The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I'm sure it's grossly unfair of me to dismiss an entire region based on one sour experience, but that experience in shipping a phonograph to Asia went very badly: the Columbia Q was lost in the mail. It went Express Mail with tracking but Paypal very quickly tapped my account and I could not use it until I replenished the full amount. (So it makes no difference if you pull the money out immediately upon receipt, they'll still get you.) They wasted very little time in closing the case in the buyer's favor. Well, okay, it's not really the buyer's fault that it was lost in transit so I suppose that makes sense. BUT -- the buyer left me a negative feedback and called me a "deceiver." Huh???? There was proof of shipment through the postal tracking. It's certainly not my fault it went missing in Hong Kong... I'm still trying to collect the insurance from the Post Office six months later. I argued with eBay over the negative, since it was not only unjustified it's downright slanderous. They refuse to do anything: "it's the buyer's opinion." My only negative in 14 years.

I'm sorry to say that this soured me enough that I now exclude Asia (and Italy) in any eBay listings I do. Not that I do many anyway.

I would stay clear. ...like everybody said, this may very well not be fraud or a scam... but eBay ALWAYS sides with the buyer. Especially in this case, you would have no proof. You can not track or confirm shipment to Asia. Even if it arrived damaged, what are you going to do about it? Nothing, the seller will complain and eBay will stick you with the bill. If you have insurance, you will be dealing with the carrier.

One user mentioned withdrawing the funds once cleared... but as a seller on eBay, eBay (via PayPal) has the power to take the money if they deem necessary from whatever funding / accounts you have linked to the account.

Again, it may not be fraud... but it's a LOT of work to ship internationally, much less ship something like a phonograph. I say it's not worth the risk or your time.