[1000mp] Buying Used Gear

[W4ZW]

Buying used electronics anywhere is a huge gamble unless you can personally
examine the unit and functions,  know the seller, and he is willing to
guarantee the unit.   I remember well some of the ham gear we received back
for warranty work in my Russian company that was the distributor for all the
ham lines like Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom, and computer and consumer electronics
like IBM, NEC, SONY, Nokia, Compaq,  etc.  In one unit we found that someone
had spilled a cup of coffee, soup, or other fluid through the unit and the
buyer claimed it came it way.  Other units showed signs of cannibalization
to repair owned units and were returned with obsolete parts installed.  We
had to resort to "Void if removed" destructive labels in strategic places.
And here in the US, I remember one guy who dropped his FT-900 at field day
and we all saw it fly into pieces.  Later, he said he managed to screw and
glue everything back together and sold it on eBay.

Caveat emptor (Let the buyer beware).

Saying that, I have had only five less than satisfactory experiences out of
more than 100 on eBay, but not with electronics.  Only one was a real
rip-off, the others were simply lies about the condition of the unit.  In
most cases, paying with a credit card resulted in getting the charges
reversed.

There is much to be said for buying from factory authorized dealers who
stand behind their equipment.

YMMV but it is simply a matter of probability . . .

Jon Hamlet,  W4ZW
 
Casey Key Island, Florida
"A little piece of paradise in the Gulf of Mexico"