EML 400 Modular on the *bay - Are dealer markups worth it?

You don't see these come up to often. Minimi123, aka synthland123, has this EML 400 and a ton of other gear up for sale again on the *bay. Some complain that dealer prices on vintage gear are marked up. Are they worth it? I say a big fat YES. Well, of course it depends on the markup, but I personally think it's worth it knowing that you will get a quality piece of gear.

My story: I once picked up a Prophet 5 in "the best condition ever!" from the *bay. Turned out it looked nice but had some serious problems with it. I wasted a couple of months sending it to a tech recommended by the seller (who said he'd pay for it). The seller dragged me along just enough to get past the feedback limit of three months (I was unknowing and naive having never dealt with a bad experience on the *bay and him being local to me). Well, he disappeared and I got my synth back from the tech unrepaired. I ended up sending it to Wine Country Sequential. After a few hundred dollars of repairs there was still work to be done and it was in such bad shape that they did not know how much more work was needed. We needed to try things one step at a time, each one paid up front. I ended up deciding to recouperate some of my losses by trading it in for one of thier Perfect Prophets before I sunk too much into the bad one, and I have never been happier. So, unless I can fully test a used piece of gear before I buy, I won't bother. But... I do trust dealers and if I can't test it out, I'll gladly pay the mark up to be sure I get what I pay for. In my experience it is more than worth it. Why do I trust vintage dealers? Because they have too much on the line to screw you over.