Ebay Dealer Alert . . .

[plateauguy]

Watch out for "dukester" out of Oregon! He recently had 3 Yello Bole pipes listed - "bowls in excellent condition" "stems loose on 2 of the 3 pipes". The bowls had cake so thick you couldn't get a pipe knife into the them, and the stems had never fit those pipes.
Needless to say they are going back, but he's not happy, "I said I didn't know pipes".
For all of you new to buying pipes on ebay - I broke a steadfast rule. If the seller doesn't show a picture of the inside of the bowl, or close-ups of the stems, don't buy it!

 

[woodsroad]

"Pipes are not my specialty so ask questions if you have any."

That said, there's only one photo, which sucks, and you paid a tad over $25 for the three, shipped. A pig in a poke that sold cheap. Sounds about right to me.

 

[misterlowercase]

In many cases, I'd rather have a totally caked bowl than one that has been sloppily knife reamed and all messed up,

most of the pipes that I've gotten with super thick cake have had well-preserved bowl walls.
I use a senior reamer for such bowls,

what's cool is the differing consistency of the cakes,

some cake just crumbles to dust and is a breeze to remove,

while some cake is like a petrified rock...

 

[crazypipe]

I closed my account at Ebay after they were hack into, I buy my pipes from the lists of smoke shps here at PM. ::

 

[woodsroad]

In time, there will be security breaches at every site where you have tendered your personal information. Some of these you will hear about, others, not. I'd rather hear about it.

 

[sparrowhawk]

One has to be careful not to generalize, and while not to defend the unscrupulous practices of some pipe sellers on eBay, on one occasion it worked out to my favor. There was one seller that everyone was careful not to deal with, but because of this reluctance, I picked up an Ashton Freehand pebble blast that was in marvelous shape. It remains one of my prize pipes. Besides, eBay has a guarantee. While I don't recommend going to eBay for estates, there are rare instances where you can make out like a bandit. The pipe I picked up there was easily worth $200 or more; I paid $180. You just have to do a little research.

 

[neverbend]

I prefer to buy my estate pipes to be un everything, reamed, buffed, polished or anything.
I feel that it's buyer beware as the first principle of bidding on any pipes on eBay because you don't have the item in your hand. I'd add that any dealer who won't add details or respond to questions should be avoided as well.
I wanted a Kaywoodie Super Grain billiard to restore. Seller's description included:

Stem in good condition, with some minimal chatter.

lightly cleaned on the side.
Minimal chatter was the top (and part of the bottom) button chewed off and no longer fitting properly.

Lightly cleaned was partially sanded.
Three carefully chosen pics that didn't show the real condition of the pipe and I had more to restore than I imagined. The pipe was cheap, $14.61 shipped but I can't trust this seller.

 

[plateauguy]

Fred,

I bought a pipe from the same dealer, and had absolutely no problems. The pipe was exactly as described, shown.

I actually would probably do business with them again.
It is truly a case of buyer beware, and I was careless with this other dealer (not the one we are all careful with). Just wanted all noobies to learn from a mistake that I knew better than to make.

 

[tuold]

Sorry to hear of your unsatisfactory experience.
My rule is not to spend more than I care to lose. (sort of like Las Vegas) Now, I'll be in the market for a more expensive new pipe this summer and I won't be gambling $200.00 on ebay for that. On the other hand, I wouldn't be too upset about losing twenty bucks on a lot of three pipes. If it's so bad I can't restore it, I just toss it in my parts bucket. Besides, I'm disappointed if an estate shows up in perfect condition and denies me the pleasure of doing some work on it. I've had that happen on the last two pipes I got from ebay. One of them said, "professionally restored" and by golly it was! I was the only bidder at five bucks and the thing looks like it's new right out of the box.
So yeah, it's always a gamble on ebay.

 

[sparrowhawk]

tuold, agreed. In general, I do not deal with eBay when it comes to pipes, even though I've sold some pipes there with success and happy customers. Maybe I simply lucked out on the purchase of the Ashton Freehand. I haven't seen a freehand like this one, nor one with such a magnificent pebble blast. On the other hand, this is a great place to look if you want an established and new series like the Peterson Drac series. You just have to use your wisdom and judgement on these purchases.

 

[ssjones]

I'm a fan of Ebay and most of my pipes come from that site. You are right plateauguy, when you don't ask questions or for additional pictures, you can easily get burnt. Sometimes my enthusiasm gets the best of me and I've gotten pretty lucky on a few pipes. It pays to hold off bidding until pix or information are received.

 

[condorlover1]

There is no rhyme or reason to Ebay bidding practices. I often pick up the long stem clay pipe style meerschaums with amber stems on Ebay. Usually the threading has gone so when I have saved up enough of these pipes I send them on holiday to Tim West. I am usually the only buyer and if they come in a case then I usually bid $50 and about half that figure without a case. A right scruffy specimen without a case and messed up stem threads was sold on Friday for $293.00. I felt like I had bought the Microsoft IPO at $10.00! I have on occasion looked at some bulk lots of pipes for Shaintiques 'Pipe Project' but I am very cautious of buying outside of my field of expertise as there is so much tat on the auction site. Someone on here made the very sage comment that if it has Dunhill stamped on it the dealers immediately think it worth a fortune. I met one or two of the serial Ebayers and they all seem to come from Manchester, have greasy hair, combined with personal hygiene issues and would put a dried dog tu*d on Ebay if they thought it would sell for Five Pounds.

 

[cigrmaster]

When I buy an estate pipe on ebay I make sure it is a seller who gives detailed dimensions, pictures and knows how to properly refurbish a pipe. I only buy pipes in pristine condition as I have no desire or the tools to refurbish myself. I have been buying pipes on ebay since 2000 and not onces have I been ripped off. Only once did I have to complain about a pipe and that time the seller gave me my money back and told me to keep the pipe.
If you do your research the deals are out there big time. You do have to have some serious patience though.

 

[tuold]

This just arrived from the bay on Saturday. I got it for $9.99. Looks like it was smoked just a couple times.

I've got an old Dr Grabow coming in Monday that I won for $0.99! That one's gonna take some work. I'm pretty sure.

Ok, I'm not winning big here, but I'm not losing either

 

[condorlover1]

Thats a very nice meerschaum pipe you have there - did it come with a case?

 

[tuold]

This one didn't come with a case.

 

[layinpipe]

I love ebay and have bought around half of my 34 or so pipes from there, some unsmoked and some smoked. I have not had a bad experience yet and have dealt with very well known sellers to newer and lesser known sellers, and all has turned out fine. The few issues i have had were not deal breakers and every time, the seller has rectified the situation in one way or another to my satisfaction. You just have to be patient first and foremost, as well as being very vocal and unafraid to email the sellers and be straight up with them if you have questions or concerns before buying or even after you receive the pipe. I'd say from my experiences, 99% of the sellers don't want an unhappy customer who will leave them a negative review and tarnish their reputation on ebay. They will usually bend over backwards to try and resolve the issue. Again i emphasize, this is only from my experiences and people i know's experiences on ebay. I have no illusions about the scammers and deceitful sellers that lurk in the nooks and crannies of ebay, but they are the exception and not the rule.
On a side note, i have found it does help to mention that you are part of the online pipe smoker's community and post on forums regarding good and bad experiences with retailers and sellers. Most people are aware of how powerful 1 person can be with a keyboard and word of mouth, whether it be for better or worse, in boosting or tarnishing one's reputation based on positive or negative experiences.

 

[peteguy]

I love ebay for pipes. I think it is just like anything else, it takes experience and practice. If I tried to pick a winning stock off some penny stock list I am sure I would fail. But after learning, doing and trial and error I would learn what to look for and how to succeed. When I started out with estate pipes off ebay I definitely bought some dogs. 2 - 3 years later I cant recall the last dog I bought. Just my 2 coppers.