How many here have tips on buying from Ebay?

I'm sure there are good and bad experiences here.

Now...on a $2700 keyboard, would you buy it new? or buy it used (sight unseen) from ebay for about $250 less? (Korg triton studio, less than a year..it's actually selling for about $2200, BUT I'm thinking of purchasing a "buyer's warranty" from ebay for $250, making it $250, making the final price $2450).

I think I already have my answer after typing this....hmm..but still wanna know everybody's opinion.

KN_Fan.

i've had no problems on ebay. i pay by visa and i use "paypal". at only 250.00 savings,
i would by new from my local dealer. tip,
always check the sellers feedback, that might give an idea who you are dealing with.
good luck
davecraycraft

Thanks Wrinkle....

Actually the other one is going for $2400 (new almost $4000)...seller said he/she got cancer, need to sell fast..etc..(no seller history)-but first bid started at $25 (which I think it's odd, but then again I don't know how ebay's bidding works).

Another one is selling for $1300 (new $2700). Which is ridiculously low...almost too good to be true.

Thanks for the input.
KN_Fan

Hi KN_Fan,
I have yet to buy anything from "e-bay" but I have "bid" on several items (got out bid).
One thing comes to mind, last summer I was looking for a digital camera and I would always see it on e-bay, so I would bid and like you stated the prices were low (at the beginning) then as I would follow the "auction" in the final few hours the price goes up to the piont of almost retail. So unless you end up with a realy good deal it might be better , in the long run, to go to a store and buy it !!
O-BTW-- still looking for that camera, hahaha
Best of luck, I hope I have helped
jedi

Hi Jedi,
Yep...that's what my friend told me also...prices go up like crazy as you approach the due date.

I don't want to sound too pretentious, I don't usually buy stuff used, not because I have money (or lack of it)...but because I'm not a keyboard technician...if something happened to it, that extra $300-400 savings can be wiped out in an instant should there's something that needs to be repaired....

Ah, nothing wrong with supporting your local store, right?

kn,
Here's my experience from both buying and selling on e - bay.

First it is smart to wait until the end for obvious reasons....it will go for less. Instead of a bidding war for a week what the bidders are hoping for is they get their bid in before you have the opportunity to get yours in.

I think the smart way to bid though is decide how much you are willing to pay for an item and use the "proxy bid" option. Let's say you are willing to pay $1000. tops for something. If you put that amount in proxy bid, it will keep bidding for you automatically by the set bid increments of the auction, but not go over your $1k. It will not overbid an item either, let's say the other person will only pay 900. and the bid increments are set at $25.00....it will bid $925.00 for you and stop.

OK....I've sold some of my musical equipment I no longer wanted on there. I've gotten quite a bit more for it then I would have gotten on a trade in and except for getting it shipped it's a pretty straight forward deal. Out of 4 items I have sold only 1 bidder backed out and I subsequently relisted the item and sold it anyway.

As far as buying....I bought an amp that was no longer being made and was difficult at best to be found. It was a dealer back east selling a used one. The price was right etc....however when I got it, it had a terrible low noise hum that was unacceptable to me. Fortunately I was in contact with the dealer ahead of time and asked about the return policy. They did allow me to return it and gave me full credit.

Absolutely pay by charge card if it's a dealer, so you have some leverage. With a private sale, such as mine were about the best you can do is what someone suggested and that is look at if there is feedback for the seller from previous deals or not. You can also send them an E mail or two with questions and see how fast they respond and whether or not they have a "real" e address as opposed to hotmail or yahoo. What I sold a couple of my violins for "was too good to be true" but it was and the buyers got killer deals on them. But an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Terry

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 10-31-2002).]

I got a 100 watt RMS stereo powered mixer for $100 from a private owner. I got a nanoverb for about $60. I got a HD for my Korg i30 for $29. Everything works great. But with the exception of the HD this was from private owners.

I think the dealers have people with different email names that bid at the end of auctions so as not to have to give something away on a "no reserve auction."

Right now there are dealers trying to dump their Yamaha Custom tenor saxaphones for $2700. I think a while back you couldn't find one for under $3200. But now Yamaha has dropped the price so low that Woodwind & Brasswind are selling them for $1299. It's true because I emailed them and they will order me one for $1299. I'v never seen anything like this before.

Be smart and shop.
Boo

eBay is where true example of supply and demand works, IMO. If you want an item that is really in demand, you sure will get it for about the same price as you would purchase it at a local store. Every now and then, I sold an item at eBay for a much higher price than I purchase it just because I know places to purchase things for cheap

For expensive item more than say, $1000, I ALWAYS go to local store. I sold stuffs on eBay daily and my only advice - Never totally trust eBay!

Now, back to supply and demand, I once purchase a replacement remote control for my JVC TV. JVC asked me to pay $99, and got it on eBay for right around $10.00

..rb