Does anyone here know "jakescore1" on Ebay?

[Steve]

Hi Carlos,

Yes, no surprises there really. As to getting one from the US the biggest hurdle is shipping costs. I have been quoted anything from £160 to £250 for shipping alone! That is the ONLY reason I considered this one at £200, damaged lid or not. The rest looks to be in very good shape but not £350 shape!

If anyone is selling a nice VV-50 and is happy to shop around with cheaper shipping organisations, I'm all ears. Certainly the few currently for sale on US Ebay are a motley looking bunch and an easy pass, especially for the ridiculous asking prices. As someone has already pointed out to me, a few of them have been for sale for years. Maybe they are what Mr Feek based his purchase on? Either way, it's disappointing that we haven't quite left the era of the wheeler dealers behind as some were predicting. Genuine collectors are still in competition with people buying to make a fast buck who have no interest in whatever it is they are selling.

Steve

[Steve]

Oh, I'm spotting Mr Feek everywhere now. I was doing a bit of research on an unrelated machine when my Google search threw up an item which led me to start investigating on Shpock of all places!

And what did I see? Did anyone else take a sharp intake of breath at that "Paramount, Bombay" Swiss made colonial 101/102 style machine a few weeks or a month ago, on Ebay at £500? I told the seller that in all honesty it probably wasn't worth half the asking price but that I would happily offer £150 as a punt. Needless to say the listing remained at £500 and I got no response! Well, that very same machine was not relisted on Ebay but Shpock instead and now at an asking of £200!! Guess who offered £80 and got it? "I can collect" he said. Yes, Worcester Park to Lewisham is all of 15 miles!

But why sell it to CF for £80 if you can get double that? Anyway, expect to see it re-listed on Ebay very soon as CF collected it in the last couple of days! Is CF the new Dave Smith? I'm confident the machine won't get so much as a wipe over with a rag before the new listing appears complete with the same borrowed photos from before.

[epigramophone]

Could it have been this one?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REF-J-ULTRA- ... 7675.l2557

[Garret]

420 GBP for a VV-50?

Reminds me of certain German classifieds ads for an HMV 163 equivalent for 1500 EUR simply because it has the "Electrola" decal.

[Steve]

Could it have been this one?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REF-J-ULTRA- ... 7675.l2557

Yes, that's it. But that is the same seller who has reduced the price on the same listing, although not before it was apparently available with a £99.99 Buy It Now price with offers allowed for the past 10 days! So maybe "jakescore1" didn't buy it after all.

[Steve]

420 GBP for a VV-50?

Reminds me of certain German classifieds ads for an HMV 163 equivalent for 1500 EUR simply because it has the "Electrola" decal.

I'm not sure what you're referencing but this isn't a VV-50 or even a VV-50 knock-off. For a start it's not an HMV or Victor, it's a later machine modelled on a hybrid of the HMV 101/102, if anything, and made by a Swiss manufacturer for the Indian market exclusively. And it was originally £499.99, then reduced to £200 , before £99.99 and ultimately £150 so I'm not sure where the £420 comes in?

Unless of course you were referring to the jakescore1 VV-50, but that's £350 (he'll take £300 by the way), not £420. Please let us know either way as things are already quite surreal in the British Marketplace!