In Praise Of Ebay !

[mikey4444]

On Saturday morning, a small plastic clip that stops the trays from falling out of the runners on my dishwasher broke.

I went straight onto ebay, found a pair of replacements in about 30 seconds, ordered them for £2.97, including P+P, and they arrived yesterday !

I think this is about as good a service I could have expected. I am not sure how I could manage without ebay these days, I really don't !

[ummmm]

I don't use Ebay but use Amazon quite a lot. It amazes me how they deliver so fast.

[Old_Geezer]

More down to the personal eBay trader than eBay itself, surely ?

But good service from that one nevertheless.

I'm more wary of the site these days having been bitten a few times. Still look at it occasionally though.

[mikey4444]

Try ebay Ummm... there is much wider range of stuff on offer. I use them for pretty well everything these days, unless its something I know I can get cheaper and quicker locally. I have never been let down by ebay, and when a gold Cross pencil that I had won recently in an auction, didn't arrive ( "lost" in the post ) I had an immediate refund.

But this service I had from the retailer for my dishwasher part responded just about as quickly as they could possibly have done, and it was P+P free as well as well !

[fiction-factory]

Amazon can be excellent too- I once ordered something late at night and received it the next morning via courier.

[mikey4444]

OG...yes, you are right...it was the Retailer that I should be praising, rather than ebay itself.

But ebay makes everything so quick and easy...as I have said above, I am not sure how I would manage without it these days !

[rockyracoon]

I use ebay more since Amazon have imposed a minimum £20 spend for free P&P, though have to say, I've never had bad service from either.

I ordered some lightbulbs from an online retailer last Thurs afternoon and they arrived on Friday morning. I was most impressed with that.

[vulcan42]

Regarding Amazon, I have noticed over the past few weeks that there is a delay in items being sent.Whereas a few months ago confirmation of postage was invariably the following day, now it's usually three or four days before despatch is confirmed. Has anybody else noticed this and is it being done deliberately to make us use prime?

[mikey4444]

Years ago, if I had gone into my local appliance dealer, they probably wouldn't have had this item in stock, so it would have had to be ordered, and hence a wait of a week or two.

We have become used to instant gratification.

The internet has changed the world out of all proportion, without a shadow of a doubt.

[rockyracoon]

You're probably right Vulcan. I'm constantly bombarded with requests to join Prime which I have absolutely no intention of doing.

[mikey4444]

I haven't used Amazon since 2011, but I am still being bombarded as well Rocky !

[rockyracoon]

"The internet has changed the world out of all proportion, without a shadow of a doubt."

It certainly has Mikey, and I'm not sure it's a good thing. I still like going to the shops but find stock is woeful, years ago I'd go armed with a list of things that I needed and got 90% of them, now I don't expect to get much at all.

[mikey4444]

You are right Rocky. I used to enjoy shopping but these days I haven't really got the disposable income I used to have and I like saving money !

[maggiebee]

RR, sorry but I have never heard of the £20 min spend on Amazon for free P&P. I ordered a CD holder on Saturday, free P&P, and it arrived yesterday. Can't get much better.

[rockyracoon]

Tis true Mikey. Don't get me wrong, I love online shopping, it has certainly got me out of a few pickles. I just wish the shops would up there game and try to keep footfall going in by actually having decent stock levels. They just say"go on our website and order there".

[rockyracoon]

Was it from Amazon itself or from a trader?

[maggiebee]

Now RR you have a point there and I honestly can't remember. Will pay more attention in future.

[piggynose]

ebay, erm, well i bought a laptop battery from ebay last week, only to get an email from them complaining that i haven´t used their service in a long time, and instant action was needed!!
lets see how long it takes for the battery to arrive.

[mikey4444]

There has been a huge change in shopping habits, brought on exclusively by the massive influence and growth of the 'net.

Retailers started noticing that people were using places like Currys, for instance, as a place where they could go and have a good look at something, handle it and then they went home and ordered it online from wherever it was cheapest.

So its no wonder that all Retailers have decided to admit defeat and join in the change. We now have an odd situation, where you an order something on-line from, say Tesco, and then drive over and pick it up from the shop the next day yourself ! I am fairly sure that High Shops, as we know them, will have a much smaller role to play in the future. Its already happened in the States, and we are never very find behind our Colonial cousins !

[mikey4444]

Piggynose...I doubt if ebay itself sells anything. The battery will be supplied from a Retailer. All Ebay does is to provide a link in between you and the Retailer, taking care of the money in the mean time. You may have been able to go direct to the Retailer, not through ebay, although I have rarely seen that to be cheaper or more convenient.

I am an ebay fan, as you can see !

[rockyracoon]

Maggie, here is the info for free delivery - £10 minimum spend for books and £20 everything else. Other traders can do what they like regarding free delively and I do try to box clever when ordering from Amazon now.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1204872