How lucky (or unlucky) have you been with online purchases

[TBman]

I must have a guardian angel watching over my guitar purchases. I have purchased the following guitars online without a hitch. The only one of this group I still do not have is the Furch. Great guitar, but the Pellerin does it better so I moved it on. How has your online purchase history faired?

1. Seagull Folk
2. Alvarez AP66SB
3. Avalon Ard Ri L320
4. Furch Yellow
5. Pellerin SJ CW
6. Cordoba C5
7. Cordoba Fusion 12
8. Cordoba C12
9. Cordoba Stage Traditional
10. McIlroy A20 (case issue though)

[soups]

Half of my guitars have been acquired online. None with any hiccups.

[abn556]

I bought two Gibson Historic Les Pauls online - from Wildwood. I also bought a Larrivee from Daves. All three of these purchases turned out great.

Oh - I forgot about a 50th Anniversary Strat that came from Music Zoo in 2004.

Also forgot about an acoustic from Music Villa.

[soups]

Online purchases:

Acoustic music works
Willcutt
Coda Music
Haggerty’s
Eddie’s
Guitars San Diego
Chicago Music Exchange
The Music Zoo

Plus dozens of private sellers

Never any issues.

[KevinH]

I've purchased about half of my guitars online and haven't regretted any of them. Some were eventually sold, but about the same fraction as the ones I'd played before buying. It takes me months to figure out if I really want to keep a guitar.

[hubcapsc]

None of my guitars are new. The only one I didn't get online
is my 57 Country Western. It was hanging on the incredibly
filled wall of The Acoustic Cellar back when I first found the
place... Along with this "insanely expensive" $40,000.00
herringbone d-28... I see a 42 with a nicer top for $150,000.00
over at RetroFret now ...



-Mike "careful online "

[islandguitar]

I've had good success both with retailers and private sellers:

Dream Guitars: Bourgeois (negotiated in a trade)

Acoustic Vibes: Bourgeois 00 (now sold) bought brand new.

Private sellers: (all pre-owned)
Vines Artisan
Flammang 000
Martin OM35 (now sold)
McCollum GA
Bamburg FSC

Commissioned: Tom Doerr, Legacy

Overall, I'm really happy with the results over a bunch of years. No complaints!

[Pickcity]

I haven’t had any problems. I’ve bought 3 Alvarez acoustics (all new), 2 Gretsch electrics, (both used), a Gibson Advanced jumbo, (used), a Squier Deluxe Strat (new), Yamaha acoustic (used). I think that’s all. 8 total. Never a problem. In fact, I can say that my experiences have been better than expected.

I’ve bought from Zzounds, Sweetwater, Guitar Center, Goodwill and a couple private transactions through Reverb.

I try to contact the seller beforehand, when possible, to get a good idea that we are on the same page. This has worked well for me. I’ve been fortunate to deal with honest folks.

There was a time when I would have scoffed at the idea of purchasing a guitar online. Times have changed and I’m glad I opened up.

[warfrat73]

Not a great track record buying used online, personally, a bit of a mixed bag. But, I tend to be looking for bargains.

The bad:
-The first thing I ever bought on ebay back in the late 90s was a 60s Epiphone Texan. I knew it needed a little bit of work, but it showed up with all of the top braces in a plastic bag in the gigbag pocket... undisclosed, of course. That went back.

-Bought a CFox something or other (Sonoma?) off of ebay from a fairly well known shop in about 2004. It arrived with a repaired and cleated crack that ran the entire length of the top, again undisclosed and not visible in the pictures. I noticed it immediately. Called the shop and their response was "it's been hanging on the wall for 2 years and nobody ever noticed a crack." They reluctantly accepted the return, and relisted it with the addition of the line "In the name of full disclosure, there is a repaired top crack."

-A couple of years ago I bought Martin 000-18GE off of Reverb, it had some major repairs that hadn't been disclosed, and some bad finish issues that weren't disclosed or visible in the pics. That went back.

-Picked up a 00-18 off of ebay that had binding separation that wasn't disclosed or visible in the pics... got it for a song and should have kept it, but sent it back mostly because I bought it on kind of a whim and used the binding as an excuse.

-German made Warwick Corvette bass that the electronics were a total mess on

The good:
Martin OM-21, Eastman E6-D, Eastman MD-315 Mandolin, Flatiron A5 mandolin all picked up for quite good deals and arrived in better shape than expected.

Maybe one or two things that I'm forgetting. Never really had any problem with things I've bought new.

[para_adams]

Bought my slightly used, mint Yamaha LJ36 online based on online reviews and a few YouTube videos. If anything it’s even better than expected.

[Rev Roy]

All of my guitars have been purchased online/over the phone, including lots of used guitars bought from individuals. Never had a problem and have made some friends along the way. It probably helps that I ask LOTS of questions, request additional photos and when buying from an individual I almost always chat with them over the phone to get a feel of who I’m dealing with before pulling the trigger.

[sinistral]

I’ve bought over 30 guitars—both new and used—online without any issues. I did have one used guitar that was damaged in shipment (crack in lower bout caused presumably by a drop—the end pin had not been removed), but rather than sending it back I got a price adjustment, since the guitar was not run-of-the-mill (a left-handed Waterloo). I have purchased several used guitars successfully through Guitar Center, while a handful that I ordered I returned (or more precisely, left at the store after unboxing) due to various issues. While I have bought a handful of guitars in person, I’d have to say that my favorite guitars have all been purchased online (or custom ordered).

[Glennwillow]

I have been very fortunate in how online purchases have worked out. I have never had a problem with any of these guitars, never wanted to return any of them, and I still have them all. I have purchased 8 guitars online.

- Glenn

[Mandobart]

To me, an "online purchase" is any instrument I bought online, whether from a builder, a resale store, the manufacturer or from a seller through the classified here, Reverb, etc.

In all these cases I haven't been able to see/hear/try out the instrument first in person.

I've bought a total of 10 instruments this way. Most all I had the ability to ship back if I didn't want to keep it. I've never returned any of my online instruments. I'm happy with all of them.

But my personality differs from most AGF members. I'm not on a quest for "the one", or a one-of-a-kind unicorn. I'm not picky about or locked into certain specs (nut width, string spacing, scale length, neck shape, brand, country of origin, certain tone wood, type of bracing, etc.) like many here are.

I'm hard to impress, but easy to please.

[BlueBowman]

I’ve mostly had great luck with only two bad experiences. One was a Webber RB I bought last year. Beautiful guitar, but it needed a neck reset (the heel was pulling away from the body), and it wasn’t disclosed. Reputable place, too. Had to send it back. The other guitar just wasn’t a good fit for me tonally, so I returned it.

I mostly have had a pretty good success rate, because all the other guitars have been great. However, nothing beats playing it first, of course.