A growing problem on ebay

just dave

just dave

vintage rules!
The last few months I've noticed a problem on ebay and it keeps getting worse.There are guys selling parts to vintage gear and that's all they sell.It amounts to a stereo chop shop.They say that they're parting out a receiver or amp or whatever. Some pretty rare or desirable pieces.
I've contacted them and asked why they are parting this out and the answer is always cosmetic damage but every piece is available and they don't have any whole units for sale. So every piece they find is damaged?:bs:What bothers me is that these guys are destroying these great pieces of gear, not only preventing someone else from owning one but driving up the price of gear overall. I get the idea that there's more parts available to fix other units but more and more people are doing this and soon the parts will exceed demand and by then it too late.
So what I'm asking of you guys is if you see a part you need check the sellers store, if all he's selling is parts don't buy from him it's a chop shop.If anybody has any ideas about what else we can do lets here it.
 
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just dave said:
The last few months I've noticed a problem on ebay and it keeps getting worse.There are guys selling parts to vintage gear and that's all they sell.It amounts to a stereo chop shop.They say that they're parting out a receiver or amp or whatever. Some pretty rare or desirable pieces.
I've contacted them and asked why they are parting this out and the answer is always cosmetic damage but every piece is available and they don't have any whole units for sale. So every piece they find is damaged?:bs:What bothers me is that these guys are destroying these great pieces of gear, not only preventing someone else from owning one but driving up the price of gear overall. I get the idea that there's more parts available to fix other units but more and more people are doing this and soon the parts will exceed demand and by then it too late.
So what I'm asking of you guys is if you see a part you need check the sellers store, if all he's selling is parts don't buy from him it's a chop shop.If anybody has any ideas about what else we can do lets here it.
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Craig's List is just as bad. The only difference is they don't chop them up for parts, they buy up all the available 'bargains' in the area, hoard them, and post them for sale at ridiculous prices. I actually met one of these people and he told me he makes his living doing this.
 
Unfortunately you can make more money for parts than for a whole unit, and I too have doubted that the reason for the 'parting out' is anything to do with cosmetic damage, as you say - all the 'pieces' are very often available. I don't think anything can be done about this, people need money, and money pays the bills.
 
What a PITA to disassemble and list every part for sale with pictures and description. I mean I guess kudos to the folks that do it. Certainly wouldn't be worth my time. It is sorta sad to chop a completely good working unit. But if it gets 10 other units it good working condition, is it worth the sacrifice? I wouldn't say I am a hoarder, but I have more than a few interesting items I got deals on throughout the years. They will be auctioned when retirement comes if I have nothing better to do... Only part that bothers me is missing out on the deal myself!
 
Same same happens in the car scene, both vintage and modern. Most of it is underground trade, but some surfaces on the different sites. As 62 caddy pointed out, where there's a buck to be made, there's always somebody there who wants into the game.

Q
 
I used to cut stuff up because I didn't know how to fix it, and there's more money in parts than selling a non-working unit. Now I don't cut stuff up as much, unless it's pretty far gone or I'm really mad at it for some reason.

Realistically this is not a big deal, since not that much is getting cut up. Want proof? Go look on eBay for Marantz knobs or whatever. Not too much there. Tons of gear gets thrown out or scrapped daily, and either winds up melted down or in landfills. So much more gets just chucked than gets cut up. It's really not a big issue. I get that it's a little upsetting to imagine a nice receiver getting chopped up for parts, but I think it's just as much of a waste for someone to have a hundred pieces of gear stacked up just sitting there, and there are certainly plenty of people like that.
 
It sucks that units are getting parted but the other options are to sell as is and hope it doesn't die before the return period (not to mention possibly getting blown up by the owner or crushed in shipping) or spend a ton of money restoring it only to add a minimal amount to the asking price because everyone seems to think thrift prices of 10-15 years ago are still fair.

Not to mention it being a giant pain in the behind to list every part so they are by no means getting a free lunch. I would be happy to find a knob or tuner glass for a project so can appreciate what they're doing.
 
SNAD is far more difficult on an individual part, than on a whole unit that may have sold as "PARTS ONLY".

It's SNAD's fault along with the premium price for parts vs the whole shebang for pennies on the dollar.
 
goodolpg said:
I agree it sucks.
Until you need and are looking for that one little doodad, thingamajig, or whatzit.
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I have a couple of parts I need that these guys have but I won't buy from them. I get people need money and parts,to me it's just wrong to destroy a perfectly good unit especially the rare ones,This one guy chopped a Nikko NR-1415, they're pretty rare. I been trying to get one for years.
 
until we have piles to the sky of every unit ever made we haven't made a dent in what was built and having a supply of the parts we need to keep the units we have operational is a fine business for some. If they are worth more in parts, it is the market working that breaks these for us to buy in pieces. This gear isn't precious, rare units that need to be preserved in most cases, it's just gear one of hundreds or thousands of truckloads of the same item.
 
Selling a complete, working unit is made risky by ebay policy. Buyer can claim anything he wants and make a return stick. Seller eats original shipping cost and pays for return cost. If the seller is really unlucky, the unit has suffered from parts swapping.

So, what Just Dave is seeing in entirely plausible and is IMO a smart move by sellers. Parts are likely designated "For Parts or Not Working" which makes a refund much more difficult. So, the vintage population is slowly cannibalized.
 
There are people who take old tube amps out of consoles and there are people who have a problem with that and think they should be kept complete. If the parts are being purchased by people, there is likely people who need these parts and in turn are making their own units work again. I also feel there are many examples where you could find something with a bad transformer or some bad part and it would cost too much fix so you wouldn't get much value out of selling the non working unit. If someone wants to go to all the trouble to take the unit apart, and sell the parts, that's actually not so easy nor is it a quick buck. For me, I'd rather just sell the non working unit for cheaper to someone who could fix it, but parting something out is not always the worst thing (unless it's a particular rare item, then I agree it's best to keep it together if possible)
 
So what if they chop it up and sell it. 99.9% of all audio equipment ever produced has no significant historical value. What ISIS did to the historical sights in Iraq and Syria a horrible outrage, chopping up electronics from 1972.......whatever.
 
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