We get a lot of emails from people asking us about other peoples items for sale on ebay. Most of the time it’s just a simple question along the lines of:
“This user is selling this item and says its new. How can I check that he isn’t selling something he has bought from Audio Repair Centre previously?”.
We have put together this little buying guide to help:
Ask the seller one of the following two questions. Or better still ask him both.
1. Can I see a photo of the bottom of the enclosure please?
We write on the bottom of all our enclosures (usually ARC BSTOCK along with a date) this makes it hard for someone else to say it was new last week or unused but bought three weeks ago. If no photo can be provided then it’s sure to be one of ours and thus you’d be cheaper buying from us. If the bottom of the box looks like its been tampered with in anyway then it’s probably one of ours anyway. We’ve had several large companies do this to our items! You’d not believe the trouble some of them go to just lie to their customers.
Here is a photo of the bottom of a CBR enclosure that we have sold:
2. Can I have the items serial number please?
All VIBE / FLI / EDGE products have a serial number. Enclosures have it on the bottom of the box, amplifiers have it on the underside of the heatsink. If you get this serial number and email it us we can tell you the items history. We have people regularly email us asking this. Most of them were shocked to find that the item they thought was new was repaired / sold by us previously. If the seller cant provide the serial number then just assume something is wrong and shop elsewhere.
Here are a few photos of serial numbers.
This is a VIBE CBR enclosure serial:
This is an EDGE 7400 amplifier:
Any seller worth his weight would have no issue doing either of the above. If he can’t provide you with either then just walk away and buy from someone else. In the long run if you buy from this dealer and the item breaks in the future then the chances are you will end up with a costly repair.
We fully understand that there is nothing wrong with buying from us to sell on but please label the item as used, not new or nearly new etc. Oh and for extra Kudos points how about saying it was bought from Audio Repair Centre in the first place!
