Same exact guitar but multiple sellers on eBay. What's going on?

DiscoStu

What's the deal here then? I was looking at original Ibanez PS10s on eBay (I used to have one) and the exact same guitar with the same serial number and the same photos is being sold by multiple Japanese sellers, at wildly different prices and with different shipping costs too.

It's a bit strange. Is this a thing? One of the sellers is Ishibashi who I thought were well regarded, the others I don't know.

https://i.imgur.com/ZSjeJzq.jpg

Funkfingers

Brokers schmokers.

DiscoStu

Funkfingers said:

Brokers schmokers.

Brokers? How does that work? The price variance on those ads is wild.

Whitecat

Are they all in Japan? Assuming they are, Ishibashi is probably the only one that actually has the guitar. If you buy from any other, they will go buy it and ship it to you and keep the difference as a fee. 

The reason they exist is that some Japanese dealers can’t/won’t ship outside Japan and also some don’t speak English and the brokers all do so easier to deal with. 

DiscoStu

Whitecat said:

Are they all in Japan?

Yeah

Whitecat

DiscoStu said:

Whitecat said:

Are they all in Japan?

Yeah

Cool - edited my post above - was going to say if any were not in Japan then they could just be scams. 

DiscoStu

It's a 1978 PS10, #G789112. Each ad uses the exact same collection of photos and show the serial. Could the Ishibashi ad be genuine and the rest are fake? Or are they all fake? Or are the all legit in which case there's nearly £1000 difference in the prices and what if two people buy it via two ads?

DiscoStu

Whitecat said:

Are they all in Japan? Assuming they are, Ishibashi is probably the only one that actually has the guitar. If you buy from any other, they will go buy it and ship it to you and keep the difference as a fee. 

The reason they exist is that some Japanese dealers can’t/won’t ship outside Japan and also some don’t speak English and they all do so easier to deal with. 

Ah right, that kinda makes sense annoyingly! 

DiscoStu

Curiouser and curiouser... Ishibashi have two seperate ads, one for £1592.34 and another for £1392.10, both with free worldwide shipping including UK. If they're genuinely selling it then it makes the other ads obsolete, but why have they got two ads / two prices?? £200 extra for what?

Whitecat

DiscoStu said:

Curiouser and curiouser... Ishibashi have two seperate ads, one for £1592.34 and another for £1392.10, both with free worldwide shipping including UK. If they're genuinely selling it then it makes the other ads obsolete, but why have they got two ads / two prices?? £200 extra for what?

That is weird. Is it definitely absolutely the same guitar? Sometimes the picture is “for reference only” - would look at the fine print. The brokers like using that get-out because there is always the chance one they are trying to “sell” will go before they can get to it and they may offer up another. 

aroof

This happens a lot with used guitars on the Japanese market.

I've surmised it's different people looking to sell the same guitar via Ebay (ie The West) for a profit on what they pay to obtain them at home (ie Japan). However, they don't seem to actually bother purchasing them in the first place until they get a buyer on Ebay. This obviously can and does go wrong - eg they have to cancel the Ebay transaction because the guitar is no longer available. This leads to negative feedback, which after enough, leads to the junking of the account and the process starting again.

DiscoStu

Whitecat said:

DiscoStu said:

Curiouser and curiouser... Ishibashi have two seperate ads, one for £1592.34 and another for £1392.10, both with free worldwide shipping including UK. If they're genuinely selling it then it makes the other ads obsolete, but why have they got two ads / two prices?? £200 extra for what?

That is weird. Is it definitely absolutely the same guitar? Sometimes the picture is “for reference only” - would look at the fine print. The brokers like using that get-out because there is always the chance one they are trying to “sell” will go before they can get to it and they may offer up another. 

"The pictures in the listings are of the actual item so please have a look for an idea of the cosmetic condition."

Ad 1, £1592.34 from Ishibashi, Shibuya

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274354926940

Ad 2, £1392.10 from Ishibashi, Shibuya

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283922909211

Whitecat

Yeah super odd. Would guess just an error on their part. 

Funkfingers

Currency conversion could have something to do with it. 

One seller could list the same item on different eBay territories, not realising that some searches are worldwide. 

Thus, a listing aimed at Europe will display a price in Yen, converted to Sterling. Another listing, aimed at the United States might involve conversion from ¥ to $ to £. One more intermediary taking a cut.

bobbatone

This is something I’ve seen and wondered about. Does anyone have experience buying from Japan via eBay? I occasionally see something of interest but the multiple advert thing has always put me off. I wouldn’t mind am having an order cancelled etc but I wouldn’t want to receive a fake and have the hassle of sorting that out with eBay.

DiscoStu

Funkfingers said:

Currency conversion could have something to do with it. 

One seller could list the same item on different eBay territories, not realising that some searches are worldwide. 

Thus, a listing aimed at Europe will display a price in Yen, converted to Sterling. Another listing, aimed at the United States might involve conversion from ¥ to $ to £. One more intermediary taking a cut.

Both ads are listed in $, with an approx £ price below.

DiscoStu

Another twist! Just checked Ishibashi's site and they have it on there for £1039! Add £191 for shipping and it's now only £1230.

https://www.ishibashi-music.jp/category/select/cid/547/pid/19595

The Microsoft Translate wording is great!

prowla

I would guess that looking at the sellers' feedback might be a good idea.

rossi

Many  Japanese companies have an internal  Japan price and  a lower  export price  .I assume something  like our VAT deduction for foreign sales.Best to ask Ishibashi about it all .They speak English and are certainly good and honest to deal with. .

I dont like "silly "shapes usually on guitars but that looks good .

Philly_Q

bobbatone said:

This is something I’ve seen and wondered about. Does anyone have experience buying from Japan via eBay? I occasionally see something of interest but the multiple advert thing has always put me off. I wouldn’t mind am having an order cancelled etc but I wouldn’t want to receive a fake and have the hassle of sorting that out with eBay.

A few years back I bought quite a lot of guitars from Japan, but this was in the days before this phenomenon of multiple eBay sellers listing the same guitar (also before the prices went up enormously!). 

The people I bought from were genuine sellers who actually had the guitars they were offering - and you could tell because all the pictures of their different guitars were taken in the same locations.

I don't think most of these guys are actually crooks, trying to rip people off or sell them fakes.  They're just trying to attract buyers.  If you contact them and ask about a guitar, they'll say they don't actually have it but can get hold of the same model, or they'll try to sell you something similar which they do have in stock.

I've dealt with Ishibashi too, again a number of years ago.  It was a bit of a faff, they'd correspond by email but you'd deal with one person so it worked quite well.  And you couldn't just pay on the website, they'd email a link for you to make payment.  Things may have moved on from that now.

But the whole pricing thing is just bizarre, I have to say.

Nowadays if I get an eBay notification for something interesting and it's in Japan, I just think fuck it, too complicated.

Grangousier

Right now it's £820.74 on Ishibashi with £150.90 for postage. I say we wait and eventually they'll be paying us to take it away.