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Do I buy this amp on Ebay? A beginner's guide.

birchoak

birchoak

Hi-Fi Nut
Ok, I'll go first. This is how I try to decide whether a piece is worth buying or not. Ebay has many drawbacks, high prices being foremost, but you do have quite a selection to choose from. For me to buy an amp/receiver now, it should meet as many of these criteria as possible:

1. Buyer feedback 100% or damned close. If it's not, I read the comments to see if the compromised rating is because of some nutjob. With perfect seller feedback we've got a good chance of an honest description. If things go south the seller will probably be easy and fair to work with.

2. No missing knobs, ripped off antennas, broken glass, missing parts. Unless I want a parts unit, I try to avoid things so obviously neglected or abused. If it looks this bad on the outside things can't be much better inside. Not always, but it's a gamble now. It's not worth it to me to hunt down proprietary knobs, switches, etc. unless it's a super rare, highly coveted piece. If components are missing from the inside it means a lot of unsuccessful fiddling/parts robbing has gone on.

3. No water damage. Although not always a deal breaker, water damage can mean fried circuits, mildew inside, and more unpleasantness than I want to deal with. Rusty screw heads on the rear panel is one clue.

4. Not super-scratched up. Dirty is one thing. Paint splatters, marker, etc. can be cleaned up, but deep scratches aren't coming out. Again, parts units are a different story.

5. Interior pix. Ideally. Now you can get an idea of how long the thing has sat, whether stuff has been replaced, detect blown components, etc. Like looking under the hood of a car vs. only walking around it.

6. Seller responds to queries. If the seller cannot answer a simple question now, before they even have your money, they probably aren't going to communicate later. Not always a tell as some people are busy and don't compulsively check their messages, but I always feel better when the human writes back to me.

7. Reasonable shipping charge. Self explanatory.

8. No undocumented claims. "Thoroughly checked by a tech." Okay, where's the tech's write up?

9. No super serious problems. "Was on fire briefly, then doused with sea water." "Terrible howling sound which destroyed a pair of JBL L-100s." "Electrocuted wife." "No transformer."

10. No unobtanium parts. While I'd love a KR-9600, I would not like a boat anchor because the Darlington power packs blew. Unless it's a ridiculously low price or I really, really know what I'm doing (I do not), I stay away from stuff like this because of the very possible sad ending.

What do you guys look for? Any savvy advice?
 
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Is there any way that you can have a friend/relative, or anybody in the region wherein this unit is being sold, and they could go an listen to the 9600?

Is there ANY policy in place for a return? You would most likely have to eat the return shipping.

Is the description seem to be well written, covering all important aspects of this piece of gear?

Does your credit card offer any coverage if something goes wrong?

Is the price really low or high in respect to past/present units of this same series?

If there ANY possibility that you can talk first hand to the vendor? This may allay some of your worries.

Is the shipping being done with a tracking system, and some is one paying the insurance for loss?

Just some things I'd put into play if the amount is substantial.

Q
 
Quadman2 said:
  1. Is there any way that you can have a friend/relative, or anybody in the region wherein this unit is being sold, and they could go an listen to the 9600?
  2. Is there ANY policy in place for a return? You would most likely have to eat the return shipping.
  3. Is the description seem to be well written, covering all important aspects of this piece of gear?
  4. Does your credit card offer any coverage if something goes wrong?
  5. Is the price really low or high in respect to past/present units of this same series?
  6. If there ANY possibility that you can talk first hand to the vendor? This may allay some of your worries.
  7. Is the shipping being done with a tracking system, and some is one paying the insurance for loss?
Click to expand...
Ebay's return policies cover most of these
  1. eBay forces free shipping (Seller pays) if the item is not as described
  2. See #1
  3. n/a
  4. Not necessary, ebay will provide. It's unlikely your credit card company will help you unless the item wasn't received at all (that is, they can open a case, but the seller will probably get it reversed)
  5. More often than not, I've found this is a great way to get a bargain. Unless it's being sold for parts, if the description matches what you want to see, buy it, eBay will cover you if it's a scam or poorly described
  6. ebay discourages this, but it's easy to get around. But as a seller, I wouldn't want to take the time out to talk to a prospective buyer, unless it was the sort of thing that was relatively expensive and the buyer had already indicated through email that there was definite interest in purchasing, not just fishing for info
  7. eBay requires this.
 
Thanks for the information, guys. I didn't know Ebay had improved so much. I'm glad to hear we have more protection from people selling questionable goods.
 
I would add

Buy from a seller that has a history of selling primarily audio equipment as opposed to some sellers I've seen who primarily sell non audio related products.

Some examples I've seen were women's shoes, vintage soda bottles, etc. and then out of nowhere they have a piece of audio equipment.

I happened upon a Luxman amp that was WAY over priced and wanted to know why they thought someone would pay that amount. I looked at the completed listings and not one audio item.

I would also add be aware of the dreaded "I plugged it in, it lit up, it works perfectly" that's usually a sign the seller has no clue
 
swechsler said:
Ebay's return policies cover most of these
  1. eBay forces free shipping (Seller pays) if the item is not as described
  2. See #1
  3. n/a
  4. Not necessary, ebay will provide. It's unlikely your credit card company will help you unless the item wasn't received at all (that is, they can open a case, but the seller will probably get it reversed)
  5. More often than not, I've found this is a great way to get a bargain. Unless it's being sold for parts, if the description matches what you want to see, buy it, eBay will cover you if it's a scam or poorly described
  6. ebay discourages this, but it's easy to get around. But as a seller, I wouldn't want to take the time out to talk to a prospective buyer, unless it was the sort of thing that was relatively expensive and the buyer had already indicated through email that there was definite interest in purchasing, not just fishing for info
  7. eBay requires this.
Click to expand...


:thumbsup:
Lazarus Long said:
@Quadman2 —For items that I sell on eBay, I would NOT entertain someone coming to my house to view the item.
Click to expand...


If I may... often another place can be set up wherein the item is displayed rather than at one's house. A good post to make clarifying this, in case others decide to go this route. This type of gear would be difficult to arrange as well. Most choose a public place...hall, or such wherein an electronic piece of gear can be heard...as in a keyboard or such.

Q
 
Bought my first receiver that I remember off the bay recently. Did amps before but Crown amps just work and don't break when bounced on pavement when shipped so they are different from normal eBay fodder.

This receiver looked like new, stated it was 100% functional, was along my driver's route and seller, with audio gear in past sales, changed listing to allow pick up. Was priced at 40% of what it might go for, BIN. Listening to it now, sounds great, works 100%, looks like new, wasn't expensive. Guess it ticked a number of boxes to make it worthwhile.
 
I look at the seller's feedback..ALL of it. Feedback on what they bought themselves especially...did they recently buy some cheap parts that may fit what you are looking at...was this already sold once and now a month later is selling again.

Look for similar items that seem to show the same pics or have the same description. I recently saw two different sellers in two different locations selling the same thing...and even had the same description. Something like "This was my fathers and only played it like 10 hours"...or something like that. Possibly one guy was just too lazy to write a description and take pics...maybe...but if they are really that lazy I don't want to do business with them.

I also like the ones that state.."I'll be glad to demonstrate this item or show a video AFTER the sale"....O K...see ya!
 
If I may... often another place can be set up wherein the item is displayed rather than at one's house. A good post to make clarifying this, in case others decide to go this route. This type of gear would be difficult to arrange as well. Most choose a public place...hall, or such wherein an electronic piece of gear can be heard...as in a keyboard or such.

@Quadman2 sure, but not for eBay sales. This would be against ebays policy. You can’t arrange for a meetup before the item has been purchased. They would view this as taking the sale off their platform. Besides, if I want to entertain tire kickers and demo gear for people I will list it on Craigslist or Facebook.
 
LHorn said:
I look at the seller's feedback..ALL of it. Feedback on what they bought themselves especially...did they recently buy some cheap parts that may fit what you are looking at...was this already sold once and now a month later is selling again.

Look for similar items that seem to show the same pics or have the same description. I recently saw two different sellers in two different locations selling the same thing...and even had the same description. Something like "This was my fathers and only played it like 10 hours"...or something like that. Possibly one guy was just too lazy to write a description and take pics...maybe...but if they are really that lazy I don't want to do business with them.

I also like the ones that state.."I'll be glad to demonstrate this item or show a video AFTER the sale"....O K...see ya!
Click to expand...

just addressing the, was it already sold once comment.

Non paying buyers happen. It might look like the item has sold before, but it really didn’t. I had one very recently, and the new buyer asked me why it was relisted as he had looked at my sold listings and saw that it had sold. It is a valid concern, as you don’t want to buy something someone else has already returned, but there are legit reasons for that to happen.
 
I'm usually looking for projects, so I avoid anything like "refurbished" or "re-capped" or "just serviced" etc. I'll try to determine what the most difficult to obtain component would be for the hypothetical repair. Maybe a transistor or capacitor or some missing knob that is unobtainable. If I can then find that part somewhere else, I feel better about coming back to reconsider the project. If there are detailed pictures, I try to determine if a screwdriver was ever on the screws or there are any signs of it being opened then it is a big "Pass."
 
Lazarus Long said:
just addressing the, was it already sold once comment.

Non paying buyers happen. It might look like the item has sold before, but it really didn’t. I had one very recently, and the new buyer asked me why it was relisted as he had looked at my sold listings and saw that it had sold. It is a valid concern, as you don’t want to buy something someone else has already returned, but there are legit reasons for that to happen.
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct...it's just one of those things I would question the seller on unless I saw they also had a previous negative feedback on the same item. In that case I wouldn't risk it no matter what they say.
 
petes'picks said:
When purchasing only pay what a broken one is worth, because it probably needs some work. Cant go wrong that way.
Click to expand...

This is my personal policy on any audio gear I can’t test. If I can’t test it, I have to assume it is broken. And I’ve negotiated better prices by explaining that logic to the seller.

Edit: however this does not apply to eBay. You have to decide if it is worth the risk, waiting to get your money back, and the hassle!
 
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