I've been looking at some of the vintage Greco Mirage/Ibanez Iceman (or should that Icemen?) for sale on Ebay and Reverb (part of the ongoing hunt tp and the right one..)
I noticed that any of the sellers are based in Japan - not surprising given the relative rarity of some of the models in Europe and the US.
Many of the ads seem to show what looks like exactly same guitar offered for sale by different sellers. Many of the sellers have decent ratings and good feedback scores, so they certainly come across as bona fide Ebay traders as opposed to fraudsters/scam merchants.
I'm assuming that they are actually middlemen - not holding the stock, but advertising guitars for sale on behalf of somebody else, and taking a commission or margin on the sale ?
I just wanted to check - am I right in the assumption that there is a sizeable amount of this kind of activity going on, and if so should I be wary of the middlemen sellers, or just accept that they serve a function in terms of connecting buyers with sellers who wouldn't otherwise connect ?
Any thoughts or advice appreciated as always,
Thanks,
Alan
I noticed that any of the sellers are based in Japan - not surprising given the relative rarity of some of the models in Europe and the US.
Many of the ads seem to show what looks like exactly same guitar offered for sale by different sellers. Many of the sellers have decent ratings and good feedback scores, so they certainly come across as bona fide Ebay traders as opposed to fraudsters/scam merchants.
I'm assuming that they are actually middlemen - not holding the stock, but advertising guitars for sale on behalf of somebody else, and taking a commission or margin on the sale ?
I just wanted to check - am I right in the assumption that there is a sizeable amount of this kind of activity going on, and if so should I be wary of the middlemen sellers, or just accept that they serve a function in terms of connecting buyers with sellers who wouldn't otherwise connect ?
Any thoughts or advice appreciated as always,
Thanks,
Alan
