[Glitch]

I have no affiliation with this person or the auction…

https://www.ebay.com/itm/145575676442

The transparency of the item description is quite refreshing. The item could have been listed with fuzzy pictures and a vague description. Kudos to the seller for including a video.

The other unique thing was the plan for the price, start at a value then reduce it $100 each week until sold. It will be interesting to see how many weeks that it takes to sell.

Glitch

[Mark-sf]

I’m not sure I’d buy that he sold it for $3K as it was never sold in mint condition. You can clearly see in the video the wear spots on the control panel and pitting throughout. Also his “repairs” are dubious. Who wraps tonearms in foil tape? If he knew what he was doing he could balance and center the platter plus clean the top plate. The cantilever is also askew. In that condition and at that starting price he’ll be lucky to sell it in 6 months. Pass!

[geoffmartin]

Am I right in guessing that there’s muffler tape on the tonearm?

I wonder how much extra that adds to the tracking force…

[Glitch]

Mark-sf wrote:

I’m not sure I’d buy that he sold it for $3K as it was never sold in mint condition.

$3K does seem to be on the very high side for a BG4002. I actually tried to verify the statement by looking at the eBay sold history, but didn’t find anything one way or the other. Based on some other outrageous prices being paid for similar items, the claim isn’t entirely unbelievable. My original observation wasn’t so much about the price as the seller’s apparent willingness to accurately describe the current condition of the machine and provide some history. This information will undoubtedly decrease the final selling price of the machine.

Mark-sf wrote:

You can clearly see in the video the wear spots on the control panel

If you look at picture 2/9, the panel looks very good. Many sellers would have only shown that picture.

Mark-sf wrote:

If he knew what he was doing he could balance and center the platter plus clean the top plate.

I didn’t get the impression that he was trying to pass the machine off as being in great condition or being worked on by a “professional”. In many other eBay descriptions, there are references to the machine being “recently serviced”, or similar vague wording, which “technically” could be describing exactly (and misleadingly) what this seller did.

geoffmartin wrote:

Am I right in guessing that there’s muffler tape on the tonearm?

To me, it looks like the tone and sensor arms were sanded and polished, presumably to remove scratches/gouges.

I really don’t expect the machine to sell for much money. Even things like the “local pickup only” are working against the price.

However, I predict that whoever buys it won’t be disappointed. I assume it will be someone looking for a specific part. The description should be pretty helpful for understanding if that part will be functional compared to the ads that simply say “working” or “unable to test”.

In hindsight, my comments are as much about as what the seller didn’t say as what he did say. 😉

Glitch

 

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