Fair Warning: Luthiers/Repair Guy Reviews

[k43rover]

70$ for peace of mind is basically a drop in the bucket

Paypal/eBay depend on millions of people taking this view to drive their relentless quest to screw more cash out of users. I'd say 4% commission is too high for Paypal "peace of mind"; it should be 1 to 2% max. When you add the 10% they now typically charge in Europe as eBay seller fees, they are taking a combined 14% on most transactions. Now Amazon have announced marketplace price hikes, it wouldn't surprise me if we get yet another hike in eBay/paypal fees as they see a further opportunity to drive the bottom line with no real competition. I am hoping there will be a new big name entrant into the online auction/marketplace space to inject some much needed price competition and consumer choice back into online selling. Right now it feels like a couple of big monopolies just screwing small businesses/private sellers more and more.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... ouble.html

[Grey]

Paypal/eBay depend on millions of people taking this view to drive their relentless quest to screw more cash out of users. I'd say 4% commission is too high for Paypal "peace of mind"; it should be 1 to 2% max. When you add the 10% they now typically charge in Europe as eBay seller fees, they are taking a combined 14% on most transactions. Now Amazon have announced marketplace price hikes, it wouldn't surprise me if we get yet another hike in eBay/paypal fees as they see a further opportunity to drive the bottom line with no real competition. I am hoping there will be a new big name entrant into the online auction/marketplace space to inject some much needed price competition and consumer choice back into online selling. Right now it feels like a couple of big monopolies just screwing small businesses/private sellers more and more.

So don't pay the fees. You can send your money as a Personal payment and forego the dispute protection if you think it's too much. I'll decide if it's worth it to me.

[k43rover]

So don't pay the fees. You can send your money as a Personal payment and forego the dispute protection if you think it's too much. I'll decide if it's worth it to me.

We're talking about different things here. If I'm buying something of high value via a direct purchase from a seller I don't know, I'd have no problem eating the fee if I felt I needed that peace of mind and was using Paypal as the preferred payment method.

What I was talking about was from the private/small business seller's perspective and the way eBay/Paypal is increasingly screwing those people for more fees to provide the same service. For most transactions on UK eBay that's now a combined 14% eBay/Paypal fee (and you are now forced to accept Paypal as a method of payment which was not previously the case). My point is that those fees are way higher than they used to be and the dispute protection hasn't changed (..well actually when I reflect on that it's not true - the customer service when you do have a problem is even worse than it used to be with the off-shoring of the call centres that deal with it!).

[Grey]

We're talking about different things here. If I'm buying something of high value via a direct purchase from a seller I don't know, I'd have no problem eating the fee if I felt I needed that peace of mind and was using Paypal as the preferred payment method.

That's all i'm talking about here. You quoted me in your reply so I assumed the whole message was a response to me. I don't sell on eBay and I only use PayPal to make purchases so I have nothing else to add that would be useful.

[chronictown]

I recently built a wiring harness for a '66 450 to replace one Winfield had previously done. The customer had asked Winfield to make a 5-control guard (which they did well) and wire it. Although CTS pots were used, they were the current issue and didn't have the correct appearance like the vintage style I use. The tone caps were Orange drops instead Ajax Blue caps. Although the Ajax caps I have are slightly different in appearance, they are real 60's NOS caps. The wire was current issue vinyl insulated wire that wasn't even the right color, while I use red and green cloth insulated wire. The worst part was that it wasn't wired even remotely correct. It ended up with two master volumes, no working tone controls, or blend control. I don't know who at Winfield did the work, but the customer's happy with it now, and it looks and works like a 60's harness should.

Just playing the devil's advocate here, but did that customer specifically request a perfectly accurate 60s reissue harness down to the last detail?

Some people just want a working harness and don't mind what it looks like (after all, it's under the guard).

No excuse for it not being wired correctly though.

OK, time for "the customer" to chime in here...I was just made aware of this thread, and I realize I'm quite late in responding. First, as Collin suggests, I did not request a perfectly accurate 60s reissue harness from Chip for the '64 450. Why bother, when the guitar in question is a customized 5-knob 450 with early '80s hi-gains? My concept for this instrument from the get-go was a gig-able '60s guitar with vintage neck playability and a readily achievable Smiths/REM sound. When I received it back from Chip, I was very pleased with the refin/refret work and all the other laborious detailing necessary to bring the carcass back to life. The wiring, however, was indeed awry, and I know Chip would have corrected it if I'd made the request. Instead, having a little extra scratch at the time I contacted Dane to upgrade the entire harness - not to fix someone else's mistakes or to bring it to 60s spec (I did, after all, request a push-pull tone pot...not something you'd likely see on an unrestored 60s Rickenbacker) - but rather for the purported tonal benefits of having upgraded pots, NOS tone caps, vintage style wiring, etc. While I'm admittedly no expert when it comes to these items, I certainly wasn't "surprised" that there was a difference between components such as these and the stock harness I had ordered when the guitar was being restored. The '64 450 now looks, plays, and sounds great, and kudos to both Chip and Dane for all their excellent work in getting this guitar just right. While the initial incorrect wiring was regrettable, as mentioned this is something that I could have easily had fixed and, really, should have been left as a matter between Chip and myself; however, having privately disclosed who did the initial work on this wiring, I am surprised now to see this being brought up publicly as evidence against Chip's work. At any rate, I hope the extended explanation here helps to clarify what my initial expectations were for the restoration job and what was requested and received from each of the good people involved.

And while we're showing pictures...

[aceonbass]

I felt that since I wasn't revealing the identity of the customer, that it was fair to report on the quality of the original harness from Winfield. I apologize Chris if you didn't want that discussed, but after reading how Mark's issues were addressed by them, I felt I had to chime in. It may not have even been Chip who wired it, (is he the only person who works there?) and I did mention the good quality of he guard. It was wired so poorly with terminals on the pickup switch pinched and soldered together, and it just made no sense to me.

[sloop_john_b]

Gosh that is a lovely guitar Chris.

[walker]

70$ for peace of mind is basically a drop in the bucket

I am hoping there will be a new big name entrant into the online auction/marketplace space to inject some much needed price competition and consumer choice back into online selling. Right now it feels like a couple of big monopolies just screwing small businesses/private sellers more and more.

I hear that.