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I just won an ebay auction for a vintage tenor sax from a guy who claimed in his listing that it appeared that the sax had never been repaired. When I emailed him asking about the history of the horn, he said he didn't know much. However, after looking through his feedback tonight I noticed another listing for the same horn from a month or so ago--only that time he was the buyer! Apparently, he turned right around and resold it--for over $200 more! Ouch!
Well, it turns out this original listing had A LOT of info about the history of the horn (apparently at that time it was being sold by the second owner, who had bought it from his music teacher, the original owner, over 50 years ago). In fact, this second owner even said that his teacher had had it sent off to be relacquered by Martin in 1950.
I have to agree from the photos I've seen that they did an excellent job, and the engraving is still distinct (which is the reason I bid in the first place--that will teach me to ask if it's original!). But long story short--it just burns me up that the guy I bought it from totally hid this fact and tried to pass it off as original lacquer. He didn't actually say it in the ad, but he clearly KNEW it was and just didn't say anything about it in the listing. He also said that the horn appeared to have never been repaired.
Now I'm wondering, do you think I have a case for a possible return if I get Paypal involved? To me, a factory relacquer that this guy clearly knew about would seem like a repair (alteration from its original state) to me--maybe not to us sax geeks, but to the ebay layperson, perhaps? And there's also the fact that the guy clearly knew that it was a relacquer and neglected to mention it. I should also add that he buys and sells mainly saxophone-related stuff, and has well over 1,000 transactions on his account (power seller). So this guy knows what he's doing.
Any thoughts?
Well, it turns out this original listing had A LOT of info about the history of the horn (apparently at that time it was being sold by the second owner, who had bought it from his music teacher, the original owner, over 50 years ago). In fact, this second owner even said that his teacher had had it sent off to be relacquered by Martin in 1950.
I have to agree from the photos I've seen that they did an excellent job, and the engraving is still distinct (which is the reason I bid in the first place--that will teach me to ask if it's original!). But long story short--it just burns me up that the guy I bought it from totally hid this fact and tried to pass it off as original lacquer. He didn't actually say it in the ad, but he clearly KNEW it was and just didn't say anything about it in the listing. He also said that the horn appeared to have never been repaired.
Now I'm wondering, do you think I have a case for a possible return if I get Paypal involved? To me, a factory relacquer that this guy clearly knew about would seem like a repair (alteration from its original state) to me--maybe not to us sax geeks, but to the ebay layperson, perhaps? And there's also the fact that the guy clearly knew that it was a relacquer and neglected to mention it. I should also add that he buys and sells mainly saxophone-related stuff, and has well over 1,000 transactions on his account (power seller). So this guy knows what he's doing.
Any thoughts?