Posted by Kevin on February 25, 2002 at 03:18:01:
In Reply to: price of junk tubas posted by Art H on February 22, 2002 at 23:09:55:
I agree with Gary: know what you're bidding on and know when to stop bidding. I'd also suggest that parents looking for baby's first tuba to go two steps further:
1) Bid with sellers that know what they're talking about and who sell
a good number of similar items - if they tell you that they don't
know the answer to a reasonable question (like 'what key is it in'
or 'is the horn balanced') just say goodbye.
2) Watch sellers before you bid. See how and when the prices go up and
how the seller reacts to questions from bidders. Does a zero-feedback
bidder bump the prices up in the last 10 minutes? Does the seller
add new info to the listing when it becomes available? When watching a
seller, don't be afraid to contact winning bidders from the seller's
auctions and ask him / her about the transaction and the horn. This
takes time, yes, but while an unscrupulous seller can distort his
feedback by holding the buyer's good feedback record hostage, but he
can't keep the buyer from communicating with you privately.