Pretty sure this guy on ebay doesn't even realise he's selling an original Tubescreamer.

Beef

Thanks Maynehead. Fully expecting an OBE after this tbh, Sir Loin of Beef has a nice ring to it. Also I'll be mad if I'm not getting at least a 50% from the final sale
price.

crunchman

I think I'm going to shut my browser down and avoid forums for an hour or two.  This is a bit of a storm in a teacup.

xSkarloey

It's a bloody pedal and Beef did what he thought was the right thing. 

End of story. 


FWIW I prompted someone to end a listing once for what he'd described as a '1962 Les Paul Standard'. Needless to say it was NOT an SG shaped guitar but normal Lester shape. It was a sale for a friend deal, the bloke was no guitarist and he'd read the serial no wrong off some site or other. 

He relisted more accurately having done more homework and avoided any other potential pitfalls. 

glynes

Skarloey said:

It's a bloody pedal and Beef did what he thought was the right thing. 

And when he came to post about his gallant actions on the forum he was expecting only lavish praise. When I look up at the address bar I see the word "discussion". It is a bit deceiving that any slight criticism is only addressed with comments that you might find in Twitch chat.
I wonder if he will prove me wrong - simply by considering my argument objectively and evaluating his actions, in order to make a more informed decision the next time a similar opportunity presents itself. I have my doubts.

Maynehead said:

On the other hand, you could have been that "aspiring (orphaned) electric guitarist lusting after nothing more than an original Tubescreamer" who would have had no idea that it was being sold on ebay due to the poor listing name, and could have missed your once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire the said pedal and become the next Jimi Hendrix, if not for the selfless public service announcement made by the honourable forum member by the name of Beef...

I didn't deem this worth replying to but "Beef" did, so I guess we have to lower the bar by quite a bit if we want to keep the ball rolling...
Ibanez Tubescreamers were produced in the deep tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. They're not rare, they're just expensive; and even if they were rare, this once in a lifetime opportunity has been already lost because the auction was cancelled and there's no saying if and how we'll see this particular pedal listed again in the future.

FelineGuitars

@Beef didn't ruin the sale - he didn't say he contacted the guy to give him a heads-up .
No doubt someone contacted directly to close a mutually acceptable deal outside of eBay which give the guy a chance to make more money on it and no doubt be a good score for the buyer.

VJIves

Yeah, you did the right thing.

Drew_TNBD

Beef said:

Have sent him a message with a heads up to make sure he knows the potential value as it'd be criminal if anyone mugged him off for it.

@FelineGuitars ;

Beef

Now I am become death, the destroyer of bargains.

Also yeah, I totally did this all for the internet glory. Give me your frets. 

meltedbuzzbox

Great thread, would read again

xSkarloey

Beef said:

Now I am become death, the destroyer of bargains.

Also yeah, I totally did this all for the internet glory. Give me your frets. 

Have one on me old boy. 

Good to have you around.

impmann

Maynehead

glynes said:

Maynehead said:

On the other hand, you could have been that "aspiring (orphaned) electric guitarist lusting after nothing more than an original Tubescreamer" who would have had no idea that it was being sold on ebay due to the poor listing name, and could have missed your once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire the said pedal and become the next Jimi Hendrix, if not for the selfless public service announcement made by the honourable forum member by the name of Beef...

I didn't deem this worth replying to but "Beef" did, so I guess we have to lower the bar by quite a bit if we want to keep the ball rolling...
Ibanez Tubescreamers were produced in the deep tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. They're not rare, they're just expensive; and even if they were rare, this once in a lifetime opportunity has been already lost because the auction was cancelled and there's no saying if and how we'll see this particular pedal listed again in the future.

I'm just trying to be objective. I'm sure if you were the seller, or if you were a forum member who was looking for one of these pedals you wouldn't be here having a "beef" with Beef!

Are you SURE you didn't have a personal interest in that "cheapo Japanese pedal"? 

Teetonetal

meltedbuzzbox said:

Great thread, would read again

IS this your new catch phrase?

DefaultM

If it's a private seller that clearly doesn't normally have that kind of thing and the listing shows they're clueless then I often send messages to help people out. You don't know what the circumstances are. It could be someone who is selling something because the owner died and they're trying to pay for a funeral for example. 
On eBay people will generally find things and bid them up to an acceptable price anyway, but at least the owner has the chance to put up an appropriate description now.

If it's a mainstream shop then I snap up the bargains asap, play them for a bit and if it's not something that I like I'll save them until I need money. 

From shops I've had:

A 6 string fretless Mayones bass for £280. I did actually intend to use this but it was way too hard. Swapped it for a Music Man Stingray 5 string that I still use every day.

Prestige Ibanez with hardcase and tremol-no for £280. Sold for £750.

EHX Little Big Muff for £10. Sold for £40.

Boss RC-3 for £60. Sold for £95.

I got a load of tab books in a Music Room sale for 99p years ago. Put them in a cupboard and I've just sold most of them for £9 each.

So there are still bargains around.

The strangest one that I've had was buying a Tokai Les Paul on here for £900, which was an awful lot of money for me and I certainly didn't see as a bargain. The original owner then got in touch with me and said that he desperately wanted it back and he offered me £1200. I checked back with the person I bought it from on here and he was fine with it so I sold it for cash in my house. The guy was over the moon with it as well. 

Sassafras

glynes said:

DefaultM said:

Well I think you did the right thing. You can 99% guarantee that had it gone for a bargain price it would have been back on eBay at a high price a week later.

You're playing this out as if you walked into a mom n' pop supermarket and caught a shoplifter. Hoisting him down to the ground his microphone head swings around and the steel rail, that holds all the second hand clothing the store owner delivers to needy children, catches Jamal's throat, sending arterial blood all over the floor and the wall.

I'm appalled, absolutely appalled and outraged at the racist nature of this post.

Jamal isn't a name commonly associated with honest, white, middle class British men.
Are you suggesting that only someone with an ethnic background, as you seem to imply, is capable of an heinous act of shoplifting?

professorben

Sassafras said:

glynes said:

DefaultM said:

Well I think you did the right thing. You can 99% guarantee that had it gone for a bargain price it would have been back on eBay at a high price a week later.

You're playing this out as if you walked into a mom n' pop supermarket and caught a shoplifter. Hoisting him down to the ground his microphone head swings around and the steel rail, that holds all the second hand clothing the store owner delivers to needy children, catches Jamal's throat, sending arterial blood all over the floor and the wall.

I'm appalled, absolutely appalled and outraged at the racist nature of this post.

Jamal isn't a name commonly associated with honest, white, middle class British men.
Are you suggesting that only someone with an ethnic background, as you seem to imply, is capable of an heinous act of shoplifting?

It's not explicitly said that the Jamal character is indeed the shoplifter, also I was more taken aback by someone being hoisted to the ground. 
I can only assume the shoplifter was attached to some type of winch, as demonstrated by Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 2. 

octatonic

glynes said:

DefaultM said:

Well I think you did the right thing. You can 99% guarantee that had it gone for a bargain price it would have been back on eBay at a high price a week later.

Yes, that happens rather often, but in a situation like this is it really a terrible outcome? Why does this guy deserve all the support from the great Samaritans of the ever-insightful Fretboard forum when he certainly didn't pay market value for it himself and doesn't care about putting effort into his own listing. If a buyer has done their homework on 1970s/80s pedals and is investing the time monitoring eBay then why are they not entitled to getting a good bargain?

You're playing this out as if you walked into a mom n' pop supermarket and caught a shoplifter. Hoisting him down to the ground his microphone head swings around and the steel rail, that holds all the second hand clothing the store owner delivers to needy children, catches Jamal's throat, sending arterial blood all over the floor and the wall.

But I'm afraid your noble gesture is a thankless one, and now the 1% that is the aspiring (orphaned) electric guitarist lusting after nothing more than an original Tubescreamer to bring him the joy of contemporary blues-rock music, has seen his dream vanish into thin air. Soured by this experience he puts down the guitar and plugs the Playstation back in.

And for what? Now, instead of a vintage gear dealer making a profit from fair work and learning about effects pedals, a no-name georgemcarthy will be making a lot of money entirely from your work. If you're looking to do something to make you feel good about yourself then I'm sure the RSPCA is looking for volunteers.

I think we can consider your posts in this thread to be your application for the role of 'Forum Dickhead'.

glynes

eh?

DefaultM

Fucking hell I didn't even notice that haha. Jamal the shoplifter with a microphone head. Wow.

BigMonka

This thread is a corker if you read it as someone with an internal struggle of whether of not to tell the seller: Beef is the little angel sat on their right shoulder, glynes is the little devil on their left.
I'm secretly hoping that glynes and beef are in fact the same person who is just trying to work out what is morally right.