Hi everybody
While this thread is hot and after Chris sax saying he's bought from ebay usa has any one else had experience of buying from America on ebay because I have to say I have been very tempted by some of the saxes on offer...john
I have with camera bits. No problems so far, but be careful:
Many sellers don't know one end of a sax from the other. (Just look at how many get shown with the neck wrongly mounted, mouthpiece upside down...). Often they're selling from a bankrupt/deceased estate and know nothing about the goods they sell. Often saxes are misnamed as clarinets, wrong pitch and so on.
There's effectively no warranty, so budget for a check up and some fettling. And look really carefully at the photos - is the thing straight, what are the pads like, any serious looking knocks, especially by the toneholes. Evidence of crap repairs - like lumps of solder and so on? Make sure there's a clear shot of the serial number and any other markings. You don't want to get caught with a high pitch instrument that no-one wants...
Postage and customs can hammer the price up, especially if a shipping agent clears it on behalf of you and the carrier...
As for the seller look very carefully at the seller's feedback, especially international feedback, comments on packing and so on. Is it a paypal txn? I wouldn't buy anything from the US unless it was a paypal transaction, and the sellers reputation was rock solid/well documented - unless I was taking a VERY cheap punt.... I believe there are a lot of good decent traders on ebay, but the few bad ones tend to give the rest a bad name.
Avoid anything where the seller offers to make it as a gift - customs, at least here in Germany, are wise to the trick. To the extent that genuine gifts often need a proper paper documentation from the sender (e.g. email exchanges etc. ).
Net result is that the price needs to be vey low to cover all these risks, otherwise stay well away. Even so there are bargains out there..... Just not as many as people sometimes think.
Perhaps Pete could split the thread and make a separate one for buying on ebay/USA.