Comments on: Something to Complain About?

By: Jason Sweet

Jason Sweet — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:19:42 +0000

I bought a Larry Williams lp on ebay once. It was billed as an original. As soon as I pulled it out of the box I knew it was a reissue by the weight of the vinyl alone (and it had a bight yellow and black label as opposed to black and gold). Fortunately, the dealer was kind enough to refund my money.

I ran into something similar at the WFMU fair this weekend. Some dealers had the ‘shrink-wrapped’ lps or they were sealed in mylar. Why would I buy an lp if I can’t see it or I’m not familiar with the seller?

By: Rudolf A. Flinterman

Rudolf A. Flinterman — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 10:43:42 +0000

I add following when seeing the picture above, the sleeve with a bit of label popping out. This seller saves 40 to 50 cts on picture fees. But this is a bad calculation: nice detailed pictures are good selling tools. On the contrary, when there is something to hide, or nothing particular to show, seller may prefer to give as few details as possible.
Again, a good presentation is a key. It is up to knowledgeable buyers to judge and make bids accordingly.

By: Rudolf A. Flinterman

Rudolf A. Flinterman — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:27:27 +0000

“Mundus vult decepi, decipiatur” the Romans said, meaning something like “the world wants to be cheated, let it be cheated”.
When buying over the internet, one should be as alert as buying in a souk. There the vendors will tell you everything you want to hear, on internet it is the same. Some sellers may cheat you by purpose, others by sheer ignorance.
In dubio, abstine! In case of doubt, hands off. The only way to avoid deception.
A knowledgeable buyer will not be trapped, unless the seller is a crook. It happened to me once with a Swiss seller who sold a Spanish re-issue as an original. Of course no photos provided.
For me the lesson was: require photos, only pictures allow to buy according to one’s own judgment.

By: Michael Haensch

Michael Haensch — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:10:40 +0000

I’ve seen such behavior a couple of times on ebay now. Sometime there are lexington blue notes on ebay and the seller says that it is an original first pressing, but when you ask if the Record has a flat edge, you get the response “no” sometimes, so this record is clearly not a first Pressing, right? I have even bought Jimmy Smith’s house party off of ebay, an it was described with “Original Deep Groove Pressing” (no photo of the record itself was in this description) but as I got it I saw that it didn’t have any deep groove at all. I finally kept it as it was still an original pressing and I got it for 9,99$ in really good condition. But this is what I hate about buying over the Internet. You can’t really be shure what you get until you have it…