[khaos974]

Am I the only one who is not really sad at the destruction of the violin beyond its value as a musical instrument?
 
Come on, it's a $2500 old violin, and while I'm not really aware of the violin market, a modern high quality Chinese made violin can easily cost $2500-$3000. The historical value of the instrument is probably nil, it's not "replaceable" there are probably thousands of such violins on the market. It's sad to destroy a musical instrument, but that's it.
 
PS: I agree on the paypal dickery.
 

 

[Il Mostro]

Quote:

Am I the only one who is not really sad at the destruction of the violin beyond its value as a musical instrument?
 
Come on, it's a $2500 old violin, and while I'm not really aware of the violin market, a modern high quality Chinese made violin can easily cost $2500-$3000. The historical value of the instrument is probably nil, it's not "replaceable" there are probably thousands of such violins on the market. It's sad to destroy a musical instrument, but that's it.
 
PS: I agree on the paypal dickery.
 

 

 

[MCC]

 
Quote:

You sure showed them!

I know they don't care, but that's hardly the point. I deleted the account because I cannot do business with PayPal in good conscience. Since they're a subsidiary of Ebay I'm debating deleting that account as well and never buying anything from there again.

 

[Audio-Omega]

Imagine if rare headphones were smashed into pieces.  

 

[khaos974]

That's kind of the point, it's like having an AKG K141 Mk1 smashed to pieces, it's sad but nothing to get revolted about.
A $2500 antique violin is a K141, not a Sony R10, not even a Sony CD3000.

 

[Audio-Omega]

I would be mad if that was my violin !  It probably had sentimental values.  

 

[sphinxvc]

Wow.  Horrible.  I've lost at least $2-3K due to Paypal disputes, so the seller definitely has my sympathy.  All of my disputes were related to ebay.  I now try to restrict ebay to buying & if I sell anything, craigslist or head-fi.

 

[Audio-Omega]

What did you sell ?  I was considering selling my watch on ebay at one stage.  

 

[sphinxvc]

I sold graphics cards & computer parts occasionally to make some side money.  I wised up to it after a while, figured out what was going on.
 
There are powersellers on ebay who sell these same items and accrue returns/defective stuff over time.  When they see a relatively low feedback seller like me selling the cards, they'd buy them under different accounts, file a dispute, then return their broken cards and keep my stock.  And there was pretty much no way to argue anything with Paypal.
 
Last year I lost a grand because of a similar incident.  Except I thought I was smart using UPS to ship with their "pack & ship promise", I figured even if something did happen I was covered because I had paid for insurance and had UPS pack the box.  Well, no, they just denied the claim repeatedly.  I just let it go eventually.
 
Ironically, I'm going down to Atlanta today to UPS corporate for a three day meeting.  And less than six months prior I was so close to suing them.  
 
If you're going to sell your watch (or any item) make sure you describe every last thing about it, even the serial numbers.

 

[EPcnD]

Paypal just charges way too much, I've setup a dwolla account, their charges are much more reasonable (like 25 cents).

 

[Il Mostro]

Quote:

Paypal just charges way too much, I've setup a dwolla account, their charges are much more reasonable (like 25 cents).

That's a business model that has "sucess" written all over it. 

 

[MorbidToaster]

Serial Numbers are the most important thing to describe, IMO. If it has one, make it known. 
 
Also on italics. Now that I've dealt with their 'investigation' process once I never plan to do it again. Absolutely ridiculous. The only thing they do is 'investigate' how the buyer feels and refunds them their money.
 
Quote:

I sold graphics cards & computer parts occasionally to make some side money.  I wised up to it after a while, figured out what was going on.
 
There are powersellers on ebay who sell these same items and accrue returns/defective stuff over time.  When they see a relatively low feedback seller like me selling the cards, they'd buy them under different accounts, file a dispute, then return their broken cards and keep my stock.  And there was pretty much no way to argue anything with Paypal.
 
Last year I lost a grand because of a similar incident.  Except I thought I was smart using UPS to ship with their "pack & ship promise", I figured even if something did happen I was covered because I had paid for insurance and had UPS pack the box.  Well, no, they just denied the claim repeatedly.  I just let it go eventually.
 
Ironically, I'm going down to Atlanta today to UPS corporate for a three day meeting.  And less than six months prior I was so close to suing them.  
 
If you're going to sell your watch (or any item) make sure you describe every last thing about it, even the serial numbers.

 
 

 

[sphinxvc]

Quote:

The only thing they do is 'investigate' how the buyer feels and refunds them their money.

Yup.
 

 

[wje]

Also, for audio items, don't overlook Audiogon.  It's a pretty good place to sell.  $4.00 to list your item and the feedback system seems quite reasonable.  I've been a 5+ year member there and have been happy as both the buyer and seller.  Sure, this solves on issue by getting away from eBay, but it doesn't solve the issue of getting away from PayPal because so many people are just "hooked" into / onto them.  When PayPal was started, their fees were very realistic and one didn't essentially hit any fees on a personal account until something like $250 was spent in a calendar year.  If you went above that amount, they suggested you upgrade your account.  Now, the way that it's run is for the sole purpose of making big profits.  In a sense, they should be viewed as a bank because a lot of their crap and tactics often mirror what you'd find a bank doing at times.