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AUDIO FORUMS >> Analog Tape >> The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
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Message started by Steve Deckert on 05/05/14 at 19:53:00

Title: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Steve Deckert on 05/05/14 at 19:53:00

Anyone buying tapes on eBay understands that there's a learning curve involved. Let's use this thread to share the knowledge so that beginners don't waste a bunch of money buying the wrong tapes.

Steve

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Lonely Raven on 05/06/14 at 00:35:40

Awesome! Thanks for creating this section Steve.

I'll see if I can gather some thoughts and start some posts.

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Lonely Raven on 05/06/14 at 17:06:07

Here is a good example of some of the BS to look out for.

http://www.analogplanet.com/content/copies-beatles-master-tapes-played-ces-and-rmaf-2013

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Lonely Raven on 05/06/14 at 18:58:14

I have one purchase inbound from this eBay seller. Seems to be radio "masters" of classical recordings. I'm not 100% sure of source (from a mixing board at the event, or recorded at the radio station, or for all I know recorded off someone's home stereo). On the positive side, he does have MP3 sample embedded in the auction so you can sample the tape.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/m-segal

I've had a brief E-mail conversion with Reel-Lady, and she was very honest with answering my questions, but I've not purchased from her.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/reel-lady

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Lonely Raven on 05/09/14 at 00:38:29

I received my tape from m-segal - seems to be the real deal. I just wish it were longer!

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Steve Deckert on 08/30/14 at 22:46:06

Sometimes the best thing is knowing who NOT to buy from... And this is one of those sellers. Claims her husband was a recording engineer and carefully words her listings to lead you to believe she's selling a professional recording.

This turned out to be a 7 inch reel, 1/4 track tape recorded in mono at -10dB and with a high noise floor. Probably one of the worse sounding tapes I now own. Actually this 40 year old tape is worth nothing, and the plastic reel about 5 bucks. What's even worse, is they instantly copped an attitude when I asked to return it. After writing GREAT SOUND several times throughout the listing.... I found out that they auditioned it on a pioneer receiver hooked to a pair of bose 601 speakers... which didn't help their case. It's possible (-10dB recording) that this was partially erased by a nearby magnet at the post office, but neither ebay nor the seller gives a shit, they both got their money.

You're going to run into this buying tapes, it's a learning curve, so cost of mistakes have to be factored in.
I'll be taking it to the range this weekend and using it for target practice so I get some satisfaction out of it.

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by JohnWatson on 08/31/14 at 16:53:20

Anyone who purchases something from ebay has the right to send it back. Simply start an "item not as described" action and go through the process of sending it back.
Ebay almost never sides with the seller in any event and you should be able to send the tape back with no problems other than maybe the seller being an obvious Ahole.
Another rule of thumb is to never buy from someone who doesn't offer a 14 day return policy. There are too many people on that site who don't think there is a tomorrow in regards to customer satisfaction and will sell, with apologies to American Pickers, "anything I think I can make a buck on".
Last thought...very few buyers are willing to leave negative feedback so pay close attention to the negatives the seller may have, it may only be the tip of an unseen iceberg.

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Steve Deckert on 04/08/16 at 03:09:38

BOGUS TAPES ON EBAY!

The quote below is an email I received from someone I know in the tape business so I thought I would pass the information along.

Quote:

Hi Everyone,

I’ve had a couple of people ask me about some of the sellers on eBay who are offering 15ips tapes so I decided to make myself clear on my view of what is going on. Understand that I am NOT complaining about competition. It’s a free market and that’s a good thing. I just can’t stand by when I see people intentionally defrauding the public on eBay. It’s hurts everyone and damages the hobby we all love.

New tape sellers are popping up on eBay almost every week. All seem to be offering 15ips “safety copies”, “protection copies” or “second generation protection copies” or any number of combinations of that wording. Some claim to be selling off tapes from radio stations. Others, the collections of “dead engineers”. While a couple of these sellers DO have real tapes, the majority don’t. Below are a few of the worst offenders.

An eBay seller in Orlando claims to have THOUSANDS of tapes from a radio station. Radio stations rarely IF EVER, had copies of full albums on tape. Singles yes, but even then, only LARGE MARKET (Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Chicago, etc) got them. Small market stations (Orlando for instance) would never have gotten them. So, if a seller on eBay is offering literally thousands of titles that he claims came from a radio station he is lying. There is just NO WAY ANY radio station ANYWHERE had that kind of archive. IT’A ALL A LIE! HE IS RIPPING PEOPLE OFF!

Another seller on eBay right now has a bunch of Jefferson Airplane tapes that he claims are “safety copies” made before the studio transferred to digital but EVERY ONE of his tapes is on NEW tape & has the CD “bonus tracks” in the same order as they appear on the CD. IT’S ALL A LIE! HE IS RIPPING PEOPLE OFF!

There’s another new guy in upstate New York that has a had THREE COPIES of The Beatles album,”Revolver” that he claims came from a radio station. He is even reproducing the album covers on his tapes! Even one copy is unlikely. THREE is ridiculous. The same thing applies to all of the other tapes he is offering. IT’S ALL A LIE. HE IS RIPPING PEOPLE OFF!

ALL OF THESE SELLERS (AND SOME OTHERS) ARE SELLING TAPE COPIES MADE FROM CDs! I’m not here to tell you not to buy them but you could save a LOT of money by going out and buying the CDs and taping them yourself!

There are also several sellers in Eastern Europe that are offering tapes. A couple are good most are not and one of them is selling dubs of dubs of dubs of some of my (and other legitimate tape sellers) tapes! More power to him but just know what you getting for your hard earned money.

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Steve Deckert on 04/08/16 at 03:27:58

Since this thread has had a bit of a pause, I thought I should mention that I have since my bogus Bill Graham tape, successfully purchased about a hundred various tapes with about a 95% success rate. Many of those were broadcast tapes for radio stations between 1960 and 1990 filled with classic rock. Didn't want to discourage anyone from buying tapes on ebay, just keep a sharp eye out for suspect master tapes. If you have a 7-1/2 IPS consumer tape deck and are buying 4 track tapes this kind of thing is not a problem and there are 1000's of tapes available at any one time with music from the 1950's to the 1980's.

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Falconer on 04/22/16 at 14:47:27

I'm new to r2r tape so excuse this simple question. When a tape has 4 track labeled on it, this means it is recorded on both sides of the tape and when played back on deck it has to be played on the other side (side b) to hear the full album? Correct? And the deck has to have 4 track playback capability? Correct?
Sorry for these simple questions, I'm trying to learn the "lingo"

Title: Re: The eBay Guide to Tape purchasing
Post by Audionirvana on 05/22/22 at 10:53:38

Hoping this thread is still alive. What are some absolute signs to look for when buying 15ips tapes on eBay?