Hello Ed,
Love your web site! I visit it often it is a cornucopia of information. I
thought your assessment of what ebay is doing to the guitar market is spot
on. It has most assuredly put future purchases of vintage guitars out of my
hands.
I have purchased many items on ebay and sometimes I have been burned. Like
the time I bought a Dobro type guitar that was advertised to be in good
condition only to find out when I received it. It was totally a wreck which
I had to totally rebuild. Of course the seller was no where to be found
after the sale and I spent a good month of nights rebuilding.
Then there was the time I purchased a body and neck
(Strat type) which the seller had said was in excellent shape and all that
had to be done was paint/stain, bolt together, hang the hardware and I would
have a beautiful and wonderful playing guitar. Yeah after I sanded the crap
out of the body because the grain was so raised on it, it would have been
impossible to fill it without using a pound of filler. The neck fit in the
body like a square peg in a round hole. Needless to say that was more nights
at the bench. the sellers answer on that one was. "You should have known you
would have to do some work on the guitar" In the advertisement it was stated
that the guitar had been assembled previously and all was okay. In each one
of the above described purchases they had beautiful pictures of the items
for sale only the only thing that I can figure out is that they must have
been taken before the damage was done or they had duplicates.
I once purchased A 16 track tape deck from someone
overseas, when it got to the states I had it shipped directly to the tech to
have him go through it and tweak it before shipping it to my studio. Well
when it got to the techs lab I got a call. He wanted to know what in the
hell it was because it was surely
not what I had told him he was going to receive. What he said was not only
was it not what I thought I had bought but it was in no way a tape machine
of any kind just a bunch of parts that could never have been or never would
be a recorder of any kind. So I tried to contact the seller and never got a
reply. It was good thing I had it insured for its replacement value and
after 6 months of being persistent I finally was able to settle with the
insurance company and recoup expenses but not the time.
I had the tech donate the parts to a nearby High School
that used it for an industrial class. Never, ever by anything from overseas
on Ebay, E V E R
There have been a few more rip offs I have been a
victim of but that was all before I have established a few rules for myself.
Which are, when I surf ebay I always set it to: Distance nearest to me, I
don't bid on anything that I can not drive too within a reasonable amount of
time, I always ask for phone numbers and call the person before bidding, I
always request a personal examination and pickup of item if purchased before
giving wages over to someone I have never done business with. If they don't
answer my emails or refuse my request I don't bid on their scam. If they are
honest they are more than happy to accommodate me.
If I follow my rules I do okay. Its when I didn't is when I was so stupid!
That has always cost me time and money. In my opinion time is more valuable
than money it is something you can not recoup. I don't like losing the
dough, which has been hundreds, but losing the time is what hurts even more.
Thanks for the ear
Peace
Tommy Fellini
K Town, Wi.
That's good advice, Personally I HATE FEEBAY and
I HATE PISSPALL EVEN MORE !!!!
Ed
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