Buying basses online

[Pilgrim]

Yeah, what is NOT said on Ebay is sometimes more important than what IS said. You have to ask questions about anything that's not explicitly spelled out.

[uwe]

I've probably bought close to between 70 and a hundred basses off ebay. Most were good and I knew about the beaters beforehand. In fact I've been lied to (or not had full disclosure) from shops more often. Generally, ebayers are pretty open about the looks and general condition of a bass, it is in the description/detection of electric or hardware issues where they tend to fail. But I did not once have the feeling of being cheated except - and that wasn't even a bass - when a fellow kraut sold me an incomplete Victory bridge.

[Grog]

I seem to have a knack for always coming in second best on eBay. No matter how high I bid, only one person in the world wants it more. I've had two times that someone has offered me a second chance scam, claiming the winner couldn't come up with the money. After contacting the origional seller & confirming it's a scam, I turned them into eBay.
I've bought quite a few amps on eBay & had good luck, the largest being my LP-12. UPS seems to be the weak link.
I bought my EB-4L from a dealer online, when the UPS man threw it on his shoulder to bring it to the door, it flew over his head & landed on it's headstock. My wife watched & told him she saw it happen, that there was a vintage guitar in the box, he could have cared less. Luckily, due to good packing on the venders part, it arived in one piece. 

[Hornisse]

I've had only 1 bad dealing on Ebay and that was several years ago.  It was a '75 Precision bass and it had been refinished which was not disclosed by the seller.  That $550 was a lot of dough for a refin P bass back in the late 1990's! 

I just bought a mint condition XL2 Steinberger a few weeks ago and the seller shipped it out the next day and it was packed well and just as described.  I love it when that happens.  It even had Status strings on it which are the best (and preferred) strings for old Steinberger basses.

[Dave W]

I've had only 1 bad dealing on Ebay and that was several years ago.  It was a '75 Precision bass and it had been refinished which was not disclosed by the seller.  That $550 was a lot of dough for a refin P bass back in the late 1990's! 

Was that the crooked seller who was a prison guard or am I thinking of someone else?

[Hornisse]

You have a good memory Dave!

[uwe]

Shower scenes too? I'm just asking before the usual suspectress does.

[PhilT]

I got burned early on, with a 12-string guitar that might have worked as a harp if the neck had been just a bit more bowed. As it was, I sold it on to someone in Canada, and, despite full disclosure of the problems, adverse currency and hefty shipping cost, got my money back.

If it wasn't for eBay and forums, I don't know where I would buy basses. The last time I went into the dingy cellar where the local guitar shop keeps their bass stock, I felt depressed for a week.

[Thornton Davis]

I picked this Schecter Elite-5 up off Ebay a few weeks ago. Serial number shows it as being made last year (08). It arrived safe, and was in very good condition. But it did need a fresh set of strings and a good cleaning  Once that was done it was like new as you can see in the photo below. The seller had no feedback rating, but was very good to deal with, which was why I went ahead with the purchase.

I wanted to buy one of these because its a 35" scale neck through 24 fret bass which is nice to have at my disposal when needed.

The bass with a hard shell case shipped to me was $400.00



TD

[godofthunder]

 I have for the most part had good luck on ebay. One bass that comes to mind is a 70's EB3 I was real excited about. The min. I pulled it out of the case it felt weird. I pulled the truss rod cover only to find someone had replaced the truss rod with a much thicker threaded rod  like you find at the hardware store. The seller did take it back and I got a full refund.

[Dave W]

Shower scenes too? I'm just asking before the usual suspectress does.

No, but I remember it being pretty bad. Must have been very early on at the original pit, about 2001. He cheated Robert, it was brazen. And when Robert posted about it, the guy joined and posted a bunch of fabricated eBay private messages that made it look like Robert was trying to cheat him. Nobody believed him, then he got really nasty. When he got blasted for that, he started making physical threats to forum members. IIRC he was later suspended from eBay.

[TBird1958]

Shower scenes too? I'm just asking before the usual suspectress does.

Mmmmmmmmm.........Shower scenes!

Who dropped the soap?

I'll get it! 

[Basshappi]

I picked this Schecter Elite-5 up off Ebay a few weeks ago. The bass with a hard shell case shipped to me was $400.00
TD

I have the lefty version of that bass. Great bass and you got it for a very good price especially considering you got it with a case, Congrats!

[OldManC]

I wanted to buy one of these because its a 35" scale neck through 24 fret bass which is nice to have at my disposal when needed.

The bass with a hard shell case shipped to me was $400.00

I have the lefty version of that bass. Great bass and you got it for a very good price especially considering you got it with a case, Congrats!

Every time I've tried one of those in a store they've felt great. I need to get one one of these days.

[Thornton Davis]

Every time I've tried one of those in a store they've felt great. I need to get one one of these days.

They're well made instruments with a very fast and comfortable neck. I can't rave about the EMG HZ electronics, but for the money they're very hard to beat.

Here's another photo of mine.



TD