Is Ebay Any Good?

[JimLucas]

Thank you Chris.

I was wondering.

I think Jim is fully satisfied now.

Any current lack of satisfaction is not necessarily related to Concertina.com, its Forums, or the Forum members.

[meltzer]

I started looking on EBay for a vintage 'tina a few months back -- it was one of the reasons I registered on these forums in the first place. However, after a while (and having read some of the tales of woe on here), I decided to deal with Chris Algar direct (via Barleycorn, rather than bidding on one of his boxes on EBay), and got a lovely 30k Lachenal that met my requirements, and for less than the price that they regularly go on EBay. I know which I'd recommend doing.

 

This hasn't stopped me staying on EBay and steadily replacing my English folk vinyl with CDs, like.

Edited December 11, 2007 by meltzer

[Steve_In_Dorset]

I cannot give advise on Concertinas, but I can with Ebay as I have both bought and sold there many times. I would say without doubt that you need to know your market and not exceed it. But when it comes to something as personal as a musical instrument there are factors involved that you cannot possibly allow for in photo's or descriptions. And, unless you are buying an instrument from a know specialist who has rebuilt it, or vouched it to be A1, then anything else is a real gamble and the price should reflect that.

 

Pay special interest to the sellers feed-back. If it is less than 100% or a new person then you need to evaluate the seller as well. If he or she has negative feed-back read it, get a feel for the person. If you end up wondering, then take that as a warning in itself. Especially so if the item your interested in is expensive and dependant upon it being posted after you have paid. Better to collect on a cash basis, because then you can at least walk away if you have to, irrespective of the outcome to your feed-back.

 

But chasing prices only pushes the prices up, quite often way beyond market values. As a seller I am happy to just sell something at the price I list, or at the reserve I set. But delighted if there is a bidding war and I make even more.......

 

I have however also seen Ebay fever push prices up on things which are availble on the open market for half the final selling price, now that makes no sense, because research is so easy on the net. As an example I remember an out of print book that sold for £65 on Ebay and one the same was for sale through Abe books for £25, that is when things are daft, or should I say people are.

 

My bottom line to this is evaluate whatever it is your interested in, make that the maximum you will pay, and walk away if it is exceeded. The thing is to be happy with the amount you spent, and if you got it for less than your max, you will always be satisfied with the cost.