Storm faced

[E-minor7]

Close to getting angry over these last weeks - luckily things ended on a light chord.

 

Long story short :

In early June I ordered a 3-point pick guard on the Bay in the US. The ad looked good - said the thing had beveled edges and promised no better guard could be found if vintage Gibson style was wanted.

Pressed the button and waited - the object flew in as expected. But, , , had no beveled edges whatsoever and didn't fit a Country Western/ Southern Jumbo at all. Way too small.

 

Went into a dialogue with seller, who accepted to refund. Until he suddenly disappeared and let it all up to the eBay staff. I then provided pictures and told them I had received an item, which could be bought 12 times as cheap in China. By that point it turned out that my message had been posted too late according to general rules. Well, I posted via 2 channels and never found out if they only referred to the latest of them. However the exchange continued with a few ping-pongs till they told me the case was closed. What ! - not what I expected, , , or wanted to hear at all - had to sharpen the sabel. Okay, eBay is a giant and I am a midget, but that little fighter was beginning to glow and prepared for a full blown deliverance of the story - including pics and name - among other places, here. Seller stone silent - he had locked me out.

 

Then eBay came back with a message that they would open the case again. They had looked closer on the 4 pictures and clearly saw the mistake.

After another series of days the (second) final result rang in = Though still no track of seller, the money had been refunded via PayPal. Yes !

Should be said it was the actual guard-price and the shipping, while the rather high local custom fees remained on me (which I chose to swallow)

 

Anyway - So glad to be able to tell this as the opposite would have been a scandal.

Hereby loads of kudos to the Bay-people, who stayed present-minded and well-mannered during it all. An example of real gentlemanship from their side (tho a few of the exchanges was done with a nice woman named Rose).

 

Seller ? , , , gone behind the hills and I'm close to calling him a downright con-man. Sure don't hope to run into him again.

 

Lesson - Stay calm, keep a good tone, but don't back out too soon, , , and don't give 'them' reason to regard you a jellyfish.

 

Cheers from the battlefield -

For everything turn turn turn, , , time to put that sabel back in the shrine.

[Murph]

Sometimes ya just gotta take a trip and slap the krap out of people.

 

Be anonymous........

[Cougar]

Lesson - Stay calm, keep a good tone, but don't back out too soon....

 

Good points. It's a matter of being results oriented. Becoming outraged and swearing at idiots rarely gets you the result you're looking for.

[duluthdan]

Em - its stories like this which make me glad I have no clue about how to use E-Bay, Pay-Pal, or even Twitter. I usually get completely distracted, grab a guitar and just drift off into the muse.

[Boyd]

Lesson - Stay calm, keep a good tone, but don't back out too soon

 

Hmm… I think the lesson should have been "don't buy stuff from an auction site in a foreign country". Just sayin'… :)

[Lars68]

Hmm… I think the lesson should have been "don't buy stuff from an auction site in a foreign country". Just sayin'… :)

 

I'm in Sweden and have purchased numerous items from e-bay, where sellers from all over the world, market their goods for international sales. So far, I have never had a single problem. I have purchased items from the U.S., the U.K., Spain, Germany, China, Hong Kong, the Netherlands etc etc. All of this on e-bay from sellers in these countries.

 

E-bay is a fantastic source, especially for hard to find speciality items, and seemed to have done the right thing for Em7. Hence, I don't understand the comment above. E-bay is not only for U.S. to U.S. transactions. On an internet based site, with sellers from all over the world marketing the goods for international sales, what difference does it make where the owner of the site is located? I have sold items on a Swedish owned auction site to other countries. We are truly in a global marketplace these days, even for small person to person transactions.

 

Lars

[blindboygrunt]

I'm in Sweden and have purchased numerous items from e-bay, where sellers from all over the world, market their goods for international sales. So far, I have never had a single problem. I have purchased items from the U.S., the U.K., Spain, Germany, China, Hong Kong, the Netherlands etc etc. All of this on e-bay from sellers in these countries.

 

E-bay is a fantastic source, especially for hard to find speciality items, and seemed to have done the right thing for Em7. Hence, I don't understand the comment above. E-bay is not only for U.S. to U.S. transactions. On an internet based site, with sellers from all over the world marketing the goods for international sales, what difference does it make where the owner of the site is located? I have sold items on a Swedish owned auction site to other countries. We are truly in a global marketplace these days, even for small person to person transactions.

 

Lars

 

 

100% correct

[Boyd]

My only point was that it can be difficult to resolve problems with sellers in another country. And although eBay may have "done the right thing", he still ended up eating the "rather high local custom fees" and was angry for several weeks. Glad that you've had good experiences, we all have different tolearances for risk. I'm more like duluthdan, have only made two transactions on eBay a few years ago. I had no problems, but really am not interested in doing any more business there.

[jdd707]

"Some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you" (Sam Elliot in the Big Lobowski) Today, EM, you ate the bear. Good for you!

[58 Relic]

Never used an auction site with respect its tales like this that turn me away, glad you got sorted

[Lars68]

My only point was that it can be difficult to resolve problems with sellers in another country. And although eBay may have "done the right thing", he still ended up eating the "rather high local custom fees" and was angry for several weeks. Glad that you've had good experiences, we all have different tolearances for risk. I'm more like duluthdan, have only made two transactions on eBay a few years ago. I had no problems, but really am not interested in doing any more business there.

 

 

Good point about the custom fees. In Sweden, and I guess it is the same in most other countries too, these fees can be refunded, but it requires some paperwork. Personally, I use e-bay for items I can't find elsewhere, and also for items where the potential savings outweigh the risk with the extra shipping distance etc.

 

I am a huge Townes van Zandt fan, and a lot of his albums (especially some of the great live CDs from the later part of his life) are not availabe in the shops here or through the streaming services. I found all CDs easily on e-bay for relative bargain prices.

 

Lars

[j45nick]

I've had good luck buying on ebay, whether it's guitars or things like oriental rugs. Positive feedback is a good sign when it comes to sellers. I've bought a half-dozen or more guitars, including my Fuller's 1943 SJ, my L-OO Legend, and several high-end electrics.

 

As with any transaction, you have to do your homework on the seller, and be on your toes.

 

As several non-US forum members have mentioned, ebay may be one of the few practical sources of hard-to-find bits for US guitars if you don't live in the USA.

[MissouriPicker]

Only used Ebay a couple times and I've got no complaints, although I'd rather deal with a local dealer or seller. I've bought and sold numerous things through Craigslist and never had a problem. However, I'm sure a lot of it is luck and just being very careful with who I decide to meet and where. In our area, the local police departments allow people to meet and complete sales in the police parking lot where there are cameras and police entering and leaving. Lots of times it's just "the luck of the draw" on who you're dealing with.

[E-minor7]

Well, in this camp experiences with eBay generally has been very positive.

 

Many an acoustic guitar - several fragile vintage ones - has taken the flight over the pond, , , but also other stuff like bridge-pins, a Gibson-neck, shirts and fx original ultra rare CSN&Y posters has landed here safe over the years.

 

 

The statistics with one or two exceptions are immaculate, , , and so is my history with back-stage-Bay.

 

 

This incident luckily ended on the right side of the fence too, so still ordering overseas can only be recommended.

People - the 3 parts - are generally polite and it's clear that everyone want the transactions to glide smoothly.

Maybe PayPal should have some credit as well. Nothing but top service from them in my book.

 

 

Thanks for the comments ^ keep trading

 

 

[aliasphobias]

I'll weigh positive as well. I have bought enough to float a small boat on the 'Bay. Glad it worked out Em7. It is sometimes easy for us in the 48 to forget how unavailable some things are in the 'foreign countries'.