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RE: The perils of buying used tape on Ebay

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mcgjohn@yahoo.com

In Reply to: RE: The perils of buying used tape on Ebay posted by X-2000R on September 23, 2016 at 07:00:13

Dave,
thanks for the post. I have had similar events happen to me before on ebay. But have also had the opposite, where the tape was basically brand new and unused for a cheap price.

also to most sellers on ebay who are not into reels, tape is tape, sort of like scotch tape used for holding 2 pieces of paper together. There seems to be very little common knowledge of the different brands or formulations.

Also the tape - original box mix up seems to be more common on 7 inch reels than on 10 inch reels from ebay sellers.

The other thing I do on ebay is check and see what other types of items the seller has. If its mostly tape related or audio related, then he may have a clue.

but if the seller is selling everything from antiques to toys to other collectables, then the odds are pretty good he has no clue on tape differences and applies the rule "tape is tape".

tks

John

Follow Ups:

Things are looking up. - Dave Pogue 13:09:16 09/23/16 (0)
I agree with all you say. In the case of my six "Maxell UDXL" tapes I was going by the leader, with only one of them clearly designated as a "35-80." But i've since found that the leader isn't trustworthy. I do tend to trust the original owner, if only because of his meticulous notes on what the tapes contained -- off-air 3 3/4 4-track stuff, though.

And a couple others have turned out to be what the box says they are. I'm still working my way through this particular batch. For 50 bucks I really can't complain.
RE: The Double Edged Sword - X-2000R 10:22:56 09/23/16 (0)
Buying from someone who is ignorant and thinks tape is tape-
The upshot: likely to be cheap. The downside is you are truly buying blindly and totally rolling the dice. As noted above-this can be very grating and disappointing.
Buying from someone who knows what they are talking about:
Not likely to be cheap, unless sold as such (i.e. junk tape). You are less likely to 'score' or 'pull one over' on someone who knows tape.
The plus here though is you are all but assured of getting exactly what was offered-meaning you aren't likely to be disappointed.
Choose your battles wisely.

Edits: 09/23/16

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