Buying basses online

[nofi]

i have bought three basses on line and two had a twist in the neck. point is i wonder if this is a thing sellers routinely check for . i tend to think not. sellers say the neck is straight as an arrow but i think that observations comes from looking for excessive bow in the neck. i would be very wary about buying something online again because of this. oh well just a thought.

[rahock]

I may very well be the only guy left on the planet who doesn't have the guts to buy an instrument online.
I can buy other stuff on line, but when it comes to buying a bass, I've got to have it in my hands.
 No guts = No words of wisdom.
Rick

[patman]

I won't buy a "used" bass online anymore...got too many dogs.

I will take my chances with the Musicians "Fiend" online every now and again

[bassvirtuoso]

I buy only from Dealers (although I have been burned by a friend of Kebo's, JimsGuitars.com) or people on these boards that I have a history with, or who have a history with the boards. I'm getting a trade here soon from OldManC (George) and I trust him 110%. So you have to be careful where you get your stuff, and always keep an eye out for something fishy.

[Denis]

The only basses I've bought online were the Dano and Fender Cowpoke (both eBay) and the BaCHbird through here. The Cowpoke and the BaCHbird were perfect but the Dano needed a new neck due to crappy fret installation at the factory. All the others I was able to see in person before buying, except for a certain Epi NR a friend picked up for me in NYC Friday and which I've not seen in person. I trust him though and his reports were good.

[Dave W]

I've bought one guitar and one bass off eBay, both were just as described. Aside from that, I've bought and sold with forum members and bought new basses from online stores. Everything has turned out well.

OTOH I don't buy or sell often.

[Basshappi]

I have bought one bass off of ebay (it was my first ebay purchase) it was my MIJ Jazz and I couldn't have been happier, it is my main bass. I also have bought parts including the green body that became the bass in my avatar and a Warmoth 5 string maple/maple neck and both were perfect.

I guess that I am fortunate to not have gotten burned.

[OldManC]

Over the last eight years I've probably bought and sold 75 basses and guitars online. Many on eBay, as well as forum purchases and a few from dealers. Most have been as described. Some have had undisclosed issues that an educated seller should have known of. It's hard to say whether they did or not.

When selling I try to describe things as best as I can. I've sold basses that had issues, but I do my best to make sure the buyer knows of them and I price things accordingly. I've only had a couple trainwreck deals (two buying, one selling). Those definitely suck. Overall I can't complain too much though. The good deals have far outweighed the bad.

[TBird1958]

 I've had really good experiences buying online from retailers,ebay and from forum members - A big tip of the hat to George, (Old Man C), Curt (DC10Bass), Scott (GodofThunder59  and of course Bionic Joe, you guys are the best in my book!

[Highlander]

I haven't bought a bass since 1987...

My wife bought me a mandolin from an online store (which, curiously enough, I can walk to there wharehouse 10 minutes from here) 3 years back - a Collins electric, budget instrument... a stunningly beautiful tone, especially for the money... body started cave in near the pup... returned it... same thing happened to the 2nd one... they withdrew the model... settled for an acoustic, but it has not got the tone of the original, which disapointed my wife no-end... she understands that I would want to get a quality instrument, one day, so this is a good instrument to learn on...

We bought my daughter an Ibanez 6 string from the same place with no problems...

They have some nice basses, so I stay clear... 

[jmcgliss]

Most of my buying and selling thru ebay occurred 5-10 years ago with good experiences, domestic and international.  My Guild Starfire II was a great ebay find.  The last 5 years did not have the same vibe so I scaled back.

Any hassles had to do with the seller not buying the right insurance - due to limitations when someone prints a shipping label online vs. bringing it to a shipping counter.  In other words, circumstances a buyer would never ask about when questioning the seller about the instrument itself.

[angrymatt]

I've had mostly positive instrument buying experiences online.  The only real issue happened when I bought a '65 Melody Maker guitar off ebay.  The seller was honest about everything he said (tuners were a mixed bag of good and bad, checking, and pointed out all of the mods made to the thing), he just left a few things out.  They were simple fixes though, new pup ring, springs and screws and all better.

[OldManC]

If I'm buying a used instrument online I never expect that it's going to be perfect. If it's close to what the seller described then I'm pretty happy. That being said, I've had relatively few surprises. I just don't expect that everyone out there is going to be as exacting in describing their guitars as most of us here would be.

[Pilgrim]

I've had pretty good luck with buying online, mostly via Ebay.  I've bought both new and used via Ebay.  My 200 MIM Jazz in Midnight Blue is a great instrument and was bought on the 'bay...and so was my Univox hollowbody 335-copy. 

Most recently I picked up the Epi EB-0 on Ebay for my EB-3 conversion exercise...which reminds me the T-bird pickups I bought on Ebay arrived today.  GEEZ, those are massive and heavy!  They weigh a good deal more than any other pickup I've handled.  Now I need to get to work on them.

[Nocturnal]

I've been burned once on a bass from Ebay. I consider it my fault for not asking the right questions and his fault for not being honest about it. It was a cheapie so I took it like a man and parted out the good parts to recoupe some $$. Every other online bass or guitar have been just fine. I'm always a little leary of Ebay now. Too much can go wrong and there seems to be a lot of ways to be scammed now.

I was going to go for an ESP LTD once so I asked a simple question, which was "Is the neck straight?". The seller responded with "it's a cheap bass, what do you want for $150." so I figured that told me all I needed to know about him. I was looking for a beater, not an unusable 8 lb. paper weight.