Quote:
Originally Posted by gigantorbuzz  here i did it for ya:
Use caution when purchasing a SM57, SM58, or Beta 57 or 58 online. Ebay has been flooded with scam auctions for these mics. If you are looking for a brand new one, make sure you buy it from an established US based seller with good feedback specifically for selling microphones. Watch out for the sellers from China with private feedback that are selling these mics for far less than US dealers. You will end up with counterfeit mics that will look good but will not perform like the real thing. Even worse are the thieves that are listing these mics as 24 hour buy it now auctions at outrageously low prices using hijacked inactive accounts. Look at the sellers feedback. If they have not been active, or have only been buyers, or have not sold microphones in the past, and are suddenly listing a ton of Shure mics, Stay away and report it to Ebay. They will take your money and you will get nothing. Another good tip-off is when a seller claims to be in the US but writes instructions with a heavy Oriental accent and claims he will ship EMS at a high shipping rate. These are no-brainers. If a deal looks too good to be true, it is. I have been reporting these scams to Ebay but they are extremely slow in responding. By the time they wake up and stop the auction, the seller may have already made a bunch of BIN sales. Ebay likes us to think that buying online is safe, but if you are not extremely cautious, buying on Ebay can be about as safe as a midnight stroll through downtown Baghdad. |
A couple of weeks ago i did buy a beta 57 from one of these ''chinese'' seller on e-bay for 59 $,,,e-bay cancel the auction sending me a e-mail that this couldl be a scam,
i did send a e-mail to the seller, and he said that he desn'y know what happend
5 days after, i did recive the mic in the mail,EMS mind you........ i was sure that if was a fake, so i went
to the music store, open the mic (same part)....A/B the mic with one in the store, and it sound the same ( mind you it's 160$) ...........so i guess i was lucky,
i'm not encourage you do do that,but when i did tell my story to the store manager,
he told me that sometime on e-bay, peoples will buy container of stuff,and sell it back without the accord of the maker of thoses goods, i'm not saying that you don't have to be careful........but i guess i was lucky.
And another thing about the guys who charge you a couple of $$$ to spot a fake mic
if he was SO incline to protect you, he will do it for free i guess........
So i guess the moral is always be carefull on e-bay............