If you don't feel right about a seller, just ask for his phone number so you can talk on the telephone and get his address like you may be picking the item up if you win. If he agrees, you can trust him, if not then forget about the item. Also make sure the person has a return policy so if it is not to your expectations, send it back. Expect to pay the freight back. I have never had a problem other than the item being not as described. I sent the item back. The two phono sellers I personally don't trust on Ebay are Firebottles and Phonoviolin. Firebottles machines are always too perfect looking for the age of the phonos and Phonoviolins decriptions do not match the machines they have on auction. I will say that Phonoviolin did take a machine back that I was not satisfied with. However, they were not very nice to talk to on the phone. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
-----Original Message----- From: "Robert Wright" <[email protected]> Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 14:28:57 To: Antique Phonograph List<phono-l at oldcrank.org> Subject: [Phono-L] eBay tips for safe bidding Call me lucky, but in nearly ten years of eBaying and PayPal'ing, I've never been taken, fooled, swindled, or any of that. Not once. But I don't call it luck. The more money I intend to spend on an item, the more research I do on the seller. I pay very close attention to spelling/punctuation/grammar/syntax, etc., as well as quality of the listing layout (widely-spaced lines with giant font and all capital letters? skip 'em!), and especially the quality of the pictures (shoddy phone camera pics? plenty of the same image from different angles, but no pictures showing relevant details? skip 'em!). If the seller can't competently put together a listing, I'm not interested in what they're selling, generally speaking, as the attention to detail they pay anything is the attention they pay everything (like packing, for instance). For more info, I'll check all the seller's other listings; does this person deal only in what I want, or do they sell anything and everything? If the latter, I skip 'em. (Seller ID's are useful here too -- things like "isoldit.ca" and especially "searchingforcollectibles" are big red flags. Who's not searching for collectibles? What does that handle tell me? It tells me this person doesn't care what they find so long as they sell it to someone who knows even less about it than they do, imbuing the word "collectible" with exaggerated import. No thanks!) Another quick point about seller ID's: they are chosen to represent something about the seller by design, so anything that would send a red flag in person should also apply here. I wouldn't bid on a listing by xx_churchofsatan_xx, for instance. I wouldn't buy anything from a seller whose ID LoOkEd_LiKe_ThIs, either, as that appears to be someone (either chronologically or mentally) under the age of 18, frankly. Yes, this is indeed a form of profiling, which isn't a fair/good policy in person, but I don't risk offending the seller by choosing not to bid on his listing, so no harm, no foul. Third, I'll dig into a seller's feedback. I generally don't deal with ANY seller with less than 100%, and even when it's 100%, I still go through and check all the feedback the seller has left for others, cross-referencing any neutrals or negatives against the recipient's to see if either feedback was retaliatory. If anything about the feedback exchange suggests to me that this isn't someone who treats people in general with respect and professionalism (and man, can you tell a LOT from the way a seller leaves a negative or a neutral), I simply don't deal with them. (Yes, I know eBay doesn't let sellers 'neg' buyers anymore, so this resource will soon dry up if it hasn't already, but you can also tell a lot from positive feedbacks left by a seller. What you want to look for is ability to communicate effectively, attitude, and attention to individual detail -- if a seller posts exactly the same positive message for every positive feedback left, this is a seller who takes shortcuts. Again, no thanks.) If I feel iffy about the seller after all this, but I still REALLY want that item, I'll email the seller with a few specific questions that take more than 2 or 3 words to answer, in order to engage them in direct communication. Again, this will tell you LOTS about a seller. If they're short and terse, skip 'em. If they miss the point of your question, they're not paying attention, so skip 'em. If they fail to connect with you verbally on any level, skip 'em. If you find they communicate similarly to you in a way that feels comfortable and clear, odds improve that you'll be just fine transacting with them. And remember that all these indicators are connected, i.e., finding 3 neutrals in a 100% feedback collection that all mention a seller's 'taking a long time to ship' means you should find as many feedbacks as you can that specifically mention fast shipping; this will tell you that the 3 neutrals were relatively isolated experiences and probably not reason for concern. But always cross-reference where you can; if the seller left defensive or ugly responses to those 3 neutrals, then you know this seller has a problem with shipping on time and doesn't like to get called out on it. Skip 'em. All these tools are in place at eBay for a reason; use them all with a slight touch of healthy cynicism and you may very well end up with the same trouble-free experience I've enjoyed for almost 10 years now. Best to all, Robert ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <phono-l at oldcrank.org> Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 1:16 PM Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Victor VI on Ebay > Bruce, > > Nothing can be done. Again, all the swap shops, including ebay and Craigs > list, are buy at your own risk. This is why I encourage all future > collectors > to join a legitimate club with knowledgeable members and to learn as much > as > you can. In this world of reproductions and swindlers, even the most > experienced collectors still get 'fooled' sometimes. > > Brantley </HTML> > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
