Need help buying a Tascam Portastudio from eBay

First off research the product and make sure:

1. It's what you want (a computer may be the better route)
2. Price: make sure you can't get it cheaper new with shipping. I find that if the price used is within $10 of the new price it is better to buy new.
3. The seller takes PayPal...many sellers don't take PayPal.
4. Ask the seller ANY questions BEFORE bidding. It can be tough to retract your bid if you don't.
5. Check the seller's feedback. If they have a lot of negative feedback then you may not want to do business with them.
6. Test the seller by asking them a question. If they take a long time to respond or don't respond at all you may want to look elsewhere.
7. READ THE FINE PRINT!!! Make sure you read the description and ALL of the seller's stipulations. Make sure you are getting what is advertised.
8. Wait until you RECEIVE the product before leaving your feedback. Inspect it carefully and know the seller's return policies.
9. READ the eBay tutorials...they are very helpful.
10. Bid on something cheap to start to see how an auction works...or better yet watch a few without bidding. Most of the ACTION takes place in the last minute of the auction. My first auction was for a $3 capo. I knew I wouldn't lose much if I messed up.

I hope this helps!

EDIT

Personally I wouldn't go with the PortaStudio...one of the Tascams with the built in hard drive seems much better and they start at $299 (US) at Musician's Friend. For your first auction I wouldn't bid on something expensive.

Also, consider using your computer to record. I can be much cheaper and more versital that these seperate recorders. If you want to share your files you'll have to transfer them to the computer anyway as a wav file then convert to mp3 or burn to a CD. It could save you a few steps.

Personally I wouldn't go with the PortaStudio...one of the Tascams with the built in hard drive seems much better and they start at $299 (US) at Musician's Friend. For your first auction I wouldn't bid on something expensive.

Also, consider using your computer to record. I can be much cheaper and more versital that these seperate recorders. If you want to share your files you'll have to transfer them to the computer anyway as a wav file then convert to mp3 or burn to a CD. It could save you a few steps.

I mostly want a tascam because I love oldschool technology anything, especially analog stuff. If I it turns out I don't like to use it for the acutal recording I could always use it as a mixer and plug the headphone output into my Line In on the soundcard.
And I also want to start disconnecting myself from my computer, be able to sit in the livingroom and record som stuff without being forced to use my PC all the time.

edit: on the topic of prices a new tascam costs about 3500kr (400$USD) in sweden and the most of the eBay ones seems to go for about 70$...

edit: on the topic of prices a new tascam costs about 3500kr (400$USD) in sweden and the most of the eBay ones seems to go for about 70$...

TASCAM DP-01 $299 US

That's cool about old school stuff...I was going to get a casette recorder myself but I found out that in order to transfer the files to the computer for sharing you have to master them first since there is a latency issue with casette to digital.

As for what to do on eBay if you follow what I wrote you should be fine. However keep in mind that even after doing all that it is still possible to get burned.