I just received a typer from eBay yesterday that was non-working. The escapement was seized, but after taking it apart and cleaning it the machine is working fine. Of course the description of the machine didn't mention it wasn't working even though it was obvious that the seller knew it; there was a test page in the carriage with multiple keystrikes in the same place (because the carriage wasn't advancing). Regardless, I gave the seller a positive feedback because they had packed it really well, the machine was only $20, and I was very happy to get it. Most sellers don't know how to test a typewriter anyway or aren't familiar with how they work, so I'm willing to still provide a good review if the typer only needs a quick repair.

One thing is for sure: buying typewriters through eBay is not for the feint of heart - and until you open the package you never know what you're going to get.

I agree with Uwe.  Buying on e-bay is a minefield.  As many people on this forum know, I am a typewriter engineer, and yes I sometimes buy machines on e-bay to refurbish.  Many, many, times I have received a machine with faults.  I often think that it was just as well that it was me that bought the machine because I know how to fix it.  But I would really pity an ordinary person who thought that they were going to be able to use that machine in 'as bought' condition.  The trouble is, not many people understand typewriters these days so with buyer and seller it is often the blind leading the blind !

thetypewriterman wrote:

The trouble is, not many people understand typewriters these days so with buyer and seller it is often the blind leading the blind !

As my friend Valiant in this forum likes to say, "the carriage lock is a collector's best friend."

Sometimes ignorance can work in the buyer's favour too. How many people have sold machines at a deep dicount because they were convinced it was broken when it was just the carriage lock that was preventing it from typing properly? 
 

thetypewriterman wrote:

How we suffer for our art !

 That's so very true!

At least it was only a portable. I met up with Valiant last weekend at a local antique market to do a little typewriter shopping. He picked up a nice Hermes Rocket, and I snagged another Olympia SG1. Of course I was parked several blocks away and after the second block I began to think I wasn't going to make it. My legs were beginning to feel like rubber, my arms were aching, and I was huffing and puffing so hard that I sounded like a blacksmith's bellows. Then there were the strange looks I got from others on the sidewalk (the market is in a busy downtown area); no doubt many wondered who the weirdo was struggling down the sidewalk carrying such a massive and bizarre looking lump of metal.