[Rev2010]

I'm putting this here cause it's a general question but if it needs to be moved please move it and except my apology.

This is a "What would you do in this situation" kind of question. I have this guy on EBay selling a Triple Rec and it turns out he lives VERY close to me. I mean really close. So I IM'd him and asked him if I could pickup the amp in person if I were to bid and win being I'm so close. He was like, "Yeah totally, I can even meet you at the Dunkin Donuts" which is right near my house. So then I tell him I can pay for the amp head in cash and I asked him if it was possible to come over with the cash and try the amp for 15 minutes. He responded with, "i dont want to sound rude but I cant do that. If you want to try one out go to guitar center or i believe mannys uptown manhattan has them. The item I selling has nothing wrong with it and is in great shape. sorry cant help you out". To which I responded, "Uh, yeah that's all fine and dandy minus the fact that Guitar Center in Manhattan is not a Mesa dealer and carries no Mesa amps. Manny's is not a dealer either. The only dealer is Rudy's music across the street and I went there today but they sold their last Mesa amp a day or two ago, so they told me, so I couldn't try it out. What a shame. I guess cash in hand isn't good enough."

If you had such an exchange would you feel secure buying from this guy?? It seems like he really doesn't want me to know where he lives. He followed up that last e-mail with an, "If you're the high bidder I can deliver the amp to you". That negates the option of me picking it up. Something just seems strange about someone selling something in that price range and not wanting me to know where they live.

Anyhow, what do you all think?? By the way, he has good feedback and no negative ratings and has sold music stuff before.


Rev.

[Shawn]

Wow, that is rude of him. I would've just sold it to you right then and there to make it an easy sale. Why not? Some people just dont have a heart.....

[Scott]

Some people might just not be comfortable letting strangers into their homes? Nothing rude about that. If anything, you were the rude one by saying "I guess cash in hand isn't good enough"

My opinion.

[Shannon]

Well, it's understandable that people want their privacy. Look at it from HIS perspective...

Scenario 1: Say he sold the amp. The buyer comes to his house & picks it up. Turns out, the buyer is a fuckin' nimrod who blew the amp up for whatever reason. Now the buyer starts coming to his house to harrass him about getting his money back even though the buyer is the one who broke it.

Scenario 2: He may not want you try it out because like many of us, we'll try something out & THEN decide we don't want it. Since this is an auction & the deal has been sealed between seller and buyer, he doesn't want the buyer to come check out the amp & then renig on the deal. Bottom line, if you want it, buy it. If not, don't bid.

There are a million idiots in the world. I'm sure he's just wanting to sell the amp & just be done with the transaction. I'm sure you're a nice guy, but he's just protecting his ASSets.

[Ken]

Originally Posted by Shawn

Wow, that is rude of him. I would've just sold it to you right then and there to make it an easy sale. Why not? Some people just dont have a heart.....

The gear is in an auction. What if someone else wanted it? Is having a heart selling out from under someone else? No. If the guy's got great feedback, that would be the biggest factor in my decision.

I don't blame the guy for denying you the chance to come by and check it out, for the very reasons that Shannon pointed out.

A compromise may be agreeing to meet at a local music store to try it out. You get to see the amp, and he protects his privacy. Of course, that's not fair to the music store because they're not making any money for hosting the get-together.

I would disregard the fact he's local. Treat it like he's on the other side of the country, and go through the process like anyone else. Just my .02

[Rev2010]

Yeah but even if I were that nimrod that blew the amp up there's still nothing holding me back from posting a really negative review blaming him for selling me a bad amp. On the other hand if I tried it in his house he can always say "it was working when it left too fucking bad." The other way around is he can give me the amp, I can get home to find a dead or fucked up amp and have him say "tough luck it was working last time I tried it." I just personally find it odd as we live so close together. Whenever I sell something I WISH I could find a buyer right near me so I don't have to deal with the packing and shipping hassle not to mention the price of shipping which sometimes, actually usually, comes out to be more than we've estimated.

And yeah I was rude with the "I guess cash in hand isn't good enough" but how much fucking easier can I make it and why is it rude for a cash exchange of over a grand to be done with some relative security (ie. making sure the shit works)? By paying cash in person I'd be saving him the PayPal fees - which are getting ridiculous I might add. Oh well, whatever. Screw it I think I'll just order a new model Mesa.


Rev.

[noodles]

Maybe I work differently, but if you had cash in hand, I would ask to come over to YOUR house with the amp, and let you try it out. If you decide to buy it, then I'd delist and sell it to you (and we all avoid fees), or go through E-bay if you prefer the buyer protection they offer. To me, cash always talks. However, I can understand why he rather stick to E-bay, because it means a company is backing him up of something goes wrong, and he doesn't have to deal with a person face to face.

[Donnie]

Hey, I thought you were getting a Roadking?
Anyway... I, for one, would like to try it out in person before I spent the cash on it. Especially since you live so close to each other.

[Shannon]

Originally Posted by Rev2010

Yeah but even if I were that nimrod that blew the amp up there's still nothing holding me back from posting a really negative review blaming him for selling me a bad amp.

Yes, but he can deal with negative feedback. I'd rather deal with that then a guy harrassing me at my home...especially if I have a family to protect. Afterall, the guy doesn't know you.

On the other hand if I tried it in his house he can always say "it was working when it left too fucking bad." The other way around is he can give me the amp, I can get home to find a dead or fucked up amp and have him say "tough luck it was working last time I tried it."

Why not ask him to deliver to your house or practice space? You could try it out there when he's still around.

[Digital Black]

If I were him I wouldn't let you try it untill you bought it.. No other ebay buyer would have that advantage in his auction. Also the reasons above from Shannon..

[urklvt]

My two cents: there are more Mesas out there. Enough to not have to put up with crap from a local guy who is rude and unwilling to offer up a compromise opportunity to try the amp out, cash or paypal. I do agree, it is an auction and if you were accross the country you would not be trying it before buying it, so there is a point to be made there, but the other side of that coin is that you should never buy before trying! I never buy a car without taking it out on the highway. You never know what you're getting: blown transformer, mod job gone wrong, beer spill, etc. Tubes are easy to replace, but you have no idea what's going on inside that head chassis until you check it out. You have a Mesa dealer. Go through them and get a new one. You will not regret it or the service agreement that will come with it.

[Rev2010]

Originally Posted by Shannon

Why not ask him to deliver to your house or practice space? You could try it out there when he's still around.

Yeah I could do that but I'm quite sure he won't do it unless I bid and am the winning bidder and even then he might not want to bring it over and stand by while I plug in and test it out. That's why I asked if I could try it where he was. I thought asking him to bring that heavy beast to ME would be far too much a hassle.

And Donnie, yeah I'm still set on the Road King but at the price this guy currently has it at ($1049 - no bids and 7 day auction ending in under 18 hours) I figured if I could get the Triple for right around that price I'd certainly go for it. There's no reserve so. Of course it could happen that at the last minute someone shoots the bid up to something out of my range for a used amp.


Rev.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by Ken Burtch

The gear is in an auction. What if someone else wanted it? Is having a heart selling out from under someone else? No. If the guy's got great feedback, that would be the biggest factor in my decision.

I don't blame the guy for denying you the chance to come by and check it out, for the very reasons that Shannon pointed out.

A compromise may be agreeing to meet at a local music store to try it out. You get to see the amp, and he protects his privacy. Of course, that's not fair to the music store because they're not making any money for hosting the get-together.

I would disregard the fact he's local. Treat it like he's on the other side of the country, and go through the process like anyone else. Just my .02

Yeah, good point. Maybe it's just me. If I knew a buyer lived right near by, I'd look at it as if it works out well for me and him. I'd let him try it out because Im just a nice guy I guess.

[Rev2010]

Originally Posted by four_hz_at_140_db

Enough to not have to put up with crap from a local guy who is rude and unwilling to offer up a compromise opportunity to try the amp out, cash or paypal. I do agree, it is an auction and if you were accross the country you would not be trying it before buying it, so there is a point to be made there, but the other side of that coin is that you should never buy before trying! I never buy a car without taking it out on the highway. You never know what you're getting: blown transformer, mod job gone wrong, beer spill, etc. Tubes are easy to replace, but you have no idea what's going on inside that head chassis until you check it out.

See that's my feelings exactly. Thanks for your reply.

I understand everyone else's opinion on this as well and I agree there's reason for someone to be nervous about a buyer knowing their address. Yes it's true there are a lot of nuts out there that can stalk a person for their cash back even if they're responsible for damaging the item. I just happen to NOT be one of those people and of course there's no way for him to know that. But on the other hand there's no way for me to know there isn't something wrong with the amp that may not instantly show itself.

So yeah, I'm just going to stick with the new amp route. Thanks for all the replies and opinions on this matter


Rev.

[Donnie]

Originally Posted by Rev2010

So yeah, I'm just going to stick with the new amp route. Thanks for all the replies and opinions on this matter

Sweet. My buddy at the store back home in Bozeman has a few Roadkings showing up soon and really wants me to get one. Tempting but damn expensive. Great amps.

[Ken]

I can see both sides of it. Rev's just trying to make it easier, and the seller wants a hands-off approach until after the auction. Neither person is wrong, just can't see eye to eye. Sounds like the transaction won't happen, and that's too bad.

[Rev2010]

^^^ Funny actually cause he just e-mailed me asking if I'd like him to bring it to my house and connect it to my cab So I said yeah I'm definitely down for that but he suggested the morning and I can't do that since I have work. So I offered a few options, of which one is letting the auction end and if he has no bids I'll buy it or cancel the auctions and I'll buy both the head and cab off him.


Rev.

[7slinger]

dude if he is willing to bring it to your place to try before you buy jump all over that...and I agree with the other guys who were on the sellers side before...I sell stuff on Ebay fairly regularly, and most of the time I just want the money to appear and I drop the package off at Fedex or whatever...when things start getting personal, stuff can get hairy really quick

[thepunisher]

man, fuck ebay.

i dont trust it at all. but hey, it might be because i got really screwed on it.

also, id want to test before buy, but sometimes, youve just got to go with your gut and get. hehe.

but if he'll bring it over now, try it dude!

[Richardscuro]

I for one would not let anyone in my house to try something out if I didn't know them. I have had quite a few friends that have had gear ripped off because too many people knew where they lived and how much gear they owned.

I am sure that you are a great guy and I would be more than willing to meet you at say a neutral location if it were me, but I am sure that this guy looks at this request as more work than he wanted to do to sell the amp. It sounds like a great deal. I hope everything works out for you.

[The Dark Wolf]

Originally Posted by Richardscuro

I for one would not let anyone in my house to try something out if I didn't know them. I have had quite a few friends that have had gear ripped off because too many people knew where they lived and how much gear they owned.:

Ever since my buddy got his Les Paul and half stack smuggled through a basement window (WTF? A fucking half stack?!) by some crack head he barely knew, well... I don't exactly trust strangers my own self. It's fun to brag to other guitarists what kind of cool shit you got gear-wise, and how much dough you spent aquiring it, but when people I don't really know ask me, "Hey, how much did that nice guitar cost?" or shit like that, I just tell them "Cheap. Real cheap."

Me, I don't think it was that big a deal. Rev, you make perfect sense wanting to see it in person first, but him, he's probably just nervous of strangers. Nobody is rude, and it's not a big deal. *shrug smiley* (We need one, Chris.)

Hope it works out for ya, pal.

[Jeff]

No way in hell I'd let some stranger into my house to try some gear. I wouldnt even meet at the house if the sale is final, I'd do as he said, and meet at the Dunkin Donuts.

Too many wackjobs out there. I don't blame him at all for being cautious.

[eaeolian]

I can see both sides of the issue - I, personally, wouldn't have a problem with you trying it out, but I can see his point, as well.

If it's any help, it's awfully hard to seriously damage a Triple Rec.

[WayneCustom7]

I know of a guy here locally who posted a bunch of gear for sale.Someone came over to check out his stuff, and perhapos bought one thing. Next thing he knew, his house got broken into and his stuff got stolen. When I called him to try out his Peavey 1/2 stack, he explained that his wife didn't want ANYBODY coming to the house...I understood fully!