EBAY Rant

[bongobobny]

Sometimes I wonder if sellers on Fleabay play with a full deck!!! Some of the first class CRAP that dealers try to pawn off just amazes me! Also, some dealers want to become millionaires overnight when they have a decent item but want waaaaaay too much for their merchandise! The frightening part is there are people out there WILLING to pay for both kinds of stuff!!

 

Not saying that there are still deals out there, I still find a few, but it seems like things are getting out of hand! I can remember times when you would click on the ebay link and find 400 items if you were lucky, but now there are a minimum of over 10000!! What's up with that?!!?

[Flyinfool]

As long as buyers are willing to the money, WHY should a seller even consider taking less?

[RandyR]

yep

 

and if you go to google and search for 'widget' 2/3 of the search results will be wierd sounding links where the 3 line google summary reads as if the link has something to say about widgets, but when you get there its just a redirection page to ebay.

[Bummer]

There's an episode of The Big Bang Theory where an iPod gets thrown out a window. One of the guys shows up on scene with the iPod he found several stories below on the sidewalk, pretty much trashed. He tells the others he's going to sell it on EBAY as "slightly used". Funny scene. A bit too real, but funny anyway.

[rickardracing]

It's all part of e-commerce. Alot of poeple just have things shipped from the warehouse. Not a bad gig if you want to put the effort into it. I have bought alot of stuff off of ebay for good prices. You have to know what the item is worth before you bid or hit the buy it now button. Also, buyer beware. I have only had one bad experiance, I actually had the persons account shut down, my money was refunded and they were banned from selling. Just be carefull. I fully believe in supporting local businesses, yes even dealers, until it gets ridiculous on the price, then I look at ebay.

[PBJ]

I've been selling parts off my 85 to pay for the 86 i'm buying. I went on e bay and got a list of parts and prices. Then I just made all my prices equal to the lower one or below average. I can honestly say parts have been moving relatively steadily. But I agree Bob people think they will make a million bucks off of you.

[revinger]

I had one of those bad experiences as well. Even though paypal and eBay made it mostly right it tainted me.so much that i basically don't even consider looking there anymore. Bought item from someone claiming they were in Everett, Washington and.of course the item was supposedly tested and worked. Got it, installed it and painfully obvious it was never properly tested.before he.put it.up for sale.

 

That was when the fun began. Turned out the sellers official.address. for eBay wAs in victoria, so i had to ship a 50 pound box through customs to an unwilling recipient. Cost me almost 10% of what I paid to get it back north of the border.

 

So you can add.me.to the cold.day in hades before i use ebay with any frequency again.

[mraf]

As the price of fuel goes up I find myself going to flea-bay more and more for things I used to drive and get. Things are becoming so depressed around here that a tractor part sometimes incorporates a drive of 60 mi round trip. Flea-bay has so many places willing to send whatever you buy "Free Shipping" that to not use it becomes a no-brainier if I don't mind waiting till it arrives. But that being said I have to agree with you that it seems there is almost too much on there now. I've bought over 100 things off of there and only had one bad experience with the guy not sending it but flea-bay settled it quickly. Deals are far and few between but using their search features religiously whittles down the flim flam.

[Guest]

Bottom line with Ebay: know what your looking for, know what its worth, know your shipping costs and know when to walk away when it exceeds the limits.

[djh3]

know what your looking for, know what its worth, know your shipping costs and know when to walk away when it exceeds the limits.

 

Yep for me thats the key. I have been had a couple times. Mostly my own fault as I didnt read the discription realy close. I thought I was buying one kind of light that look exactly like the ones alot of folks are putting on the backs of thier RSV. I got mine for a tick over 1/2 price of what guys have told me they bought thiers for. When I got it I now know why. Mine only had 3 LED's in it instead of the like 11 or whatever. When I went back to read teh ad sure enough it was there I just didnt look close enough. For the most part I've had good luck. Although when something I want says "China" I get nervious. Yea I know a bunch of stuff now days comes from there but I had ordered something from there a couple years back and it was during thier "new year" and it took like 6 weeks to get. They must just shut down the whole country.

[Patrolman46]

Yep for me thats the key. I have been had a couple times. Mostly my own fault as I didnt read the discription realy close. I thought I was buying one kind of light that look exactly like the ones alot of folks are putting on the backs of thier RSV. I got mine for a tick over 1/2 price of what guys have told me they bought thiers for. When I got it I now know why. Mine only had 3 LED's in it instead of the like 11 or whatever. When I went back to read teh ad sure enough it was there I just didnt look close enough. For the most part I've had good luck. Although when something I want says "China" I get nervious. Yea I know a bunch of stuff now days comes from there but I had ordered something from there a couple years back and it was during thier "new year" and it took like 6 weeks to get. They must just shut down the whole country.

 

I think one of the most important signs on eBay is the sellers info in the upper right hand corner. It tells you how many items this seller has sold & the customer rating on the transactions. If I see a seller has less than 95% positive seller feedback I am very cautious. I have bought over $200,000 worth of items on eBay. Most of them have been small $ purchases, but have bought 4 semis, 3 farm tractors & 6 vehicles on eBay with only one vehicle that wasn't as good as I hoped. As my Gandfather taught me when I was going to farm auctions with him. "Buyer Beware" is the rule of thumb, and not everyone is as honest as we are. Nearly all sellers have a place where you can ask questions, so be cautious & ask if you have any doubts.

[twigg]

I share some of the OP's frustration with eBay, but overall I think the site has brought so many advantages that the odd issue is bearable.

 

In over 600 trades I have had one very bad experience, and maybe a couple of unsatisfactory purchases. In the meantime, I have saved thousands of dollars by buying carefully.

 

Some traders are exceptionally proud of their items, which makes me smile because they just wasted a listing fee. It gets annoying when it is that one part you need though, and you are willing to pay a fair price. Sometimes a message to the Seller will work wonders.

 

When I restored my 1958 Matchless G11CS back in the 90's, the only option for spares were small ads in magazines, owners clubs and autojumbles (swap meets). I would spend many hours at the latter trying to find that rare part.

 

Since I arrived here in the US I have rebuilt two bikes. My 1977 Yamaha XS750 Triple and my 1986 Venture Royale.

 

Despite the frustrations with shipping costs and delivery times, ebay has made the job fairly painless.