Almost half tempted to stop collecting...

I've been fortunate in ordering 45's on places like Ebay. At least they've arrived, if not always in quite the condition I was hoping for. Just a few weeks ago, I ordered an 'unplayed' record from Deadwax directly [also sells on Ebay] and was perplexed--a Dunhill pressing of Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf with no "highs". It's as if you turned down the treble on your stereo. I've had no luck in getting any reply from Deadwax to explain why this "unplayed" mint-near mint 45 would be playing in this weird condition.

jcr102: All mono 45 copies I've ever heard of Magic Carpet Ride sound muddy and crappy like that. It's hard to believe, but it was mastered that way. If anybody knows where the mono version sounds good let us know! Even the Dick Bartley CD that has the mono version had to use equalization it to make it less muddy.

I'm currently in the process of getting my money back from paypal over a $2 item that the seller never sent to me and apparently has no intentions of sending to me. how sad that it had to come to this. Also recently i sent back an item that was not in the condition described, the seller offered a full refund and then never sent it. I had to go through paypal to get my money back that way too. Only two times ive had to in the last 5 years.....really annoying....

Yeah, not all Dunhill pressings sound muddy, but it's rare that you come across a copy pressed on quality vinyl. "Magic Carpet Ride" just happens to be very muddy AND pressed on lousy vinyl.

John, I feel your frustration about eBay. The quality has stedily declined. There are some other great sites avaiable that are non-auction, fixed-price listings. One gem that has an ever-growing inventory is discogs.com. The only downside is that it relies on users to input missing release data, which needs to be done before anyone can sell a particular record. Adding a listing is not too difficult, though, if the seller has one to list. It's actually easier than eBay and fees are only charged after your record/CD sells.

I'm really lucky -- I've only been totally ripped off once on Ebay. A seller on the east coast who had been on Ebay only three months, but had perfect feedback. I was suspicious when the ad said, "money orders or cash only, no PayPal or checks," but, like I said, he had perfect feedback.

Several weeks passed, and the item didn't come. I emailed him, and he assured me he'd sent it. Then he started to get negative feedback from other users saying they hadn't received their items. Then he abruptly closed his own account and wouldn't answer my emails.

Anyway, I did end up getting about $50 of the $75 back from Ebay after I filed a claim (they charge a fee to refund the money, and also will not refund the first $25.00). Needless to say, I will never do the "cash or money order only" thing again. That's a HUGE red flag.