12mm braided nylon "rope"-an e bay warning

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catalac08

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a number of 200m reels of 12mm English Braids braided nylon rope were on e bay auctions a few weeks ago and may well be listed again, located in Hampshire - the coil of "rope" I won turned out to be hollow braided tube about 8mm diameter, like the outer sheath only of 8mm braided rope. The seller still claiming this was rope eventually said he would refund my PayPal payment but then broke his promise to do this. Finally it was sorted out by e bay who refunded my payment. There were photos with the listing with labels on an outer wrapper showing the goods as English Braids 12mm nylon and a picture of a coil which looked like a coil of braided rope but was actually a coil of woven braid flat on the coil, difficult to tell this on the photo. Either this was the outer braided sheath for rope but with the inner not fitted or perhaps the sort of thing that would connect bunting sewn together as a decorative string.

Very impressed with the way that e bay investigated and resolved this.
 
The chances are that the seller had no idea what he was selling - probably wouldn't know a rope if he was hung with one!:D

What ??? My 3 year old granddaughter knows the difference between string and rope . you are an unscrupulous e-Bay trader and I claim my £5 .
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The chances are that the seller had no idea what he was selling - probably wouldn't know a rope if he was hung with one!:D

erm no - the seller actually has involvement in a chandlery business, so really is a brazen scam.
 
Money for Old Rope

Some years ago I bought some secondhand commercial liferaft painters from a rope loft in Port Dinorwig. They had to be replaced, apparently, when the liferaft was serviced, so you got the grotty bit from outside the canister and 20 - 30m of virgin stuff from inside.

It was a hollow braided nylon - lovely soft springy stuff for use as mooring warps and especially good for the locks in the Crinan Canal.

Could you possibly have something similar? Clearly there's a size issue as well, but hollow braided rope does seem to be out there and is, in my experience, perfectly usable.
 
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It sounds like the stuff I got years ago as an anchor line (for my sailing dinghy!); I was told it was parachute cord. It's quite strong, and springy, and takes knots well; but I doubt it would stand up to the sort of wear it might get if used as the anchor line, or mooring line, for a yacht.
 
being generous, I doubt it was a scam, people selling stuff often get it sent direct from the manufacturers, English Braid is a reputable company, so I would bet it was a labelling error, and maybe the seller thought your complaint was a scam to get goods and money back.

I once sold a hockey bag on ebay, the customer complained bitterly that it was broken and I was furious thinking he was scamming me, then a while later the bloke who wrapped and posted it for me, described the trouble he had had folding it in half to pack it!
 
the line in question if it is the line I'm thinking of was/is made by English Braids and supplied as a 'Single Braid', generally straight to secondary manufacturer's . Its main use is in the manufacture of large netting etc but is also used for many other reasons. It is said to be a useful line as it is very quick and easy to splice with a specific type of 'tuck through' splice who's name escapes me at the moment. Its other advantage is that it stows flat on a reel and so a considerable length can be loaded onto a given drum size so maybe handy for a messenger line or some such use.
 
the line in question if it is the line I'm thinking of was/is made by English Braids and supplied as a 'Single Braid', generally straight to secondary manufacturer's . Its main use is in the manufacture of large netting etc but is also used for many other reasons. It is said to be a useful line as it is very quick and easy to splice with a specific type of 'tuck through' splice who's name escapes me at the moment. Its other advantage is that it stows flat on a reel and so a considerable length can be loaded onto a given drum size so maybe handy for a messenger line or some such use.

That's interesting I thought that this stuff may have some manufacturing purpose-my objection was that I thought I was buying 12mm (diameter) rope and the tube although 12mm when flat was only about 3mm thick-still think a scam as no refund even when the goods had been returned and tried to insist I had to have it!
Thanks for thoughts on this I hope nobody else gets bitten.
 
It sounds like the stuff I got years ago as an anchor line (for my sailing dinghy!); I was told it was parachute cord....
Sadly there are at least two words badly misused by those selling rope who have no rope knowledge.

"Nylon":
All too often used simply to describe any rope which appears to be synthetic (as opposed to natural - sisal, manilla etc) The product can turn out to be nylon, polyester, polypropylene, polyethylene, virtually anything.

"Paracord" or "Parachute cord"
Even an expert can't tell you what those are. Their origin is US parachute cord from WW2, the surplus flooding the post war leisure market. Even today the US military has 17 different specifications for different applications. Current Far East and other copies vary from the sublime to the ridiculous. All of it cheap, some of it excellent no doubt, but a simple name doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm asked regularly if I stock paracord and my answer is of rope anorak proportions... (yawn)

Have a look at what any seller's other stock is. If they specialize in rope of different kinds the description may well be fairly accurate. If they sell rope, sunglasses, batteries, ladieswear, garden gnomes.... steer clear, or at leasr ask for a sample before buying.
Barry at Boatropes
 
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