Hmmm saddle on eBay - too good to be true?

cob&onion

cob&onion

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I am well aware of dodgy saddles from eBay often stuffed with nasties!!!

Am after a decent WH saddle for my welsh D and thought i would try eBay. I have checked out feedback and testimonials and all seem good? and if it doesnt fit they will take it back for a full refund or exchange it.
Has anyone bought anything like this before? Came across this and read the full description, this part caught my eye:

All right then, why is it so cheap?

Most saddle shops buy their ready-made saddles from wholesalers who have bought their saddles from the manufacturers.

We are different. We buy these saddles directly from the people who make them; that makes us unique in by-passing the wholesalers and reducing cost by up to 50%.

It is like you buying your Dairy Milk directly from Cadbury’s rather than buying it from a middle man who has bought it himself from Cadbury’s. You cut out the middle-man, and therefore you cut down the cost to yourself.

This, coupled with low profit margins and low overheads, give you the best saddle deals available on a permanent basis.

There is no catch. What you see is what you get. Our ethos is to pass on all cost savings to customers.

We challenge you to find any retailer who will sell quality products at our prices on a permanent basis.


Are the saddles branded?

These saddles are pre-branded. Other saddleries buy them via wholesalers, and then brand them as their own. At that stage, the price increases without much change to the saddle itself.
We offer you a virtually identical product but without the brand name.

Here is the link : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW...t=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&hash=item19e0b37987
 
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I wouldnt touch it, its not English leather god knows what is inside it, I would rather buy a much older English leather branded saddle that I can trust. I just dont believe the pre branding cutting out the middle man bit.
 
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It is not English leather which is probably why it is cheap, more than likely made from poor quality Indian leather which will look cheap, wear badly and may not be safe if the girth straps break.
 
Pinkvboots said:
I wouldnt touch it, its not English leather god knows what is inside it, I would rather buy a much older English leather branded saddle that I can trust. I just dont believe the branding cutting out the middle man bit.
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be positive said:
It is not English leather which is probably why it is cheap, more than likely made from poor quality Indian leather which will look cheap, wear badly and may not be safe if the girth straps break.
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Looking close p at the stitching it looks messy! just noticed...........
 
Flocking looks lumpy and stirrup bars look rough and sharp to me. I suspect these saddles are made in India. I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
 
It just looks cheap to me, I picked up a really lovely Ideal Jessica dressage saddle on preloved last year for £200 it was old but hardly used, you will find something much better than that for that money.
 
Wagtail said:
Flocking looks lumpy and stirrup bars look rough and sharp to me. I suspect these saddles are made in India. I wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
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Didnt someone on here buy a cheap saddle and take it apart only to find all sorts of nasties inside it such as metal etc? am trying to find the thread.............
 
As above it looks awful! Not to good to be true at all, more like... looks majorly over priced!

Read " cutting out middle man " as - never designed, non branded saddle, flung together to copy a rough picture of an other.
 
Keep away. Terrible quality. Not a known brand. Cheap leather. Hate to see the condition of the tree. Its not worth the risk to the horses back. Go for a second hand saddle of good quality.
 
Any saddle on eBay that is brand new and selling for that amount would raise serious doubts in my mind. No brand and not English. Also I think a 8" D to D ring sounds quite narrow for a Sec D.
I recently bought a GFS/ field house saddle (haflinger/xwide) for my Sec D. It is in superb condition and I paid £180 on eBay. Managed to get a new GFS atherstone leather girth to match for £20!! It was a gamble but hady saddle fitter out and he said it was perfect.
Perhaps look at good condition used instead.
 
Looks like inferior leather and poor quality as the others have said.
However, re the branding thing..
My YO's husband runs a business from the yard selling wire fencing. He imports from China.
Now and then he goes over there, and on one visit, he was taken to a factory where they make Shires horse products (I think the guy had contacts and knew P's wife was horsey)
The result of this visit, was a shipment of a shedload of dirt cheap, Shires rugs, different in only one way to the ones we buy over here...no badge.
 
8" D to D is a narrow/medium fitting saddle not a wide (the advert says wide) I've just sold a WH saddle that was a Derby house one (from back when they were a proper saddlery) for £150, it was 8" D to D and it was a narrow/medium. I currently have my show hunter pony in a medium fitting saddle and it is 8.5" D to D.

I've also got a second hand Oakfield WH saddle for sale that is 9"dto d. (currently on Ebay), that may fit a section D but depends on how wide it is.
 
If something seems too good to be true, it usually is too good to be true.

This saddle looks very similar to the copies of Antill saddles that are doing the rounds, I suspect that the girth straps are all attached to one piece of webbing, to name but one problem.

Winter is a good time to pick up a good second hand English WH saddle at a reasonable price.
 
As all the other sensible H & H people on here have said AVOID!
Made in India I suspect not Walsall and I would like to take it apart to show you, like I have on my saddle threads.
The seller has no saddlery knowledge, you can tell by the way they describe it and I suspect they honestly believe it was made here and is quality! :)
Even English made saddles can be bad, there are badly made ones out there but how does one know unless it's taken apart?
Same as cars, they may look lovely on the outside but have dodgy brakes or knackered engines.
If anyone hasn't seen it there is an article I have written with photos highlighting the problem with saddles, they can look ok on the outside but be downright dangerous on the inside.My article shows 2 supposedly "GOOD" English makes if anyone who hasn't seen it and the follow up "list" PM me and I will send them the link
 
I fell for one of these once.......

Was the longest (as in flaps) on a saddle I'd ever seen, could almost make them touch underneath!

Luckily a old school saddler took it off me in a part ex!
 
I bought that saddle from them to see what it was like.

When it arrived I was pretty impressed with the leather quality for the price. Not english but a decent quality and a fairly good finish on it too. Sensible shaped saddle that I supect would sit well on many horses. (Never got near mine !)

The tree was symmetrical but the panels were attached squint and one side flocked more than the other.

I dropped the panels out and it was pretty much as you'd expect from a cheap tree.

A million carpet tacks holding bits together, cheap soft wood from pallets (still had writting on it) and very poor quality metal work across the head. The wood was cracked in various places and extra bits glued on to make the shape 'right' and the 'spring tree' was strips of cheap thin metal riveted to the wood with prominent heads left sticking out.

The girth webbing straps were loosely attached on the underside by a handful of loose rusty carpet tacks.

The flocking (specifically said to be real wool in the advert) is multicoloured carpet fibres: heavy and absolutely no 'spring' to it.

I have to say that the seller is a nice guy who caused no fuss at all when I sent it back for a full refund and I did fell a bit guilty :(

I have pictures that I might one day get round to uploading.
 
Barge pole.

If you want a good cheap saddle, they ARE out there.....if you look hard enough. I buy and sell secondhand English leather saddles. I only buy them at rock bottom prices and then sell them on quickly, still cheap.
I look on Facebook groups, job lots, auctions etc.
Ofteb people don't know what they have. For example I have a brand new never used Jeffries show saddle for sale now for £250. The person I bought it from just didnt know what they had, it had been in storage.

You have to be careful though as there are a LOT of fakes about so always get a serial number and get it checked.

It's far better to buy a used saddle that's a good make than something cheap and potentially dangerous/uncomfortable.
 
SnowOnSnow said:
Barge pole.

If you want a good cheap saddle, they ARE out there.....if you look hard enough. I buy and sell secondhand English leather saddles. I only buy them at rock bottom prices and then sell them on quickly, still cheap.
I look on Facebook groups, job lots, auctions etc.
Ofteb people don't know what they have. For example I have a brand new never used Jeffries show saddle for sale now for £250. The person I bought it from just didnt know what they had, it had been in storage.

You have to be careful though as there are a LOT of fakes about so always get a serial number and get it checked.

It's far better to buy a used saddle that's a good make than something cheap and potentially dangerous/uncomfortable.
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Even what you think are good makes can be bad, you never know what you have until it's stripped down
 
Exactly you have no idea what the tree is like. As for the new cheap ones read up on them. They have been know to stuff with used bandages, swabs and newspaper. It's cheap cause its made for less than £5.
 
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