E-Bay

[minibb]

As a tentative new user of E-Bay, does anyone have any particular hints or warnings, horror stories or wonders?!

[Miss Zippy]

I've only used e-bay three times (as a buyer) and can say I was a satisfied customer, though, as with anything, it all depends on the individuals you are dealing with. The goods I bought were all received quickly (within a 3 or 4 working days of winning the bid) and were as described etc etc. Make sure you check out the seller's (or buyer's) previous history for obvious reasons. The only 'problem' as such, is if you have poor willpower, as I do, and you get carried away and end up bidding way over the odds for goods. Happy shopping!

[minibb]

re. willpower - have bought several things today I didn't realise I needed!

[dave_in_cw]

I agree with Miss Zippy. I have used Ebay 11 times, to buy cd's. I was happy each time. Definitely consult the feedback of other users before placing your bid.

[sft42]

As a user of ebay for a few years now it can provide you with both great bargains and some disappointments......the golden rules are to check the sellers feedback and don't risk big spends on new sellers.....also watch out for being "sniped"..this is being outbid at the very last minute (literally) of the auction...some users will wait till very late on before a flurry of bids fearing that early bidding will drive the price up a lot higher though sometimes the opposite can be true and if you place a very early bid you can be lucky and be the only bidder....on a personal note I would only purchase an item which had a photo included of theactual item I was going to purchase......if your still unsure you can always ask the seller any question you like about the item and ask if the will accept a return if it isn't the qualtiy you are expecting though you will more than likely have to pay for all postage costs.....If your going to be selling be wary of buyers with new accounts...some just bid for fun not to buy so if selling expensive goods you may wish to, as lots of sellers do, ban new users or accounts with less than a score of 5 or 10 feedback points from bidding.

[brawburd]

I've only recently started using e-bay, for both buying and selling. It's certainly much easier than I thought. And the moment I got my first bid for something I was selling - exciting! I uphold everything sft42 says above, these are built-in safeguards as far as they can be so use them. The good thing about e-bay is that you can get some unusual stuff too, things you might not find elsewhere, excellent for easy christmas shopping?!

[brawburd]

ps. do NOT log-on to e-bay if you have had a glass of wine and are feeling bored!!

[brawburd]

Roastyuk, I was reading through the e-bay message boards recently, and this can certainly be a problem. I think the first thing to do is name n shame people by giving a review, puts other people off. Then e-bay identify various services, mediation etc, to try and resolve it. Also, if you have paid by credit card, that offers some protection. Having never tried any of these avenues I don't know how good they are of course!

[nuova1]

Well its probably fine as long as you dont bid on live animals....I once won a lovely baby elephant and as I had to pay the postage from Winsconsin I became bankrupt and Nellie and me are homeless.....homeless, but happy and in love with each other....she does tend to eat rather a lot though.....

[melandraf]

Hubby has used E-Bay lots and is really pleased with the service.

[lowrie333]

The only thing i would say is watch out for people that do not advise of postage costs up front. Some say that they are waiting to go to the post office and i have found these sellers to be fine. But i recently won an item of clothing that should only have cost a couple of pounds at most in postage and have just been informed that they want �4. This generally happens on auctions that end in a low amount and the seller wants to recoup some of what they feel they should have had. Other than that i have had some excellent items.

[nykkieberry]

Beware of post office box numbers; feedback that has been hijacked from another account i.e. people who have excellent feedback for small items then suddenly start selling PCs, plasma tellies, etc.; ridiculous sums for postage, etc.; be wary fo goods that are easily counterfeited such as DVDs, CDs, etc. Don't spend too much on there and don't rely on Ebay to sort out problems. I have over 100 transactions and have been stung only once - buy the buyer zippymilk who is currently on bail for conning people out of over �30000 in DVDs. I am just glad that that 1% fall out was only worth �6.50 and not �100 - just remember you are relying on people's honesty and they may not be as trustworthy as you But have fun!

[gerry]

I've been using ebay now for over 2 years and i have been lucky with the sellers i have used.I always check their feedback before i bid on their item and if postage is not mentioned i email them before i place a bid. I remember being told the story about a seller who would be selling stuff he didn't have an example is say he was selling a dvd player but what he was really doing was taking a picture of the dvd player by using a digital camera then putting the picture on his pc and then put it on his ad so when you looked at his ad it looked like he owned the dvd player.

[boognish76]

If buying cds, dvds, etc. don't automatically assume that eBay will be cheaper than online stores. I can't count the number of times I've seen people on eBay paying more for second hand dvds than you can pay for new ones from online retailers - shop around!

[KARL]

Everything said so far is relevant. My advice is to set up a PayPal account to charge to your credit card. Check your card provider's policy regarding internet purchases - some give you a total guarantee regarding these. Only bid on items which can be paid for using your PayPal account - note that when people ask for a premium for this form of payment it is often not much dearer (depending on sum involved) than sending a cheque by registered post - it certainly beats trying to sort out a (potential) problem later. Be wary of feedback validity: I recently bought something from a UK seller ("tedlit") who sent me the wrong model of the item (different from both description and photo). I am still trying to get a response from him more than a week after complaining (he previously denied having the money, even though it was cashed into his account). I discovered that someone else had bought the same item from him a day later. On contacting him I heard from him he too got the wrong model sent to him - BUT, he still posted positive feedback ! This contradiction is less likely with US buyers - but watch out that US sellers are terribly timid about dealing with overseas buyers. Also, when buying from overseas you can incur VAT and import duty. Put simply, don't get carried away and be quite wary.

[stuartm]

ALWAYS read the feedback of whoever you're dealing with. Most people are genuine users but there are a few who will either rip you off, take ages to deliver something or advertise fraudulently. Make sure you read descriptions carefully as well. E.G. There's one chap on there who is claiming to sell books when he's actually sending out crude CD copies instead.