They are amongst a horrifying amount of far eastern rubbish being passed off as made in ireland - is this illegal ?
John
If you bothered to look at the text in the listing, you would find that they’re being listed by the author of the plans Alan Ginsberg’s brother on his behalf. He’s also offering Alan’s smallpipes plans, and a set of plans for 4 flutes in separate listings.
http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZcoedlantri33
Alan’s phone number and email address are in the listing, with the suggestion that you contact him if you have questions. How could this possibly be bogus?
I think he means that the Ray Sloan set and Alan Ginsberg’s plans are in the middle of a “horrifying amount of Far Eastern rubbish” on the Ebay page. 
And, the rubbish is definitely horrifying. I didn’t know you could play the Uilleann Pipes with a Li-Lo!!!
Yes that is how I would interpret the post - no less that 8 ‘Irish’ sets overwelming the RS half set and AG Plans - has Paskistan annexed Eire or have they renamed one of their provinces.
whoops - double post
Ah yes, now I must agree. Apologies, Elmek.
Even if it were not illegal to misrepresent the country of origin, it’s against eBay policy to use a misleading title to describe an item for sale:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/misleading-titles.html
how about the sloan set, with ‘reed never worked properly’! Not very enticing is it? especially as the seller says ‘apart from that, a great working set’! so apart from the chanter playing out of tune, it’s top. 
The Chanter reed supplied however is somewhat faulty, and I suspect it was made by a lazy reed maker
Or was it the owner meddling and not wishing to admit it ?
Full Text from Ebay is
Here is a Ray Sloan standard half set Uilleann pipes in Concert Pitch (D). The bag and stocks have been fully refurbished and everything is in good condition. I am it’s only previous owner, and owned it for just under a year. The Chanter reed supplied however is somewhat faulty, and I suspect it was made by a lazy reed maker; some attention will be needed to bring the old girl back in full working order, or if the worst comes to the worst the reed will have to be replaced entirely. Apart from that, I can fortunately say, I assure anyone this is a fantastic sounding and working set. Also comes with a lovely and strong carry case.
The set has been refurbished but does not say by whom or why it needed this treatment after just a year. If an instrument is not looked after it is not surprising then that the owner experienced trouble with the reeds.
He also mentions that it is a great sounding set - no mention of being out of tune so would guess it worked OK originally
I have had a number of Ray’s pipes in the workshop and can confirm that they work and sound fine
Chris
Having read the description of a set of my pipes for sale on E-Bay which included the following:
The Chanter reed supplied however is somewhat faulty, and I suspect it was made by a lazy reed maker; Apart from that, I can fortunately say, I assure anyone this is a fantastic sounding and working set.
This does beg a question: If I can make a fantastic sounding and working set then how can I possible be a lazy reedmaker ? Perhaps the seller is referring to a reed that he acquired from somewhere else as I can assure everyone that in no way can I ever be described as ‘Lazy’ in anything I do with regards to my work. I put as much dedication and hard work into one aspect of my work as I do into any other, and my attention to detail in every aspect including reedmaking is 100%.
Cheers
Ray Sloan
Hmmm…
Received this from the seller
“Hi there, yea the pipes were refurbished by Ray himself. Unfortunately the reed is a replacement as the original was damaged due to 2 months sitting in the back of a cold post office store room. The pipes were refurbished because there were air leeks in the bag, so the bag was replaced. The stocks were tightened. It was nothing serious, but more of an ‘MOT’ if anything else. With this I’ll suply 2 reeds. One is the replacement the other is the one I used in my old chanter.
So original reed was damaged by post office - one reed by RS? other from another set - which is the faulty one by a lazy reedmaker ?
whoever he is ?
ok, first and foremost I have already written an email appologising Ray for the confusion.
Hi everone, I’m the bloke who is selling the pipes on ebay. Can I just say, I thought I’d be the reason for all this bloody hoo har. They ARE a Ray Sloan set, and the reason why I know they were a GOOD sounding set, was because I did actually play on them before sending them off to Ray to refurbish.
Yes, Ray refurbished the set, just incase strong sceptics and annoying people missed that one out. 
The ‘lazy’ reedmaker I was refering too is an annonymous reed maker who made a reed for a good friend of mine, I now have it. I suspect you’re gonna poke at that now and ask why I have it, making it sound all suspicious. bloody hell 
Sorry again to anyone I have offended/insulted/annoyed. It was all just a big misunderstanding
Agus beannacht
shit, made one little mistake. Read the one below
ok, first and foremost I have already written an email appologising Ray for the confusion.
Hi everone, I’m the bloke who is selling the pipes on ebay. Can I just say, I never thought I’d be the reason for all this bloody hoo har. They ARE a Ray Sloan set, and the reason why I know they were a GOOD sounding set, was because I did actually play on them before sending them off to Ray to refurbish.
Yes, Ray refurbished the set, just incase strong sceptics and annoying people missed that one out.
The ‘lazy’ reedmaker I was refering too is an annonymous reed maker who made a reed for a good friend of mine, I now have it. I suspect you’re gonna poke at that now and ask why I have it, making it sound all suspicious. bloody hell
The pipes needed refurbishment because I bought them second hand. They were playable somewhat, but if I was going to sell them on to someone else I’d want to give them a good set. Unfortunatly I’m neither a reed maker nor a magician, and I need the money, so that’s why I warned people on ebay. Jesus at least I had the decency to do that! Most people on ebay would just sell it with no warning!
I never said Ray’s pipes are bad or never work, he’s a fantastic pipe maker and I would always advise people to go to him for pipes.
Sorry again to anyone I have offended/insulted/annoyed. It was all just a big misunderstanding
Agus beannacht
I was going to say, the reed I got from Ray was the most professionally built reed I have ever ordered. I’m glad you clarified it wasn’t Ray.
Speculation can be a dangerous thing as this thread bears out. Can we put this one to rest please?