thought on eBay?

I’ve had great success buying on eBay, but from actual dealers. I won a Bryston 4b sst2 sold by Overture. I also WON a BAT VK-30SE from a small dealer in New Hampshire, I think. Most recently I won a VPI Scout with a TNT 4 platter and prime sig feet from Music Direct.

Be cautious, be patient, and be a little lucky :)

A lot of good advice in this thread, especially on the packing issue. In August, I bought a Paradigm CC-450 center speaker that arrived with thebinding-post assembly torn completely loose due to improper packing. I was at home, but in the rear of my house when it was delivered, and could not get to the door in time to meet the delivery person. They basically dropped the box from what I am guessing was knee-height or higher onto the cement floor of my front porch/stoop. There was another CC-450 in equally good condition (both were on ebay), so I messaged the seller, telling him the tale of the first transaction and stressing the importance of proper packing. He assured me he knew how to pack to prevent damage, so I pulled the trigger and bought the speaker. It arrived a few days later with the exact same damage, again due to insufficient/improper packing. Usually the key to safe transit lies in double-boxing and making sure the item has no wiggle-room inside of the inner box, unless the original box and packing materials are available. Fortunately, I was refunded in both of these cases.

I used eBay to purchase a brand new amp. I paid 5k for it. The retail price was $7,995. I had no issues. I registered the amp to start the warranty process as well. The amp did have a glitch occur about 1 month after the warranty expired but Yamaha honored it and paid for freight and service. They even sent me a new used box so I could mail it in for service since the box had been destroyed (my wife while I was out of town). Something triggered the amp which then went into protection mode. They reset it, tested it for two weeks and found nothing wrong. After I got it back I enjoyed it for several months without another issue. Then I decided to sell it. I sold it on eBay. I believe having the new box helped me to sell the amp quickly. It sold within 24 hours. I don't recall having a serious problem buying or selling on eBay.

The larger purchases I have made in the audio area were all done on audio boards where feedback relates solely to audio gear, not to someone in Singapore pumping  hundreds of $1 items through and giving themselves glowing feedback under fictitious buyer names.