ShortScale.org

Are people all on holiday? I swear that ebay has been watered down for at least a month. I am trying not to trawl for projects, but I can't find parts either. I finally tracked down a few Mosrite parts at Hallmark.com.

(You have all seen Dr. Strangelove, right? It's dated, but a classic cold war farce. At least three great character actor performances by George C. Scott, Peter Sellers, and Slim Pickens. It's a key to understanding modern American foreign policy and possibility.)


Heck, I reckon you wouldn't even be human bein's if you didn't have some pretty strong personal feelin's about nuclear combat.

Time to go toe-to-toe with the Russkies?

Ebay takes too many fees. I think a lot of people sell things on forums and craigslist now because they still get good exposure. They can get close to what they want without the hassle of shipping, eBay fees, paypal fees, paypal shenanigans, etc.

Most eBay listings are "buy it now" items from merchants. There are less and less interesting auction items from real individual sellers.

eBay been going down hill for years.

A little water on the back and the CODES!

yeah I was just looking for some guitar stuff recently and noticed how thin the listings of real people actually auctioning stuff was. eBay has made it a real pain for people who aren't mega-sellers to do any business on there, I wonder if that's really starting to effect people selling stuff on there. if it is, that seems like the beginning of the end for eBay. without real-people auctions they would just be another amazon.com and someone else would probably come along to take up the slack. guitar stuff is the only category I've noticed it this bad though. other stuff I look at on there seems to still have plenty of activity.

Craigslist is so much easier and you don't have to pay ridiculous shipping. Plus you can trade stuff

My last two major acquisitions have been trades on CL.

It's a shame the UK doesn't have a CL equivalent. I've sold one guitar on Ebay and the buyer was happy with it, and my beloved CIJ JM came from an Ebay buy-it-now as well..but still. It's not something I'm comfortable with but sadly there aren't many alternatives so I did it reluctantly. I'm seeing some parts (pots and switches) on sale for less than the dedicated sites, but again they're corporate sellers rather than individuals.

Dr Strangelove is a classic though. "Gentlemen! You cannot fight in here! This is a war room!"

Concretebadger wrote:It's a shame the UK doesn't have a CL equivalent. I've sold one guitar on Ebay and the buyer was happy with it, and my beloved CIJ JM came from an Ebay buy-it-now as well..but still. It's not something I'm comfortable with but sadly there aren't many alternatives so I did it reluctantly. I'm seeing some parts (pots and switches) on sale for less than the dedicated sites, but again they're corporate sellers rather than individuals.

Dr Strangelove is a classic though. "Gentlemen! You cannot fight in here! This is a war room!"

I thought GumTree was your CL equivalent?

jcyphe wrote:Ebay takes too many fees.

It is quite shocking what they take. I've sold quite a bit recently and the fees are infuriating.
You still have the wider market on there but its difficult to sell anything at a fair price because you have to adjust to cover them fees.
Having said that it still offers an ammount of protection and the 'code of honour' seems to still be intact that you just dont get on places like Gumtree, forums can be hazardous too.
I've noticed a lot more tyre kickers on ebay over the last year as well.

I am always curious about trends. In six years I have seen few vintage guitars on CL, so I stopped looking. The ebay advantage has always been wider circle, and the ratings system for relative accountability. CL buyers can be flaky, and I don't like haggling or taking advantage of ignorance. With ebay we all take our chances, mostly on timing.

Ebay seems to slow at xmas because people are doing other shit and broke. This clog is recent and strange. One cool anomaly is that glut of old Mosrite Celebrity bodies in of Arizona, sold after the factory burned in the 80s. Yeah, I seen em.

Currently there are only SIX vintage guitars for sale in the DC area (pop 5M), and none of them priced to move except the Bluesbird. Zero projects. There was also a Teisco and some other shit, and a few decent amps. The search tool is great for basic things (by design) but not for what I need.

56 Rick 400 ($2K)
64 Strat ($14K) with Grampa's camera and Grandma pushing
66 Guild Starfire ($1800)
69 Guild Bluesbird ($1300)
68 Telecaster bass ($3K)
69 Les Paul Personal ($3500)
76 Ric bass ($1795)
77 Recording SG ($1250)

Slim Pickens is one of those stage names where I always curse the fact it's taken.

I've noticed that the prices of guitars have been inflated on e-bay as well. Likely to offset the effects of the fees.