F'n Ebay

steveinaz

Old story, that just came to light. Rewind back about 4yrs ago, I was in a bidding war over Lake's first CD, as it (was) very hard to find. Short story, long---it cost me about $30 bucks. Ok.

I get the CD, it appears to be brand new, all legitimate wrapping, etc. It sounds like crap. Flat, dead, lifeless, devoid of any treble or dimension; probably the worst sounding CD I've ever heard. The vinyl I had years ago sounded quite good--but I wrote it off to another poorly transferred, crap CD; beer coaster, 1 each.

Fast-foward to yesterday. Last week I ordered some CD's from CD Universe, and noticed that they had Lake/Lake Paradise Island combined on 1 CD. I thought, what the heck and bought it---again.

Eureka. Obviously the POS I got on ebay years prior was a pirate, re-copy or something other than legitimate. The newer CD sounds just like I remember the album back on vinyl. Good ending.

I'm never buying anything again on Ebay. Done, finished.

SDA1C

Ebay has also raised their fees for selling and seems to have imposed a transaction fee on Paypal for purchases over 500 bucks.

Ebay is quickly becoming a search engine for Amazon lol.

Glad you finally got to hear your tunes as you remember...Long time coming.

Tbone289

Yeah, I have that combo Lake CD and it sounds very close to my original vinyl copy. Good score.

+1 on eBay. I've had a lot of good luck there in the past, but I've been having lots of trouble with audio equipment purchases in the last year. Mostly it's due to sellers doing a terrible job of packaging and just not caring in general.

Face

Are the CD's identical? Could one be a re-master?

steveinaz

The first CD is just too awful sounding---I think it was a poor re-burn or some sort of pirate copy. The new CD didn't come up as a remaster in EAC. I think some a-hole was capitalizing on the high price that the CD was selling for in other auctions, and decided to make some cheap copies. Thank god I didn't win the first auction I was involved in, the price was at $58!! I wanted it, but not that bad.

While the second copy is certainly better, I wouldn't call it a remaster. Of course, nowadays, who knows what passes as a "remaster."

The "newer" version sells with the first albums' cover art, but includes the paradise Island album as well on the CD. The inner sleeve features Paradise Island cover art.

decal

EBay didn't sell you the CD, why drag true name into the mud? If you want to rant, rag on the person that you bought it from.

heiney9

Unless the first copy you bought was a Chinese knock-off (perhaps the seller didn't even know) a copy is pretty easy to spot. The color of the recorded area is different than a cd, usually not shiny silver. All the laser etching on the spindle hole is usually missing. The silkscreen on the disc is usually incomplete, or of poor quality and may even be missing catalog/label identifiers. Usually the inserts are poor color or blury. If none of this is on the original cd you bought, it's probably a very, very well done Chinese knock-off that could fool anyone or the new cd is just transfered/mastered better.

Even a digital pirate copy shouldn't be all that much different than the original. Sure it can have some issues, but it shouldn't be night and day unless it's a vinyl rip or from a worn cassette or some other media than a digital copy.

H9

steveinaz

Whatever it was, it was crap.

steveinaz

decal wrote: »

EBay didn't sell you the CD, why drag true name into the mud? If you want to rant, rag on the person that you bought it from.

Are you the CEO of ebay? You sound hurt.

SDA1C

steveinaz wrote: »

Are you the CEO of ebay? You sound hurt.

decal wrote: »

EBay didn't sell you the CD, why drag true name into the mud? If you want to rant, rag on the person that you bought it from.

:rolleyes:

Seems to me Steveinaz was referring to the dwindling morality of the Ebay market place not Ebay inc. as a (w)Hole...LOL

If it was time to run Ebay in the dirt I don't suppose a bunk CD would at the top of the list for Fkt transactions...Just sayin'

jaycam

I had a similar experience with the Alice in Wonderland TV movie. The case and dvd's both looked authentic but when I looked closer I could see the perforation on the edges of the slip cover. The discs were obviously burns too...blue! Didn't bother to complain since it was the only copy I could find. A while later I was able to find a genuine copy...the pirated copy went promptly to the garbage. The genuine copy looked and sounded better any way. Some people...

Phasewolf

I too feel eBay is crap anymore. You report too them things that are bad copies Anne you can tell by looking at it and they just let the seller keep selling it anyways as all they care about is there fees and not the buyers who get burned. There are lots of sellers that sell nothing but Chinese copies and they never get shut down even when reported.

cnh

SDA1C wrote: »

Ebay has also raised their fees for selling and seems to have imposed a transaction fee on Paypal for purchases over 500 bucks.

Ebay is quickly becoming a search engine for Amazon lol.

Glad you finally got to hear your tunes as you remember...Long time coming.

I can't imagine purchasing anything over 500 dollars on ebay. Too risky.

cnh

SDA1C

I used to. I won't anymore due to price increases from new fee schedules.

Gatecrasher

decal wrote: »

EBay didn't sell you the CD, why drag true name into the mud? If you want to rant, rag on the person that you bought it from.

I agree 100%.

You could have bought that same CD from Amazon or anywhere else.

While there are plenty of things I don't really like about the evolution of eBay, I still buy and sell often.

I've only had a couple bad experiences in ten years on eBay but received a full refund on both from the buyer's protection eBay provides.

It is a money-making racket though.

inspiredsports

All retail environments have problems and benefits, even your local store where most forget the cost of your time, gasoline, oil, tires, insurance, cost of vehicle, etc. when you physically travel there to buy (or return) items.

The biggest problems with online shopping are the cost of shipping, and possibility of damage during shipping. But for at least a while longer you generally don't pay sales tax which helps to offset shipping. And in 99.9% of the cases I've paid less than elsewhere.

As a buyer, I've NEVER had a problem with a purchase that wasn't settled to my satisfaction by either the seller or eBay.

As a seller (yes the fees are increasing) eBay still beats the hell out of the costs associated with opening your own brick and mortar store. And they have such a vast and developed market that you almost always net more money, even after the fees, than any other venue available.

If you get something you don't like on eBay, explain your problem to the seller (or eBay if the seller won't respond) and get your money back.

Why rant? Just get the problem handled.

steveinaz

Because "ranting" is so much more satisfying. What are you guys, the rant police this week? You're taking this way more serious than I am. :cheesygrin:

Ebay = Redneck yard sale. There, run with that one.