I still patronize ebay, and as a buyer will be thrilled with the "free" shipping on everything. As a buyer I am tired of finding a decent price on something, but the caveat being that the shipping is $15 to ship something the size of a matchbook for example, 2 states away.
ebay is becoming intollerable!!!!
- Thread starter Oilpants
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i just can't sell on there any more like i used to. still buy a little bit on ocassion.
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It took a while for shipping to get under control. You have to imagine that Ebay was probably 50% responsible for the massive expansion of UPS/FedEx and USPS. They were the primary beneficiaries by my view. I had to factor that cost before anything else in bidding. I would just credit the internet, but Ebay created so many vendors from out of nowhere and did it almost overnight. I think Ebay was one of the greatest creations of the internet.
It seems now the small parcel delivery sector is competitive enough to reduce its impact on pricing. There are some oddities.
It seems now the small parcel delivery sector is competitive enough to reduce its impact on pricing. There are some oddities.
Oh I also bought a dishwasher on ebay, I was the only bidder and it was 40 minutes away so I picked it up myself. I've also bought two local sets of tires insanely cheaply because I was bidding against those factoring in shipping.
I asked the guy why he didn't try craigslist or "Uncle Henrys" (local pennysaver) and he had but I missed it.
If they force people to include shipping it will kill the local market and just hand it over to craigslist (which eBay owns/owned a portion of).
I asked the guy why he didn't try craigslist or "Uncle Henrys" (local pennysaver) and he had but I missed it.
If they force people to include shipping it will kill the local market and just hand it over to craigslist (which eBay owns/owned a portion of).
I just sold $500 worth of whels and tires, 8.75% is the fee, plus 3% if I take PayPal.
The reason they forced shipping is because the small accessories vendor are selling their cell phone chargers for $1 with $7 shipping.
Originally Posted By: javacontour
Nope.
I bought a charger for my Treo 600 years ago. They guy send me a charger for a Treo 650. It didn't fit my phone. I asked him to send me the correct charger, no-go. I complained to e-bay and they took his side.
Fortunately, someone in the office had a Treo 650, so she bought it from me.
But no real protection from a seller who can't be bothered to ship the correct item.
You can't judge eBay on one bad transaction that you probably didn't know how to deal with the right way.
I buy and sell on eBay a lot. I have close to 900 positive feedback. The more you use eBay the better your dealings will be. I have my VISA card company to protect me in case of fraud or a breakdown in communication between seller and me, and also have Paypal and eBay's protection. I have not ran into many problems at all, and if I did, if Paypal didn't help, my VISA card company did.
Many power sellers may be too busy to reply to email, but in most cases they will send you exactly what they listed in their listing.
You people say eBay has gone downhill, etc., etc., but personally I don't think it has. If they go up in their charges, you need to charge more to compensate for it. Don't let a few $$ get you down. You'll make up for it in the long run.
Nope.
I bought a charger for my Treo 600 years ago. They guy send me a charger for a Treo 650. It didn't fit my phone. I asked him to send me the correct charger, no-go. I complained to e-bay and they took his side.
Fortunately, someone in the office had a Treo 650, so she bought it from me.
But no real protection from a seller who can't be bothered to ship the correct item.
You can't judge eBay on one bad transaction that you probably didn't know how to deal with the right way.
I buy and sell on eBay a lot. I have close to 900 positive feedback. The more you use eBay the better your dealings will be. I have my VISA card company to protect me in case of fraud or a breakdown in communication between seller and me, and also have Paypal and eBay's protection. I have not ran into many problems at all, and if I did, if Paypal didn't help, my VISA card company did.
Many power sellers may be too busy to reply to email, but in most cases they will send you exactly what they listed in their listing.
You people say eBay has gone downhill, etc., etc., but personally I don't think it has. If they go up in their charges, you need to charge more to compensate for it. Don't let a few $$ get you down. You'll make up for it in the long run.
Originally Posted By: StevieC
They can bite me!
It's not a deal anymore anyways... Everyone wants top dollar for a lot of the junk on there.
Not if you shop around. I haven't seen better deals than eBay deals and I've looked around a LOT online. You're letting one bad experience ruin all the good.
It doesn't matter if someone charges $1 or $100 for shipping, you add the total cost and if it's too high, you look around some more. With my browser, after I enter my zip code, I am shown the shipping charges for all listings, so I don't have to wonder, email sellers, or anyone else.
Some people just don't seem to like eBay but I guess that's what makes the world go around.
They can bite me!
It's not a deal anymore anyways... Everyone wants top dollar for a lot of the junk on there.
Not if you shop around. I haven't seen better deals than eBay deals and I've looked around a LOT online. You're letting one bad experience ruin all the good.
It doesn't matter if someone charges $1 or $100 for shipping, you add the total cost and if it's too high, you look around some more. With my browser, after I enter my zip code, I am shown the shipping charges for all listings, so I don't have to wonder, email sellers, or anyone else.
Some people just don't seem to like eBay but I guess that's what makes the world go around.
Originally Posted By: Lurch
Originally Posted By: javacontour
Nope.
I bought a charger for my Treo 600 years ago. They guy send me a charger for a Treo 650. It didn't fit my phone. I asked him to send me the correct charger, no-go. I complained to e-bay and they took his side.
Fortunately, someone in the office had a Treo 650, so she bought it from me.
But no real protection from a seller who can't be bothered to ship the correct item.
You can't judge eBay on one bad transaction that you probably didn't know how to deal with the right way.
I buy and sell on eBay a lot. I have close to 900 positive feedback. The more you use eBay the better your dealings will be. I have my VISA card company to protect me in case of fraud or a breakdown in communication between seller and me, and also have Paypal and eBay's protection. I have not ran into many problems at all, and if I did, if Paypal didn't help, my VISA card company did.
Many power sellers may be too busy to reply to email, but in most cases they will send you exactly what they listed in their listing.
You people say eBay has gone downhill, etc., etc., but personally I don't think it has. If they go up in their charges, you need to charge more to compensate for it. Don't let a few $$ get you down. You'll make up for it in the long run.
It's not the bad transaction, it's the fact that I provided proof that the chargers are different and E-Bay said, we don't care, your stuck with it.
The problem was the seller advertised a Treo 600 charger, the ad clearly showed that. The seller sent a Treo 650 charger. I provided proof that they advertised the 600 charger, sent the 650 charger and that the 650 charger would not fit.
Yet e-bay said the seller didn't make a mistake.
Sorry, so how is that not e-bay and the sellers fault?
If I try to pass off the wrong part fixing someone's computer, my boss would hear about it.
In this case, the customer was "wrong" in they eyes of Ebay and the seller.
How could I not deal with it the right way?
I e-mailed the seller with a link to the listing showing I was the winning bidder on this Treo 600 charger, and showing they sent me a Treo 650 charger that doesn't work. I asked them to send me the correct charger and a pre-paid shipping label if they wanted the incorrect charger back.
They said they were not going to do that.
So I took their e-mail, and my proof and sent it to E-bay.
How is that not knowing how to deal with the seller? I gave them first opportunity to fix the issue.
Of course, since I used paypal and Ebay already said I had to eat the charger, there was no recourse there either.
So what did I do wrong? I went with someone who had a 99%+ rating for thousands of transactions?
The system didn't work in this case.
Originally Posted By: javacontour
Nope.
I bought a charger for my Treo 600 years ago. They guy send me a charger for a Treo 650. It didn't fit my phone. I asked him to send me the correct charger, no-go. I complained to e-bay and they took his side.
Fortunately, someone in the office had a Treo 650, so she bought it from me.
But no real protection from a seller who can't be bothered to ship the correct item.
You can't judge eBay on one bad transaction that you probably didn't know how to deal with the right way.
I buy and sell on eBay a lot. I have close to 900 positive feedback. The more you use eBay the better your dealings will be. I have my VISA card company to protect me in case of fraud or a breakdown in communication between seller and me, and also have Paypal and eBay's protection. I have not ran into many problems at all, and if I did, if Paypal didn't help, my VISA card company did.
Many power sellers may be too busy to reply to email, but in most cases they will send you exactly what they listed in their listing.
You people say eBay has gone downhill, etc., etc., but personally I don't think it has. If they go up in their charges, you need to charge more to compensate for it. Don't let a few $$ get you down. You'll make up for it in the long run.
It's not the bad transaction, it's the fact that I provided proof that the chargers are different and E-Bay said, we don't care, your stuck with it.
The problem was the seller advertised a Treo 600 charger, the ad clearly showed that. The seller sent a Treo 650 charger. I provided proof that they advertised the 600 charger, sent the 650 charger and that the 650 charger would not fit.
Yet e-bay said the seller didn't make a mistake.
Sorry, so how is that not e-bay and the sellers fault?
If I try to pass off the wrong part fixing someone's computer, my boss would hear about it.
In this case, the customer was "wrong" in they eyes of Ebay and the seller.
How could I not deal with it the right way?
I e-mailed the seller with a link to the listing showing I was the winning bidder on this Treo 600 charger, and showing they sent me a Treo 650 charger that doesn't work. I asked them to send me the correct charger and a pre-paid shipping label if they wanted the incorrect charger back.
They said they were not going to do that.
So I took their e-mail, and my proof and sent it to E-bay.
How is that not knowing how to deal with the seller? I gave them first opportunity to fix the issue.
Of course, since I used paypal and Ebay already said I had to eat the charger, there was no recourse there either.
So what did I do wrong? I went with someone who had a 99%+ rating for thousands of transactions?
The system didn't work in this case.
The wife HATES using eBay now. Too many non-payers. She says she can't leave feedback on their feedback like it used to be.
It USED to be a great community.
Craigslist it is....
It USED to be a great community.
Craigslist it is....
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
The wife HATES using eBay now. Too many non-payers. She says she can't leave feedback on their feedback like it used to be.
It USED to be a great community.
Craigslist it is....
I don't like either C-List or Ebay.
I have sold around 10,000 dollars worth of stuff on Craig's List over the past several years. It is great for a big ticket item, but be prepared for a very high ratio of "tire kickers" and no-shows.
Craig's List is full of people who are just in it to bargain with no intention of ever following through. I currently have a 1200 dollar treadmill used once on there for 450 bucks and have people emailing me with offers of 200 bucks. No thanks.
No to mention I have had some pretty scary dudes come over and look at stuff with a buddy and I am alone with them in my garage. Kind of freaky.
The wife HATES using eBay now. Too many non-payers. She says she can't leave feedback on their feedback like it used to be.
It USED to be a great community.
Craigslist it is....
I don't like either C-List or Ebay.
I have sold around 10,000 dollars worth of stuff on Craig's List over the past several years. It is great for a big ticket item, but be prepared for a very high ratio of "tire kickers" and no-shows.
Craig's List is full of people who are just in it to bargain with no intention of ever following through. I currently have a 1200 dollar treadmill used once on there for 450 bucks and have people emailing me with offers of 200 bucks. No thanks.
No to mention I have had some pretty scary dudes come over and look at stuff with a buddy and I am alone with them in my garage. Kind of freaky.
I'm really starting to dislike e-bay as well. It gets worse every 6 months. I really hate the e-bay/Paypal monopoly. Pretty soon, they will probably force you to use 1 shipping vendor as well. Buyers have no protection -- can't even leave negative feedback if you wanted to. The Feedback has always been a joke though. Unfortunately, they are certain things you can only find on there. For selling, I'm pretty much done.
Pretty soon, they will probably force you to use 1 shipping vendor as well.
I doubt it.
Buyers have no protection -- can't even leave negative feedback if you wanted to.
Actually the buyer has lots of protection. I buy 100s of things on eBay every year, and will continue to, and I know just what to do in the event of a problem, and have always been protected.
Actually eBay changed their rules a while back and these days the buyer is the ONLY one allowed to leave a negative feedback. The seller only can leave positive FB or none at all. The seller CANNOT leave neg FB. This is a good idea too, because it put a stop to sellers giving unwarranted retaliatory negative FB to buyers that left well deserved neg FB. When a poor seller got a neg FB, many of them wanted to do payback to get revenge, which was unfair to the buyer. Now the buyer is protected from that.
I doubt it.
Buyers have no protection -- can't even leave negative feedback if you wanted to.
Actually the buyer has lots of protection. I buy 100s of things on eBay every year, and will continue to, and I know just what to do in the event of a problem, and have always been protected.
Actually eBay changed their rules a while back and these days the buyer is the ONLY one allowed to leave a negative feedback. The seller only can leave positive FB or none at all. The seller CANNOT leave neg FB. This is a good idea too, because it put a stop to sellers giving unwarranted retaliatory negative FB to buyers that left well deserved neg FB. When a poor seller got a neg FB, many of them wanted to do payback to get revenge, which was unfair to the buyer. Now the buyer is protected from that.
Originally Posted By: javacontour
So what did I do wrong? I went with someone who had a 99%+ rating for thousands of transactions?
The system didn't work in this case.
Well, if it had been me, as soon as I recognized the problem,
filed a SNAD [significantly not as described] with eBay.
Then, if that didn't work (but it usually has for me) I would have contested the charges to my credit card company and most likely would have gotten out of the deal. I would have had to ship the item back to seller and had to eat the return shipping though, which for me would have been $5 to $15. The more you deal on eBay, the better you learn how to deal with problems.
There are eBay forums you can ask questions like yours at, and I used to use them often but these days I can decide for myself how to deal with a problem.
I'm real nice to sellers, and if they then refuse to remedy the deal, I then resort to my credit card company, possibly after first filing a SNAD [significantly not as described] with eBay.
I've had good experiences with eBay. The more you learn how to deal on eBay, Paypal, etc., the easier you will find it is to deal with them. If you give up after one sour deal that didn't seem to go your way, you'll probably never learn how to deal with them effectively.
I make money from eBay deals. I've pretty much got it down to a science.
So what did I do wrong? I went with someone who had a 99%+ rating for thousands of transactions?
The system didn't work in this case.
Well, if it had been me, as soon as I recognized the problem,
filed a SNAD [significantly not as described] with eBay.
Then, if that didn't work (but it usually has for me) I would have contested the charges to my credit card company and most likely would have gotten out of the deal. I would have had to ship the item back to seller and had to eat the return shipping though, which for me would have been $5 to $15. The more you deal on eBay, the better you learn how to deal with problems.
There are eBay forums you can ask questions like yours at, and I used to use them often but these days I can decide for myself how to deal with a problem.
I'm real nice to sellers, and if they then refuse to remedy the deal, I then resort to my credit card company, possibly after first filing a SNAD [significantly not as described] with eBay.
I've had good experiences with eBay. The more you learn how to deal on eBay, Paypal, etc., the easier you will find it is to deal with them. If you give up after one sour deal that didn't seem to go your way, you'll probably never learn how to deal with them effectively.
I make money from eBay deals. I've pretty much got it down to a science.
Ebay can do it because they're Ebay. They destroyed every competitor and made them leave the auction arena with their tails between their legs: Amazon, yahoo, overstock.com, etc.
They're a great way to sell items. Craigslist is not as good because I don't like strangers coming to my house plus there are so many flakes on CL.
However, I have this long-held suspicion that 75% of new items of certain types on Ebay are stolen. Things that you may find at a retail store like toys, clothes, expensive medications, and so forth. Anything valuable and easily tossed into an aluminum-lined bag.
They're a great way to sell items. Craigslist is not as good because I don't like strangers coming to my house plus there are so many flakes on CL.
However, I have this long-held suspicion that 75% of new items of certain types on Ebay are stolen. Things that you may find at a retail store like toys, clothes, expensive medications, and so forth. Anything valuable and easily tossed into an aluminum-lined bag.
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I've been buying and selling on ebay for about 9 yrs. feedback over 1400 IIRC. had a few small issues over the years, no different than if I had a local store. I've found a lot of rare odd items there, and also sold some collectable bicycle stuff all over the world. for the last few years my wife has been doing a brisk business selling items she makes, and we have a lot of repeat business.
there will always be fees and 'the cost of doing business'. if you don't like the rules, you don't have to play.
I will say though, ebay for me is best with things I can pack in a box. I haven't done too well with selling vehicles (that could be as much to do w/ the vehicle, not w/ ebay).
there will always be fees and 'the cost of doing business'. if you don't like the rules, you don't have to play.
I will say though, ebay for me is best with things I can pack in a box. I haven't done too well with selling vehicles (that could be as much to do w/ the vehicle, not w/ ebay).
Originally Posted By: Lurch
Actually the buyer has lots of protection. I buy 100s of things on eBay every year, and will continue to, and I know just what to do in the event of a problem, and have always been protected.
I've purchased about 150 items off of ebay in the last 10 years. This was a few years ago when you could send a check or MO with the sellers permission.
I had one seller who I thought (mistakenly) was trying to screw me over by substituting a different item. I emailed the seller, left a message on her answering machine and I then contacted ebay about it, did all the necessary work to make it right, and waited and waited and waited.
About 3 weeks later the seller phoned me and apologized about everything and wanted to make everything right. I asked her what ebay had done to change her mind. She told me that ebay had not contacted her or done anything. She was on a 3 week vacation and had just got back. My item was the last thing she had sold, she dropped it off in the mail and took off on her vacation. When she got back, she realized her error and made it right.
Ebay had done nothing about my complaint. That left an impression on me I'll never forget.
Actually the buyer has lots of protection. I buy 100s of things on eBay every year, and will continue to, and I know just what to do in the event of a problem, and have always been protected.
I've purchased about 150 items off of ebay in the last 10 years. This was a few years ago when you could send a check or MO with the sellers permission.
I had one seller who I thought (mistakenly) was trying to screw me over by substituting a different item. I emailed the seller, left a message on her answering machine and I then contacted ebay about it, did all the necessary work to make it right, and waited and waited and waited.
About 3 weeks later the seller phoned me and apologized about everything and wanted to make everything right. I asked her what ebay had done to change her mind. She told me that ebay had not contacted her or done anything. She was on a 3 week vacation and had just got back. My item was the last thing she had sold, she dropped it off in the mail and took off on her vacation. When she got back, she realized her error and made it right.
Ebay had done nothing about my complaint. That left an impression on me I'll never forget.
Originally Posted By: Lurch
The seller CANNOT leave neg FB. This is a good idea too, because it put a stop to sellers giving unwarranted retaliatory negative FB to buyers that left well deserved neg FB. When a poor seller got a neg FB, many of them wanted to do payback to get revenge, which was unfair to the buyer. Now the buyer is protected from that.
Perhaps. My wife recently sold a handful of items, 3 of which were buyers that simply refused to respond. How is it fair that the seller can't leave positive feedback for AWOL buyers?
The seller CANNOT leave neg FB. This is a good idea too, because it put a stop to sellers giving unwarranted retaliatory negative FB to buyers that left well deserved neg FB. When a poor seller got a neg FB, many of them wanted to do payback to get revenge, which was unfair to the buyer. Now the buyer is protected from that.
Perhaps. My wife recently sold a handful of items, 3 of which were buyers that simply refused to respond. How is it fair that the seller can't leave positive feedback for AWOL buyers?
Originally Posted By: Kruse
I've purchased about 150 items off of ebay in the last 10 years. This was a few years ago when you could send a check or MO with the sellers permission.
I had one seller who I thought (mistakenly) was trying to screw me over by substituting a different item. I emailed the seller, left a message on her answering machine and I then contacted ebay about it, did all the necessary work to make it right, and waited and waited and waited.
About 3 weeks later the seller phoned me and apologized about everything and wanted to make everything right. I asked her what ebay had done to change her mind. She told me that ebay had not contacted her or done anything. She was on a 3 week vacation and had just got back. My item was the last thing she had sold, she dropped it off in the mail and took off on her vacation. When she got back, she realized her error and made it right.
Ebay had done nothing about my complaint. That left an impression on me I'll never forget.
eBay may have tried to contact her and had the email returned or unanswered, so I'd say it's kind of hard to say for sure based on this.
I've purchased about 150 items off of ebay in the last 10 years. This was a few years ago when you could send a check or MO with the sellers permission.
I had one seller who I thought (mistakenly) was trying to screw me over by substituting a different item. I emailed the seller, left a message on her answering machine and I then contacted ebay about it, did all the necessary work to make it right, and waited and waited and waited.
About 3 weeks later the seller phoned me and apologized about everything and wanted to make everything right. I asked her what ebay had done to change her mind. She told me that ebay had not contacted her or done anything. She was on a 3 week vacation and had just got back. My item was the last thing she had sold, she dropped it off in the mail and took off on her vacation. When she got back, she realized her error and made it right.
Ebay had done nothing about my complaint. That left an impression on me I'll never forget.
eBay may have tried to contact her and had the email returned or unanswered, so I'd say it's kind of hard to say for sure based on this.
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
Perhaps. My wife recently sold a handful of items, 3 of which were buyers that simply refused to respond. How is it fair that the seller can't leave positive feedback for AWOL buyers?
You can report AWOL buyers to eBay and they can get strikes on their account and if it continues they can be banned, if I'm not mistaken.
Do these things in "My eBay" at the top of the screen. Start from there.
Perhaps. My wife recently sold a handful of items, 3 of which were buyers that simply refused to respond. How is it fair that the seller can't leave positive feedback for AWOL buyers?
You can report AWOL buyers to eBay and they can get strikes on their account and if it continues they can be banned, if I'm not mistaken.
Do these things in "My eBay" at the top of the screen. Start from there.
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