Klarinet Archive - Posting 000055.txt from 2008/02
From: "thomaswinds" <thomaswinds@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] ebay
Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:00:08 -0500
I don't know how many of you have heard about upcoming changes to the eBay
system for feedback, but if not, you can read about them here.
http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2008/1/1201611437.html
I can tell you that we won't be listing mouthpieces or anything else on eBay
after these go into effect. While most of our buyers are honest, we can't
afford to let people give us negs we can never remove, and yet not have the
same option to do the same to buyers who treat us like crap.
A few years ago I sold a Selmer pro horn on eBay which we had overhauled by
Vince Marinelli before we sold it. It went to a guy from Korea. After he
got it, he removed all the pads, replaced them with stick-ums, tore off the
corks, REMOVED KEYS. He sent me photos of "our" clarinet, told me *WE* sold
him a clarinet with stick-ums, and wanted his money back. I refused, and he
Negged me. I figured eating the Neg was worth it. Later I found this guy
returned a guitar in pieces to a seller in NYC. He is STILL BUYING.
If eBay's new system had been in place then, I could not have negged him,
AND I would not have received my clarinet OR been able to keep the money.
We have also had buyers buy mouthpieces, and then either their payments
bounced or they charged back, and then Never returned the items. Those
caused me to begin taking only PayPal. However, now PayPal will hold
payments for 30 days before releasing them to sellers. Talk about not
wanting people to sell on eBay...!!!! It's worse for the little sellers,
like us, than it is for the Power Sellers.
Sure, I have had bad buyer experiences - haven't we all? But if you are
selling OR buying a mouthpiece or an instrument worth several hundred
dollars, it's important that we be able to trust Both Ways. FeeBay is
turning it into a One-Way transaction.
So I guess if you want your vintage mouthpieces, you'll have to go to those
fab dealers from Hong Kong..... you know, the ones who will probably figure
out a way to copy a Lelandais or Kaspar, and make it look aged to boot.
Because we will probably either go with another auction site, or develop a
website with photos and just sell via word of mouth and via woodwind.org.
Lynn (& Terry)
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