I have had some good luck with the purchase of turning blanks on ebay. Any others with ebay experience? Any warnings about these kinds of turning blank purchases? Would be happy to hear of your experiences and opinions. Thank you.
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ebay turning blanks
- Thread starter gary7
- Start date
eBay wood
Never had any problems myself. Some amazing wood available there.
Never had any problems myself. Some amazing wood available there.
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2006
- Messages
- 19
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- 0
No problems here either. I like to get sampler pacs and try different kinds of wood. Most of the people I have bought from are turners themselves so the wood is either kiln dried or green and waxed.
i have purchased ebay wood abt 5 times.
1 was a ripoff b/c anyone who knows wood would never have sold the piece as it was described. it was 100% unusable and the seller would not refund.
1 was cracked more than advertised and the seller refunded money and let me keep the wood [but i sent it back anyway]
3 were excellent purchases
so that's 80% success. i stopped buying off ebay except from wood dealers. the problem i had was from a guy who wanted to sell what HE thot was excellent maple burl.
the wooddealers want NO BAD ratings and will correct problems immediately. they are in it for the long haul.
i agree with other posts that there are some excellent products available there, not much of savings tho i find. fair pricing.
1 was a ripoff b/c anyone who knows wood would never have sold the piece as it was described. it was 100% unusable and the seller would not refund.
1 was cracked more than advertised and the seller refunded money and let me keep the wood [but i sent it back anyway]
3 were excellent purchases
so that's 80% success. i stopped buying off ebay except from wood dealers. the problem i had was from a guy who wanted to sell what HE thot was excellent maple burl.
the wooddealers want NO BAD ratings and will correct problems immediately. they are in it for the long haul.
i agree with other posts that there are some excellent products available there, not much of savings tho i find. fair pricing.
I'm actually soon to be one of those dealers. One of the folks in particular sells alot of bowl blanks in groups. He's got well over 500 sales and only one person complained, and that for what appears to be an inappropriate reason (wouldn't bundle for shipping). Stick with the reputable ones and you'll likely get good stuff.
Dietrich
Dietrich
I have had good luck with a couple of sellers. Especially when it comes to shipping. They work with me when I buy more than one piece to try to keep it down. I have had 1 in 5 that stiffed me. When I got the bid and paid for 2 items he e-mailed me (after I had e-mailed him at least 6 times) with some excuse that it was put on ebay twice and didn't have the item. I had to go to paypal to get my money back. He tried to get me to take a couple of junk pieces of wood instead. Finally 3 weeks later I got my money back.
Good luck the few times I bought on-line
Good and bad, none ugly
My E-bay purchase have been the best from lumber dealers. Others, read non-turners, just don't know what goes into a good balnk. Sometimes the pith is still in the blank, other times the balnk is irregularly shaped. It's a crapshoot.
My E-bay purchase have been the best from lumber dealers. Others, read non-turners, just don't know what goes into a good balnk. Sometimes the pith is still in the blank, other times the balnk is irregularly shaped. It's a crapshoot.
eBay wood purchases
Hello there,
I thought I'd add my own experiences as a English turner buying from the UK eBay site.
I've bought a fair amount of wood on eBay, but have tended to buy from established timber merchants. One in particular, from Scotland, offers packs containing a selection of bowl blanks and spindles in various woods, and they are excellent value. All items are as described and kiln dried and waxed.
I have bought of non-merchants, and as others have said, have generally been disapointed with the wood when it arrived. I bought Australian burrs and found they were not the ones pictured in the auction listing! Recouping money via eBay and paypal is so difficult and protracted, enough to make you cry, so I didn't bother.
It also strikes me that as turners we really ought to be "seeing" the timber in real life before buying. I bought one large Elm platter blank for a specific job, because the colour looked superb on eBay. When it arrived it was so insipid it could have been bleached. The seller said that his camera often gives pictures an orange hue!
So I suppose you take a chance unless it's an established supplier using eBay as an alternative marketing oultlet.
Good luck and happy turning
Andy Coates
www.cobwebcrafts.co.uk
Hello there,
I thought I'd add my own experiences as a English turner buying from the UK eBay site.
I've bought a fair amount of wood on eBay, but have tended to buy from established timber merchants. One in particular, from Scotland, offers packs containing a selection of bowl blanks and spindles in various woods, and they are excellent value. All items are as described and kiln dried and waxed.
I have bought of non-merchants, and as others have said, have generally been disapointed with the wood when it arrived. I bought Australian burrs and found they were not the ones pictured in the auction listing! Recouping money via eBay and paypal is so difficult and protracted, enough to make you cry, so I didn't bother.
It also strikes me that as turners we really ought to be "seeing" the timber in real life before buying. I bought one large Elm platter blank for a specific job, because the colour looked superb on eBay. When it arrived it was so insipid it could have been bleached. The seller said that his camera often gives pictures an orange hue!
So I suppose you take a chance unless it's an established supplier using eBay as an alternative marketing oultlet.
Good luck and happy turning
Andy Coates
www.cobwebcrafts.co.uk
Andy brings up some good points... some eBay sellers color modify the image of the wood they are selling. There is a web-site that discusses this in depth. See Hobbit House Inc for details.
When I have bought from a turner (WoodBay springs right to mind) I have been happy, when I have bought from a "lumber" outlet, it's been mixed...
TTFN
Ralph
When I have bought from a turner (WoodBay springs right to mind) I have been happy, when I have bought from a "lumber" outlet, it's been mixed...
TTFN
Ralph
E-Bay
Hi Gary,
I must say I've had good luck with e-bay wood price was 1/2 my local dealer , well packed and waxed , shipped a little slower than I might have liked , but 😎 only once had a piece of " lightly spalted" be " lightly punky" :mad: all in all worth the effort.
FM
Hi Gary,
I must say I've had good luck with e-bay wood price was 1/2 my local dealer , well packed and waxed , shipped a little slower than I might have liked , but 😎 only once had a piece of " lightly spalted" be " lightly punky" :mad: all in all worth the effort.
FM
My experience...
has been just fine for the most part. What you have to watch out for are the shipping and packaging costs. I was looking at 3 blanks on eBay...total purchase to me was about $44. Luckily the supplier had shipping cost utility for me to plug in the weight of my pieces. So I plugged in 19 pounds. The shipping costs varied from 33.72 to 136.92....the least expensive being guaranteed ground 6-12 days or next day for the most expensive. That's completely nuts but this shipper was in Canada but I can recount other similar situations with US dealers. By combining my purchases, I only had to pay the one-time $6.00 packaging fee. So....44+33.72+6.00 = 83.72. I didn't purchase them because I determined my ROI (my sunk cost + turning time) was not to my liking.
has been just fine for the most part. What you have to watch out for are the shipping and packaging costs. I was looking at 3 blanks on eBay...total purchase to me was about $44. Luckily the supplier had shipping cost utility for me to plug in the weight of my pieces. So I plugged in 19 pounds. The shipping costs varied from 33.72 to 136.92....the least expensive being guaranteed ground 6-12 days or next day for the most expensive. That's completely nuts but this shipper was in Canada but I can recount other similar situations with US dealers. By combining my purchases, I only had to pay the one-time $6.00 packaging fee. So....44+33.72+6.00 = 83.72. I didn't purchase them because I determined my ROI (my sunk cost + turning time) was not to my liking.
E-bay
My experience with ebay is two sided . I purchased a lrg burl from a guy who has north in his name, it was around $30.00 and shipping was more than the piece but when i got it , it had cracks running all the way thru (it was fresh cut ) so i contacted him, i told him i would furnish photos but he said he wouldnt do anything until i send the piece back at my cost so here i would be out twice the cost of the wood . i ended up eating that $ 60.00 + . He wrote in my feedback that i was to cheep to send it back and being unreasonable so its all my fault ,
I contacted ebay and they wouldnt do a thing . But i have gotten some nice wood from other dealers with not a problem , the only thing is that the shipping will kill you some times its more than the wood ....So yes it is a crap shoot . Be careful
My experience with ebay is two sided . I purchased a lrg burl from a guy who has north in his name, it was around $30.00 and shipping was more than the piece but when i got it , it had cracks running all the way thru (it was fresh cut ) so i contacted him, i told him i would furnish photos but he said he wouldnt do anything until i send the piece back at my cost so here i would be out twice the cost of the wood . i ended up eating that $ 60.00 + . He wrote in my feedback that i was to cheep to send it back and being unreasonable so its all my fault ,
I contacted ebay and they wouldnt do a thing . But i have gotten some nice wood from other dealers with not a problem , the only thing is that the shipping will kill you some times its more than the wood ....So yes it is a crap shoot . Be careful
too many ##$$$^^%%** other bidders
i like to use ebay for wood because:
1. easily accesible with a wide range of size and type of blanks
2. i am new to the craft so i am still turning many woods for the first time
3. your search training curve improves so you weed out the bad experiences
but yall need to quit bidding ya probably would not like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i like to use ebay for wood because:
1. easily accesible with a wide range of size and type of blanks
2. i am new to the craft so i am still turning many woods for the first time
3. your search training curve improves so you weed out the bad experiences
but yall need to quit bidding ya probably would not like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!