Ebay seller grwinds616

[LibraryMark]

Has anyone ever bought anything from ebay seller grwinds616 and actually had him/her answer questions? I won a recent auction for a Bach (olds) tuba and since I live fairly close to Cedar Springs, Michigan (his location), I thought I would ask if I could just come pick up the tuba.

Total radio silence.

[York-aholic]

He used to. I suspect as his volume has increase, his time has decreased. I once asked about a king 1240 and could I just have the body, him keeping the bell for the listed price. Nope, already packed. You get it all.

[LargeTuba]

Yep! Wouldn’t recommend him. He packs stuff very poorly.

Also, for some reason, his stuff has gotten a lot more expensive. More tuba resellers?

[bloke]

I happened to know about a pile of junk horns that they bought a year or so ago… It was enough to fill two or three 18-wheelers.

Based on the volume of junk horns that I know they have, I completely understand that the attitude has to be

“No time to understanding ‘em;
just rope ‘em throw and brand ‘em.”

If you are buying something to take out of the box and go play somewhere, or absolutely expecting it to arrive exactly as it appears in the picture, you might (??) not be shopping in the right place.
That having been said, when the bidding doesn’t get too crazy, sometimes stuff they have is useful.

[York-aholic]

Agreed. I have purchased a few King 1240s over the years for parts and that worked out fine. It was some years ago but I bought what was a nice model horn with a slightly damaged bell and a sticking 3rd valve. It came in a box with a thin blanket thrown in for good measure. The bell had been pretty damaged in transit. I’ve done the repairs myself over time.

However, for what I paid, I could have pair a real repair person to have fixed things and been happy with the expenditure versus the enjoyment I’ve had in playing it.

[The Big Ben]

That guy sells a lot of roaches.

[LibraryMark]

(snip)
If you are buying something to take out of the box and go play somewhere, or absolutely expecting it to arrive exactly as it appears in the picture, you might (??) not be shopping in the right place.
That having been said, when the bidding doesn’t get too crazy, sometimes stuff they have is useful.

I know full well I might have bought nothing more than a yard ornament. That part does not bother me. I do expect that the horn won't arrive substantially different that is represented in the pictures.

What bothers me is the total lack of communication. How long would it take to tell me yes or no on local pickup? Having sold a few things on ebay, I always understood that answering questions was part of the deal. The guy's feedback (and the comments here) suggest he has a problem with packaging. I would just like to eliminate that problem.

[bloke]

That is/are (all of that stuff) just the thing though.

Those of us who have purchased from this seller know what the deal is. They start their auctions at $1, $10, $100, or something like that. They end up where they end up, shipping quotes are always lower than they surely cost, packing efforts are always minimal - but are never charged to the customer more than that, we know they’re not going to answer any questions - because they’re just selling off some old beat up stuff and don’t want to examine it but I only want to sell it, likely their feedback reflects this (I’ve never even read any of their feedback), and we bid (or don’t) based on all of this.

People want absolute guarantees (regarding this, that, or another aspect of a sale - or perhaps all aspects) regardless of the quality of the things being sold, even if they begin their prices at $10 or $1. I don’t believe this is what that is.

pssst: I have had a question or two answered by them - in the past - by calling them on the phone.
I’m not pointing at any of the individuals, but I do realize there’s a tremendous amount of realtime phoneophobia - in what has become of our society.

The overwhelming majority of parts from this instrument were a Holton body from this seller and a King valveset from a similar type of seller in Georgia:
(Neither were attracting very many bids.)

[LibraryMark]

Thanks to help from Bloke I was able to track down a phone number that allowed me to contact these guys: https://www.middletonsmusicrecycle.com who pointed me to these folks: https://westmichiganband.com/

My tuba was in this unassuming building on the north side of Grand Rapids that looks like an old bank branch or maybe an old church. Inside is a small show room and farther into the building is this larger room that's stacked floor to ceiling with used instruments.

wmbi.jpg (177.82 KiB) Viewed 387 times

(picture from Google maps)

I just got back from picking up the horn, put a mouthpiece in it and it actually plays! The valves are't stuck (they look pretty good, actually) and the tuning slide and first valve slide even move.

My wife says, "It sure sound better than it looks!" so for $255 I think I made out OK.