Ebay morons abound

[Thumpy]

...I’ve never sold a cassette deck and it’s tape cover separately...

No, you weren't the guy and I apologize if my posting implied that. In that auction, the seller stated that he might be listing the cover separately. He did not say why - I assumed greed.

Thank you for your explanation. BTW, you wouldn't happen to have any ice cream, would you? Our humble pie would taste much better if we could have it a la mode.

 

[Cloth Ears]

TaylorHam,

Ditto on SansuiSamRI's comments. Please don't make your first post your last one.

Jonty

 

[acronym]

I'm glad the guy responded with his comments, but come on - $99 STARTING bid for a GE 8-track boombox that comes "from a bunch of sources like garage sales, trade-ins, flea markets, eBay, friends, even the curb and by the pallet load." If they paid more than $5 at purchase they shouldn't be in the eBay business...

also - their ebay sellers statement says "Specializing in Sales Service and Repair of Vintage Electronics" yet they tell us they are in the business of restoring cars.

 

[sydsfloyd67]

I'm glad the guy responded with his comments, but come on - .

Um, like maybe someone has an EPI speaker logo, and is looking for a 150 grill to go with it, but without a logo, and here it is? Oh now I get it! :lmao: -sf

 

[Sansui Louie]

Thanks for posting your explanation, but I'm still not buying it. Phishing for people crazy/ill-informed/desperate enough to pay a ridiculous price for a garage sale item with a quick detailing and a q-tip waved around the heads isn't doing ANYONE in this hobby a justice, AT ALL.

I saw this sort of thing happen to and ruin a previous hobby, and I'll be damned if I'll sit here and watch the likes of you do it to this one without speaking up.

$99 for a GE 8 Track boombox is a ripoff, pure and simple. It's not rare. It's not collectible. It's mildly interesting, and worth $25 on a good day, Sir.

It surprises me not that you're also in the old car resto biz. Most of the 'cancer' that inflicted my previous hobby crossed over from the old car resto biz. You're a vulture, pure and simple. Prey elsewhere.

 

[babblefu]

Um, like maybe someone has an EPI speaker logo, and is looking for a 150 grill to go with it, but without a logo, and here it is? Oh now I get it! :lmao: -sf

It really makes more sense than your suggesting. Since he said the name plate sold then obviously someone had need of one. He could have had that person take the grill and the plate, but it would seem that since the plate moved and the grill did not the buyer did not need both. So he sold the buyer exactly what they wanted. Now he's left with a grill. If someone needs a grill then they're in luck, though it won't have the name plate. Oh well, if a grill is what you want isn't it better to have one without the name plate than to not have one at all? If a buyer can't live without the plate they won't bid, if they can they will.
Its hard you imagine the needs of all the people on ebay. The seller explained himself, it sounded good, maybe this is a good time to cut him some slack.

 

[markthefixer]

If both are offered seperately and simultaniously and someone buys one but not the other... then selling them together would have had one item trashed as unwanted after arrival.

He takes a risk on every entry, he pays the listing fee without a sale...
if there are no buyers for his listings, eventually he runs out of money and stops.... if there are buyers, he has served them.

I have listed stuff in the hopes that "i could give it a good home" rather than trashing it, and ended up trashing it. it is just the "parts available" type listing/offering.

I tried to sell an sx-550 for parts(on the bay)... at a good price... no sale,(shipping costs boosted the "price") then I stripped out what i considered to be useful stuff and dumped the rest... and listed the parts en-toto... the reduced shipping rationale... and giving away my "work" in removing the parts, rather than just trashing it.

Besides I'm the guy who usually rescues the treasures from the trash, so if I trash it ..... its GONE!!!!

who can tell.... faceplate or semiconductors or (cheap) working caps or transformer or whatever... somebody could USE... and be glad to get it!

the only difference is that our section like that is free...
so i have less risk in listing them and getting no responses.

"when we slaughter a hog we use everything but the squeak".
waste?? or greed??

There is no answer.. only opinion.... and everybody is entitled to theirs.

 

[sydsfloyd67]

Not exactly. The badge was listed from an intact nice early EPI 150 grill seperately rather than the grill. As asked, why not then auction the strands from the grill, the masonite board, and the glue blobs? Maybe someone needs the board? Common man, we are talking about a 30 something year old speaker grill here. You preserve it, not part it out for maximum profit. Not hard to understand, this is Audiokarma, and that's bad karma- hence this thread.

I purchased one complete used EPI 150 speaker. The cabinet was not in saleable condition, so it was taken apart to sell as parts. ...... I pulled the parts that could be used by other people to fix or restore a like speaker. The EPI logo badge was sold as auction #5774422604. The woofer and tweeter were sold as auction #5774422599 and #5774422607.

 

[OLDTIMESOUND]

i know his auctions well, overpriced. he sells on ebay for others,wonder how he stays in business.

 

[cubdog]

While I appreceicate the explanation I'm not sure I buy the logic. As to my comment to the seller, it was not my intention to hide my email address from him. Hell, I didn't even know you could do that!

cubdog

 

[gyusher]

Bull Shit!!

The badge is a legitimate part of the grill period. A grill without the badge is not a complete grill especially since it was glued on. . .

Sorry to be the desenter but I sure as hell do not want a speaker grill that is not a complete piece.

"Someone might want a seperate badge" and not the complete grill is nonsense. . .

In my mind it is worth more complete than seperate period. . . Just my opinion but I think this is a bit extreme. . . Might be different if we were talking about real money but just for a couple bucks. . . come on please. . .keep it complete. . .

 

[JimmyNeutron]

A few months ago I bought a pair of AR TSW210 speakers at Goodwill in almost perfect condition. My project was to refoam the woofers, re-stain the cabinet, and search for the one missing piece on this otherwise perfect speaker - that's right. 1 fraking logo. The grills and the cloth were perfect, but one speaker was missing the logo. Frak! I "knew" I would have to shell out for a new entire grill just to use the logo. What the hell would I do with a spare grill, not to mention what it might cost as a complete unit?!? Thank god I found someone on ebay selling - guess what? One AR logo! Thank god. I got it cheap, and I got it at a good price -.50 cents. Shipping cost me more. In short I see nothing wrong with what this ebayer did, and I commend him for doing "business" that way - his history shows he's honest. I would rather piece a system together than buy in bulk and have bulk left over.

 

[gyusher]

A few months ago I bought a pair of AR TSW210 speakers at Goodwill in almost perfect condition. My project was to refoam the woofers, re-stain the cabinet, and search for the one missing piece on this otherwise perfect speaker - that's right. 1 fraking logo. The grills and the cloth were perfect, but one speaker was missing the logo. Frak! I "knew" I would have to shell out for a new entire grill just to use the logo. What the hell would I do with a spare grill, not to mention what it might cost as a complete unit?!? Thank god I found someone on ebay selling - guess what? One AR logo! Thank god. I got it cheap, and I got it at a good price -.50 cents. Shipping cost me more. In short I see nothing wrong with what this ebayer did, and I commend him for doing "business" that way - his history shows he's honest. I would rather piece a system together than buy in bulk and have bulk left over.

I am happy for you. . . We just have different values I guess. My thing was that if the badge was permantly attached to the grill then leave it there.

By the same token there might have been buyers who wanted the complete grill as well.

I guess he should have described it as a "Partial grill" as it sure was not complete. . . .

BTW after reading this post it comes across a bit more hard than I mean. . . When I said I was happy for you I meant just that. . . No offense intended at all. . .

 

[Urizen]

I agree with GYUSHER. Why ruin a vintage, albeit hairy, EPI grill? :thumbsdn:

But then again, who ever said "profit" was a dirty word?

 

[Mike Bama]

One thing I'll give the guy. He has a damn nice camera.

 

[Don C]

Having bought and sold a few things on ebay myself, I can see both sides. It is annoying to see things stripped down to the largest number of saleable items, especially when you need more than one of the items.
Buy I also have been taking a much more selecticve view to buying and selling stuff on ebay myself, because it is often just not worth the time. If an item needs any kind of work before it can be sold, there is no sense in doing it unless you can get at least 100 for it. You can easily find yourself spending enough money on belts and lamps to put you on the red when you sell the item. Especially if you think that your time is valuable, as I do. Anyway, I don't think that a used eight track deck is worth 10 at the yard sale, nor 100 on ebay, so now my answer is just to leave it there for someone else. If it doesn't say Marantz or JBL on it, I'm not wasting my time. Taylor has a different answer to the same problem, he's trying high starting bids, and stripping for parts. Best of luck.

 

[babblefu]

As asked, why not then auction the strands from the grill, the masonite board, and the glue blobs? Maybe someone needs the board?.

There is nothing special about a piece of masonite board, if you need it you can buy it easily enough. You can't just go out and buy a name plate or a grill. Glue blobs obviously have no use (its hardened, glue is only useful if applied before its dry) and it is possible that nobody in the history of speaker restoration have ever replaced a single strand. Now does it make sense?

 

[babblefu]

Sorry to be the desenter but I sure as hell do not want a speaker grill that is not a complete piece . . . In my mind it is worth more complete than seperate period

Your wants probably don't reflect the wants of the world. You not wanting something does not make it valueless. What is worth more "in your mind" is therefore not relivant. If a million people think its dumb but one person sees value and wants it then the system worked. That's what ebay is all about, finding things that you'd never have believed were out there. If everything sold made sense to everyone then it would just be another store.
Pardon a newbie asking such a question, but why is this guy on trial here? You don't think what he's selling makes sense - great then don't buy it. If he sucks as a seller there is an ebay mechanism to warn people about that, nature will take its course. People here comment like they think its their call what should happen on ebay.

 

[luvvinvinyl]

Exchanging opinions, and the reasoning behind them, makes for lively discussion, and we don't (usually) take it personally, when someone disagrees with another. Sometimes, the very scenario you describe occurs. Someone posts about a widget, and the 'ridiculous' auction, and another member, or lurker, jumps on it. Sometimes, not.

As for gyusher, I don't think he believes that his opinion is the only 'right' one, for the world, any more than the rest of us do.

I don't know how long you lurked at AK, or how much reading you have done, but I think you will find that differing points of view can be discussed, with... enthusiasm, yeah, that's it, enthusiasm. If you and I hold opposing POV's, I would welcome your efforts to convince me of the validity of your opinion, and I expect you would do likewise. Success or failure, either way, I would hope we would respect each other, and maybe become friends.

If no one has said this yet, Welcome to AK.

 

[gyusher]

As for gyusher, I don't think he believes that his opinion is the only 'right' one, for the world, any more than the rest of us do.



If no one has said this yet, Welcome to AK.

Absolutly not. . . . Just one man's opinion. . . I was a salesman too many years to get upset about someone else's opinion if different than mine. . . Often I change mine after I hear the other side. . . If we remain at odds then so be it, not right or wrong here just different. . .