There are some very nice people selling on eBay.
But you have to know who they are....

I was tempted!!

One more nail in my eBay coffin...  I admit I was recently tempted to buy a radio on eBay from a seller unknown to me.  I don't have the correspondence so I can't tell you who this seller was (sorry).  I sent an e-mail asking him to describe how how would pack the radio if I won the auction.  His reply: "Very carefully."  I fired back one more shot: "That was a serious question."  The bozo's response: "That was a serious answer!" 

Yes, friendly visitors, this forever unknown seller reinforced, without knowing it, your Friendly Webmaster's earlier decision to never buy a radio from an eBay seller again!  If the seller is not going to seriously respond to a prospective bidder's question completely and truthfully, how the heck should you expect him to conduct himself after the auction is over?  My advice to all of you is simple: stay away from eBay unless you know the seller from previous experience.  Or buy your radios at the Radio Attic or your local swap meet.

Heck, as of December 30, 2024, there are 721 radios for sale at the Radio Attic!  What do you need eBay for anyway???

Friendly Webmaster has sworn off eBay forever! 

Yes, friends, it's true.  I have bought radios from eBay sellers.  Won my most recent auction in September 2003.  But it was also my last eBay radio auction, and I'll tell you why.

As several of my Radio Attic sellers will tell you, I have bought many radios right here (I get first look, so I have a bit of a head start when considering what I want to buy).  They have all been outstanding purchases, bar none.  But earlier in 2003 I got a yen to pick up some inexpensive restoration projects on eBay; it's been a long time since I worked on my old radios and I wanted to get back into tweaking and fixing them up. 

Let me relate some of these purchases as an explanation as to why eBay is on my permanent S-list.

• Bought a cute Silvertone plastic portable for a low price (really low).  The seller (lamejohnny) had packed it in shredded newsprint and one of the hinges on the bottom had broken in shipment.  The other hinge was not broken, but it was melted by the acid from two badly corroded 'C' cells which remained in the radio.  Since the latch would not latch, it was obvious to any who looked at the radio that it was nasty inside.  I complained to the seller and asked for my money back, as the battery acid and the melted hinge were obvious defects not revealed in the auction description; this damage was not visible in the photograph.  Lamejohnny, to his credit, refunded my money and added, "I don't know anything about radios" as a defense for his lack of forthrightness on the radio's condition.
   
• The next purchase was a beautiful Bakelite Coronado with pushbuttons (I am a sucker for pushbuttons).  Lots of sales for this seller (shedeb6), good feedback, too.  The radio arrived with one side smashed because shedeb6 had packed the radio tightly in rigid foam plastic, which transferred every bump and shock directly to the sides of the radio.  There was NO discernable damage to the box, folks!  If I hadn't seen a photograph of the radio before it was shipped, I would not have believed such damage was possible.  I complained to the seller, telling her the problem with her packing.  To make a VERY long story short, she and her partner blamed the damage on ME for not telling them how to pack the radio!  The promised USPS insurance receipt was over a month late (she 'forgot' to mail it when I requested it).  I was scolded for being ugly (which I wasn't) and was told they felt sorry for me because I was such a jerk.  Not to mention that I was offered a $25 refund for $60+ purchase as a final offer, threatened at one point to stop criticizing her packing skills or she would not cooperate with me, and insulted in several e-mails.  You should see the e-mails I got!  I should have given up right here.
   
• The last straw was a pretty RCA Bakelite set.  I had thought I'd gotten smart; I started telling sellers how I wanted them to ship the radios.  Specifically said no firm plastic, and no newsprint.  Suggested half inch bubble wrap and plastic peanuts, and double boxing for fragile or valuable sets.  Seller (tranquilthymes) packed the RCA very loosely in crumbled newsprint, on its SIDE.  Tranquilthymes ignored my packing request, never said she wouldn't do it, didn't know how to do it, never told me to stick it, no communication; just asked for the money.  Miraculously, the radio arrived unhurt.  I complained to tranquilthymes, who never responded with an e-mail.  Over a week later, I left "neutral" feedback (did not pack as requested, did not respond to complaint).  Tranquilthymes' response was a comment about why should I have left "neutral" feedback when the item wasn't damaged.  AND, she left me NEGATIVE feedback!  Thankfully, I could give a rip, because I won't be going back to eBay, and, since tranquilthymes deals mostly with glasses, knickknacks and coffee cans (she's going to get rich on eBay), none of you has much of a chance at buying a radio from her.

Add to these dumbos the sellers who haven't tested the radios because the cords were cut (wonder who did that, hmmm?), the ones who say things like, "rare Art Deco Bakelite Catalin Radio with 8-track" or "radio is in great shape but has no knobs, speaker, chassis..." and you start wondering just whom you're dealing with!  Many of these idiots are on eBay to get rich quick by selling junk to the rubes (that's US, y'all).  As a group I would have to say they care little about the radios they are selling; they just want to get them and their coffee cans out the door so they can make a profit. 

Wait a minute, though; there are some good, knowledgeable radio sellers on eBay, please don't get me wrong.  I have run into several.  But by and large, you are taking one helluva risk dealing with eBay sellers unless you get really specific with your questions and insist on careful packing and shipping BEFORE you bid.  But who does that when there's eight hours left on that metal Silvertone and the high bid is only $47?  We get careless because we get greedy.  Simple as that.  And we end up with broken or crappy radios. 

But not me, not any more.  Friendly Webmaster made the pledge on October 7, 2003.  No more eBay radios for me.

Are you guaranteed satisfaction when buying a radio at the Radio Attic?  No, you're not.  But I can honestly say that in the twenty-plus years I've been doing this, both here and at RadioGallery.com before, fewer than 1% of the sales here result in complaints that are made to me.  And the majority of them are resolved to the buyer's satisfaction.  So buy your radios right here, folks, and leave eBay to the antique dealers and the neophytes.

I hope this short diatribe explains in sufficient detail for all the people who ask, just why I never have anything nice to say about eBay.  And never will.

Thanks for visiting this page!

• "I'm glad to hear that you are no longer bidding on Ebay. It's buyers like you that we can do without. "  -- Tom M.

• "My eBay radio SHOCKED me!"  -- Donald W.

• "I hate reserve auctions... people new to the radio world of collecting think because it's old, it's worth $500!"  -- Andrew Keller

• "If the item comes out cheap, the seller jacks you on the shipping. Any company that allows people to sell human body parts, naming rights to their unborn children, and debris from earthquakes & disasters should be put out of business."" -- Harvey P. Kravitz

• "Because of its lack of policing, eBay has become the last refuge of every deadbeat and fraud blackballed everywhere else. The only good thing that I can say about eBay is that it is nice to look at the pictures." -- Arran Foster

• "Some eBay sellers steal images from the Radio Attic's Archives." -- Friendly Webmaster

• "eBay does not immediately revoke privileges of sellers who STEAL IMAGES from other peoples' web sites." -- Friendly Webmaster

• "I LOVE EBAY!" -- some nut just trying to make trouble...

I did have one kind soul complain that he never gets what his radios are "worth" on eBay.
When I told him that I disagreed, he told me I couldn't publish his comment.  So I won't.
 

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