Why so many weird sellers lately?!?!? Or common practice?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mrevol
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Mrevol

Mrevol

Member
Hey gents, so just unloading my frustration and looking for perspective. I recently started getting into the modded Marshall thing and discovered Ceriatone amps.
A yeti popped up on my local Craigslist and I was interested. I emailed seller and negotiated what seemed to be fair price. AFTER negotiating, seller then tells me he just got amp from France and that it’s wired for 240v.
I ask him if he has been using a converter so that he can play through it - No he doesn’t and hasn’t even played through it since he bought.
So I then email a tech and Nik (which have both been very awesome and helpful) and they say that it could be as easy as a rewire on the bottom of the PT. They just need to see a pic.
Email seller back and ask for a pic of inside chassis - he sends me a pic of the tubes. I communicate nicely that I need to see the guts just to verify the re-wire can be done. He then states “Oh I'm not removing the whole chassis. The power transformer needs the voltage to be discharged. Very dangerous”.

So now he expects me to buy amp without hearing it or even seeing the guts?!?!? After emailing back and telling him opening amp won’t hurt anything as long as he’s not tinkering around he states “I’m just gonna keep it”.

Now too the second seller - local ceriatone comes up. Seller has high price and after trying to negotiate he just won’t budge, His right I understand, but come on, I’m offering more than you would clear on reverb. So I agree on price as I really want to try the amp. Now he’s saying I have to meet at a Starbucks and buy without hearing.

Is this seriously common practice? Do people really buy used amps without hearing them? When someone buys an amp from me I’m so gracious on letting them play it and do whatever they need to do to feel comfortable.
 
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Yes this is common practice since Covid. Most people only want to meet in a public place. Playing the amp before you buy it only happens at Guitar Center these days it seems. Gut shots of a amp....good luck.
 
stephen sawall said:
Yes this is common practice since Covid. Most people only want to meet in a public place. Playing the amp before you buy it only happens at Guitar Center these days it seems. Gut shots of an amp....good luck.
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I mean I understand if it’s a mass produced amp like an Evh or something, but I kinda need to hear it when it comes to boutique or handmade amps.
 
Amp freaks like many of us here would request for a gutshot as a prove that the inside seems to be neat not tampered (mod) with... sellers who is into amps like us would also understand upon buyers request... for my experience here many would try help in showing pics for me when I request then....
 
Do you have a local guitar shop or GC near you? You could ask them if it would be ok to borrow their loud room for 15 min and make the transaction there. GC has cracked down on that though but worth asking.

As for the guy with the Yeti. Sounds like he is doing a flip? So it is possible he has not even played it himself. As far as it being dangerous to take pics of the guts - as long as he doesn't put his bare hands on said guts, he's not going to get electrocuted. Simply taking a pic of the bottom of the PT is safe. You could also ask Nik if getting the serial number to him would help.

Otherwise. Yeah. This. Is. The. New. World. We. Are. In. #snowflakes
 
hopkinWFG said:
Amp freaks like many of us here would request for a gutshot as a prove that the inside seems to be neat not tampered (mod) with... sellers who is into amps like us would also understand upon buyers request... for my experience here many would try help in showing pics for me when I request then....
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Agree....but here isn't Craigslist, Reverb or Facebook Market. RT has about 100 regulars....the others have millions.
 
Mrevol said:
I mean I understand if it’s a mass produced amp like an Evh or something, but I kinda need to hear it when it comes to boutique or handmade amps.
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Me too....but the majority of the gear I bought in the last few years was in a parking lot. Trying gear before you buy it has become a thing of the past.
I bought a amp Tuesday at a Home Depot parking lot. The guy knew who I was from forums. Playing the amp before buying was not a option.
 
I tried to get a local to pop the back off a 4x12 to see what speakers were in it. He was very offended and said "I'm not doing all that...."guess he still has it. clown....
 
Just really sucks because this is a harder amp to come by - and I’m even paying a good price for the seller.
 
I don't see anything out of norm about this. To be honest, since covid and having a kid I won't let people into my house to "try" amps or pedals. What I will do though is video call you or record a run through with your name and date so you can see it functions and hear it. I have met people at GC for high dollar amp sales and we "tested out cabs", but sorry, you're not coming into my house unless I know you.

Gut shot would depend on the situation. If its been modded or a custom build I will absolutely send a pic and it will be disclosed in my description. If I'm unloading something stock for really cheap and someone's nagging me for all kinds of stuff over the couse of 10 email I'm moving on. Too many times I've done this for people just so they can low ball me. Go ahead and buy that beat to hell amp 6 hours away for $200 less and stop wasting my time.
 
I feel on a handmade/boutique/vintage amp - if you’re not gonna give gut pics or let the person hear it, then there should at least be like a 24hr agreement/contract.

I just feel it’s nuts to buy without knowledge or even be a seller and not try and accommodate.

Once again - I’m paying more than he would CLEAR on reverb. If I was a seller I would be jumping through hoops.
 
Yeah… I got kids at home, and there’s some absolutely crazy people out there; I don’t let people that I don’t know into my home.

I’ll do a video or gut shots, but that’s where it ends for me as well. Gut shots I’ll do on expensive amps only though. Honestly, if someone is trying to buy an 800 dollar amp off me requesting gut shots, unless it’s a friend or something it’s not worth my time because someone else will buy it. On my own end I won’t buy an amp if something seems off or weird with it, because I know another will come up and I can be a patient adult.
 
I'm pretty sure I only played one of the amps in my collection before buying it, and I flew to California round trip to get it. Everything else in my collection(and more)was bought without me plugging into it until I got home. Two of them were from a guy i messaged on ebay who met me in the parking lot of a porno shop next to a Walmart distribution hub(my first ENGL and my current Herbert). I even did a Craigslist amp trade and neither one of us plugged in. I can't tell you how many amps I bought from people off the Dean and Rigtalk forums and met them at truck stops...and I never thought twice about waiting till I got home to try them. A LaBoga mr.Hector in Georgia. An ISP Vector sub in N.Carolina. A Randall X2Warhead in Ohio. Ceaser(from this forum)has met with me countless times on the side of the interstate in Austin to trade amps in some way shape or form. I met GSXRBUSA's wife and father-in-law on the San Antonio loop to swap amps. Picked up my FJA 6505 from Mailman in Michigan. There way more examples than just these.

All that being said, I'm obviously an idiot who is way too trusting.
 
rottingcorpse said:
I'm pretty sure I only played one of the amps in my collection before buying it, and I flew to California round trip to get it. Everything else in my collection(and more)was bought without me plugging into it until I got home. Two of them were from a guy i messaged on ebay who met me in the parking lot of a porno shop next to a Walmart distribution hub(my first ENGL and my current Herbert). I even did a Craigslist amp trade and neither one of us plugged in. I can't tell you how many amps I bought from people off the Dean and Rigtalk forums and met them at truck stops...and I never thought twice about waiting till I got home to try them. A LaBoga mr.Hector in Georgia. An ISP Vector sub in N.Carolina. A Randall X2Warhead in Ohio. Ceaser(from this forum)has met with me countless times on the side of the interstate in Austin to trade amps in some way shape or form. I met GSXRBUSA's wife and father-in-law on the San Antonio loop to swap amps. Picked up my FJA 6505 from Mailman in Michigan. There way more examples than just these.

All that being said, I'm obviously an idiot who is way too trusting.
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I'm the same way bro. I truly have never been fucked on a gear deal with another member or on the street. I know it's happened, but not to me. I've had a couple deals that could have went south but luckily they did not. My worst deal was I traded a new 4x12 to a member for a vh140c head. He emailed me and said the cab was destroyed. It was. I told him to contact fed ex and have the amp returned to him and to keep the cab as comp for his troubles. Baffle was destroyed somehow and one of the v30's in it as well.
 
Those sellers are everywhere on all the forums . I'm just saying .
 
JackBootedThug said:
I tried to get a local to pop the back off a 4x12 to see what speakers were in it. He was very offended and said "I'm not doing all that...."guess he still has it. clown....
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Couldn't you just remove one side handle and shine a flashlight in.?That is what I've always done when buying used cabs.
He'd likely have still been offended though lol.
 
rottingcorpse said:
I'm pretty sure I only played one of the amps in my collection before buying it, and I flew to California round trip to get it. Everything else in my collection(and more)was bought without me plugging into it until I got home.

All that being said, I'm obviously an idiot who is way too trusting.
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I've never had any issues doing this with higher end gear. It's the cheapo gear or recently inflated vintage gear that things can be sketchy. Usually, if the pictures are blurry and the person can't write a sentence it's best to avoid.
 
There's always going to be some weirdos out there when buying/selling things, you just have to get good at filtering them out in your conversation prior to the transactions. I guess I'm good at this because I've sold a ton of stuff locally on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for years. I've had multiple people over to my apartment to play an amp before buying. Everyone I've actually met in person has been nice, normal and reasonable.
 
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