Are the concertinas/accordions on ebay any good for beginners? Are there any problems there?
Not a good place for beginner instruments. Try Button Box or Concertina Connection. The better instruments are few but often quite good. They’ll cost $3k and up.
Barleycorn concertinas sell their refurbished concertinas on ebay sometimes. His ID is cocoa111 and here’s a list of what he is currently offering:
http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZcocoa111QQhtZ-1
I would trust that the stuff he is selling is as described but the other stuff on ebay is buyer beware.
thanks guys. 
Too many ebay stories of bad or misrepresnted accordions/concertinas
One ebay seller to be wary of ( pardon the preposition) neufie bob I believe
He knows little about them, as evidensed by his descriptions … and that would be a polite comment
there are others, but he stands out
know thy dealer
Button Box and Concertina Connection are top notch
I bought my first concertina on eBay and got a reasonable 30 button Hohner Anglo which got me started, but I fairly quickly bought a Morse.
If I was starting out now, I would get a Rochelle, but they weren’t available then.
If you are going to chance it on eBay, then check descriptions very carefully, watch a few to see what various instruments go for and set a limit and stick to it. I spent a few weeks watching concertinas before I put in any bid.
Although eBay don’t like it, sniping is useful because you cannot up your bid if you are outbid since your snipe is going in in the last few minutes. (as well as increasing your chances of success of course 
)
Geoff
I’d trying getting known by hanging around on boards like this, and any other(s) you can find. Is concertina-net a board or a list, or something else entirely? The economy has a lot of folks getting serious about selling instruments. Hopefully its an instrument they no longer play, or bought but never got on with rather than a treasure parted with in agony.
In any case, you could probably match or exceed an ebay price, and be able to buy from someone who’s a known quantity. I hear less about ebay ID theft than we were a year ago. Have they got on top of that, yet?
And no, I’m not trying to sell anything, much less a concertina.
It’s a site with a board - www.concertina.net . There is a buy/sale forum within the board.
I do quite a bit of buying (and some selling) on eBay, but only with items I know a lot about. I don’t think I’d ever buy a concertina without trying it and I’ve been playing nearly 10 years. Too many things can go wrong and too many repairs can be expensive relative to the buying price. I would, however, buy from a fellow player known to be knowledgeable and honest. (Like avanutria, for example, who once sold me a fine tenor recorder on eBay. )
Ebay is a bit ‘hit and miss’ but so is every forum for secondhand exchange. There are things you can do for self-protection but they require caution and knowledge. One rule is don’t buy unless you are convinced the seller is competent to describe the instrument accurately and has priced it fairly. You can always ask the seller a question which, if worded carefully, will expose those who don’t know what they are talking about.
You can always ask the opinion of people here if tempted to bid on an item. I just asked for advice on the stringed instrument forum about a Stefan Sobell Cittern. Not only did I get opinions on the reliability of the make which confirmed what I knew, I was also told who the seller was and that he was knowledgeable and honest. In the end I didn’t bid but that was based on a judgment about priorities, not a concern about the safety of the deal or the quality of the instrument.