Ebay actually has something useful, please tell me I'm wrong!!!

edprocoat

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I clicked on the first one and used the zoom feature, to be honest Youngsai it looks almost like its just setting on top the soil. The large root flare has no visible fine roots coming off it, maybe there are some growing from the bottom, if so most likely that root flare will be rotting quickly. I wonder why it looks as if the hand is actually holding it in the pot? My daughter uses this site and I remember her saying there is some way to check on their reputation as a seller, I dont know how though. If this seller is a thief that could be recently cut off and just setting there, either way it has very immature branching, but I would give $75 for something with a trunk that size if it were rooted.

ed
 

Cadillactaste

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I clicked on the first one and used the zoom feature, to be honest Youngsai it looks almost like its just setting on top the soil. The large root flare has no visible fine roots coming off it, maybe there are some growing from the bottom, if so most likely that root flare will be rotting quickly. I wonder why it looks as if the hand is actually holding it in the pot? My daughter uses this site and I remember her saying there is some way to check on their reputation as a seller, I dont know how though. If this seller is a thief that could be recently cut off and just setting there, either way it has very immature branching, but I would give $75 for something with a trunk that size if it were rooted.

ed

All the sellers have 100% good feedback with no negative left. That said...from an eBay buyer. ;) the other topics as if worth what is being asked...I am not knowledgable to make that assumption.
 

wlambeth

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Tools

I suggest looking at some of the online bonsai nurseries for tool sets.
I think you can do better, more tools at a lower price.
 
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Ebay actually has a lot of useful items...
Most people just spend to much time trying to
belittle Ebay... posting up ridiculous prices on
stupid trees, to notice, that there are often
quite a bit of descent material to be found...
:cool:
 

youngsai

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All the sellers have 100% good feedback with no negative left. That ...from an eBay buyer. ;) the other topics as if worth what is being asked...I am not knowledgable to make that assumption.

Hey, could you clarify this post for me, i don't understand it :/ i can be grammatically challenged sometimes, sorry!
 

Paradox

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My opinion is that none of those trees or the tools are worth the asking price. The tools look cheap to me and the trees mediocre for the asking price. I would be very wary of all of them.

You can find good things onto EBay, but I would scrutinize any Ebay or online vendor for that matter.

That said, there is one EBay vendor I would (and did) buy from. That is Takashima Bonsai in California.
They seem like a very up front company with a good rating. Everything they post is clearly posted, with excellent photos that are not cut off. I ordered a ficus from them. It should be here tomorrow or Friday.
 
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youngsai

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I am seriously considering the toolset, but if enough people are against them i won't buy it, so please let me know what you think! I spoke to the seller and he offered to sell it to me for a hundred.

Paradox, you make two votes against, if i might ask why you don't trust Ebay Sellers, if they have one hundred percent feedback they have been tried and found to be fair. But if you trusted The seller would you think the tool s were worth a hundo? They have a Japanese chop on them but i cannot make it out, can you?
 

Paradox

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Its not that I dont trust ALL Ebay sellers. By the way 100% feedback can be obtained by getting your friends to rate you that way.

$100 for that set is expensive. The tools dont look like anything special. There is no brand name on them and they are in a cheap case. They just say they "are from Japan", which I think is horse hockey. The picture is amateurish. They couldnt even bother to get one that wasnt cut off.

Ive bought a beginner 10 piece tool set from Amazon for $80 so I know you can do better than those.
 

youngsai

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If you look there is a chop struck on the tools, its a Japanese symbol, you can just make it out. Yea this person definitely loaded this with Ebay mobile. But with over seventy five purchases with a good rating, i would trust them, to an extent, plus in a dispute Ebay freezes the funds in Paypal.

But if there is a chop on the tools, does that sway the deal?

To get your friends to make 75 purchases, pay the fees associated, and me be the unlucky person they are gonna cheat seems unlikely to me (because who they cheat will give negative feedback, which is very difficult to get Ebay judges to remove), but with an expensive enough item, it starts to make economic sense to do it, which is why i keep Ebay purchases under a couple hundred Bucks...
 

Paradox

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I have no idea what you mean by a chop on the tools. Im pretty sure a Japanse symbol can be faked or put on anything to make it seem more authentic. There are people that make their living selling fake Rolex watches and other designer jewlery, clothes, bags etc.

Its your money dude, spend it how you want.
You asked for opinions, I gave you mine. These would not be a buy for me, period.
 

GrimLore

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If you Google Stanwood Tools you can find some very decent sets at the price listed there that are at least "Branded" and carry some warranty. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/300913319830?lpid=82 I find the brand to be "good enough" more often then not... Actually I have a very expensive set of Joshua Roth tools and did not realize it until I was involved in another tool thread that to date I have not used.

Grimmy
 

Wee

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The last eBay link Grimmy posted has prices all over the place for what looks like the same tool sets to me or atleast the photos are the same....Check the for sale listed items below this tool kit to see what I mean. Unless I'm looking at them wrong and I will admit I have checked out many tool kits.

Brian
 

lordy

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According to the ebay seller of the tools, he paid $216 for the tools when purchased 10(?) years ago. If they really are good tools, $100 is a great deal. See if you can find someone who can read Japanese and see what the stamp says on the tools.
Just because the tools look cheap or good in a poor photo makes them neither cheap nor good. The concave cutters in the photo look like any good or crappy set, and I've had both. The quality may not show, but you will know when you try to cut a green branch and the blades dont meet properly.
My Masakuni cutters rust like an old nail if you let them. I paid more for them than you are talking about for the whole set, and I got them 20 years after the seller bought them new. They were $23.95 when new. Now? good luck.
 

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youngsai

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Grim I have this exact set of tools haha! I just wanted to get a nicer set, although I do use a few of the ones I have still, I want to leave the cheap set at the garden I work at.

Paradox, the chop I meant is the branded sign, which you can just make out on the tool all the way to the left if you zoom in, which has three Japanese characters imbedded an 1/8" into the steel, maybe not that much but I mean it's branded into the very steel not written on there with a sharpie lol

I emailed the seller and asked if all the tools have that symbol on them imbedded into the steel, he said he'll send better pictures to me at 2:30, half hour before it ends...

toolset.jpg

If you click the picture until you zoom in, you can make out the embedded insignia, the problem is it matches the black of the rest of the coating so it's hard to make out, but present.
 

typoolVT

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Those tools are intermediate at the least. I just bought a set of stainless steel concave cutters for 50% off (retail $55). It took me a week of shopping around before I found that deal. They should arrive in the mail today. If it were me I would skip out on these and I'm sure you could find a similar product for a much less price, even it has some Japanese stamping on it. FYI I think the deal is still going on, on here!
 
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