 individuals providing feedback), or less than 99.8% positive feedback proceed with caution :!:
B.S. :)
Good point. I also look out for people with excessive feedback. If a user has over 1000 feedbacks they have less incentive to provide a good transaction since a single negative feedback won't really hurt their feedback rating. I like to target individuals with between 75 - 500 feedback scores since a negative feedback score would be more damaging (on a percentage basis).
In other words, the SuperSellers are great and all, but if they have a bad experience with you who cares? If the gu with 200 perfect feedback has a bad experience he or she might be more likely to help you out since they want to keep their score intact.
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
I've bought a few things on E-Bay, but I'm not big on it. I did get a great deal on my Marshall DSL401 amp, but the seller lived just 40 miles away. I agreed to pick it up and pay in person, this way if there were any issues I could back out. But I will take a chance on lesser expensive items.
Dom, our bass player buys gear all the time on E-Bay. He recently picked up a Dean 5 string bass for only $129. And it is really nice, I was amazed at the quality of the guitar. On the other hand, about 2 years ago he ordered a bass amp for around $450. He never got the head, and the seller wouldn't respond to e-mails. Finally he contacted E-Bay and had to go to all sorts of trouble attempting to get his money back. After about a year he finally got $250 from E-Bay and was happy to get that.
But he still buys gear regular even with this bad experience.
I don't think I would buy from China or Singapore, lots of bogus gear lately.
Like the others said, I avoid those with only a few transactions and those with thousands of transactions. Also, carefully check shipping costs. You might get a pedal for only $25, but then pay $25 for shipping. You have to watch that.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Thanks for your help and suggestions guys, yeah i've gotten some good second hand items from individuals before, but only within Australia. I ended up bidding on and winning the same pedal (Digitech DF7) second hand from a guy in Canada rather than the store in Singapore. much better communication, and not a bad price either!
Thanks
-Chris
