…and, it’s gone.
G
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I remember when I bought my 552, many years ago. At the time they were retailing for £15,000 and the one I bought was on eBay for £8,000. The seller wanted cash, so off I went with my £8,000. They weren’t sure about the transit bolts, so I called Naim from their house for advice. What’s the serial number? I was asked. Clearly Naim were being careful. I told them. Ah yes, sold by dealer X on date Y, just as the seller told me, though they had no evidence. Still, I had the amplifier in front of me on the table, though I hadn’t heard it working. It was the best upgrade I ever made, though going to someone’s house with £8,000 in cash unaccompanied by a burly mate did come with an element of risk! But if the seller’s first name was Darwin, how can one possibly go wrong?
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Here in the US, I am seeing a British listing for a 552/552PS priced at 8499.99 pounds. Both pre and PS have been modified with non-Naim parts, making them “better than” stock. I’ll take a hard pass.
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Good to see the speedy response from ebay.
G
Yes, I saw that one and it would not be for me either. I can’t see the point as it is no longer a Naim device.
A request for pics of the serial numbers did not produce them, and a gentle enquiry to eBay resulted in the item disappearing. The system, and the network of good men and women here, all appear to be working well.
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Everything said and done I got my 500DR for £6k, so close to price for 552DR. But it was on auction from known dealer.
I am happy to buy from dealer on ebay. Private sales more keen to buy if the price is right. My two 555PSDRs were private sales on ebay but price was right.
If price is low always be wary. Low feedback numbers is another red flag.
Best to pay via paypal on eBay as you have comeback as well.
There are the time wasters, the fraudsters out there on eBay. But there are many genuine people selling stuff on which is top notch.
Just be careful and discerning!
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I reported it too, at 18:45. Thankfully nobody was taken in.
G
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In which case, it was probably your effort that removed it - good work and thanks.
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I purchased a 555DR from an eBay individual just over a week ago. A day after the payment, I got a call from the credit card company questioning the sale. It did worry me even though I had done a load of checks. Thankfully the item was as described. They sent it straight to Class A for me for a service. It all checked out OK, and I now have it with me currently in use blaring out Kate Bush!
These are big sums we are paying out, and it does make you nervous.
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Caution is always the first order of the day. Having said that, OC prices in the US have tanked in the last couple of months (252s for $2000-$3000, etc).
Now is a great time to buy some older NAIM stuff!
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Wow, for anyone in the market that is a great price for arguably one of the best NACs out there. You will need a well serviced or new SuperCapDR as well of course…
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Still 9000 euro! 
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I’m provably too risk adverse but I keep eBay and similar purchases to low value items, CDs and the like, big ticket stuff buy from a recognised dealer or at least someone you know personally, or highly recommended.
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Me too…….i am a believer in “sod’s” law.
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I am a great one for lots of due diligence, and that means speaking to a vendor/potential purchaser beforehand (‘old skool’ if you will). Problem is e-bay’s processes preclude this nowadays, but there are ways… It seems their sale/purchase model is designed for lower-value transactions, and not hi-fi items of some value.
And issues can arise, as having transacted a highly diligenced and well-organised sale (both sides), I was advised I’d gone outside the rules, lost any seller protections, and they didn’t levy any commission on the deal (a very good outcome it must be said!). And I think the buyer thought he’d paid monies over which wouldn’t be released until the delivery was confirmed as completed – well, nope, these landed with me as ‘cleared payment’ the day before F2F delivery was scheduled…and let’s not forget, trying to settle a larger sum via OLB nowadays can throw up all kinds of obstacles e.g. in no way rely on making a payment via a banking app, as disappointment may result!
Does paying by PayPal help much compared to paying via credit card through eBay?
Originally PayPal was owned by the same company as eBay. Thsts no longer the case but it’s still useful for me because if eBay doesn’t help if I have a problem PayPal has its own dispute procedure they are especially good if you are scammed or if a company goes bust.
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I enquired about this and the seller asked me to send an £1800 deposit via bank transfer with the rest due once the 552 was delivered… Yeah right. I also reported it and eBay came back saying the sellers account had been hacked. Good that they resolved it quickly.
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The reason you could not see it was because they listed it under a non-hifi/home audio category. This was another red flag for me. They obviously realised most people would report it and were therefore hoping to catch someone else out.
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