My worst audio purchase ever was on eBay.
One of my best audio purchases ever was on eBay.
The best: I got a Koetsu Rosewood Signature for about $1,000 from a seller in the UK. The ad was simple, short, clear with detailed photos. I had a few questions that the seller answered to my satisfaction. It arrived quickly, in good shape, as described. The seller said the needle had about 1,000 hrs left. That turned out to be more or less correct.
The worst: I bought a Velodyne ULD15 for about $600 from a seller in Colorado. The ad was very long, very verbose, and with many but slightly out of focus pictures. I asked the seller questions about compatibility that were answered. Once it arrived, it sat around for a few weeks due to the death of my father. I noticed a small tear in the surround which was not described and did not show up clearly in any photo, though now that I knew the tear was there, I could sort of see it in one photo. Once I got it plugged in, it did not perform as well as I expected. I had forgotten that the servo uses a second chord to communicate with the driver and it was missing. I ask the seller if he forgot to include the chord. He refers me to his “technician” who says he doesn’t know anything about a cable, it doesn’t need an extra cable to work. I download the user manual and learn that that is technically true but then the unit is not functioning optimally. The ad headline said “Sub and server”. I read the ad again, and buried in very fine print, towards but not at the end of 1,500 words - in hindsight I see meant to obfuscate - is a line that says “cable not included”, this even though the technician says he knows nothing about the cable. The cable used a non-standard 5 pin end but Velodyne by then was out of the sub business and did not have one to sell, and I could not find an aftermarket one, so I’d have to have one made. My engineer said he could do it for $120.
I file a complaint with eBay. It falls to someone in the Philippines with bad English to fail to satisfactorily explain why eBay took the sellers side.
The seller had a 100% rating, with good reviews, and sold a lot of higher end gear. all of which which I was in part relying on. I was loathe to leave negs at the time, and by the time I realized that the seller was deceptive, the 3 month period expired. Now, if I have a problem, I leave a neg immediately.
Fortunately, I bought it on a 6 month no interest no payment plan through PayPal, so I unlinked my accounts, refused payment and cancelled my PayPal account. The seller got his money, and PayPal paid for the unit. The sub sits in my basement.
I since bought another Velodyne ULD15, from a seller in Maryland. I went there, examined it, tried it out. It’s the one in my system now.
