you don't see this often, but ebay is a valuable tool.
background: I live in a house built in 1928 and I'm married to a woman who like me loves the oldness of it. The heating system is original to the house except that the boiler was converted from coal to natural gas in the forties or fifties,.
The radiator in my wife's bedroom has a bad automatic air valve. Yes i know what it is and I know that it is the problem. I know this because if I remove it the radiator gets hot. I have to reinstall it to prevent the steam from escaping. There is a cold air lock because the valve will not open.
So I called around in a 50 mile radius and found one supplier who had them. However he would not sell them to me since I am not a licensed repairman. So with no local alternative I went to ebay. I had no hope of finding one. To my surprise there were a half dozen of them. All pretty much the same but by a couple of different suppliers. This actually happens a couple of times a year for me.
Even the bad on ebay is much, much better than it was. I bought a couple of hard drives and one arrived not working. I sent it back and the man is sending me another one. Now this is how it breaks down money wise on the drives. I bought used ones. New for the pair would have been $100 plus shipping on line and about the same in a store here if I could find one that would work anymore. So I bought used the two were forty two bucks plus and additional 6 for the postage to return the bad drive. About half price for two working drives. That is about my requirements for buying used I get them for half price.
There was a time on ebay that I had to fight to get an exchange but now the real dealers know that they need to make it right. Buying from a individual is still my first option but they can be the ones who get you. I want someone with a good rep regardless whether a dealer or citizen.
We hear so much bad about ebay, i thought I would try to balance it out a little. Btw I have said harsh things about them myself.
background: I live in a house built in 1928 and I'm married to a woman who like me loves the oldness of it. The heating system is original to the house except that the boiler was converted from coal to natural gas in the forties or fifties,.
The radiator in my wife's bedroom has a bad automatic air valve. Yes i know what it is and I know that it is the problem. I know this because if I remove it the radiator gets hot. I have to reinstall it to prevent the steam from escaping. There is a cold air lock because the valve will not open.
So I called around in a 50 mile radius and found one supplier who had them. However he would not sell them to me since I am not a licensed repairman. So with no local alternative I went to ebay. I had no hope of finding one. To my surprise there were a half dozen of them. All pretty much the same but by a couple of different suppliers. This actually happens a couple of times a year for me.
Even the bad on ebay is much, much better than it was. I bought a couple of hard drives and one arrived not working. I sent it back and the man is sending me another one. Now this is how it breaks down money wise on the drives. I bought used ones. New for the pair would have been $100 plus shipping on line and about the same in a store here if I could find one that would work anymore. So I bought used the two were forty two bucks plus and additional 6 for the postage to return the bad drive. About half price for two working drives. That is about my requirements for buying used I get them for half price.
There was a time on ebay that I had to fight to get an exchange but now the real dealers know that they need to make it right. Buying from a individual is still my first option but they can be the ones who get you. I want someone with a good rep regardless whether a dealer or citizen.
We hear so much bad about ebay, i thought I would try to balance it out a little. Btw I have said harsh things about them myself.
Last edited:
