I've had one very negative experience, one dissapointing,
and one very good. The two negatives were trying to buy
a Krell KCT preamp; the positive was with my BAT tubed
CD player.
Very negative - Before I committed to buying his KCT, the
seller triggered every scam warning possible while
negotiating the details...
- Used an anonymous hotmail/gmail address.
- Provided a cell number only. Refused to provide a home
number or postal address.
- Demanded a wire transfer and rejected offers for any type
of check, personal or certified.
The guy was either moving stolen goods or was an outright
scammer.
Dissapointing - Bought a demo KCT from a large NY dealer.
Arrived with black, plastic chips in the shipping box and
even inside the preamp case. Turns out the KCT used a
giant toroidal transformer which had a hard plastic shell.
Early KCTs had a defect which caused the transformer to
overheat. This in turn caused the plastic shell to become
brittle. Shipping vibrations caused the plastic shell to flake
away and disintegrate. The seller accepted the unit back,
but I still lost about $100 in shipping expenses.
Very good - My BAT tubed CD player transaction was very
enjoyable. Before I committed to buying, I called the seller
at home and spent about an hour chatting about his BAT
and the audiophilia hobby in general. I had no worries
buying from him, and the unit arrived exactly as described.