Epiphone

The dangers of buying an Epiphone guitar on eBay

A recent post on the My Les Paul forums flagged up the dangers of buying an Epiphone guitar, or any guitar for that matter, on eBay. And as we publish eBay listings on Fretboard, it seems proper that I should warn you.

The original poster bought a new Epiphone Les Paul Custom on eBay for what seemed like the too-good-to-be-true price of £150 ($300 approx). The seller claimed that the Epi was the real deal and would ship directly from the Epiphone factory in China. Having bought and paid for it, the poster then became concerned because he was unsure whether Epiphone made guitars in China or South Korea.

The good news was that the Epiphone factory is indeed in China. The bad news was pretty much everything else about the deal. Replies to the post quickly pointed out that the pictures the seller was using to promote the guitars he sold looked like fakes - the volume and tone knobs were in the wrong place, as was the backplate.

Most damning of all was evidence from previous threads which made it clear that it wasn’t possible that the guitar could have come from an Epiphone factory as all Epis go straight to the US for distribution. In other words, if it says ‘direct from the factory’ in the listing, it’s a fake.

Thankfully that seller’s listings now appear to have been removed, but the selling of fake guitars on eBay is a growing problem, according to an article on the auction site itself, written by an eBay member. And of course, it’s not just Epiphone and Gibson guitars.

There are a number of ways you can make sure you don’t get scammed like this and the most obvious is to actually play the guitar you’re thinking of buying before you get the credit card out.

If you want to buy online, buy from a reputable dealer if you can. And if you see something on eBay you want, make sure its genuine and actually exists before you bid.

None of this should stop you buying on eBay, most sellers are completely legitimate and honest. Sadly though, some aren’t, and it seems this is particularly true of sellers claiming to be selling new original guitars in China

Here’s a guide to how not to get scammed buying a guitar on eBay

And here’s that forum thread on My Les Paul

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