I like to look around in ebay at guitars, especially ones with repairable or cosemetic damage. I don't like to limit the low end price too much, just in case.
It drives me nuts that someone will list a peice of junk, and include "like martin gibson", or "martin strings" to get more people to look at it. I find I am forever changing the search strings to exclude more and more words but the sellers seem to find new ways. I seriously doubt that anyone searching for a gibson / martin / taylor etc would settle for one of these guitars, so what is the point, besides my aggrevation?
Venting complete.
Cheers,
Max
The hope that you can get someone to overpay for a piece of junk.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
I seriously doubt that anyone searching for a gibson / martin / taylor etc would settle for one of these guitars, so what is the point, besides my aggrevation?
Go to a big guitarshop and wait for people to try gibson guitars. You'll be amazed how many of them have absolutely no skills or experience whatsoever. It's a fact well known by all guitarstores: musicians are often poor, very poor. They are not the people anyone interested in money is aiming for. Instead they are after the middle-aged, midlife-crisis, bank managers with too much money. So you sell your Epi as a 'made by Gibson' guitar, your Squier becomes a 'Fender designed 100% in the USA' and your black stagg becomes the same guitar as Eric Clapton uses. Musicians will see the difference but plenty of others don't. And it's the 'others' that'll be more then willing to buy that squier bullet of you for the friendly price of only $400.
I seriously doubt that anyone searching for a gibson / martin / taylor etc would settle for one of these guitars, so what is the point, besides my aggrevation?
Go to a big guitarshop and wait for people to try gibson guitars. You'll be amazed how many of them have absolutely no skills or experience whatsoever. It's a fact well known by all guitarstores: musicians are often poor, very poor. They are not the people anyone interested in money is aiming for. Instead they are after the middle-aged, midlife-crisis, bank managers with too much money. So you sell your Epi as a 'made by Gibson' guitar, your Squier becomes a 'Fender designed 100% in the USA' and your black stagg becomes the same guitar as Eric Clapton uses. Musicians will see the difference but plenty of others don't. And it's the 'others' that'll be more then willing to buy that squier bullet of you for the friendly price of only $400.
Hahahaha
That is so true. Soooo true. We need to get a little section that just lists the best quotes that you guys make. Wish I could sig that whole paragraph.
At this time I would like to tell you that NO MATTER WHAT...IT IS WITH GOD. HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL. HIS WAY IS IN LOVE, THROUGH WHICH WE ALL ARE. IT IS TRULY -- A LOVE SUPREME --. John Coltrane
It is all a matter of marketing. Finding ways to drive more people to your EBAY ad. The more hits the better the chance of getting a better price.
You don't have to build a better mouse trap, you just have to get people to believe that you do.
Or making them believe that you have something they can't possibly do without.
Marketing, marketing, marketing.
Mike
Playing an instrument is good for your soul
I agree with you MaxRumble. its really annoying when looking for something like a Vox amp and you find that about 10% of the listings are written as "not vox, fender or any other make you like" just to get the viewings. ebay should have listing rules about their titles eg. don't include other makes in titles. Put the similarity to other makes in the description by all means but for God sake keep it out of the title..... Please.
Be excellent to each other & party on dudes!
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=686668
Its not just an on-line thing. Some stores will advertise specials having just one in stock - or even none at all - to try to draw traffic in.
I remember some years ago we needed to replace our piano bench. There was an ad in the Chicago Tribune for a 1 day only sale at some piano store... in Arlington Heights, I think. A fair drive from me. But the ad said they had piano and organ benches starting from $7, so I figured it was worth the trip.
We get there before the store opens. I'm the first customer and the guy says they're sold out. Tries to show me new piano benches for $100 and up. I point out it's false advertising, and I'll just go home and call the attorney general instead. He says it's not false advertising - they have both piano and organ benches, and if I wanted an organ bench he could sell me one for $7. So ok, show me.
He shows me a bench, but tells me it'll be no good as a piano bench. How come? Because piano benches fold up to put sheet music in them. That's ok... I'll keep the sheet music someplace else. He tells me it still won't work. How come? Because organ benches are 4" taller than piano benches.
Four saw cuts and four furniture glides later I had a piano bench for $7. And he was pretty ticked off about the whole thing - I'll bet if I'd wanted an organ bench they would have only had piano benches for $7.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Put the similarity to other makes in the description by all means but for God sake keep it out of the title..... Please.Well, only allow it in the description if it really is similar to those other makes, but I doubt that eBay will ever crack down on that. I usually do an advanced search, using titles and descriptions, which can often result in (at least) 50% more hits on stuff I'm not looking for.
Sometimes all you can do is keep narrowing the search, excluding certain words and if necessary, certain sellers. I kinda enjoy that part, although it's also annoying to have to change from "All Categories" back to "Musical Instruments" every time I go back and change something else. :evil:
A simple fact of life: EBay does NOTHING unless there is a complaint - and, then, only when it suits their purpose.
They do not "crack down" on anything.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
In theory Ebay does not allow people to manipulate the search engine by entering "Like Fender Strat" or "Great guitar with Gibson strings"... but you are correct that they only REACT when it happens. Someone has to complain and then ebay (in theory) looks at the ad to see if it violates.
The "like fender" or "Les Paul Copy" or "guitar with Martin strings" titles don't bother me that much since it really is marketing. I mean, an Agile 3000 is a "Les Paul Copy" so why wouldn't you write that in your ad? Plus, it does help potential buyers know what you are selling.
What I can't stand are the flat-out lies in the ads. For instance... I see this ALL the time:
Hamer SAQT with Seymour Duncan pickups
I fall for it EVERY time. They are always DUNCAN DESIGNED pickups. BUT, there is always that 1 out of 15 guitars that has real USA Duncans installed, so if you don't check you might miss it.
Another one is "Fender Stratocaster"
And it ends up being a Squier. I don't mind seeing "Fender Squier Stratocaster" because that is what it is... but when I have to click on the listing to find out it is an Indonesian Squier instead of a USA or Japan Strat... well, its a little annoying.
What actually upsets me more are the 1/8 size guitars!! The listing are always:
Gibson Les Paul Custom miniature!
And the auxction is always going for like $12.99 and I get all excited about a crazy deal (yes, I do it to myself) and then I open the add (totally missing the "miniature") and find this stupid LP nick-knack. Who buys those things anyway?
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
personally I hate those cheap nockoff guitars that are made in china and then listed for under 20 bucks with a shipping cost of over a hundred. Have you ever read the ads that they give them? Most of them are copied elsewhere with differen't guitars and all of them are just poorly written and aggravating. Although it is somehow quite funny to see a 12$ nockoff of an ibanez jem advertised as "ancient chinese artifact. will bring you much luck!"
:lol:
wherever you go, there you are.
And the auxction is always going for like $12.99 and I get all excited about a crazy deal (yes, I do it to myself) and then I open the add (totally missing the "miniature") and find this stupid LP nick-knack.
LMAO!!!!!
Sorry dude, but that was funny!
:lol: :lol: :lol:
i was wanting an ibanez, and searched it here are the results (it might change)......
here are some links lol
http://cgi.ebay.com/IBANEZ-ACOUSTIC-GUITAR-CATALOG-2004_W0QQitemZ7395781975QQcategoryZ33043QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem omg!!! a catalog!!!!
notice the lcation and the shipping prices
the list goes on...
an Agile 3000 is a "Les Paul Copy" so why wouldn't you write that in your ad?
You can - just not in the description - ebay forbids the use of more than one brand name (unless closely related, like Fender and Squier). It also forbids the use of search seeds - like long lists of guitar manufacturers, hidden in the html (I've experimented with both text the same colour as the background and 1-point text, but it'll get found by a search and someone who can read html!). The use of "not Fender, Gretsch, Eko, Burns, Burny,.........) is also forbidden - but will only be looked at if there is a complaint - I found an auction with a list of 250 keywords hidden in the html.
The problem with ebay's complaints process is, that you can never actually contact a human being, unless they contact you. If you do complain, you'll have to go through a string of automated replies, none of which answer your complaint nor any questions that you may have. What does grab their attention, however, is to quote their own rules and regs. in your complaint, e.g "Your terms and conditions specifically forbid xyz, as stated in para abc, quote"yadda yadda yadda". This auction is in breach of this condition".
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
Ha! How about the "Vintage 1963 Guild Bluesbird manual"
Manual? I guess it has some collectability, but you know I stopped reading after "1963 Guild" with the auction price at $100
:lol:
Graybeard, what a good idea!!! Embed keywords in the body of the listing in the same color font as the background. I wouldn't have thought of that. I guess it doesn't work (as you stated) but good idea.
I really do get a kick out of the China ad titles:
Magnificent Guitar
Wonderful Stringed Instrument
Ever notice that sometimes the person translating doesn't do that great of a job? You end up with:
Adequate Music Item
Decent Sounding Guitar
Noice-making Wood
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
