Don't buy a guitar from...

[gregc]

eBAY ID: guitar-trader 2000.

Nuff said, really.

gregc

[Moose]

eBAY ID: guitar-trader 2000.

Nuff said, really.

Is it really "nuff" to make a statement like that against someone with a near perfect ebay history? Only one bad mark earned well over 2 years ago generally doesn't signify a bad ebayer.

It's probably not wise to just utter a potentially libelous statement without corroborating evidence. It's not like you're Newsweek or something.

And I don't mean to impugn your integrity by any means, so please don't take it that way. I'm just letting you know a statement unsupported like this looks more like embittered reprisal than clear fact and fair warning.

[cmatthes]

Greg:

You're right, man! That looks NOTHING like a guitar!

Whu?!?!

Seriously, sorry to hear that something didn't work out. That's never cool.

[Brownsound]

Well...legally speaking he didnt hit libel territory only made a statement that nobody should buy from this person. Libel laws are fairly liberal, you would be amazed at what you can say about a person...lol!

Im really glad there are some good Ebay sellers out there. I started doing business on Ebay in 1996. Since then its spiraled down into what amounts to a bad neighborhood. Sure there are lots of good honest people selling stuff but I cant tell you how many times I have been shilled, lied to, overcharged and have actually be ripped off 3 times.

I would hazard a guess that fully 20% of all items on Ebay are in some way risky with regards to condition, authenticity and whether or not the item exists.

Plus, I have noticed a phenomenon that has been growing for a number of years. The competition of the bidding process is somewhat independant of the value of the item. What results is an item going for more than its market value and in some cases more than MSRP. Its because people dont like to lose. I have also been given "second chances" on items that some dumb ass shill overbid on in hopes of driving the price up only to win his own shit.....yes Virginia, I hate Ebay...and ther is no Santa Clause!

[gregc]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

This arrived with the front pickup treble side detached from the mounting hardware. When I bolted it all back up I saw why. Even with the pickup lowered as much as possible it sat high and would touch the strings when you fretted up high. Not a big deal, I put in a low profile ring, longer screws, longer springs, and set it up correctly.

The bigger issue: a resprayed neck! Definately not original, as advertised...probably to fix Hameritis on the top FB edge, the whole neck-back was resprayed. You can see it from halfway up the rear headstock to the neck/body joint. They got a little on the body back (upper horn) too (overspray). The guitar came out of the case with the neck-back sticky and case fuzz stuck all over it. It was soft. I worked it like a Bastard and got all the overspray off the body. I got the fuzz off the neck and worked it down to some good,hard lacquer (though there is a bad, maybe 2" square spot which didn't co-operate fully and remains slightly rough.

The guitar was rather nice outside these items and is now a good player and sounds great. When I contacted the seller he disavowed any knowledge of the above (in his expert opinion), insinuated that I was making it up, and wanted to blame & try to get $ out of UPS! ... as if they had anything to do with this mess. All I wanted was an acknowledgement and maybe a few $ back for my work, parts, and effort at getting it back into shape. I offered to get the guitar to an authorized dealer or even the factory to confirm the above suspicions and was, let's say, not treated kindly. Well, OK. I gotta warn my friends though, right? Now I know why he wanted a MO or bank check only. No recourse, really.

Could have been worse, right?

Greg C

ps" I haven't left feedback on this one ....yet. I'm still cooling off~

you can't see any evidence of the respray in the pics from the ad, at least I can't. When you held it in your hands, in the light, it was very evident. Hell, it was soft with case fuzz stuck all over it, LOL.... and they relacquered, including the top fingerboard edge but didn't bother making the bottom side edge look good... just left the Hameritis on ther FB there (no BFD to me).

edited to add: he told me the guitar came to him from PA, a couple months ago. I posted about this one earlier, in an attempt to find out if anyone here knew of it or if it was one I had previously owned. I got no info at the time.

[DaveL]

this is part of the reason I avoid ebay guitars with

hameritis, laquer flaking and or chipping in the neck

joint area. I bought one once and it looked like the

thing had been dropped. I sold it for a big loss and on

top of it, it was a huge hassle selling it.

BTW: super hi grit wet sand paper 1200-1600-2000 (wal mart

may have some) and some mirror glaze will help clean up

the stickiness/overspray. I have a little buff wheel that goes

on a power drill (stew mac $15) and it leaves a completely

professional appearance.

[Guest galejt]

I dunno. Maybe I'm just spoiled by dealing with HFC members and dealers, but there really is no room for subterfuge when dealing on eBay or any public auction site. There is enuf lying and cheating going on in public (and politics) to push Charon into overtime. Just tell it like it is.

[serial]

Wait a minute, didnt' this guy post that for sale here and someone call him on the resprayed neck? Didn't know about it? BS. I gotta do a thread search, but if that thread is still here, you might wanna send it to him. IIRC he got called out on that before.

[Guest teefus2]

thanks for posting the heads up greg. it seems like we are hearing about quite a few problem sellers son ebay lately. it's funny because ebay is always promoting their "safe transactions" and "everything is insured" approach but they rarely back up their (ebay's) promises. i had a recent transaction on ebay where there was a dispute. i knew ebay would not honor their promises and that's exactly what happened. they pretended to try to intervene but backed nothing up in the end. paypal is the same way. every dispute results in a small percentage of a refund or credit but nothing approaching the full amount.

[silentman]

This one???

http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/index.p...wtopic=1559&hl=

[gregc]

I did not get it from Tim. Same guitar though? Possible. The year is correct. So is the color (I didn't think it was the advertised '59 Burst; looks way too orange, more like amber burst) and remarks of a resprayed neck. Hmmmm... I'm like to know if that somehow wound up with Mr. Heard in Lousiana.

gregc

edit: since John Q Ball is from PA, it just may have gone that way. John, what say you?

I'd love to sort that out and send the guy that thread, just for personal gratification.

Thank you, thank you very much...:-)

[SirDouglas]

I had the same problem 1 time also, bought a studio from ebay... it said "may have had some neck work done"... ok i took a chance it was cheap enough for me to forgo any real horrors since anythign is near fixable.... received the item... turned it over... the son of a b***h had been broken TWICE head stock AND body.. while it was all original and was fixed extremly well the fact that you can SEE where it was fixed and the assumption of MAY HAVE HAD SOME NECK WORK DONE always leaves me to stay away becuase of 1 bad apple.... the guitar plays fine sounds good and has a straight neck... but ebay doesnt seem to gives a crap about what gets posted mostof the time unless its some trademark or copyright infringment to cover thier ass.... i feel like greg does.... ebay is not to be trusted and get as many pics as possible.. ifthey refuse its thier loss not ours..

Sir Douglas

Randy

[silentman]

Tim was the buyer of the Duotone, not the seller. He returned it I believe.

[gregc]

Hey fellas, I just had a nice chat with John-Q. It may very well be that same Duo, but without being able to match SN's we'll never know for sure. We 'think' it is though. Maybe the re-fin'd neck softened up in shipping or from the hot & humid LA weather? Maybe the owner thought it was perfect when he had it? Possible, but if it's this same guitar, the owner KNEW, for sure, that he had a re-fin'd neck on it when he put it up for sale as 'unmodded, all original'.

gregc

you can fool some of the people, sometimes, but not usually the HFC Boyz...:-)

[ZR]

Not that I don't feel bad about your situation Sir D but with that kind of damage reported didn't you see detailed photos of the damaged areas in question?? If it looks too good to be true it usually is, caveat empor etc. etc.

I just think that sometimes ppl ignore red flags, take a gamble and then when it doesn't meet their expectations finds someone else to blame but themselves. I've passed on several deals that looked really good because of a gut feeling I had about the wording of the description or the fuzziness of pics etc. but at least so far I've never been burned but I am VERY careful and have probably passed on some cool deals that may have turned out ok but just wasn't worth the gamble for me (OK,OK< run-on sentence!!).

I really don't think it's ebays fault but just that there are bad people out there and that means buyer beware.

[serial]

I'd have no doubt that it is the same guitar.

[MCChris]

I haven't done an eBay deal in years. I'm so glad I'm over that scene. Just a haven for scumbags. And the feedback system? Pardon the extreme analogy, but I think women who have been raped are less fearful of identifying a suspect and facing him down in court than people are about posting negative feedback and possibly getting a retaliatory negative in return. With no effective self-policing in place, eBay is a nightmare.

[Brownsound]

Not that I don't feel bad about your situation Sir D but with that kind of damage reported didn't you see detailed photos of the damaged areas in question?? If it looks too good to be true it usually is, caveat empor etc. etc.

I just think that sometimes ppl ignore red flags, take a gamble and then when it doesn't meet their expectations finds someone else to blame but themselves. I've passed on several deals that looked really good because of a gut feeling I had about the wording of the description or the fuzziness of pics etc. but at least so far I've never been burned but I am VERY careful and have probably passed on some cool deals that may have turned out ok but  just wasn't worth the gamble for me (OK,OK< run-on sentence!!).

I really don't think it's ebays fault but just that there are bad people out there and that means buyer beware.

I dont think you will find anyone as picky or careful as me when parting with my hard earned dollars. I get a little loose with trades but I dont think "gut feeling" qualifies as a valid purchase qualification. If the pics look right, the guy has positive feedback and you know what your looking at you have a fair chance of getting what you pay for...or so you would think.

Shilling seems derigeur on Ebay which I think is despicable, and so is glossing over details in the hopes that once the person takes delivery the issue will not be bad enough to back out of the deal. It happens a lot. I think of Ebay as a Blind Pawnshop full of felons...if I keep that attitude I will not get taken.

I actually bought a guitar amp off of Ebay recently and got it as a second chance. It was as advertised but the only reason I got a second chance at it was that the seller shilled me out of the deal thinking I would go higher. Plus the guy actually has a store front, a real business that can be contacted if there were issues.

[Craig]

I bought my Special from a dealer on the board - one Mr BCR Greg. I was privately emailed at the time with people saying it was on the "high" end of the going rate price spectrum, and I could snag one cheaper on Ebay. I wanted to avoid that bullshit, so I bought from Greg and my guitar not only came exactly as described, the setup was amazing. Spend the extra $50-100 for the dealer and you get the honesty and service you require, plain and simple.

Sorry to all the folks describing bad Ebay experiences, I wish you the best in solving your problems.

[SirDouglas]

Well fromthe pics there was you couldnt see that was anything on it really.. plus the fact the bottom one was left out completely... i got a good price on it so im not complaining..i was happy with waht i got and what i paid for it... sounds goods and struct sound... i think the guy was honest about the deal jsut ignorant of what was actually there... on the whole ebay has been good to me... i always get what i pay for...and i can fix any problem there is on the guitars so is not really an issue though.. but i tend to agree that ebay is full of shill biddersrunning up thier own items to get more for it... i knwo for a FACT that aliveguitars on ebay does that reported them twice and theyre still there selling using private bidders id and running the price up... always remember to look carefully... and as ther rest have posted you dont feel good about it ... dont take it... youll regret it and end up with retaliatory feedback... i have a clean record except for 1 a$$hole that sent me the wrong item then refused to answer my emails and ebays threats so i left him neutral feedback... he left me negative.... long story but hes STILL selling... go go ebay special ed department....

anyways be aware ... if not youll get takin every time on there

Sir Douglas

Randy

[anotherfreak2]

life's good..............

ebay free since '76

[thecajunboy]

Hey,

Baker, LA is in our neck of the woods. Me and Jeffro can go over there and tag-team his ass. Jeff will drink a 12 pack or two and work a subliminal plot to get the guy to call me an asshole. That's when I JapSlap him in the grill.

[gregc]

Thanks Cajunboy, but keep out of trouble on my account, OK. As it turns out, my daughter is building a home in Covington, LA (she just got a job teaching in New Orlens) and we'll be frequenting there. We were just there during Jazz Fest, checking construction. I know where this guy lives so if I need to have a chat with him it would not be difficult to do. Maybe you, me and Jeffro can hoist a few on my next trip down?

gregc

[thecajunboy]

Maybe you, me and Jeffro can hoist a few on my next trip down?

Hell yeah! If the timing's right, we might could even scare up the fooderman and his Gatorburst.

[Jeff R]

My office is 10 minutes from Baker and when I leave this place lately I'm usually more pissed that Cajun Boy's backyard shrubs. Just let me know if you need some, eh, pressure applied.