The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: Regarding the purchase of a clarinet

Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2007-06-26 19:44

Snowy,

I'm not sure what your point is but it sounds as though you think I was impugning the seller's integrity/honesty. There is nothing in my message to that effect. I said the instrument "needed some work" because the seller's ad said the clarinet "might need a few pads." I said that "there was a lot of risk in the deal (based on the seller's lack of previous feedback and the one lousy picture - and the one picture given was too small and dark to disclose anything about the instrument other than, perhaps, its existence)" because there was little if any information provided to reduce a buyer's perception of risk. I have said in another thread that there is a definite inverse relationship between the degree of risk perceived by buyers on eBay and the price a seller receives. Sellers with strong positive feedback ratings are generally perceived by buyers as less risky than new sellers with no feedback. In the former case, there is some independent evidence from disinterested third parties that the seller has apparently proven relatively trustworthy in the past. (This evidence is not perfect, BTW. Some buyers are too easily satisfied. Some sellers won't give a buyer positive feedback until the buyer has given them positive feedback. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. But it's better than nothing.)

On the other hand, the lack of any feedback does not imply lack of integrity. The new seller may be just as honest as (indeed, may be more honest than) the seller with 99+% positive feedback on 2,000 transactions. But buyers have no objective basis to make this assessment. Until a seller establishes a good track record, s/he must be viewed as something of a risk. Sellers take their feedback ratings so seriously because they realize that a good feedback rating translates into higher prices. Why? Because buyers believe they are assuming relatively little risk in transactions with them.

To the extent a seller is trusted by potential buyers, s/he can also reduce perceived risk in a transaction by documenting the item for sale and its condition. Clear pictures allow buyers to see for themselves whether the seller (who may or may not be knowledgeable about the item for sale) has identified the correct make and model of an instrument, whether the keys are tarnished, whether pads are worn, whether the clarinet is wood or plastic. (Or, indeed, whether the instrument is what the seller says it is. I once bought an oboe for next to nothing because the seller had it listed as a clarinet. There was a picture that showed it clearly to be an oboe but, because the seller had put "clarinet" in the title, very few people looked at it and no one who searched for "oboe" found it. And, how many alto clarinets have been listed as bass clarinets and vice versa by ignorant sellers?) Clear pictures that show an instrument in good condition are some comfort (if we believe they are of the item listed for sale - a big "if," sometimes) that we'll get what we bid on. An item with no pictures or pictures that are too small/dark to disclose any information about the instrument don't mean, per se, that the instrument is nonexistent or will be the wrong model or in poor condition but they don't provide any positive evidence that it will be as advertised, either. Hence the prudent buyer will recognize that s/he is accepting more risk in buying the item than if there were numerous clear photos.

The whole point of my comment was that I thought the inherent market value of the clarinet you bought was somewhat more than $600 (congratulations!) and that there would probably have been more interest in it and a higher selling price if the seller had been someone with a strong positive feedback rating and/or better pictures. IMO, the reason you got a good deal was because you were willing to take a chance where others weren't. That's probably how most good deals on eBay come about. But be aware, it's also probably how many, if not most, bad deals come about.

So I wasn't impugning the seller's integrity. What would be the point? The sale had already occurred. I was simply indicating why I thought $600 was something less than the instrument's "fair market value" as a basis for evaluating the deal offered the person who started this thread.

BTW, I hope you got seller's permission to disclose his "secret" eBay identity before you made your post. Otherwise, he would be justified in being quite unhappy with you.

Best regards,
jnk

Post Edited (2007-06-26 19:46)

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics