Reed Triller
93 posts
Jun 30, 2013
7:43 PM
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Feel free to share your own. Mine isn't one where I spent a ton and got ripped off, though. It was a mere $8 including shipping for an old wood combed Hohner Chromonica 64. The only question I asked was is the comb broken. I was told no. As Maury Povich would say,,,,that was a lie. However, I could see this as an unintentional mistruth if you are someone selling something grampa may have played and you know nothing about. So, I let that go. Especially since even I couldn't tell it had breaks in it until I took the covers and everything but the reedplates off.
However, the horror part of my story started as soon as I opened the package. Sticking out from between the reedplates and the comb were what I assumed to be the legs of some gigantic spider only to realize that it was several mustache and/or beard hairs. After about 10 minutes of dry heaves and brushing everything off I found it to be in pretty good condition other than the comb.
I will be using the method of repair shown by Dave from Elk River in the near future.
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Bend it like Ricci - Me
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Bigtone
269 posts
Jun 30, 2013
7:56 PM
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Ebay is tough. I can only use it like a couple months at a time. 75% of the time people are cool and there is not much effort involved. Other times the buyer or seller is trying to pull some game on you. I cannot count the times a buyer has tried to pull something on me. And the feedback thing over ebay is insane. The seller cannot leave bad feedback haha I mean how screwy is that. And I really hate how buyers want to use feedback against you so you will give them half their money back. I just started telling people go ahead and leave bad feedback cause I do not care anymore. Feedback is just a number and ebay and paypal are just greedy greedy greedy companies out to rip anyone off. The fees are so bad you cannot buy a mic and make a profit anymore because ebay gets them. I stopped using ebay a couple months ago. I just give a friend some cash for listing stuff for me cause I cannot deal with the drama and the lack of effort on ebays part towards anyone but themselves.
Some of my stories are I sold a premier reverb tank to a guy. Described as hums and needs lots of work. It was in rough shape etc.. The guy gets it and doesn't say anything for weeks then out of no where decides he does not want it anymore says some of the screws are stripped haha. Even though I sold it for $200 as-is in bad condition. This was before I have my new feedback views so the guy had me paying him back money to satisfy him.
Last Edited by Bigtone on Jun 30, 2013 8:01 PM
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Reed Triller
95 posts
Jun 30, 2013
7:59 PM
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I stopped using it long ago. I only go back now and then to see if by luck I can get a good deal. Sometimes I do. Like a Shure Slim X 777 for 10 bucks.
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Bend it like Ricci - Me
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Bigtone
270 posts
Jun 30, 2013
8:04 PM
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Yeah that is why I have been listing on the forum a lot too much probably haha. But I would rather sell it and take offers to a harp player who i know will love the stuff than complain about it. Nowadays id rather loose money on it than deal with the A** holes on ebay.
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jbone
1290 posts
Jul 01, 2013
4:00 AM
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I have both bought and sold on Ebay. My wife's latest Telecaster is a really great guitar and it came off Ebay. We have gotten several nice things there with no hassles but the down side is, I sold off some old mics in the past and nearly went in the hole after shipping costs. My mistake.
For harp related stuff I'd much rather deal with someone I know on this or another forum. Some of my best stuff has been more virtual face to face than the obelisk of fleabay. We once got hacked and someone was trying to do a sales hustle with our info. If the buyer had not messaged us we might have gotten stuck for a couple grand$$$$.
And just by the way Big, the mic you sent works great. Case in point guys and gals, Bigtone gave me a nice deal on a couple of Astatic 332's and they came quick and were exactly as described.
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http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000386839482
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa7La7yYYeE
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groyster1
2288 posts
Jul 01, 2013
6:39 AM
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I have bought many harps on ebay....I recently bought a prewar mouse ear from a forum member...it was exactly as stated and has been sent off to be reconditioned....he is an honest businessman like 90% of ebay sellers have been...there have been a couple who have been deceptive.....if that's the way you are then the world will find you out and you will be out of business....
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Piro39
46 posts
Jul 01, 2013
6:40 AM
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It's almost guaranteed that any older wooden comb chromatic that you buy on ebay or any other place will have a cracked comb. Knowing this I would buy old 64's for rebuilds. The late Bill Romel would make Lucite combs and reattach the reed plates with metal inserts and bolts and replace any bad reeds and fix any slide problems plus do a tuning job if needed. The old Hohner reeds sound incredible and there would be no air loss after Bill finished working on them.
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florida-trader
327 posts
Jul 01, 2013
7:05 AM
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Reed Triller. $8.00 (including shipping) for a Chromonica 64 that is in pretty good condition?!?! OK – finding nose hairs imbedded in the harp is no fun, but surely you expected to clean this thing before you played it! As you have alluded to, I have found insects and cocoons in some of the vintage harps I’ve purchased. Yuck! I suppose that should be the message here. Expect to clean any used harp you buy on eBay or anywhere else for that matter.
My situation is a little different from the casual eBay shopper.
My experience with eBay has been quite positive. I started my harmonica related business about 2 ½ years ago selling two products on eBay. It quickly morphed into 40+ products within four months and ultimately to over 250 individual products today. It led to opening my website. It took a while for the website to catch on. My business went from 100% eBay / 0% website to 90/10, 75/25, 50/50 25/75 and today about 90% of my customers buy direct from me through my website. When a new customer buys via eBay, eBay gets a piece of the action. But I encourage customers to buy direct from me via my website thereafter. Since I don’t have the eBay fees to contend with I offer slightly lower prices on my website.
I agree that eBay can be an expensive way to do business but at this point I consider the money I spend each month on eBay to be an advertising cost. Even though most of my customers order through my website I still keep 8 or 10 listings active on eBay. It gives me exposure to literally millions of potential customers all over the world who don’t hang out on MBH or the other harmonica related forums and would not otherwise have an inkling that Blue Moon Harmonicas even exists. After all, eBay is in the Top 20 most popular websites in the world. Who among us has not done an eBay search for some harmonica related product?
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
Last Edited by florida-trader on Jul 01, 2013 7:08 AM
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FMWoodeye
704 posts
Jul 01, 2013
10:43 AM
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I used to be quite active on ebay selling motorcycle parts, polishing services and attire and was active also on a couple global forums similar to this one. At one point, I put a Mason jar of air up for sale. The air was supposedly harvested from the Himalayas by Sherpas and could only be brought back a little at a time. This was for use in the front forks for a "smoother ride." It was all in good fun, and the bidding went up to $400 before I cancelled the auction. Meanwhile, a couple days after my auction closed, copycat sellers began selling jars of air...probably the same guys that sell holy water.
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rbeetsme
1281 posts
Jul 01, 2013
11:13 AM
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I used to buy and sell on ebay too, initially camera equipment, but then amps, mics, harps. Only really bad experience was a guy I sold a vintage Masco combo. He emailed me that he plugged it in and it blew up! After questioning him it seemd clear to me that he broke the locating pin off of the power tube and then tried to install it anyway. He made it sound like the amp caught fire and ruined all of the wiring, but I think the only real casualty was the tube. Suspecting that user error was the cause of his problem I contacted the best amp tech in the country who had worked on this one. He graciously offered to fix it free. I think he suspected nothing was much wrong too. Guy wouldn't ship off, eventually demanded I send him the money to buy all new tubes. I asked for the old tubes back before I would replace them. I even offered to refund the selling price if he would ship it back. He gave up and I never heard from him again. BTW: he got a killer amp at a great price! I received my only negative feedback from him, spoiled my perfect record with over 750 sales. Ebay wouldn't erase his slandering comments, claimed I was a scammer. ??? Today I sell there only occasionally, fees are way too high. BTW: I always offer free shipping and adjust my selling price to reflect it. If I don't ebay wants 10% of my shipping costs!
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Goldbrick
213 posts
Jul 01, 2013
11:45 AM
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I use ebay quite a bit for guitars, amps and drum stuff.
You get some scammers but for the most part I have had good transactions there. You just gotta build the 13% that ebay and paypal take from the selling price.
I restrict may sales to people with good feedback on items over $100 and insist on payment in 48 hours. No foreign and no po boxes
That weeds a lotta folks out
Way better experience all around with ebay than the fools on Craigs list
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DoubleJ
16 posts
Jul 01, 2013
12:03 PM
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eBay is a freakin' jungle for buyers and sellers. However there are certain items that are almost unavailable anywhere else, particularly vintage.
There are some great sellers for harp players like technobird, deluxe8765, and eezyreeder...
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Reed Triller
102 posts
Jul 01, 2013
1:29 PM
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Florida, considering the length of the hairs I think they were from a very bushy mustache/beard.
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Bend it like Ricci - Me
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didjcripey
571 posts
Jul 01, 2013
2:23 PM
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As a buyer, I've had nothing but positive experiences with Ebay, and I've had hundreds of transactions of all sorts of items.
When I started ebaying a Shure 520dx was $360 bucks at the local music store. It was a no brainer to get a vintage one in top condition for about a third of that cost. Even after I paid a hundred bucks in shipping for a small tube amp it still would have cost more than double to buy locally.
Ebay gives me access to items which are either unavailable otherwise, or several times the price.
Of course the company who runs it make money; its a business.
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Lucky Lester
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SuperBee
1266 posts
Jul 01, 2013
2:33 PM
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+1 Didj
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JellyShakersTipJar
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AirMojo
355 posts
Jul 01, 2013
3:08 PM
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You would think the seller would've cleaned it up a bit, at least removing the mustache hairs... if that's what they were... if they were curly looking pubic hairs, I would've probably tossed it !
:)
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rogonzab
322 posts
Jul 01, 2013
3:36 PM
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My Ebays experiences are 100% good. Where I live there is no place to buy vintage mics, or vintages tubes, or new tubes, or speakers, or they are way to expensive. I had bought on Ebay stuff that I coul not get any other way to a cheap price even whit the shipping charges.
The downside is that sometimes I see good deals on mics even in old tube amps, but the seller wont shipp internationaly.
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rbeetsme
1285 posts
Jul 01, 2013
4:16 PM
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Just sold a vintage amp there I couldn't sell here. But the fees are killer.
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Goldbrick
214 posts
Jul 01, 2013
5:40 PM
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@rogozab
the reason we sellers dont like to sell out of US is because there is no protection if there is a customs problem and shipping is very expensive. Case in point-I had a buyer in Ireland who wanted a $200 drum-shipping and fees would be $150
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Bigtone
273 posts
Jul 01, 2013
6:02 PM
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Yeah overseas buyer sometimes do not understand that if I ship a microphone for say $250 to brazil and brazil looses the mic or the buyer says he never got it then paypal literally rips the money from your bank account and gives it to the buyer. Then the seller is left with nothing, no mic or money. Trust me it has happened. That is why most overseas has to be paid for as "gift" option. even though the buyer has no safety net from paypal but the seller once shipped has no ties to the item. It sucks for the buyer but it is the only way if you ask me. You just have to trust the seller. I have had problems overseas shipping. I have shipped things and had them be returned with no explanation after the buyer is going what the hell. I have had items take a week to arrive and a month to arrive. A friend of mine who is from overseas ships like 20 mics at a time out there for when he goes to to sell and he has had stories of them literally taking 45 days to tell him that they lost all the mics and that usps in the USA will only allow claims 3 days after and he looses 2k in mics. There are serious risk on both ends
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rogonzab
323 posts
Jul 01, 2013
6:04 PM
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Goldbrick, I understand the lack of protection, but the higher shipping cost it os only expensive for you USA guys.
Where I live (Chile) a new Shure 520DX cost $240. some of you sells vintage mics (520/JT30 whits VC, screw on conectors, CM or ceramics elements) for $150-$200, so even paying $150 for the mic plus $100 for the shipping it is still a good deal to me because I am getting a way better mic (and a vintage one) for the same price than a new mic.
(Edit: The basic mic from greg is $279, only $39 more than a 520DX over here!)
The same whit the amps. A Vintage amp for $300 plus a $200 for shipping (=$500) is the same price that a used pro junior over here. Expensive or cheap is relative
Last Edited by rogonzab on Jul 01, 2013 6:07 PM
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rbeetsme
1286 posts
Jul 01, 2013
6:23 PM
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I'll ship small items but some countries make it really difficult. I had a buyer in Italy get all upset because his government was holding the item in customs until he came up with 200.00 to release it. Guy wanted me to pay. The paperwork can sometimes be a pain too.
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