There are a few things you should be aware of when buying second hand synthesizers on ebay, for that matter not only on ebay but through the free ads, whether its loot, sound on sound or the plethoror of others available. As you're probably aware many of the synths listed are quite old, some dating from the 60's or earlier. Enviromental conditions take their toll on the internal components of the equipment. Even if externally the synth looks great, chances are that there are problems inside(though this is not always the case). Unfortunately sellers don't usually supply photos of the inards of their instruments and quite often report to never having opened them.. not always true i'm afraid. Oxidisation, rust, degradation of circuit boards(the obreheim 8 suffers terribly from this, the seperate layers of the pcb's slowly seperate and as a result, voltage leaks occur causing malfunction), bodge jobs : bad resoldering, broken trace bypasses, fuses replaced with wire/aluminium foil. The list goes on. Keyboard contacts wear and cause intermittant loss of control. Sliders, switches and rotaries become worn, Noise and distinct crackling a result. As well as the older synths the newer still suffer from all sorts of problems, a direct result of mass production poor quality components are used. ic's (intergrated circuits) fail, transformers, regulators, capacitors are all prone to damage. So its important to remember that at least when buying from a retailer new you have cover through the warranty supplied by themselves and usually extended through the manufacturer themselves. A security you will not often have when bought through auction. So with all that can go wrong and all the risks are there any reasons why you should actually buy one? Of course, there's plenty of equipment up for grabs at the right price and many honest, informed sellers. Some not so informed... theres got to be a bargain everyso often. :) ok so to minimise the risks of buying a rotting, rusting pile of junk.. Theres always a risk.. make sure your maximun bid is sufficently low to allow for repairs if nessecary, but high enough to actually get the thing(ok, bit obvious that,doh) look for actual photos of the equipment, not grabs from vintage synth, turnkey or some similar site, google image search is a good source for synth imagery... Study it carefully, if something looks amiss or not as decribed, ask the seller a question. Do your research, what inherent problems do the synths have, what price should they go for roughly, how much whould it cost to get them fixed. The usual trader guidelines as always apply, watch for ratings, and actually scan through the feedback, what have they been buying, selling etc., watch for western union only payment..etc etc etc. see ebays help pages Make sure the seller packs the gear properly, there's nothing more annoying that getting a smashed (once perfectly working), before the posties got there hands/feet on it) synth in the post. Plus you'll have to go through the insurance process which can be drawn out sometimes and means one of the 2 of you will be out of pocket for a while. Obviously make sure the post is insured. If when delievred the package is f@@@@d take photos and mark the posties signature sheet with 'DAMAGED' or similar. Refusal of delivery may also be an option, depends on who's delivering. Hope this helps a little, sorry if i've put some of you off buying synths seocndhand, don't worry just do your research and dont let the bidding fever take control of your better sense. Most of all enjoy bidding, and the synth when it arrives.. dont play it too loud, and remember to brush your teeth 3 times a day ;)