The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I started collecting in 1975,long before EBay came along.In one way EBay is good because one gets to see rare items on it.In another way its not so good because one is less likely to see them in the local shops.And(I think)that EBay tends to inflate prices for common,run-of -the-mill items.Any thoughts on this?edisonplayer

I've seen a lot of very cool items on Ebay over the years, however my 2 sole transactions (buyer both times) were not without extra work and money required - never again

I've bought a few decent machines, but portables- better chance of them surviving shipping.

I have a lot of problems with shipping. Most of the time it is the post office. They broke two large boxes of 78s when they got caught between my fence and the gate which open automatically.. I prefer UPS or fed ex. If heavy items are not latched down and lots of bubble wrapped that has harmed four items that were delivered one a home four clip. Tom B

I have bought and sold many portables by post on eBay with no problems, always using tracked and insured Royal Mail services and staying within the UK. I never sell 78rpm records by post, and only buy from trusted sellers who know how to pack them properly.

I have also bought cabinet gramophones on eBay, but only within convenient travelling distance to collect in person and pay in cash.

Before Ebay, I bought only locally, starting about 1974. When Ebay came on line, I got several great "deals" and was glad to see the site offering a diversity of collectibles. Now, there are very few "deals", and if anything rare comes up, it seems like every collector in the country gets in on the bidding. I haven't bought a machine off Ebay in at least ten years. I'm back to finding them locally, or at the shows.

I have bought a lot of records on eBay, rarities that I would never have found had I walked the antique stores and flea markets a hundred years. Most were not a "steal", but I would not have had them otherwise. My biggest grief is dealing with non-collectors that don't know how to pack the records correctly.

For me EBay is THE medium to buy records and machines. Most of my collection was acquired through EBay, from small portables to huge EMGs and even a Columbia 810 I bought in Ebay some years ago from a forum member who crated it professionally and exported it to Luxembourg. As for records, I have my preferred ebay sellers, being customer of some of them since several years. Trouble-free? by no means, every now and then there are packaging issues, or hidden flaws that I only discovered when I got the machine, but overall nothing really replaces EBay as a medium to add to my collection. I follow and eventually buy in auctions and browse the "local" listings (craig list equivalents in Europe), but rarely anything interesting shows up in these listings and auctions are becoming rarer and rarer.

I find eBay to be a good place to sell more common phonographs for the person who just wants a Victrola. I offer them for pick up only since shipping would be cost prohibitive and I have not found a shipper who will treat them well (except Jerry Blais, of course). I have bought a stray part or two on ebay and have found some real bargains, but they are not always a nice as they were described.

I saw a couple Columbia cylinder Graphophones with 6 inch mandrels on EBay in the "Buy It Now" category.I was considering buying one of them.I don't have any "BC"cylinders to use on it.edisonplayer