ebay?

[happyrat1]

I was forced thru lack of alternatives this month to order again thru fleabay, this time an arturia beatstep pro again from Japan.

I couldn't find anything reasonably priced locally and I paid $326 USD, exchanged to $440 CAD at the time, PLUS $70 CAD in import taxes but still happy. Looks brand new and I assume it's a fresh factory refurb of a failed unit and it costs retail in Canada these days about $700 CAD taxed and shipped.

I also lucked out once with a DeLonghi cappuccino espresso machine.

But overall, fleabay remains a 50/50 crapshoot to me.

Gary

 

[Rayblewit]

I travelled 160 miles to pick up my latest keyboard which I bought in an auction from ebay, best absolute bargain I have ever purchased second hand !

What did you buy?

 

[Willabong]

I bought a Yamaha Tyros 2, with dedicated keyboard stand full set of speakers, all software plus several video manuals and a clean user hard drive already installed which I didn't know was there at first, and 1 gig of user memory. It is in perfect condition after fixing 2 known problems and cost me £380 plus about £40 for petrol. The Tyros 2 workstation is selling second hand on the Web for as much as £1300 and not in as good condition or with this ones history.
I bought it from a famous early 1970s band member, the band is still working today all over Europe. I won't tell you the name of the band without permission, but the keyboard still displays his name on the start screen (I won't change that), and I know his address and have his telephone number and email address.
Anyway I bought it to use not to sell!

 

[Rayblewit]

Well done Willabong.

 

[Biggles]

I bought a Yamaha Tyros 2, with dedicated keyboard stand full set of speakers, all software plus several video manuals and a clean user hard drive already installed which I didn't know was there at first, and 1 gig of user memory. It is in perfect condition after fixing 2 known problems and cost me £380 plus about £40 for petrol. The Tyros 2 workstation is selling second hand on the Web for as much as £1300 and not in as good condition or with this ones history.
I bought it from a famous early 1970s band member, the band is still working today all over Europe. I won't tell you the name of the band without permission, but the keyboard still displays his name on the start screen (I won't change that), and I know his address and have his telephone number and email address.
Anyway I bought it to use not to sell!

Sounds like you got a great deal there.

That is one of the problems with fleabay.

Us tight assed Brits don’t want to spend much when we buy on fleabay but want to max out anything we sell there.

A&C Hamilton are my local store and they currently have a used Korg Pa4X selling at £2199 which is only just less than the £2499 which is what the price was pre covid for a new one. They also have a Genos and a Tyros 4 on Call Us for a price which is also probably maxing out given the limited availability.

 

[DavidS]

I wanted a decent 61 key midi controller to play a piano through my laptop when I'm not in my cave. I tried 25 keys and it was just too small to do anything with. I found a novation SL Mk2, from around 2016, for £150, and bought it last week. @Willabong it was 11 miles each way! A non-keyboard playing DJ had had it for years under a cover, and it's mint, with a Fatar semiweighted keyboard that is a delight to play and doesn't sound like a tapdancer on steroids. I don't really need the several million controls that the keyboard comes with (although I suspect that I will learn how they work, I just enjoy wasting time like that, and the keyboard is supported in Reaper using the DrivenByMoss extension).
I do think that you can tell a lot from a sellers feedback profile on EBay. If a seller has 1500 sales and a 100% feedback record I think you can take a chance that he's not on the dark side.
On the other hand, I spent a long few weeks trying to source and choose a keyboard. I had decided on an Akai MPK261, but when the novation came up, the fatar keybed decided it for me.
Anyway, I now have an Akai MPK225 that I don't want, so I guess I may be seeing the other side of Ebay after Xmas. And a book to write on how to choose a second keyboard (badly).

 

[markmann]

I don't like the fleabay fees but there is such a large audience that I can charge a bit more to compensate. When I am looking for something I can save a custom search and I get notified when something hits the market. That's pretty cool.