eBay is a marketplace, a good one, with information about sellers and feedback. Bad sellers don’t last long there. Sellers selling tubes are like any other sellers, they are subject to the discipline and the systems in that marketplace.
Buying tubes in a marketplace like eBay requires knowledge of what you are buying and what types of risk it entails. It requires understanding how tubes are tested and how they may fail and what happens to the equipment if a failure occurs. For example a power tube failure in a high power tube amp can damage the amp, whereas a noisy or bad small signal tube will just give you some noise in your buffer or preamp. It is also important to understand the limits of tube testing and how it is imperfect it can be in terms of determining the health and proper operation of the tube under real load. Furthermore, we are dealing with fragile miniature glass devices here, some 50 years old with microscopic metal wound wires, then being shipped through postal or courier services. Sometimes issues will arise even if the sellers are honest and conscientious.
Bad sh*t happens when newbies don’t take time to learn and understand in depth what they are dealing with with vacuum tubes and try to buy tubes off eBay to save a few bucks and get burned, figuratively and literally.
I have bought thousands of dollars of tubes, old stock and new stuff, from eBay and my problem rate is very very low.
Buying tubes in a marketplace like eBay requires knowledge of what you are buying and what types of risk it entails. It requires understanding how tubes are tested and how they may fail and what happens to the equipment if a failure occurs. For example a power tube failure in a high power tube amp can damage the amp, whereas a noisy or bad small signal tube will just give you some noise in your buffer or preamp. It is also important to understand the limits of tube testing and how it is imperfect it can be in terms of determining the health and proper operation of the tube under real load. Furthermore, we are dealing with fragile miniature glass devices here, some 50 years old with microscopic metal wound wires, then being shipped through postal or courier services. Sometimes issues will arise even if the sellers are honest and conscientious.
Bad sh*t happens when newbies don’t take time to learn and understand in depth what they are dealing with with vacuum tubes and try to buy tubes off eBay to save a few bucks and get burned, figuratively and literally.
I have bought thousands of dollars of tubes, old stock and new stuff, from eBay and my problem rate is very very low.