Thinking of buying a budget new saddle on ebay? Please PM me first

Wagtail

Wagtail

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If you are buying a budget saddle off ebay, please PM me first to avoid the stress I have just been through after returning a saddle which I consider dangerous. You cannot leave negative feedback for this seller as she somehow gets it removed, hence the 100% positive feedback. It obviously means nothing on ebay.
 
LittleBlackMule said:
That name rings a bell. I think I've heard of other people having problems with them too, just can't remember where I read it..
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If you remember, let me know. I've reprted them to trading standards. Only because I felt it my duty to warn others about them on ebay, but now that feedback has been removed, they will be selling to more unsuspecting people. :(
 
Are they really trying to say that's German, handmade? Presumably it was flocked in the dark? :D

It'll be interesting to see what Trading Standards makes of it. Safety aside, I think trying to pass off a cheap import saddle as something it isn't, is wrong and misleading.

Maybe we should all start posting questions on the eBay page. "Is this really German and handmade"? "Are the stirrup bars British Standard?" (I can't think of the wording for BS stamped but you know what I mean) and so on (my naughty streak coming out!!!

Oz (hope you are reading this) if you ever get one of these in your workshop, please post up the dissection photos!
 
OldNag said:
Are they really trying to say that's German, handmade? Presumably it was flocked in the dark? :D

It'll be interesting to see what Trading Standards makes of it. Safety aside, I think trying to pass off a cheap import saddle as something it isn't, is wrong and misleading.

Maybe we should all start posting questions on the eBay page. "Is this really German and handmade"? "Are the stirrup bars British Standard?" (I can't think of the wording for BS stamped but you know what I mean) and so on (my naughty streak coming out!!!

Oz (hope you are reading this) if you ever get one of these in your workshop, please post up the dissection photos!
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That would be great. Except the seller gets to choose which questions she has printed on the page. :( It's a no win situation. My negative feedback was on all over the weekend so I just hope that plenty of people saw it and wondered why it was removed.
 
Simple answer to anyone looking at budget new saddles on ebay - don't.

I've posted before but synthetic under £300 and leather under £5-600 just isn't possible to do safely. I know the piece work rate for synthetic saddles and I don't believe it can be done cheaper safely.

Your horse and its saddle is too important to try and take serious short cuts..
 
sbloom said:
Simple answer to anyone looking at budget new saddles on ebay - don't.

I've posted before but synthetic under £300 and leather under £5-600 just isn't possible to do safely. I know the piece work rate for synthetic saddles and I don't believe it can be done cheaper safely.

Your horse and its saddle is too important to try and take serious short cuts..
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Totally agree!

But I am incensed by Ebay's treatment of this. I have the email address of the MD and will be writing to her today. Just need a good title now to grab her attention and make sure she reads it amongst all the spam and mundane stuff she must get.

Any ideas?

What about: 'Is ebay manipulating the feedback of top rated sellers?'
 
according to the website they are ' german designed' and half leather/synthetic. but to me they look exactly the same as the 50 quid indian leather saddles that were flooding ebay a couple of years ago.
 
digitalangel said:
according to the website they are ' german designed' and half leather/synthetic. but to me they look exactly the same as the 50 quid indian leather saddles that were flooding ebay a couple of years ago.
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Cremedemonthe here said they are manufactured in india, yes.

I will not let this lie. The saddles are dangerous at worst, damaging to the horse at best. :(
 
Cannot quote but sbloom I would never pay those prices for a saddle £250 has always been my limit. Paid £60 for my recent saddle it had a tear in the seat which I have since sorted and I probably threw £130 quid at it for a re flock, patch and girth straps restitch so as long as you are prepared to buy and have professionally checked then go ahead and buy. Mine was a barnsby and worth the money I paid for it to be sorted. Most thorowgoods don't exceed £200 and they are good synthetics.

However any unbranded saddle I wouldn't touch, any new leather saddle on ebayI wouldn't touch and I wouldn't ride in a new saddle without a fitting first. It's just about common sense. And don't even get me started on the state of some of the treeless c@@p on there and harness. There are bargins to be had from 2nd hand stuff but cheap tat will cost you in the long run.
 
Always better to get quality English second hand than new junk. There are bargains to be had but big sellers selling new saddles at that price are almost certainly selling rubbish. It is a gamble though, even a top name second hand saddle can turn up with a broken tree...
 
The saddle linked is a indian saddle re branded as german. This is very common.
You can spot them from the style. Also all the ones with red dots on the pommel are indian. They are made in the higher end of the indian saddle market ao look a bit more normal but quality is dire and you do not want a saddle like this on a horses back.
Flocking is terrible. Stirrup bars are unsafe and also most importantly after speaking to a saddler, a key thing with indian saddles is the girth straps. On English saddles the first strap is on seperate webbing attached to the saddle to the other 2 for safety reasons. On indian they are all attached to the same piece of flimsy material meaning if it goes it will really go!!!
 
Can i just add to this post that although this must have been a nightmare i have bought and sold loads of saddles and never had an issue. They have always been popular named brands though.
 
Yes, I have no problem buying saddles off ebay. But have learned my lesson buying a new leather saddle for £200. Toffee44, Sbloom was talking about new saddles. The thorowgood saddles are around £300 - £500 new.
 
Whoops sorry for my pointless rant, nightshirt, tired was on break.

Thought we were talking 2nd hand never thought of buying a new saddle on eBay lol. On that note my eyes are closing goodnight x
 
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