Parcour25's eBay Poll

jim_mc · Post by **jim_mc** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 8:16 am

I've bought and sold. You have to know what you're doing to make any money, though. I've mostly bought and sold antique fifes. You wouldn't believe how many early 20th century fifes are sold as "Genuine Civil War Artifacts." On the other hand, there were at least two occasions where genuine Civil War fifes were being sold as "some old wooden flutey thing I found in Grandpa's attic." Guess where those two are now? Well, one is packed away for eventual display and the other is being played (by me) on a regular basis.

I got beat on a beanie baby sale, though. My little son had a discontinued one that he loved, and slept with every night until the dog ate it. I decided to replace it with one from eBay, so I did the PIN and paid for express shipping. $40 later I saw the same beanie at a sidewalk sale for $3.99. I bought it and put it in my closet, just in case.

There were something like 15,000 beanie babies for sale on eBay that night, by the way.

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 9:06 am

And there is at least one engraved Copeland that hasn't sold in at least three attempts!

I've bought. . .and not done badly IMHO. . .some of the reconditioned electronics have been good deals, some of the whistles have been a bit more than I should have spent.

McHaffie · Post by **McHaffie** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 1:04 pm

I buy and sell stuff on eBay all the time... not like daily or anything, but I'd say anywhere from 10-50 times a year I do back and forth stuff... most of the time I sell something I have and buy something newer.. like a while pack a sold an old Fujitsu POINT pen tablet PC and bought a newer Pocket PC.

But mostly I use eBay to support my (dare I say it) Buckaroo Banzai memorabilia addiciton!!

eBay definately makes millions for the average joe and the schemeing jerk, but hey, it's the internet. I don't like the stuff I see sometimes, but if you don't do a little research before you buy, you'll get screwed.. especially after shipping....

Perfect example... DVD movie special edition... Buy it now price of 12.99 : not bad right? well then there's $4.00 shipping (priority mail, which is a joke, it's only about $1.50 - $3.00 tops, TOPS) so in reality you just spent 16.99 for something you can buy locally for 14.99 at Wal Mart.

(unless you win it at a bid of 9.99 or less, but usually somebody bids it up to the buy it now price or goes ahead and uses it)

Take care,
John

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 2:11 pm

I buy and sell on eBay a lot. My dad gave me a guitar a few years ago that he bought new for $90 when he was a kid. I sold it on ebay last year for $35,000! I just thought I'd shoot for the moon, but some guitar collector, Hank Risan, from Santa Cruz bought it and stuck it in his museum, MOMI, (museum of musical instruments).

He paid $15,000 more than the three leading retailers offered me...Elderly Instruments (MI), Mandolin Bros., (NY) Gruhn Guitars (Nashville). Ebay amazes me sometimes.

The sale made several national newspapers. See story at:
http://www.examiner.com/antiques/defaul ... bson.0806w

TomB · Post by **TomB** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 2:40 pm

Lorenzo wrote:I buy and sell on eBay a lot. My dad gave me a guitar a few years ago that he bought new for $90 when he was a kid. I sold it on ebay last year for $35,000! I just thought I'd shoot for the moon, but some guitar collector, Hank Risan, from Santa Cruz bought it and stuck it in his museum, MOMI, (museum of musical instruments).

He paid $15,000 more than the three leading retailers offered me...Elderly Instruments (MI), Mandolin Bros., (NY) Gruhn Guitars (Nashville). Ebay amazes me sometimes.

The sale made several national newspapers. See story at:
http://www.examiner.com/antiques/defaul ... bson.0806w

Wow!

LimuHead · Post by **LimuHead** » Wed Jul 09, 2003 4:07 pm

I've only bought stuff from Ebay.

Gee, I wish I had $35,000 to spend on a guitar......

sprite · Post by **sprite** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 4:05 am

I have bought and sold; and be taken. There is no quality control or truth verification, or an appraisal about the value of the goods they sale. People sale used items as new, and fake items as the original. There is a lot of con artists out there; it is buyer beware.

madguy · Post by **madguy** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 4:12 am

I've bought off eBay around 40 times or so, and luckily only been taken once. My wife has been eBaying for 5 years now, and has gotten tons of crochet yarn, hooks, books, etc., while being taken only a few times.

As others have said, it does pay to research so you have an idea what you're looking for and what it's worth. Of course, no matter how careful you may be, there's always the chance that you may be had by a seller. As sprite wrote, and as eBay says on their main page, "Caveat emptor".

~Larry

tinlaw · Post by **tinlaw** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 7:57 pm

Cranberry wrote:You know, I didn't put a 'I've bought and sold' option.

Shame on me.

I didn't vote, because I buy and sell. I have my custom made whistle cases for sale right there next to Jerry's tweaked Sweetones.

RonKiley · Post by **RonKiley** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 5:50 pm

Lorenzo
I have got to know what kind of guitar. These things are amazing sometime. I bought a Fender NoCaster back about 1956 from a friend. It was made about 1954 and there were only a few of them made. I sold it for $125. I understand the price is now astronomical. I still have my 1960 Martin D28. I bought it new. I could have bought a D45 for the same price, about $300. The dealer was overstocked and was in serious need of money.
Ron

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 6:39 pm

Ron...it was a 1938 Advanced Jumbo Gibson guitar. That's the only name it was given. The only name on the guitar was "Gibson." The "Advanced Jumbo" part was something we had to learn about as my dad only called it a "Jumbo." He never knew what he had, he just knew it was the best sounding guitar in the store (and he was only 17 years old!).

Your Martin sells for anywhere from $3,500 - $5,000 depending on the condition. There's one on eBay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=33028

And, there's one at Elderly Instruments:

http://www.elderly.com/vintage/10U.htm (scroll down to 1960)

Too bad about your Fender. I passed up one about that vintage at a yard sale about 10 years ago...$175 was just a little too much and he wouldn't take $100 (smilie with gun to head!). But a friend decided I needed an education, that's when I realized my dad's guitar might be something special.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 10:26 am

I've bought a few little things on Ebay over the years, the last being a JerryTone. (my carwhistle) The kind of auctions I am used to are car auctions. I was at one several years ago where they ran two lanes together. It's what you call a "factory sale" It is all of the off-lease and factory demos running together. The particular one was in Orlando. I went down to buy New Yorkers and LeBaron Convertibles. They had thousands that day.

You probably won't believe me but they sell a car every 5-10 seconds in each lane at a sale like that. The cars are checked out and they disclose damage, etc. so and experienced car man can make snap decisions there.

You have to stand in the middle of the two lanes as the cars go by and try to keep up with the auctioneer. It is very loud and crowded and confusing. And after a while you get high from the fumes.

(It takes a day or so to get over it, seriously). Anyway, I had already bought about 10 vehicles and the girl came up to me with the clipboard so I could sign for a Lebaron that I had bought. Trouble was, I hadn't actually bought it. Well, it was a good color and the miles :roll: were right, and it was a good price. I hadn't actually seen the car, but I was under the ether and I figured what the hell.

I signed it. Turned out to be a good deal.

It is always a crazy affair. To someone who doesn't know what's going on it doesn't make any sense at all. At the regular auction where all the dealers take their random stuff it's crazy. people schill-bid on their friends' cars to run them up, but there is ettiquite as well. If you know one of your friends wants a car that you also want, then you should get off it and let him get it for a good price. But if someone doesn't follow the rule,

Hell, sometimes when I want a car really bad and someone (less experienced) is bidding against me I'll run it up really high and jump off at the last miniute out of spite. In the trade it's called shoving it up his *** .

There are cars there that you wouldn't sell your worst enemy. There are also great deals to be had if you know what you're doing. Although it seems like total chaos, it is actually not that way at all. It's like a good 'ole boy network. Everyone knows what's going on and who has what, etc...

For a lot of the used (and new) car guys, it's a social event. You see all these trophy girls with their "car dealer" guys hanging out. It's a great place for people watching. I havent seen him for years, he's probably passed on or in a home, but there was an old-timer that I used to see every week at the Atlanta Auto Auction. He was dressed in a suit and tie every week with a fedora-style hat. he would just stand by the auctioneer stand all day. You see, he probably had been going there for 30 years or more when he was working. It became a habit. He was on Autopilot!

IN the opld days when I was a kid, they had about 5 lanes at the AAA. THe auctioneers would do their thing and bang on the counter with a cut-off length of garden hose when the car was sold. Everyone wore a suit, even in the summertime. Now, it's shorts and cellphones. No more gardenhoses. They have 10 lanes and video screens for the internet bidders.

-Oh well, sorry for rambling.

-Paul

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Parcour25's eBay Poll

Which statement applies to you:

I can't believe I'm gonna do this........

ebay