Bargains on ebay?

[Alex_UK]

Alex, have you ever HEARD AE109's???

No, never, and not looking to buy any, just browsing, honest! (Not likely to now, especially as they obviously rot as well as sound crap anyway!)

[colinB]

Good call. Thanks Alex , feel more confident about how to proceed now.

[Spectral Morn]

I just thought it would give him undue advertising! But here it is if you want it http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...#ht_600wt_1137

The very fact that if you check his/her feedback that they don't sell HiFi much or at all suggests they don't have a clue. However the fact that the description details are on a half page which you must scroll to read fully may suggest some other agenda.

Bottom line is no rubber surround no workie. It would be funny except some poor sod who knows little about audio might buy them. I don't know if you can still get replacement drivers.


Regards D S D L

[Alex_UK]

In the case of this auction there is something you could have done to prevent this from happening If only you'd placed a bid on the items As long as there is no mention on the listing that the items can be removed as they are on sale elsewhere you are laughing. The reason being is that the seller can't simply remove them from sale once a bid is placed. Just like you are in a binding agreement to pay for what you win, the seller is in a binding agreement to supply what they are selling (as far as i know).

Now the only way they could stop the auction is say that whatever is was that's being sold happens to now be not working & ebay will contact you & ask if you agree to the sale being made null & void. You must agree though that there is not a lot of likelyhood that all the cassette decks would pack up simultaneously (unless a car fell on them ) so you could refuse to allow the sale to be cancelled & still bag the goods

I may be wrong about the above but by law i think it's probably correct.

I know this process exists as i won an auction for a pair of Krell KAS 2 monoblocks, went to pick them up & gave them a quick test & was gutted to discover (much like the owner) that one was faulty Had to go through this rigmarole on ebay to both agree to cancel the auction, which we both did...

Thanks Mark - I have now gone through my current watch list, and placed bids on all the items that have none - if my wife sees my account I'm sending her straight to you, because I am now the highest bidder on 11 pairs of speakers, 4 amps, 5 CD players, a rack and at least a dozen CDs/LPs and various other items - if no one else bids on any of it, I won't be paying the mortgage next month!

[nat8808]

It doesn't work that way other than it gives confidence to a seller that their item is worth something (because someone has bid so soon on it) and so they may feel less inclined to end it early.

The law Mark is talking about (if he's correct - I don't know the ins and outs) only applies to traditional auctions in an auction house (or conducted online by an auction house).

Ebay is not an auction house in any way and is only a place that facilitates the bringing together a seller and a buyer. The auction format of if is really just for fun in a sense as a way to find a price. No laws of the land are involved. A seller can end an auction at any point and can refuse to enter into a sale if he wants afterwards - he will only be breaking Ebay's Terms and Conditions and it's up to them what they do about that (often nothing).

The only point the law comes in is when the sale becomes a personal contract by personal contact and an agreement made to buy and sell - normal contract law - and Ebay making that contact on your behalf doesn't count.

So, bidding on all those items only serves to tell the seller that you are interested but for me it also flags that interest up to other interested buyers so could then start a bidding war (or it could put people off because of the competition).

Personally speaking, instinctively things stand out as more desirable if people are already bidding. If they have no bids sometimes that feeds my doubts about the item. I of course try to act in the opposite way to those instincts.

[Techno Commander]

TDL did the same thing with the RTL "SE" series of speakers, ruining a basically good speaker by slugging the tweeter so. At least the treble can be restored with a resistor and possibly a cap change...

I had a pair of the RTL-1 (i think) the small book shelf version. I actually went the whole hog and fitted a pair of Morel MDT33's and some decent cable. The results were quite astonishing.

In a way, I regret selling them, but the money went towards my JBL fund and I managed to recoup everything they owed me.

[nat8808]

The very fact that if you check his/her feedback that they don't sell HiFi much or at all suggests they don't have a clue. However the fact that the description details are on a half page which you must scroll to read fully may suggest some other agenda.

Bottom line is no rubber surround no workie. It would be funny except some poor sod who knows little about audio might buy them. I don't know if you can still get replacement drivers.


Regards D S D L

Speakers that need re-foaming are some of the best bargains around!

So easy to do and no need to get OCD about it not being as new, not the exact correct foam as long as it is close - if they're 10, 20 year old speakers they would never have been as new anyway as foams, rubbers stretch over time anyway, some call this 'breaking in'.

If you want a good sub for peanuts, look for a something like an 80's AudioPro with no foams - about £20 and the foams £20 and couple of hours of your time to get it all working again.

[Spectral Morn]

Speakers that need re-foaming are some of the best bargains around!

So easy to do and no need to get OCD about it not being as new, not the exact correct foam as long as it is close - if they're 10, 20 year old speakers they would never have been as new anyway as foams, rubbers stretch over time anyway, some call this 'breaking in'.

If you want a good sub for peanuts, look for a something like an 80's AudioPro with no foams - about £20 and the foams £20 and couple of hours of your time to get it all working again.

Having looked into re-doing the surround once on a pair of speakers.... what was required to do it right put me off big time. I take my hat off to those who can do such things.


Regards D S D L

[Reid Malenfant]

Thanks Mark - I have now gone through my current watch list, and placed bids on all the items that have none - if my wife sees my account I'm sending her straight to you, because I am now the highest bidder on 11 pairs of speakers, 4 amps, 5 CD players, a rack and at least a dozen CDs/LPs and various other items - if no one else bids on any of it, I won't be paying the mortgage next month!

I think you have more chance of winning the lottery

Have you been outbid on anything yet?

[DSJR]

I had a pair of the RTL-1 (i think) the small book shelf version. I actually went the whole hog and fitted a pair of Morel MDT33's and some decent cable. The results were quite astonishing.

In a way, I regret selling them, but the money went towards my JBL fund and I managed to recoup everything they owed me.

The mk1 RTL2's (same bits) were lovely too and even with the small-dome tweeters, which helped the crossover roll-in, the treble was lively but not harsh. I suspect the chipboard carcasses helped with colourations although the bubbly vinyl wraps were truly horrid. Fortunately, the mk2 SE versions looked better and the treble slugging can be corrected very successfully. TDL should have been more forward looking, but didn't and they sort of fizzled out as a company. very sad IMO.