Weird ongoing eBay experience

[Luke]

Thirty years ago, if you were looking for something you looked in the newspaper or perhaps a magazine to find it. If you were local enough, you drove to go see it.

For all the flaws people credit to eBay, in the end you are much safer than a magazine ad purchase. Imagine sending a check for an ad that read "Gibson guitar for sale, $50.00, call 555-555-1212".

If you want certainty, get on a airplane and go see the item first hand. If you do not feel the value of the item warrants flying to see it, you can choose to not buy it and wait for a similar example to pop up locally or take a chance. When you opt to take the chance, you are accepting the risk.

When I e-mail about an item I ask the following:

1. What makes this item not 100% factory perfect mint condition?

2. An extension of #1, has anything been altered, modified or changed on said item? If so, how and why and what is your opinion on how many points we should reduce the condition from a perfect 100?

These two questions put the seller on the spot, if there is a single dent, not through the finish, the size of a pin head, he has to disclose this given my questions if he is being honest.

You will get people to lazy to respond, or they give you an obviously half hearted response and that is your signal to avoid that auction regardless of the fact you have been seeking a Blitz bass with reverse headstock in circus puke finish for fifteen years and this is your first chance to get one. It is your own inability to wait for a prime example to become local that puts you in a situation where you take a chance, but the chance is on you.