eBay is an on-line auction service which I have used for buying and
selling mechanical musical instruments and related items.  Everything
from lamps to doorknobs to coke collectibles can be found here.  My
area of interest falls into perforated music, music boxes and jukeboxes.

Items that are small (75 lb. or less) do better than a full size player
piano weighing 700 pounds.  For the most part eBay is a seller's market.
You can place a reserve on an item or set in the lowest bid.  I have
noticed that Victor phonographs and music boxes do very well.  My
attempt at selling one of my player grands made for a happy buyer.
I lost money.

This is also a great place to sell parts: a tracker bar, electron
tubes, coin boxes...  The nice part is most items for sale have a
JPEG photo with a full description and even an E-mail address to ask
the seller questions.

Terry Smythe asked me to e-mail him my experience with on-line selling.

First, I would never sell any items valued at more than two to three
thousand dollars.

Second, items that are complete and working sell much better.
A working music box to a first time buyer will get a bid.

Third, parts do great such as a phonograph reproducer, Ampico B drawer,
or pre-war slug rejecter.  Remember they get to see the parts.

Fourth, use a reserve price to protect your investment.  The item will
not sell if the reserve is not met.  Small valued items do not need
reserves.  Just list them and hope for a feeding frenzy.  88-note piano
rolls do great!

Fifth, you can buy and sell 24 hours a day.  Place those Reproduco NOS
rolls on eBay at 3 AM.  They are sold 7 days later at the same time.

Sixth, list your items with a closing time in the evenings.  Lots of
people are on line and ready to buy... I hope!

For the first time Internet buying and selling this year surpassed
retail sales world wide, and guess what! -- it's gonna get even bigger.
I still haven't seen a Seeburg H yet.  Guess I have to settle for a
G instead !

Chris Kalstone

 [ I checked the spelling: the company name is "eBay Inc." and it
 [ began operation in September 1995.  These seem to be the two
 [ primary URLs:
 [
 [    http://pages.ebay.com/  and  http://www.ebay.com/
 [
 [ -- Robbie