the Radio Attic

eBay sucks!

This page is dedicated to all those nice folks who buy their radios on eBay instead of at swap meets or at the Radio Attic!   -- F.W.
eBay photo thieves take notice!
I will get your seller privileges revoked if you steal photos from the Radio Attic!


There are some very nice people selling on eBay.
But you have to know who they are....


I was tempted!!

One more nail in my eBay coffin...  I admit I was recently tempted to buy a radio on eBay from a seller unknown to me.  I don't have the correspondence so I can't tell you who this seller was (sorry).  I sent an e-mail asking him to describe how how would pack the radio if I won the auction.  His reply: "Very carefully."  I fired back one more shot: "That was a serious question."  The bozo's response: "That was a serious answer!" 

Yes, friendly visitors, this forever unknown seller reinforced, without knowing it, your Friendly Webmaster's earlier decision to never buy a radio from an eBay seller again!  If the seller is not going to seriously respond to a prospective bidder's question completely and truthfully, how the heck should you expect him to conduct himself after the auction is over?  My advice to all of you is simple: stay away from eBay unless you know the seller from previous experience.  Or buy your radios at the Radio Attic or your local swap meet.

Heck, as of March 19, 2024, there are 779 radios for sale at the Radio Attic!  What do you need eBay for anyway???


Friendly Webmaster has sworn off eBay forever! 

Yes, friends, it's true.  I have bought radios from eBay sellers.  Won my most recent auction in September 2003.  But it was also my last eBay radio auction, and I'll tell you why.

As several of my Radio Attic sellers will tell you, I have bought many radios right here (I get first look, so I have a bit of a head start when considering what I want to buy).  They have all been outstanding purchases, bar none.  But earlier in 2003 I got a yen to pick up some inexpensive restoration projects on eBay; it's been a long time since I worked on my old radios and I wanted to get back into tweaking and fixing them up. 

Let me relate some of these purchases as an explanation as to why eBay is on my permanent S-list.

Add to these dumbos the sellers who haven't tested the radios because the cords were cut (wonder who did that, hmmm?), the ones who say things like, "rare Art Deco Bakelite Catalin Radio with 8-track" or "radio is in great shape but has no knobs, speaker, chassis..." and you start wondering just whom you're dealing with!  Many of these idiots are on eBay to get rich quick by selling junk to the rubes (that's US, y'all).  As a group I would have to say they care little about the radios they are selling; they just want to get them and their coffee cans out the door so they can make a profit. 

Wait a minute, though; there are some good, knowledgeable radio sellers on eBay, please don't get me wrong.  I have run into several.  But by and large, you are taking one helluva risk dealing with eBay sellers unless you get really specific with your questions and insist on careful packing and shipping BEFORE you bid.  But who does that when there's eight hours left on that metal Silvertone and the high bid is only $47?  We get careless because we get greedy.  Simple as that.  And we end up with broken or crappy radios. 

But not me, not any more.  Friendly Webmaster made the pledge on October 7, 2003.  No more eBay radios for me.

Are you guaranteed satisfaction when buying a radio at the Radio Attic?  No, you're not.  But I can honestly say that in the twenty-plus years I've been doing this, both here and at RadioGallery.com before, fewer than 1% of the sales here result in complaints that are made to me.  And the majority of them are resolved to the buyer's satisfaction.  So buy your radios right here, folks, and leave eBay to the antique dealers and the neophytes.

I hope this short diatribe explains in sufficient detail for all the people who ask, just why I never have anything nice to say about eBay.  And never will.

   If God had meant for us to use eBay, no one would ever get negative feedback!  
I will gladly publish YOUR reason(s) for hating eBay on this page.
Just send your hate mail to

Thanks for visiting this page!


I did have one kind soul complain that he never gets what his radios are "worth" on eBay.
When I told him that I disagreed, he told me I couldn't publish his comment.  So I won't.
 



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