Where I would argue with you, Mivo, is that the set-up (much improved by Caramel over the past year) is certainly no worse than any other Amazon or eBay purchase--including more expensive brands such as Kala. In fact, every Kala I have purchased through Amazon or eBay has been as bad (or more so) as the Caramel.
I agree with you that eBay and Amazon are poor places for buying stringed instruments for a beginner who doesn't know about setting up instruments and/or isn't crafty. If someone has to buy tools, replacement strings, saddles, and invest the time to learn the skill set, a seemingly good deal may become substantially less good.
So from this perspective, I agree that these Caramel/etc ukes are likely good choices for beginners (and others)
after someone looked them over and made adjustments. But I don't feel that ebay and Amazon are good places for beginners to shop for stringed instruments on their own. (And it's the same for Kala and such, whose reputation is better than my experience with them.)
But the majority of buyers shop Amazon, eBay, Guitar Center, or their local music store--all which generally don't do set-ups, or charge for them.
Sadly this is also true. I wonder if there is a correlation between this and so many people who buy guitars (and presumably ukes) stopping to play early on.
And I think you are exaggerating the beginner's need for a perfectly in-tune instrument--most beginners don't even grasp tuning on the open strings (some never do, based on my experiences at jam sessions).
I think this is really the one point where we disagree. When you're new to something, you often lack the knowledge and experience to determine what is wrong when you sense that something is wrong. That makes improving hard. For example, the probably biggest issue with guitars and ukuleles off the shelf is that the action is ridiculously high. If your first acoustic guitar with steel strings has too high action, failure is pre-programmed. But the beginner may not actually realize that. All they know is that it buzzes and that their fingers hurt like hell, and that some of the "easy chords" aren't easy. (My acoustic guitar had been set up, and I measured the string height, and it was still painful!)
That is true for ukuleles too. It's hard for a beginner to tell whether their finger strength just needs to improve or if the action of their uke is far too high.
I concede that I may be over-valuing intonation, but hearing ability is something that isn't very developed in beginning musicians, so I feel it's important that they are right from the start exposed to "correct" sound. If the instrument doesn't sound "right", it's helpful to know whether the problem is technique, which the beginner can work on, or caused by technical shortcomings of the instrument. An expert player knows the difference, a beginner doesn't and may feel hopeless if they do everything right, but the instrument still sounds off (and instead of realizing it is the instrument, they blame themselves).
But I do agree that I may overvalue this. It's true that I feel that a beginner benefits as much, if not more so, from a properly set up instrument than a more experienced player. This is only about the set up, not the material, so a set up $40 uke can be as great a learning tool as a $1000 uke. The main difference is that when you are new, clueless and inexperienced, a $1000 uke is more likely to already come set up well. (Not a hard rule, though. My Famous FS-5 came with "perfect" intonation and extremely good playabilty; the KoAloha Opio Concert I had, which cost a bit more, did need a set-up, so price isn't always a guarantee for a better factory set up.)
