Is this site legit.?

[paulears]

Bearing in mind the usual warnings on making comments on external web sites.

 

There were a spate of shure microphones from China on eBay a while back. Prices were very cheap - and the seller took visa (not paypal) - and was a verified by visa merchant.

 

A 'friend of mine' - not me, of course, bought some 57s and some beta 58s.I he is very happy with them. I he tried to buy more, but eBay had closed the acounts.

 

A couple of years ago, Thomann had some mics that they sold as MB75s which to all intents and purposes were copies of SM57s but with Thomann labels. The ones I he bought have very accurate bodies and mouldings - and are externally similar. The boxes they come in say made in Mexico, and have a Shure guarantee card. The zip up case looks the same but is stiffer and smells odd. The mic clip again looks right, but the plastic is much harder.

 

Sound wise - they are an average dynamic kind of sound. NOT in any way identical to the real Beta58, but the 57 is actually quite close. I'm using them on non-critical jobs where damage is likely - as in battle of the bands, outdoor events when rain is predicted. For the money, I could have bought no brands, or the cheap Behringers etc - but these do the job fine. Drat, I forgot to change the last set of 'I's back into 'hes'.

 

I suspect many people bought shed loads of these, and are now moving them on. The moral and legal issues here are pretty complicated - but I suspect I'm a little odd, I can't condone selling them, but I'm happy buying them !

[mumbles]

There were a spate of shure microphones from China on eBay a while back. Prices were very cheap - and the seller took visa (not paypal)...

Not wishing to take this :(, but I recently bought 5 SM57's on ebay, from a seller in china who did use paypal. They were on buy it now, and almost immediatly ebay said that the sale was void, but after we had paid. The mics did turn up, and after a lot of deliberation, we believe the mics are fake, but are such good fakes that even the wires inside are tha same colour as the real ones. Nonetheless, before we complained to ebay we tested them, and seem to be as good as any real 57's. The only difference we could find was that in the base (by the pins), where normally they are painted completely, the paint stopped just in side.

 

The seller we bought them from was listing a total of 20 or 30 mics in different lots, so may well have ended up in this country, and so may be being sold on as genuines.

[BenWall]

As he is selling from Birmingham I will send him an e-mail asking whether he will accept personal collection... that should give some clue as to how genuine this really is.. I only live about 30 mins away, so if he will accept personal collection I might nip over (possibly take some heavy's with me :( )

 

I will let you know the reply as/when/if I get one.

 

Ben.

[paulears]

I'm not quite sure how to say this, but surely the question is about the personal opinion of these kind of products. As in, do you buy cheap from Sunday markets, or go to expensive shops - do you have a real Rolex, or are you happy with a fake, same with trainers etc. In these cases, as I and others have said - the products are 'ok', but not real (we think). They could be real Shures - maybe 2nds. Over the years we've seen loads of end of lines, or B grade stock flogged off by the container load - many of Thomanns specials appear to be this kind of stuff.

 

 

Trying to be a 'policeman' seems rather pointless, and as has been suggested somewhat dangerous.

 

The seller is not saying give me £120 for a Shure, he's offering one for a much lower price. This, suggests to me, a copy. You then make the decision. I'm not happy with baiting people. If you feel strongly, then the local council trading standard dept is where to go - not doing it yourself. The seller could be a timid little chap trying to make a few quid, or something far more sinister.

[Brian]

Moderation: There are a lot of useful tips about buying safely in this topic but there is a danger that is will go into murky waters. Therefore we have decided to close this topic to further posts.

 

If anyone has any specific information for James (JCoster) then we'd prefer you to PM him with it. Thanks to everyone who has posted.

[Guest lightnix]

Maybe a little unfair to use my Mod's superpowers to add to a closed thread and please note that this is not a personal dig at the OP; there are just a couple of general observations I'd like to add here...

 

We've always seen people hunting for cheap kit in the Blue Room and there's nothing wrong with that per se - it goes with the territory; but recently we've been noticing an increasing trend for people to make, shall we say "ethically questionable" purchasing decisions, based purely on price alone, with little or no regard as to the legitimacy (especially where Copyright and Intellectual Property rights are concerned) of the product's origins.

 

That's bad enough, but when they then come in here and start questioning the honesty of the seller... I'm sorry, but that's just hypocrisy IMO :(

 

And now, with the mods hat on...

 

Please take note: While we are happy to see discussions on the general caveat emptor nature of buying online, along with general explanations of how various scams work and how to avoid them, we are starting to become concerned at the more accusatory threads and posts made against individual sellers and traders and are getting a little worried that it's only a matter of time before well-meaning fingers are pointed in the wrong direction and the Blue Room winds up with a nasty legal situation to deal with ;)

 

We don't want to start imposing restrictions on discussions and in order to prevent that from happening would respectfully ask all members to post responsibly and bear the following in mind...

• We are not the Police.
  
• If you are genuinely worried about the honesty of an online trader (or any trader for that matter), the best people to call are Trading Standards.
  
• Posting your concerns in a web forum is a very inefficient way of bringing an end to dishonest trading, in that it alerts only a small number of people, who are in any case powerless to do very much about it.
  
• The best people to deal with fraud on eBay are... ummm... eBay :blink:
  

If anybody disagrees with the above, please feel free to start a thread in Issues and we'll be happy to discuss things further :** laughs out loud **: