"What are FAQ’s?"

    Frequently Asked Questions. Hey if you don’t ask sometimes you’ll never know.

"What's up with the text at the top of each page. My 4 year old writes better?"
     Yeah, it look's stupid. We're trying to avoid an issues with search engine algo's. We're looking for a better plan for that. I hope the writing in the rest of the web site more than compensates for it.

"Why didn’t you answer my email?"

 Generally we try to get most emails answered with in 72 hours of receipt, sometimes within  minutes. Due to the volume of traffic and email we receive, we usually don’t answer emails that either have nothing to do with what we do as a business, or that we can offer no help or further information on. As stated near our contact information, we do not respond to emails for appraisals or value judgments on customer items for lots of reasons including legal ones. We also get a lot of emails from individuals wanting to sell us items. A non-response can mean that we aren't in a position to purchase any additional inventory, or the purchase wouldn't be prudent.
     We would love to be able to respond to everyone, but with the amount of traffic we are currently getting it’s just not possible and takes away time that would be better spent dealing with customers we can actually offer help to. 
     Many times we do not have the answer right away and need to research or do further investigation to be able to give a definitive answer. This sometimes can take more time, especially if it’s a parts inquiry (*see notices on our parts pages) or if we query another party and are waiting a response from them. These emails can sometimes take many days or weeks, to source the information needed to answer them. 
     Occasionally an email has an attachment either by design or due to a virus. We accept very few emails with attachments. One reason is that our anti-virus programs most times won’t allow them in. 

     Meaning, your email may not even be getting to us, no matter how many times you sent it.

     We may try and manually remove the attachment prior to reading the email. Also with the tremendous amount of traffic we get, there is also a tremendous amount of Spam and junk e-mail that we must wade through. This also takes time away from responding to our true customer emails.

     If you send a photo make sure it’s in “jpeg” format, FOCUSED and no larger than 100K in size. We preview email on the web and delete or try and clean emails with questionable or large attachments prior to downloading to the official. Sometimes in the cleaning process we loose the email altogether. Sometimes when cleaning either file attachments or the Spam emails we accidentally delete emails from legitimate customers.

      Be sure and send emails with topics in the Subject Line related to our business and / or what is needed. 

     Emails with "No Subject", "no subject", "hi", "Hi" or similar non-descript wording will likely be deleted without being read. There are many things that can happen with email, so if you have not received a response within a reasonable time frame, please simply re-send your message.

     We have also had situations where we have responded repeatedly to emails with the sender wondering why we haven’t yet responded. Generally they have gotten filtered into a "spam" or "junk" email folder on your email server. Not sure why this happens, but it's out of our control and you need to check those folders. That is likely where the response is.

    With the huge amount of traffic we get emails may sometimes simply get overlooked or often, accidentally deleted, or frankly, we're just toooooo swamped. Sorry. We apologize in advance if that happens, and it does.

*Note about parts / spares sales

* Our "parts units", parts / spares and related reference information are primarily archived for the purpose of restoration / repair of "Oak Tree Vintage" units first. Only if we do not have a "viable" unit in yet, either already in process or in line to be processed, that may potentially need parts from a "parts unit", will we release available parts for sale (even though they may appear as available for sale to the public). As many of you know, the restoration of a unit can be a long, time consuming process. We may "lock up" parts that we may potentially need in the restoration of a unit (and not necessarily get it marked 'Hold' or 'Sold' on the site right away). Parts are priced according to the "potential value" of the unit they can be applicable to (meaning the amount WE would be willing to pay for the part if that was all that was standing between us having a "shelved unit" or a valuable / sellable unit), time to extract, their rarity & their condition to name a few criteria and likely will be completely unrelated to the original cost / price of a part when it was currently available from the manufacturer.

Parts Photos; We get a number of requests for 'photos' of a specific part. Unfortunately, in most cases that is not practical as the amount of time involved in posting that exceeds the value of the 'unique' part. We will sometimes post photos of less 'unique' parts, if there is a greater chance of them being available in multiple quantities, or on a more 'repeat' basis.

Shipping: Shipping on most 'small' parts if typically via Postal first class or Postal Priority for both domestic (USA) and international orders. Larger parts such as transformers and drivers (speakers) are typically via FedEx gnd.
Some parts sales such as those for empty 'speaker cabinets', empty 'component cabinets / covers / bonnets' and 'speaker grills' are 'doomed' from the start. Due to their size and required packing supplies, the cost of 'packing for safe transit' and shipping are typically nearly equal to and sometimes greater than the cost of the part.  Think about it. An empty speaker cabinet or stereo receiver case is essentially the same size as a complete one. Yes the weight will be less, but most of items that size are calculated on 'dimensional weight', not actual weight. Secondly empty component cabinets have to be packed to disallow breakage, typically requiring nearly as much packing materials as an entire unit. Speaker grills have to be 'sandwiched' between foam sheets in large, custom ordered boxes (all relatively expensive).  It is what it is....

A non-response to an email request for a part (we may appear to have), likely means that we are still determining which parts we are going to need for the restoration or repair of one of our units. Again, the parts are first for the restoration of our units and secondarily for the public market. Since we list the parts available for ourselves, it is not much effort to modify the menu's for web publication, which in turn makes the reference information and occasionally the part available to the public. Frankly, publishing them to the web, in many instances, makes it easier for us to determine if we have the part for our needs as well. The alternative to all of the above would be to not offer them at all to the public, however most parts are available to the public for sale.
BOTTOM LINE IS; IF YOU DON'T SEE IT AVAILABLE FOR SALE, WE DON'T HAVE IT!
 Thank you for your understanding.
 

"Why so much more than commonly on internet auctions?"

     There are many sources for much of the inventory we sell. Our goal has never been to be the cheapest source for an item. Auctions and discount venues can be a great source for items as long as a buyer has weighed the risks associated with purchase from those types of sources. Ask lots of questions, ask for their definition of “works good” (sic)  (see what’s happened to us many times on the lower half of this page), ask for referrals if the seller does not convey an appearance of legitimacy, realize that a heavily discounted price usually means discounted service /  product quality (if your main purpose in purchasing an item is to save money, then you should probably just keep your money in the bank), and realize that most (read almost all) of these items are 20-40 years old and are in need of some degree of service / maintenance if you are actually planning to use them. 
     We are not selling gear so much as "piece of mind" / warranty that comes from purchasing a properly serviced and competently and fully tested / "burned-in" unit. You can go anywhere and buy a unit that will have a dozen issues (some may be easily repairable, some terminal) for a lot less money than from us. If all you require is that the unit have a brand name / model stamped on it, have it power up with some lights, make some sound and have no smoke coming out of it, then by all means instead of spending $200-$1000 with us, you should go purchase one of the $10-$50 units, as that's about all most 25-40 year old electronics are worth in "as found" condition. "As found" means that nothing of any substance has been done to the unit and it's just as the "middleman" (read on line auction seller) found it at the garage sale, auction, thrift store, dead uncles closet, dumpster (we're not kidding) etc. If that is all you require from your audio / electronics gear, then by all means, don't spend much money. In fact you should try and convince the seller to give it to you, as you're still going to have to spend $30-$75 to get this "boat anchor" shipped / delivered. Does that mean that you can't get "lucky" and get a well working unit from one of these sources? Not at all. You just have to have a LOT of luck, the planets have to be aligned and you obviously are a "gambler" whether you want to admit it or not. That's what auctions are all about. Risk and gamble.
     The bottom line is, you wouldn't purchase a car that you knew had been sitting for the last 15 or 20 years, unused and expect to hop in it and take a trip. Even if the seller put in new gas, a charged battery, some air in the tires and advertised it as "runs great and everything works perfectly" (and all he did was get it started and drive it around the block to make that determination). If you knew it had been sitting that long, you wouldn't purchase it to actually use, without knowing it would require much attention to make roadworthy or wanted a project.
     Unless otherwise specified we have already done the service / restoration work needed to make it ready to use.  Without exception, every item we acquire needs some degree of service performed on it, no matter how good it may look, or what kind of care was extended to it throughout it's life. Generally every unit will require at least an hour, more commonly 2-3 hours, sometimes 4-6 hours and on occasion an item has required as much as 10-18 hours of labor plus parts. If you are saving $50 or even a couple of hundred dollars by buying an auction item, but must turn around and invest an additional $50-$75 per hour of tech labor, if you can find it, plus parts if you can find them (we have a “bone yard” of parts units for sourcing discontinued and hard to find parts) then you will likely spend much more than we might have charged for that item already ready to go with a warranty.

     Lastly the chance of an item actually getting to you "intact" due to most individuals lack of ability to pack fragile electronics anywhere close to adequately is incredibly small. I know from many examples of personal experience, customer traffic and from the degree that my parts business profits from "flea-bay" disasters. My typical customer is on their 3rd, 4th or 5th "e-pray" unit. By the time they get to me they have spent just as much or more than the units original investment would have been with me.

"What does the warranty cover?"

     See our warranty page

"Why do you leave all the sold stuff listed?"

  Years ago when we originally designed this web site we had to make a decision about leaving sold items showing on the web page. We realize that with every decision we make concerning our business comes with a certain element of risk. We knew then and now know that the vast majority of visitors to our web site would appreciate us leaving the sold items posted, in some form for most of the reasons we have listed below. We also knew that a certain number of visitors might be disappointed by our decision, but that goes back to the calculated risk. In 'hind site', we have gotten many times more positive response, than negative. We hope everyone understands.

     There are a number of reasons why we leave items that have already sold still showing on the web pages, and it’s not just bragging rights (although there’s a certain amount of that we are entitled to, sort of like displaying the photos of your fishing trip pictures). We know it can sometimes seem like a “wild goose chase”, but there’s a method to our madness. Most of our web pages have a sold department located at the bottom section of the page. We don’t always have time to get the thumbnail photos of the items moved down to those areas as quickly as we would like, but we do eventually. We leave the photos and text intact and in placed for at least 90 days following a sale in the event we, or the purchaser needs to refer back to them for any reason. We also know that we will acquire many of the same items again and since it takes 2 to 8 weeks for an items’ information to get into most search engines it cuts down on that time so when you do a search for the item you will find it. It also alerts you to the type of items we have had in the past thus indicating the type of items we will likely have in the future. Many times an item will sell within hours of being listed and there hasn't been time to get the item marked sold. 
     Also many visitors find our "SOLD" area a great resource for identifying their items' brand, model or year. They also find it a valuable resource of information when doing a search on other web sites as it gives them photos of brands and models they can look for in other places. For every one email we get saying "how  come you guys have all this sold stuff listed? It's frustrating!", we get 10 that say something like, "WOW, what a great trip back in time seeing all this stuff from my past" or " thanks for the great web site. It is an invaluable source of information". 
     Lastly with all the pages and departments it’s sometimes hard to keep up with the  web editing and we may just simply not have had the time to move the item to the sold area. We apologize for any inconvenience.

"Why don't you leave the prices of the "SOLD" items listed?"

 The main reason is that vintage and collectable markets move very rapidly and prices / values are 'fluid'. Sometimes almost overnight. Some items go up in price over a given time, some go down. Sometimes dramatically. Prices more than 30-60 days old would be meaningless.
     In addition each items price is determined, primarily by the technician time and final condition of that specific unit and is not necessarily applicable to another of the same model.
     3rd, many of our customers purchase for resale and would not be too interested in seeing older prices being listed on the website. There are other reasons for not leaving the prices intact, but the above is sufficient for here.

 

"Why do you all the parts 'listings' for parts you don't have for sale?"

 The 'parts' pages are also 'reference' pages. They commonly have very valuable 'cross-reference' information on them. A better way to look at those pages are as 'Reference Pages' firstly, that may occasionally have parts available 'for sale', as well.

"Can you notify me if you get something in?"

 Yes, likely, but only for 'complete' units. Not practical for us to do when regarding 'parts' or accessories. The way we are able to do that is through emails. We have a set of “Wish-List” folders in our email program that we can list your email in. If you are interested in more than one item, please send an email for each separate item as we can not duplicate the emails to multiple folders. We will try to send alerts to the earliest email senders first, but it may be a race to be the first to contact us for the purchase. They will often “slip through the cracks” so it would be to your advantage to periodically check the web site to see if the item you are seeking has been added.

PS. This is not available for parts, only for restored, complete units.

"Why can’t you give appraisals?"

      There are many reasons why we don’t. Some business and some legal. First we are not a member of any Appraiser's Guild or licensed to do “official” appraisals.
     Secondly to do an appraisal over the web is just not practical as it would be impossible to get a feel for the true condition of an item without being hands on in person with it. To value another's gear based on the prices seen posted on our site is likely, COMPLETELY meaningless, as we are primarily charging for the tech time, warranty, our solid experience and the value added. Without those added values, most of this gear would be, to us, are ten dollar "boat anchors"!
     Thirdly there are many potential legal ramifications to giving what might be considered an errant up or down value judgment.
There are a myriad of other reasons we don’t offer them, but the above is sufficient enough.


"I’ve been watching your site for a long time and it doesn’t seem to update, yet the date changes. How often do you update the site?"

     We have a very extensive web site with many departments and pages (over 800 pages). While some pages may not change for weeks or even months (if there's nothing to add, there's no reason to update), other pages may see updates as often as 2-3 times a day. Sometimes the 'update' is simply marking an item 'SOLD' or 'tweaking' a specification.
     The site generally has 'maintenance' and updating happening to select pages somewhere 6-20 times per day, virtually every day.


"Are you able to repair my...?"

  Due to limited resources we are only able to do restorations / repairs on our inventory and unable to take outside repairs. Click Here for possible assistance with repairs.


"What makes this stuff so much better than the new gear?"

     Some of it isn’t. Most of it is. The old adage “They don’t make ‘em like they used to” applies to much of the "vintage" market. That’s one of the main reasons many items are collectible in the first place. Many of the items were built in Japan or the USA, both considered to be superior for their craftsmanship. Many items were built using designs that were meant to last as opposed to “the design that was the cheapest to construct”. Many items were designed using parts and manufacturing techniques far superior to today’s methods. None of the above is to imply that there are not quality items being built today, and just because an item is 20-50 years old means it is better, but you could probably draw this conclusion when looking at vintage items as a whole.


"What makes this stuff as much or more than when new?"
    See above.

"Why are your packing / shipping costs higher than many?"

     Just as you can have superior products, you can also have superior service and a huge part of any mail order / web retail business is the ability to safely and successfully get your goods delivered to the customer in the same condition as when they left. We have seen all too many times the consequences of inadequate, inappropriate, unprofessional, un-safe and incorrect packing. About one third of the items we receive from senders (almost always individuals) are damaged or destroyed due to inexperienced packers. What good is it to save $5, $10 or even $20 on packing, insurance and shipping only to take a huge chance of receiving damaged goods. We had one week a while back when everyone of about half a dozen items we received from individuals arrived damaged or completely destroyed due to inadequate or inappropriate packing. Just today, as of this writing, we unboxed a package of three components. I requested the seller be extra careful packing as I have many items arrive damaged due to inadequate packaging. Upon shipment he emailed back that “…they are packed to survive a bomb blast”. When they arrived all three had been stuffed into a single CD player box and shipped via 4th class mail. They were packed using one “sheet foam” envelope (about 1.5-2mm thick) that some components come new wrapped with instead of a plastic bag, woven one time between the components to separate them. The small amount of extra space that remained in the box was filled with very well used foam peanuts. So used that some were “foam peanut dust”. Many of the components’ edges and corners were actually touching the box. None of the components were even put into plastic bags so a couple were inundated with small pieces of foam particles. Surprisingly they arrived in reasonable condition, but we were both lucky. I was in disbelief of his description “packed to survive a bomb blast”. Many shippers including will not honor an insurance damage claim on electronics unless they are shipped in their original packaging or are double boxed. Most local shipping companies will not offer damage insurance unless they are the ones who pack it. We have been shipping items for about 20 years professionally. A good rule of thumb is if the contents will survive a tumble down a flight of stairs, or could be dropped from 4' then it’s probably packed adequately.

     We know what works and what doesn’t. Any one who has received an item from us can tell you that we do it right.
We don’t skimp on packaging. We won’t cheapen our ways of packing, but you can be assured you will receive you package as safely as possible and for a reasonable price.
 
     PS. Here's some text regarding shipping costs from an auction I just saw for a McIntosh Tuner, likely worth $600-$1000, open chassis and very fragile. "The least expensive method  will be used."  ...... Some folks just don't get it.


"Why do I not see a “Secure Server” or Shopping Cart program on your site?"

     We do have "Buy Now" buttons on some of our "repeat / drop ship" products, but for our more "unique" gear, such as Hi-Fi components and many parts, we do not and will not add that. Since most of the items we deal with are "one only" and collectible there are too many potential compatibility issues to not have “one-on-one” conversation with the purchaser. We still like that. A phone call will usually route out  any potential problems with a purchase prior to shipping. While the customer is always "The Boss", they ARE NOT always Right. We have nipped many potential "disasters" in the bud.
A phone call will usually allow us to qualify that the customer / item “fit” is right on the front-end of the purchase.
 

"Why must I phone with my credit card info? Can’t I just email it?"
    
    Since email is not secure, we wouldn’t recommend it. See also above.

"It's been 15 days, 20 days, 30 days, etc. Where's my stuff?"
     In 13+ years of business and with over 15,000 shipments under our belts, we have so far not had ONE package go missing. NOT ONE! That is an incredible statement and fact (probably just jinxed it though by writing this). Not many shippers can claim that. We have had a handful of 3 day Priority Air's go as much as 30-40 days tardy. In ALL cases either a notice was left that never got discovered by the receiver, or the package was left at a back or side door that the receiver did not think to check. While we will do investigation on our end to find the package, it is usually 2-6 hours of work for us and the Post Office that is un-necessary if the customer had simply checked with their local Post Office / Carrier or at another door.
     Again, we will do it, but it takes us away from more productive tasks. Interestingly, 100% of the time (about 6-8 in all) the customer saw no way that it could be anything but the fault of the carrier or us and that there was no way a note had been left or the package could actually be on their premises without them knowing.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Some of our On-Line Auction "Buying" Experiences:

     Every week we get phone calls or emails from people who have purchased items from individuals selling through on-line auctions such as e _ _y, Y____o or one of the others. They are usually wanting to know if we do repairs or what an estimate on repair of their unit might run in hopes of getting some relief from the seller due to unknown problems. Now most people selling on e _ _y and similar auction sites are truly honest, it’s just that the vast majority of them have no training or the necessary experience to accurately evaluate a piece of electronics gear, guitar, keyboard, microphone or the like. I can’t tell you how many listings I’ve seen for things that describe an item as being “Mint condition” and then go on to further state something like, “…we do not know if the microphone works as we have no way of testing it” and / or “…thus we are selling it As-Is”.
    My favorite is when a seller follows with “We don’t know if the unit works or not as we have no way of testing it, but from the looks of it we see no reason it shouldn’t.” I always have to chuckle about that one. We have a lot of things that no matter how much we polish them up and admire them, for some odd reason they still won’t work. Anyway how can a seller describe an item as being “Mint or Excellent condition” without having a clue as to the working / operating condition? The answer is they can’t. It can and could only be a reference to 'cosmetic' aspects. Very few items can qualify as mint in the first place. Mint pretty much means it’s either never been opened or may have been removed from it’s original packing, but then restored back to the packaging in EXACTLY the same condition.
     Recently we found a Receiver on a VERY popular internet auction site, that we were very interested in bidding on. It was a very high-end Sansui that we needed to fill a hole in our inventory. We had seen them before, but this one had a lot of very nice photos and a decent description. The seller described it as “works and looks good” (sic). We were ready to bid, but thought we’d better make sure of his definition of “works good” (sic). We did the “Ask Seller A Question”. Here is the email we sent and the reply:

     Oak Tree:
     "Hi, I noticed the auction for the Sansui receiver. Your photos look great! I just have a couple of  questions. You refer to the unit as working fine, by that do you mean that both FM and AM reception comes through to the speaker outputs, that all the inputs are passing a signal and that both speaker outputs sound strong with no distortion or low output? It appears from the photos that all the controls and knobs are original and intact. I don’t mind scratchy / dirty sounding controls and / or burned out panel lamps as I expect that and will fix, but I just want to know that you have verified the basic operating condition of the unit. Just let me know the answers to all of the above as I am very interested in this receiver. Thanks in advance for your time, Jerry at Oak Tree Vintage"

     Sellers Response:

     "Jerry, Thank-you for the interest in my Sansui G series receiver. Upon further testing I discovered that one side of the FM did not come through, there is no AM response, one of the tape monitors does not work when I hooked up my CD player, and the right side speaker output is very low in volume and just distorts. I have since pulled the plug on the auction. Thank you for stopping me from screwing up bad. Are you interested in the unit for parts or repair. I guess when I initially just plugged it in and got some sound that I assumed a unit of this caliber could not have any problems. 
Let me know if you have any interest in it. Sincerely, David"
 
     We dodged a bullet on that one and definitely re-learned to ask lots of questions, even if they appear to be answered in the listing text. I do not in any way think that this seller or that most sellers are being dishonest, I just know that most individuals listing electronics are not educated as to the proper procedures to adequately test a piece of equipment. Simply powering the unit up and getting some sound does not mean the unit is functioning. Click HERE to see some of the  procedures we put our gear through before it gets offered for sale. This is no joke, but I once had an electronics technician working for the same retailer I worked at that with 35+ years experience most of the time assumed a piece of gear was “good to go” if it powered up and no smoke came out. Due to hearing problems he could not hear most of the more minor audio problems a unit might be producing. I recently saw a couple of listing’s from two different audio traders that just made me shake my head. These are both individuals that move 20-100 pieces of gear a month, simply because they both sort of “fell into the business”. One listing had the specs for a pair of speakers with the typical wattage, frequency response, system type, etc. When it got to the “Sensitivity = 91 dB 1Watt @ 1Meter” he followed that with, and I quote “whatever that means”. I saw a listing for a receiver from the other seller that when listing the features of the back panel when he got to “has 2 AC outlets 1 switched and 1 says un-switched” he followed that with “but I’m not sure what that does”. 
     Now if you don’t know what those things mean either that’s ok, as I assume you’re not in the audio business, but anyone seriously dealing in audio gear had better know what those things mean and how to read and use a standard spec sheet.

     One last example and I’ll get off my “Soap-Box”. I had my personal B&O 2400 receiver “go South” on me and outputs didn’t seem to be available anymore, so I just went on the hunt to replace it. I found one on a VERY popular internet auction site, from what looked like a seller that I could believe 100%. I asked my standard questions even though the listing said that "Everything works perfectly”. When I received it I was initially very happy to have my system back up and running, but upon further investigation I made some discoveries. On a B&O 2400 receiver the controls are hidden behind a fascia panel top plate. Your only clue as to what’s going on are indicator lamps and light gauges under a smoked plexi face plate. Well the Bass and Treble bar graphs were out and the phono indicator doesn’t light. 
     Now I know those aren’t big things, but the unit was listed as “Everything works Perfectly!”. Oh well even we get screwed once in a while. I guess everyone just has a different definition of Mint, excellent & Perfect.