How much is too much? $$$

Purchased an M-70 on eBay this week. It was advertised as "Used" and the ad said all functions except one of the SW channels worked.

Edit: new link.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/JVC-M-70W-More-Powerful-than-the-JVC-M-70JW-Boombox-Ghettoblaster-/131556852766?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123


It arrived D.O.A. with bondo stuffed into the screw holes on the back. Broke off one of the screw towers getting it open, at which point it intermittently started to work when you held it "just right."
Managed to get it to stay on long enough to test the functions. No tape, radio good, only one channel of line in, and phono good.

Did I mention the packing? Probably the best packing job I've seen from an eBay seller in quite a long time, maybe ever. Lots of bubble wrap, heavy paper crumpled up and stuffed around as filler, and Styrofoam sheets all the way around. Tight as a drum and double boxed. A first rate job.
It wasn't the packing. The boomer was shipped fubar'ed, obviously. I paid too much.

Well, to make a long story short, they, after digging in and telling me that if I didn't want it I could pay to return it, are offering a settlement, which brings me to my question for everyone.

How much?

As you can see from the listing, they asked for $295.00. I offered $235.00 toward the end of the listing, with no bidders in sight. They countered with $250.00 and I said yes, my thinking being with a clean up and an antenna it would at least be fine until I could get around to re-belting it and finding some tape door glass. When it arrived in the shape it was in mechanically, I was pissed.

The cosmetics are actually better than I had hoped for, and the packing was first rate. The question for everyone is how much does a non-working M-70 cost compared to the average working one? I don't follow eBay like some of our other members do. What do you guys think? We are talking about the boomer with the largest market share as far as eBay transactions go. Everybody has one (this is my third) so what do you think. I told them I was going here for info, at which point the offer of a settlement was mentioned. They could be reading this.

What say ye all? :judge:

Your link doesn't work..

If an M70 is fully functional, and has very nice cosmetics, and is listed with nice photos, I have seen them pull $400+.

3 M70's in crappy shape just sold for $106- $150 so if you get $100 back its fair bro.


Bad Boy Bill

I agree with Bill,get $100 back then it's only $150 and you might be able to fix it!
Good luck Ken!

Edit: New link.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JVC-M-70W-More-Powerful-than-the-JVC-M-70JW-Boombox-Ghettoblaster-/131556852766?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123

I'm confused how it's "more powerful" than a jw?

Looks like it might clean up good cosmetically. Hopefully cleaning the contacts and such gets it back up. I'd probably wait to see if you can agree to a deal.

Don't want to fix it then have to send it back.

trippy1313 said:

I'm confused how it's "more powerful" than a jw?

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Yeah that's pretty hilarious.

All M70s have the same power, as do all M90s, all GF-9494, all GF-9696, no matter what the dumb stickers say.

Thats a load of crap. You have buyer protection. If that radio is not as described, hammer on ebay and they will pay for you to return it. So the 'return cost' should not be part of the equation for you keeping it or not.

Taking a neutral position here, the question to me is was the item honestly described? Seller offered it as an uncleaned estate sale find. It is silly and absurd to expect every 30 year old item to be opened up and evaluated before offering it for sale. Also does the seller have expertise in such things? If he routinely sells boomboxes, I hold them to a higher standard since it's more likely they either opened it up or molested it, or at least possess more knowledge than the typical garage sale treasure hunter. However, if they sell all sorts of estate sale related items, with only an occassional boombox item thrown in, then it's more likely than not that they are offering it as they purchased it. Be fair about it if you still want it.

As for operational condition, the fact that it sorta worked if you held it just right suggests to me that it might have worked for them when they tested it, and some juggling or jiggling in shipment would cause it to not work until you properly clean it up. They did seem like they tried to test the functions and report on it. You all have found these things in garage sales or neglected in someones basement, not working, only to find that old electronics generally respond suprisingly well to some cleaning and deoxit treatments. And if you guys don't know this, then you guys haven't been members very long. So this example might very well clean up and be mostly all working.

The thing that complicates this is that any suggestions to return the item should have taken place before opening up the boombox and breaking a screw tower in the process. Did the seller stuff the bondo in there, or was it in there when he got it? If it's old bondo, then he might not have known. In my view, just ask the seller how much they had in mind or feel comfortable with and go from there. I always advocate being resonsible from both sides of the coin, as a buyer and a seller. This isn't about always trying to extract the most concessions from a seller. The next seller might be you and I'm sure you will see things from a very different light. I don't like it when a seller obviously tries to pull a fast one but when a seller is honest, I give them some slack because I'm sophisticated enough to understand that a 35 year old item plucked from a garage sale (or estate sale) might not include a full history and unexpecteds often are part of the purchase if you want to risk it.

Ken, please keep in mind that "you" does not mean Ken. It's a general expression pertaining to all who read these forums.

I disagree Joe. In my opinion, buyers shouldn't have to pay for the return cost of an item that was misrepresented. Unfortunately however that is not eBay's policy and you can always return but they will make you pay return shipping costs. If I buy a $1000 item and it costs $$50 to return, that's not going to deter me. But if I buy an item that costed $250 plus $250 shipping, and it ends up being misrepresented, then eBay will make you return it, with no limit on return shipping costs. If it's going out of the country, you need to get signature confirmation (how hard is that on international shipments?) and so bottom line is that you paid $500 total and need to invest at least an additional $250-$350 to return to get back $500 on a $250 item. In the end, you lose out at least $250 - $350. Do the math: $250 item, $250 shipping cost. Another $250-$350 to ship it back. When seller gets the merchandise back, you get $500 original total refunded. BTW, this isn't a hypothetical -- it happened to me. No way was I going throw more good money after bad and risk hoping that the international shipper will actually capture a scan or signature confirmation. So I guess it all depends on the situation. No two transactions are going to be 100% alike.

blu_fuz said:

So the 'return cost' should not be part of the equation for you keeping it or not.

Click to expand...

Kenpat said:

Purchased an M-70 on eBay this week. It was advertised as "Used" and the ad said all functions except one of the SW channels worked.

Edit: new link.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/JVC-M-70W-More-Powerful-than-the-JVC-M-70JW-Boombox-Ghettoblaster-/131556852766?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123


It arrived D.O.A. with bondo stuffed into the screw holes on the back. Broke off one of the screw towers getting it open, at which point it intermittently started to work when you held it "just right."
Managed to get it to stay on long enough to test the functions. No tape, radio good, only one channel of line in, and phono good.

Did I mention the packing? Probably the best packing job I've seen from an eBay in quite a long time, maybe ever. Lots of bubble wrap, heavy paper crumpled up and stuffed around as filler, and Styrofoam sheets all the way around. Tight as a drum and double boxed. A first rate job.
It wasn't the packing. The boomer was shipped fubar'ed, obviously. I paid too much.

Well, to make a long story short, they, after digging in and telling me that if I didn't want it I could pay to return it, are offering a settlement, which brings me to my question for everyone.

How much?

As you can see from the listing, they asked for $295.00. I offered $235.00 toward the end of the listing, with no bidders in sight. They countered with $250.00 and I said yes, my thinking being with a clean up and an antenna it would at least be fine until I could get around to re-belting it and finding some tape door glass. When it arrived in the shape it was in mechanically, I was pissed.

The cosmetics are actually better than I had hoped for, and the packing was first rate. The question for everyone is how much does a non-working M-70 cost compared to the average working one? I don't follow eBay like some of our other members do. What do you guys think? We are talking about the boomer with the largest market share as far as eBay transactions go. Everybody has one (this is my third) so what do you think. I told them I was going here for info, at which point the offer of a settlement was mentioned. They could be reading this.

What say ye all? :judge:

Click to expand...

So, what you are saying is you made a "behind the scenes" deal for this item on eBay..?
Now you are trying to get a partial refund as well..?

Man, talk about some varied opinions. Keep 'em coming, I am gonna have to get back to him soon, to be fair at least.

JustCruisin said:

So, what you are saying is you made a "behind the scenes" deal for this item on eBay..?
Now you are trying to get a partial refund as well..?

Click to expand...

Nope, not behind the scenes at all. I offered $235.00, they countered with $250.00 and I accepted. Until they accepted that, anyone could have BIN'ed it for $295.00. All done through eBay emails. Still have them, of course.

I can clearly see where Norm is coming from here.
I'd keep the item if it's repairable and see what's fair for a partial refund.
The M-70 might just need some internal cleaning and if that's the case maybe everything will be ok and no partial refund.
I guess it's in what was said in the item description and if they have sold very many boomboxes before.
Sometimes I think we as buyers forget how it might be from the sellers viewpoint.
Yes check the total description from the auction listing and his history and go from there.
Sometimes a little internal cleaning can go a long way.
Good luck Ken!

Kenpat said:

Nope, not behind the scenes at all. I offered $235.00, they countered with $250.00 and I accepted. Until they accepted that, anyone could have BIN'ed it for $295.00. All done through eBay emails. Still have them, of course.

Click to expand...

Ok, when you said "no bidders in sight" I thought it was an auction..

I also agree with Norm on the operational aspects of the old gear. It would ease your mind a lot I imagine if you could get in and clean all controls to see if that solves all intermittent issues, as I suspect it will based on it working on both channels on some functions, tho not a guarantee for sure. . A bump in shipping can change a lot, just with jerking corrosion around.

I just read the listing, went through their feedback, and your OP so it looks not too bad considering all that is stated in listing , although I can see your points too. It seems that they do not sell a lot of electronics and may have priced unit based on sold listings, not on actual real market value of this unit's condition.

Bill's point here very valid on comparable values too.

Cosmetics (bondo issue) are evident in the pics to a point, but not described by seller , so that leads me to think they were not aware of any changes from original and certainly not aware of the inside post issue, so a point to bring up. That said, being in the game, you had to see that, so they may argue against that too, though I doubt it.

In all, not a bad box especially considering (if it does properly) that the cassette works!

IMH(umble)O $100 would be a good starting point, and if they have decent integrity (and can let ego not enter the equation) then maybe it will be a good beacon for them also to be more vigilant in their assessment of values on electronics, as buyers rely on that integrity to help make decisions. They sell a ton of stuff it looks like.

Good luck,

Alan

I didn't read the auction listing description before I commented. It should have been marked 'for parts or repair' but the description seems to say what it needs to from a person that knows nothing about the radio with a quick test of everything.

I bet the function switch on the PCB really needs a good deoxing and working back and fourth.

I think you got the item in the condition described, but if the seller wants to work with you on the price, I say go for it. 'Value' is skewed on any of these radios that it's just up to you 2 to figure out what you both can deal with.


On auctions with clear misinterpritation and lies about item condition (not this auction), f-no would I ever pay return shipping after being played like a fiddle. I don't care what it is, where in the world it came from, or what the cost was. We all work too damn hard for the money we earn. Ebay can eat it once in awhile, that's why you pay for buyer protection in your ebay fees.

baddboybill said:

3 M70's in crappy shape just sold for $106- $150 so if you get $100 back its fair bro.


Bad Boy Bill

Click to expand...

Lots of solid idea's on this.

Sounds like what you have is a very repairable M70 and if you can work a deal that equal's an M70 for $150 AND feel you can repair it, then it's not a bad deal IMHO. That's if you want to open it up again and work out it's issues.

I'm also with Joe, I bet some deoxit on all the vitals could bring it back.

Could also be a bad solder joint in the power circuit.

I'm also with Norm, I don't think this seller is a "Boomboxer" like us. Just a treasure hunter trying to flip a toy. I'll bet nickles to doughnuts they found this box at an estate sale, searched M70's on the internet and eBay to come up with the price and listed it blindly. I'll also bet it did work as described but got rattled/farked in shipping and we all know how 30 year old electronic's love that.

Even with all that said, it still didn't show up in the same working condition as it was listed and there for you deserve something in return.

Ask for $100 back (which is fair in my mind) and see what they say. If they are still making money on the deal, they will let it slide. I would if I was the seller (except I don't sell M70's I horde them )

I'll be honest. When I sell an item, I generally try to work out the gremlins first, and 90% of the gremlins can be addressed by a thorough cleaning. The reason is that I fear that the buyer will receive it and find it not working in exactly the same condition as when I sent it. When one of these vintage boomboxes are in as-found condition, they generally don't function reliably. One flip of the switch and they work great. Another flip of the switch and it doesn't work. It's not that the buyer lied. Nor did I lie. It's simply because unserviced 35 year old electronics are frequently wishy washy. Throw in an uninformed (about electronics) seller and you have a recipe for this exact same scenario. Nowadays, (unless it's clearly a case of a seller trying to sneak a fast one or deliberately misrepresenting an item) I don't even bother anymore since I know that the seller probably knows next to nothing about these and the item is likely in the same shape as if I found one in goodwill. The only difference is that I didn't have to do the legwork and can shop from the convenience from my desktop computer. That's the premium you pay for one found by yourself in goodwill (or garage sale) compared to one found on eBay. You do pay more, but you save all the gas and time for the luxury of this convenience. This is also the reason why I sell so little nowadays. I have no time to do these cleanings or fixups and therefore, fearing getting screwed on the sale and giving it away, I am stuck with my collection. I guess this is why I really look at this from both sides.