Your opinion of ebay seller, please

Henning · Aug 10, 2016

Hello, I was mailing with a ebay seller concerning a soprano ukulele of what I would consider a quality brand though it is made in China.

I asked about where the seller had got it from:

"Hi .. Sorry no ... bought it from someone ..no idea.... do not know it's history ...or the person I bought it off..Nothing .....
All I know is its condition...etc
Hope this covers everything ...
Oh and by the way I had a weatabix for my breakfast ...
Regards
Reply
Your previous message

You couldn´t please tell where you´ve got it from, could you?

Friendly regards"

Booli · Aug 10, 2016

Unless that uke is literally one-of-a-kind AND the seller has MORE than 500 feedback points, and at least 99% positive feedback, on a reply like that, so EVASIVE and VAGUE, if it were me, I'd pass on the seller and find another seller of the same or similar Chinese factory uke, and there are SO MANY on ebay, at least 3-4 THOUSAND last time I looked, so you do have OPTIONS....

Best of luck!

Booli · Aug 10, 2016

Booli said:
Unless that uke is literally one-of-a-kind AND the seller has MORE than 500 feedback points, and at least 99% positive feedback, on a reply like that, so EVASIVE and VAGUE, if it were me, I'd pass on the seller and find another seller of the same or similar Chinese factory uke, and there are SO MANY on ebay, at least 3-4 THOUSAND last time I looked, so you do have OPTIONS....

Best of luck!

I wanted to add that on ebay USA, I've seen the SAME EXACT uke, for sale by at least 20 different Asian ebay sellers, some with the same brand name on the headstock some with different brand name on headstock, but design, materials and even FULL description from each different seller, VERBATIM the same and photos the same.

Mivo · Aug 10, 2016

I'd go with your gut feelings. The seller's response to your query doesn't inspire much trust in me, though it's good he responded at all, but ultimately it probably depends on the price and how well you can afford to waste what it costs if it doesn't work out. I agree with Booli.

eBay is sort of a jungle.

kypfer · Aug 10, 2016

Mivo said:
eBay is sort of a jungle.

If you sit quietly in a shady place and wait ... every so often a real bargain (prey item) passes by - grab it, and ignore the difficult ones, they're usually not worth the effort

Henning · Aug 10, 2016

Thanks for your responses, guys. I got somewhat offensive, maybe even too offensive and wrote like this:
"Hello again, I don´t really know what to say about this for now.....
So, I sort of think highly to you.
As you dont play the ukulele you cant judge its weight or balance as I fear it might be heavier at the top because it has geared tuners.
On the other hand, **** makes good quality instruments, for what little I know about them, since one year back.
As you can´t say where you´ve had it from, or how long you´ve had it, it could be stolen or, even worse, you might be a drug addict using ebay for dropping your thefts..."
Which did not get a very positive reaction from the seller.

Mivo · Aug 10, 2016

It's more likely he flipped it: bought it off someone at a low price and wants to sell it with a profit. But yeah, his response wouldn't have made me feel confident to buy it, either. At least he was honest and didn't fabricate a story, though.

Henning · Aug 10, 2016

Mivo said:
It's more likely he flipped it: bought it off someone at a low price and wants to sell it with a profit. But yeah, his response wouldn't have made me feel confident to buy it, either. At least he was honest and didn't fabricate a story, though.

Well, let´s hope so. It is a seller with a more then 500 reputation. I certainly don´t have that much. The seller said I would be reported to ebay for my "annoying writing".

jollyboy · Aug 10, 2016

The line about what he had for breakfast is meant to be sarcastic right? Like, he's implying that you want to know a lot of information. Frankly, if that's the way he is going to respond to questions from potential customers, I would say he can go choke on his bloody weetabix

Booli · Aug 10, 2016

Henning said:
Well, let´s hope so. It is a seller with a more then 500 reputation. I certainly don´t have that much. The seller said I would be reported to ebay for my "annoying writing".

This is a useless and idle threat. In context of your reply, these are valid concerns about a seller who seems to be either ignorant of, or withholding important details.

jollyboy said:
The line about what he had breakfast is meant to be sarcastic right? Like, he's implying that you want to know a lot of information. Frankly, if that's the way he is going to respond to questions from potential cunstomers, I would say he can go choke on his bloody weetabix

Yes, I agree. A seller who appears to have a mental problem when I message them about a sale, is one I would avoid.

Experience has taught me that if they cannot be stuffed to write a proper reply with politeness at least, then in some form or fashion the item will arrive 'not as described by seller' and thus a disappointment, and then returns and paypal refunds are still a hassle, even 'WITH' the so-called ebay buyer protection.

caveat emptor!

Iulia · Aug 10, 2016

Booli said:
This is a useless and idle threat. In context of your reply, these are valid concerns about a seller who seems to be either ignorant of, or withholding important details.

Yes, I agree. A seller who appears to have a mental problem when I message them about a sale, is one I would avoid.

Experience has taught me that if they cannot be stuffed to write a proper reply with politeness at least, then in some form or fashion the item will arrive 'not as described by seller' and thus a disappointment, and then returns and paypal refunds are still a hassle, even 'WITH' the so-called ebay buyer protection.

caveat emptor!

wot he said.

If it was a unique item, a stradivarius uke (ok I know) worth the effort, but there are enough sellers of well priced instruments on ebay and ali you don't need to bother with someone who sounds a bit suspect imo

Henning · Aug 10, 2016

Iulia said:
wot he said.

If it was a unique item, a stradivarius uke (ok I know) worth the effort, but there are enough sellers of well priced instruments on ebay and ali you don't need to bother with someone who sounds a bit suspect imo

The matter is that in my country it isn´t that easy to find attractive objects because they are oftenly in the USA and very many sellers either dont ship from there or if they do, the costs for shipping are or could be deterrent. If an item costs more then around US $ 120 we (Sweden) have to pay TAX (VAT) for the item and the shipping costs too. So it isn´t so easy to find an attractive object. It is rather that we (or at least me) look in to other European countries for them.

Mivo · Aug 10, 2016

Henning said:
If an item costs more then around US $ 120 we (Sweden) have to pay TAX (VAT) for the item and the shipping costs too. So it isn´t so easy to find an attractive object. It is rather that we (or at least me) look in to other European countries for them.

We have a few nice shops for ukuleles in Europe, though. I imported only my custom tenor from outside of Europe, and that was so expensive (19% VAT, 3% import tax, which amounted to around €300, plus €100 for shipping, another €80 or so for insurance, plus €20 for assorted postal and customs fee) so that I bought all my other ukes within Europe. The Southern Ukulele Store in the UK is probably the HMS equivalent in Europe, and there's Andreas David in Germany who I have been very happy with.

I think it's probably better to save up an extra month or two and then buy something from those places than to take risks with buying from a random eBay seller, especially when it comes to Chinese factory ukes.

cml · Aug 11, 2016

Henning said:
The matter is that in my country it isn´t that easy to find attractive objects because they are oftenly in the USA and very many sellers either dont ship from there or if they do, the costs for shipping are or could be deterrent. If an item costs more then around US $ 120 we (Sweden) have to pay TAX (VAT) for the item and the shipping costs too. So it isn´t so easy to find an attractive object. It is rather that we (or at least me) look in to other European countries for them.

Henning, I bought my KoAloha from the southern ukulele store. Buying within the EU, there's no customs or VAT added, the price you see is what you get. I can sincerely recommend sus, they have top notch service and do setups on all ukuleles, just like hms. Buying in Sweden isn't really an option, I agree, the selection here is abysmal (which is strange considering how popular the uke is).
I bought lots of stuff on ebay and love it, but for an ukulele I'd go with a reputable dealer.

Iulia · Aug 11, 2016

Henning said:
The matter is that in my country it isn´t that easy to find attractive objects because they are oftenly in the USA and very many sellers either dont ship from there or if they do, the costs for shipping are or could be deterrent. If an item costs more then around US $ 120 we (Sweden) have to pay TAX (VAT) for the item and the shipping costs too. So it isn´t so easy to find an attractive object. It is rather that we (or at least me) look in to other European countries for them.

hi I didn't notice your location sorry - I'm in the UK actually. Is the aliexpress shipping to Sweden expensive?

Henning · Aug 11, 2016

Thanks for nice responses and important contributions to my knowledge and points of view of the subject bidding an buying internationally and about sellers. I havn´t tried the Aliexpress but it would be the same regulations and customs matter for any object of higher value than ~ US$ 120

cml · Aug 11, 2016

Is the problem that you want the best ukulele possible at a significant discount? I dont think such a deal exists. Even with a low budget, or perhaps especially then, buy from a reputable dealer. SUS has ukes in all price ranges and a setup will be critical when you buy a cheaper uke. They do this for free so you have nothing to lose.

Henning · Aug 12, 2016

cml said:
Is the problem that you want the best ukulele possible at a significant discount? I dont think such a deal exists. Even with a low budget, or perhaps especially then, buy from a reputable dealer. SUS has ukes in all price ranges and a setup will be critical when you buy a cheaper uke. They do this for free so you have nothing to lose.

Thanks, got me to what the SUS has to offer. I do the setup myself if so necessary. I like the looks of the Ohana SK75.

Your opinion of ebay seller, please

Henning

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Booli

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Booli

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Mivo

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kypfer

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Henning

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Mivo

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Henning

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