I consider this more of a discussion piece than anything else. Not trying to create reform as much as a conversation. It also shows a compare/contrast of two different communities.
I have seen a few issues discussed over the past several months of misrepresenting items on ebay. I just wanted to share how another community has dealt with this issue.
Roughly five years ago I fell big into collecting sneakers. It was a given in the community that no one felt comfortable purchasing shoes unless the seller photographed them with a card that shows the sellers name and date. If a seller on ebay were attempting to sell sneakers it would be considered highly risky to bid on items that did not have 'tagged pics.' If posted in the buy sell area of the forums it wasn't only encouraged, but a requirement for posting. Creating the tags to put in your photos was never an annoyance, just a courtesy and you could even be creative with it.
This does several things:
1) It shows the seller was in possession of the item at listing time. (Photoshopped watermarks etc were not accepted, only actual physical cards in the photo)
2) It shows the condition of the item at listing time. (No showing two year old photos before the box rolled down the stairs and then was thrown up on ebay. The dated card should represent the condition on that date.)
3) It prevents others from stealing your photos and presenting them as their own.
4) It shows a sense of legitimacy to buyers that you are active in the community and are aware of buyers criteria.
5) It shows documented condition of the item to ebay that may help in case of a dispute.
I realize this may never work in the boombox community for several reasons.
1) It is a more tight nit community with a smaller following, there is less fear of falling victim to a scam internally within the community.
2) A lot of the boombox listings on ebay are onetime sellers who found a box in an attic or yardsale. It is much easier to stumble upon a boombox than rare sneakers in good condition. You can request these sellers post tagged photos of boxes, but may run into non-responses.
3) Unlike sneakers, cosmetic condition isn't everything in boomboxes. There is a lot going on internally that obviously doesn't exist in shoes.
4) There isn't large scale production of bootleg boomboxes. (Fortunately / Unfortunately?!?)
With all this said, I have yet to sell any boomboxes as I am still fairly new and still building my giant want list. However, when I do I will be carrying these habits with me as they are hard to break.
Here is an example I just picked up on Niketalk.com from someone's recent buy/sell post.
I have seen a few issues discussed over the past several months of misrepresenting items on ebay. I just wanted to share how another community has dealt with this issue.
Roughly five years ago I fell big into collecting sneakers. It was a given in the community that no one felt comfortable purchasing shoes unless the seller photographed them with a card that shows the sellers name and date. If a seller on ebay were attempting to sell sneakers it would be considered highly risky to bid on items that did not have 'tagged pics.' If posted in the buy sell area of the forums it wasn't only encouraged, but a requirement for posting. Creating the tags to put in your photos was never an annoyance, just a courtesy and you could even be creative with it.
This does several things:
1) It shows the seller was in possession of the item at listing time. (Photoshopped watermarks etc were not accepted, only actual physical cards in the photo)
2) It shows the condition of the item at listing time. (No showing two year old photos before the box rolled down the stairs and then was thrown up on ebay. The dated card should represent the condition on that date.)
3) It prevents others from stealing your photos and presenting them as their own.
4) It shows a sense of legitimacy to buyers that you are active in the community and are aware of buyers criteria.
5) It shows documented condition of the item to ebay that may help in case of a dispute.
I realize this may never work in the boombox community for several reasons.
1) It is a more tight nit community with a smaller following, there is less fear of falling victim to a scam internally within the community.
2) A lot of the boombox listings on ebay are onetime sellers who found a box in an attic or yardsale. It is much easier to stumble upon a boombox than rare sneakers in good condition. You can request these sellers post tagged photos of boxes, but may run into non-responses.
3) Unlike sneakers, cosmetic condition isn't everything in boomboxes. There is a lot going on internally that obviously doesn't exist in shoes.
4) There isn't large scale production of bootleg boomboxes. (Fortunately / Unfortunately?!?)
With all this said, I have yet to sell any boomboxes as I am still fairly new and still building my giant want list. However, when I do I will be carrying these habits with me as they are hard to break.
Here is an example I just picked up on Niketalk.com from someone's recent buy/sell post.
I have been on eBay since 2000 researching and collecting various things. This type of behavior seems fairly unique to boomboxes. (Please don't focus too much on that comment, because I know it is prevalent all over. It just seems more so in this hobby.)
Oh it's that cool plastic stuff you pop for fun. 
