| Author | Message | ||
| hasadari
Junior Username: hasadari Post Number: 46 Registered: 6-2005 |
http://cgi.ebay.com/ALEMBIC-CROWNHEAD-EPIC-5-STRING-BASS_W0QQitemZ7344572901QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem | ||
| sfnic
Intermediate Member Username: sfnic Post Number: 128 Registered: 3-2005 |
Gee, I always enjoy it when somebody with zero feedback tries to sell a multi-thousand dollar item on eBay... | ||
| lidon2001
Junior Username: lidon2001 Post Number: 31 Registered: 4-2005 |
Just curious Nic, what's a person supposed to do in your opinion then? The following are all assumptions on my part, but fair assumptions none the less. He wants to sell his bass. He never had a need to sell or buy anything on EBay before. He goes to his local music store, and they say you'd probably do best on EBay, so here he is. Since you don't like buying from first time buyers, you make this post, a rather esteemed member of the club to boot. Do you have any first hand knowledge of reasons not to buy this particular bass? Is this person, apparently a fine Alembic customer, really needing such a generalized comment especially here on the board? Is that fair to him? Snerking at poor Fender jokes is one thing, but a generalized statement about a person trying to sell his instrument, a fine custom Alembic, is out of line and not in the spirit of this section where good Alembic customers try to deal their instruments. I would be very disenchanted with the people here if that was post on my bass. IMHO. Maybe you should keep your rants in the Miscellaneous section, as I do. Buying from a zero feedback EBayer is risky, but we all had zero feedback there at one time. I know someone who fell for that second auction thing for a high end set of speakers. Yes, people are that ignorant. No, he didn't ask me about it, for I would have showed him how they make it work. It cost him thousands of dollars. Of course, your vast knowledge in the technical side of things is very informative, helpful and entertaining. They are at a very high level. This one sinks a bit, IMHO. Tom (see pot, insert spoon, stir....) PS - I think your collection needs an Alembic. I noted one wasn't on your list. Again, IMHO. | ||
| kungfusheriff
Advanced Member Username: kungfusheriff Post Number: 360 Registered: 8-2003 |
You just quit smoking, right? Identity theft, especially on evilBay, is increasingly common and some folks feel more confident bidding on an item offered by a seller who started off with small, low-priced items and established a reputation, rather than blowing in out of nowhere with a $3000 bass, a PayPal account and no references. Are you affiliated, by some chance? PS--20 words is not a rant. Chill, full moon and all. | ||
| bob
Senior Member Username: bob Post Number: 492 Registered: 11-2002 |
"multi-thousand" is hyphenated, so I think it was only 19 :-) Easy, guys. I'm inclined to take Nic's remark lightly. It's a fair point - he doesn't say the seller is bogus, just that it's going to be a challenge given he has no feedback. As for Tom, though I won't speculate on his smoking habits, I happened to notice that within the last few hours he saw the first photos of his bass under construction, and subsequently decided to name it after his mom (deceased) - so he is perhaps, justifiably, in a somewhat heightened emotional state. I do have some sympathy with his more general point. I happen to be one of the few remaining people in this world who have never yet either bought or sold anything on ebay. And as time goes on, it seems increasingly likely that will remain the case... By now, we all know how easy it is to establish a perfectly bogus feedback reputation. And if for some reason I suddenly needed to unload an expensive item to a limited market, would I want to look around my house for a bunch of smaller items to sell first? Well, no, if it happened to be my bass (which will never happen), I'd post it here. But we've also seen cases where people have started out here, waited beyond their limit without a taker, and had to move on to the only real game in town. I'd like to think that Marvin (if I remember his name correctly) might have some reasonable way of establishing that he did, indeed, have the bass built. I just checked my own "wood card", and found that it doesn't identify me - but I do have a few related receipts with my name on them. -Bob | ||
| sfnic
Intermediate Member Username: sfnic Post Number: 130 Registered: 3-2005 |
Not a rant; merely an observation. That said, here's the <rant>: Tom, it's not that I don't like buying from first-time _buyers_ (yeah, I know you meant "sellers"), but rather that I think it's very strange that a person has had an eBay account since February, and hasn't completed a single transaction that resulted in feedback, either positive OR negative. Then, apparently, embarks on his eBay selling career with an item reasonably worth about a grand. That's fairly unusual. Of course, I've been monitoring Alembic sales on eBay on virtually a daily basis for nearly a year, and I've never bought or sold one. So the fact that "marvin1190" hasn't sold anything before doesn't particularly bother me. It's really the fact that he's apparently jumped into the deep end of the pool without _ever_ completing a transaction. He's asking a potential buyer to trust _his_ familiarity with how eBay works, without any evidence that he, himself, actually knows what happens after the auction closes. So even if he is legitimate, there's a good possibility that the after-sales process could be botched. Now, in this particular case, "marvin" is very specific about a few things: "I will not ship overseas." "I prefer to ship with "peanuts" not bubble wrap. If shipping is outside the U.S.A the cost may be higher. Buyer can look for other shippers,or methods." These are statements indicative of someone experienced with selling via mail-order auction. That's not consistant with a zero-feedback account. That raises a flag with me. I've seen dozens of zero-feedback sellers offering Alembics, and the vast majority of them have turned out to be fraudulent. Of the few that haven't been, the sales have collapsed due to the seller's inexperience and/or arrogance. Only one or two have resulted in what I'd consider "clean" transactions. Now, about some of your assumptions: I seriously doubt a music store employee would ever tell a walk-in customer that they'd be better off trying to sell an Alembic on eBay. Frankly, if it were my store, and an employee made that recommendation to a customer in my hearing, I'd have to take the employee into the back room and remind him explain exactly what we, as a music store, are in business to do. I might have to deliver that explaination at about 140db SPL, but I probably wouldn't fire the schmuck for the first offense. I have absolutely no reason whatsoever not to buy that particular bass from that particular seller. I also have no reason whatsoever TO buy that particular bass or any other from that particular seller. If I ever need to buy an Epic 5, I know where to find reputable sellers that I don't need to worry about. But some kid out in the great vastness of the Internet may very well decide that this is THE bass he's been looking for, and that it's worth bidding on. (I notice that the current high bidder has never spent more than $98 on eBay, and has only 5 feedback points himself; I'll be interested to see how this one plays out...) That's fine, and I hope he gets a good deal. But as PT Barnum said... Oh, and let's get real, here: as nice as it may be, a 2001 Epic 5 doesn't qualify as "a fine custom Alembic" in my book. Nor is there any basis whatsoever for assuming that "marvin" is "a fine Alembic customer." Or a competent eBay seller. There's zero evidence for any conclusion other than to observe his feedback rating. As to my comments being "not in the spirit" of the "Seen on eBay" thread, that's silly. This thread exists so we can let each other know about possible deals, and so we can warn each other about possible scams. The potential for fraud is MUCH higher with a zero-feedback seller, and pointing that out is hardly out of line. I'm being perfectly fair to the seller: I'm pointing to a piece of data that directly concerns the transaction. eBay provides a feedback rating system specifically so people can assess the degree of trust they can place in one another. "marvin" may be legit, and he may be lurking or posting here. Great. If he is, here's my advice to him: get your feet wet and get a handful of feedback points _before_ trying to sell something expensive. Buy a few things, like guitar picks or magazines or something. Finish a transaction or three, so you know how the system works, and people _know_ that you deal honestly, and are willing to put your own cash at risk for an item you may never see. Show that _you're_ willing to take the honesty of a seller on faith, before expecting anybody to trust you. As to my collection, I've owned Alembics, and am quite fond of them. I have little interest in anything less than a Series bass, though. Why compromise? Right now, however, I'm devoting my energy and finances to setting up a shop and designing basses that hopefully will stand up to direct comparison to Alembic, and which will be a credit to everybody I've learned from over the past 30-odd years. Finally, you're more than welcome to your opinion, and I'll be first in line to defend your right to voice it in any forum you choose to present it. I don't even take much offense at the tone you used. But I reserve the right to disagree, and to get incredibly long-winded about explaining why I hold the opinions I do. I rarely shoot from the hip and make a personal statement about some person or situation (in this case, "marvin") without _some_ thought behind it, and I'm delighted to share my reasoning with anybody curious enough to ask for an explanation. </rant> There's about 950 words. THAT'S a rant. <g> nic | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2255 Registered: 5-2002 |
All of the above posters have made reasonable points about zero feedback sellers. At this point, I recommend that we all go plug in, turn up, hit an open E, and meditate on a wavelength of 41.2Hz. (Message edited by davehouck on August 20, 2005) | ||
| dadabass2001
Senior Member Username: dadabass2001 Post Number: 446 Registered: 6-2002 |
At 6:30 am??? I've got neighbors, Dave! Can i just contemplate an E power chord I'll play tonight at a club?  Mike | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 2257 Registered: 5-2002 |
Whoops, living out here in the woods I wasn't thinking that some of you have neigbors! Well, leave it unplugged and just press your chin against the body. | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 599 Registered: 7-2004 |
Tom: I cruise ebay quite often for guitars - I just received delivery this week of a Fender Performer and a Daion Caribou. When I see a seller with little or no feedback a red flag definitely goes up. That doesn't mean the seller is automatically a scammer, but it does cause me to look more closely at the listing for clues like those Nic mentions. Even with a little feedback, I check it out more closely. I have seen "sellers" where all the feedback came from the same 2 or 3 accounts and where every previous "auction" had a high "buy it now" price which was immediately met by the "buyers". The result: instant positive feedback unless you look more closely. You have to be careful on ebay. While the old saying of "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck" might not always be true, if I see an auction that looks, walks, and talks like a duck, I'm going to be VERY careful to insure it's not a duck before I spend my cash. And the basic fact is that IMHO any ebay auction for an Alembic from a 0 feedback seller looks like a duck. It may turn out that it's not a duck, but I'm still going to investigate. I don't take non-duckdom on faith alone. By the way, if you want to get a quick education on ebay scamming check out Ed Roman's rant on ebay: http://edromanguitars.com/rant/ebay.htm Bill, tgo | ||
| kungfusheriff
Advanced Member Username: kungfusheriff Post Number: 361 Registered: 8-2003 |
"At this point, I recommend that we all go plug in, turn up, hit an open E, and meditate on a wavelength of 41.2Hz." LOL...for maximum annoyance, I'd recommend tuning down to B and firing up the 18" speakers. And seriously, to Tom--my condolences, I didn't know. What I do know is that the tone you took on that post is unusual for this board, so I felt compelled to slap you around a bit to calm you down. No static here. | ||
| lidon2001
Junior Username: lidon2001 Post Number: 36 Registered: 4-2005 |
Yes, my FTC was an ingrdient. I'll blame the rest on the Blue Moon... But I also think a "Be Careful, Zero Feedback" is more useful than "Gee, etc...". Semantics, I guess. Back to my FTC... T |
