[tyre]

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[funkadelic]

Not sure if it's the same in the US, but I have had some excellent bairgains via Ebay, e.g. HD535 for £9, HD480 for £9, HD590 for £12 and HD497 for £12 all including delivery.

I don't think it is a great place to buy new headphones as prices are often way too high. (Amazon Marketplace is better).

Simon

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyre I'm absolutely amazed when I see a few people bid up a pair of grungy old stax electrets past a hundred bucks.

I must admit that I payed over a hundred for my SR50s... ^_^;


But yes, at this rate the majority of things will cost more on ebay than they do on audiogon within a few years. It's a real shame.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I've bought a couple pairs on eBay. Both were fine; the transactions went normally and everyone got positive feedback. But I've soured on eBay a little bit lately. There's a lot they should be doing to make it a better experience.

First, get rid of the bogus sellers. Every time I look at consumer electronics (e.g. laptops), it seems like half the auctions are patently fake. So fake that no one even bids on the bogus $150 PowerBooks, et al. Why can't they weed these out? If all the bidders can, they should be able to, also.

Second, the mislisted items. I wanted to get a new battery for my cell phone, but searching for it dragged up several hundred mislisted accessories. I don't want to scroll through 700 phone cases trying to find a battery. All they have to do is enforce the listings.

Third, the outrageous shipping fees. They should have a "fair shipping" program for sellers, where your listing fees are reduced if you adhere to a standard pricing schedule.

Enough ranting. It's a shame. ebay used to be a great place to buy and sell. But these days, I prefer Audiogon and Head-Fi to it.

 

[tyre]

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[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyre I guess that's why I'm frustrated with trying to buy headphones off of ebay. I guess I have a different motivation for wanting a particular set of headphone. I'm only interested in hearing way they sound, especially if they happen to be technologically unique from your average set of dynamic headphones. I suspect that others are bidding just to get another pair to round out their collection.

Very much agreed.

 

[Fallingwater]

I bougght a pair of Sennheiser CX300s on ebay for one third of what I'd have paid had I gotten them from an online shop, and that includes international shipping.
I couldn't be happier with ebay.

 

[nickchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyre I'm only interested in hearing way they sound, especially if they happen to be technologically unique from your average set of dynamic headphones. I suspect that others are bidding just to get another pair to round out their collection.

That sounds at least a bit emotionaly obscured. I somewhat doubt that all of the evil others just want them for showing off purposes...

 

[tyre]

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[nickchen]

You certainly mean that tension between the wiser "to be" and the dull "to have". Guess you are right in the respect that the "to be" sort of persons are extremely rare among us Hifi-freaks.

I'm not really wise for sure...

 

[VR6ofpain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik Second, the mislisted items. I wanted to get a new battery for my cell phone, but searching for it dragged up several hundred mislisted accessories. I don't want to scroll through 700 phone cases trying to find a battery. All they have to do is enforce the listings.

It isn't just that, but in order for the auction to come up under more searches, you'll be looking at some lelectronics and stuff with things like "(not RAZR Sony Bose)". I understand they want it to be seen more, but why would someone searching for a RAZR end up wanting to buy headphones when they unknowingly bring them up with a search?

 

[rock\]

I've been down on ebay a bit lately, but they came through yesterday when I won a pair of Audio Technica M40's for $28 w/shipping.

I come from the Home Theater realm, and have bought several pairs of speakers from ebay, and all have arrived in excellent condition. I think maybe headphones are a bit more intimate, so folks don't readily get rid of them like speakers, OR they are more fragile, and people tear them up to the point where they are unsellable, or even lose them.

I agree about the bogus listings though, but I find that the advanced search feature really helps weed the unrelated searches out.

 

[tyre]

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[facelvega]

1. You want a good deal on ebay? Learn German! Ebay Deutschland (and to a degree Oesterreich) seems to still have some of those deals that no longer really exist in the US. Of course, it also helps to have a German shipping address. Luckily for me, check and check.

2. Even in Germany you aren't likely to get a cheap deal on something popular. Everybody thinks to check ebay before they buy a $300 pair of new headphones, anyway, more often than they think to sell them there. Your best bets are to stay away from what's hot and stick with what's either obscure or plentiful. You can still get K240m on ebay for under $50, which is a steal. You can spend the money you save on an amp that will actually drive the damners.

3. It isn't just ebay; there are now a lot more people who can identify and will buy good headphones than there were five years ago, including most of us here. That trend seems only to be getting stronger. Part of the problem is that a lot of would-be sellers aren't on the bandwagon, though, and don't even realize those old headphones might actually be worth saving and selling. If anything, ebay is turning that part around for the better.

 

[damballah]

The shipping on ebay has been killing me lately. I think ebay needs to fee off of the total + shipping or something in order to stop the auctions that completely lowball the price, then charge 40 bucks to ship something that weighs one pound. I did recently get a pair of K81DJ's off of e-bay for $55.00shipped though and it was *far* cheaper than anything I could've gotten around locally...