Would you buy Home Theater gear on EBay?

[rbinck]

Originally Posted by rlpiii

You still paid too much for the monster cable

I wondered if someone was going to jump on that.

[GrtGrfx]

Originally Posted by rlpiii

You still paid too much for the monster cable

Eh, I couldn't find a cheaper sub interconnect that weekend, lol.

[Lefisc]

I just had a bad experience with buying on an auction. I bought the Krell DVD standard and asked specific questions about it with the seller. I bought it through Pay Pal and when I got it the menu items didn’t work. The seller would NOT take it back and I informed Pay Pal. The closed the case in literally one minute…ruling against me. Pal Pal advertizes that they help us, but they don’t. I felt swindled and bit stupid.

However I forwarded the information to Visa and they very quickly resolved it my favor. The seller said I took a week to contact him (I took two days) That he sold it as is (not true, I’d never buy anything on line “as is”) and a dozen other flat out lies.

Interestingly, he said that it was still under warranty. So I called Krell who would have repaired it if he sent me the receipt or the receipt number. He refused to respond to any email.

My advice: Don’t buy anything you cannot see on line unless you think you can get your money back. This guy had several great reviews, but it was bad.

[wilkinsb@telus.net]

My experiences with ebay were both negative although I have friends who have positive experiences.
I'm not sure about video but for buying internet Audio I go to saturdayaudio.com in Chicago They have proven reputable, and sell new, demos and used.
The used are all in good working condition with their cosmetics given a rating.
once I bought a piece of equipment that when the package arrived was not what I ordered. I contacted them immediately and got the comment "So that's where that went to" as the person who received my parcel had already phoned in.
I was given their UPS account # and shipped it back at no cost to me and a few days later, my package arrived as ordered.

[Celt16]

I have bought a lot of used gear, but only one piece on eBay, the rest on Audiogon. By FAR I prefer Audiogon. On eBay the knowledge of the seller is really hit-or-miss - you get pawn dealers and all sorts of folks who may not have ever used the equipment, and looking for audio gear among all the other detritus listed out there (decals, signs, etc) can be annoying.

On Audiogon, I've traded up from B&W 603s and LCR to Matrrix 803s and 805s, selling, trading, getting good bargains and upgrading substantially. The one piece I bought on eBay was an older 180 WPC 5ch Classe amp - its condition was OK, but I ended up selling it later (on Audiogon) and replaced it with a CA-5200. You can buy online with great results, I just MUCH prefer Audiogon to eBay.

[Phil Taylor]

I've bought a lot of stuff off eBay - a plasma, HD projector, Dish DVR and dish, ReplayTV to name a few - you just have to be careful about what you get and who you buy from.