Ebay

[sammyrobo]

i never use ebay becasue I feel as if i will get ripped off so i was just wondering how many people have payed for something on ebay and not recieved it

[Mattk]

only ever buy from people with near perfect feedback scores.these people should be trustworthy.

[WoWo]

I have bough a few things of eBay and they have all been OK but I have sold 5 things and on three occassions the person didn't pay up or played silly *******.

[andy15star]

I have bought & sold 87 items, never once have i been ripped off or anything like that. I'd say it was safe if you use your common sense, you can usually spot a scam. I never buy/sell to overseas, only work with people who have about 95% or more feedback. you just get the "feel" of what is right and what is not right on there after a while !. Andy

[Lonnie]

I've boughta few things on ebay, and every transaction has been good, once, I bought a teapot for my wife, and when it arived, the handle was broken, but the seller, even though it was probably done in the post, refunded the money, as andy15star says, check the feedback, you can tell a lot from that.

[Ethel]

I have been buying and selling on eBay for years and have not been ripped off at all.

I have had three non-payers, which is an inconvenience, nothing more and two sellers refusing to sell.

But I would not buy dvds - these are likely to be copies (not always) - and always use common sense.

Lonnie has raised an interesting point - it is the seller's responsibility to ensure safe delivery and damaged/lost goods should always be replaced or refunded in full.

[sconejaws]

husband and i both buy he has never been ripped off ive been ripped of 4 times unlucky but agree watch the feedback and scores good indicators but it is full of good bargains

[sconejaws]

sorry should have added like lonnie also ordered cd's they didnt arrive seller refunded no problem ordered a mobile it wouldnt work seller asked me to return it did so it never came back

[stevie21]

Never had a problem. Deal only with people who have near perfect feedback and if you're buying anything that dodgy geezers who want to steal your money target with fake auctions (e.g. laptops, digital camera, expensive phone) then scrutinise their feedback to make sure that a small group of people aren't leaving tons of feedback for each other to try to bump up their "trustworthiness".
Either don't buy this type of item from ebay at all or seek extra protection (be neurotic about checking their feedback + previous auctions and try to pay via your credit card if over �100).

[markja]

also check they haven't sold loads of low value goods before to bump up their feedback score, then are selling a high value item that never turns up. bye bye money.

[Toureman]

I have never had problems, even buying from Shanghai!

Check feedback of sellers.

[Oneeyedvic]

I've bought and sold loads on ebay from a car at �12000 through to DVDs at a couple of quid.

Never had a serious problem (the very occasional 'I've already sold it' form a seller or no payment from a buyer).

I would just say that I use it less and less as it seems to be quite expensive now.

[mac44]

I have bought 130 items on ebay and all but 1 has been delivered. That 1 item was really my fault, the sellers feedback wasn't good but because the item was only a couple of quid I took a chance, and lost out.

So as everyone else has said check feedback, good feedback is earned.

[Kenzie]

We were only talking about this at work last night. One of my colleagues has been conned twice - once he bought a car and despite the seller saying it was in excellent condition it actually was a white elephant. Also, he bought a computer and when he received it there was a lot of porn on it. I didn't get the chance to question him on the reporting procedure, but is it possible for someone to engage in a one-off transaction and then vanish without trace?

[WoWo]

". Also, he bought a computer and when he received it there was a lot of porn on it. "

Why was he complaining about that :)

I think a rule of thumb is don't pay more than you can afford to use. If it's an expensive item then see if the buyer will accept cash and if you can go and pick it up.

[sammyrobo]

this has been really interesting actually - i expected a lot more people to have been ripped off but overall it seems quite good - i think i'll have to ebay out and see what happens - thanks for everyones advice

[flipflop104]

I'm both a seller and a buyer. I've recently sold something and it has not arrived with the buyer. I DID send it but can't find the tracking receipt now so I have offered the buyer their money back.

As has already been said, read people's feedback and you will be able to tell form that if they are trustworthy or not.

[Kenzie]

Wowo, some people are just never satisfied are they?!

But, on a serious note - he has young children and was justifiably worried about this. And now that the computer has gone wrong, he is terrified of taking it to PC World for a health check and being wrongfully arrested.

[rugeleyboy]

i use ebay for my business, i advertise my products with a link to my web site, i have never had any items not sent to me when i have bought, also, i have never had anybody say they had not recieved a package when sent.

if i am not mistaken, nobody has mentioned paypal, which i am a firm believer in.

the down side, last year my username was used and alot of emails were sent to other ebayers regarding second chance offers on hot tubs??

i got kicked off for a couple of hours(maybe a day) until it was all sorted, how wierd was that?

[blackneck]

Hi, Yes, my daughter bought a t.shirt from e.bay that never arrived at our property but the cheque got cashed - glad to say though it wasnt for much money. She was sent an e.mail from e.bay saying that he person supposed to be selling had been struck off. thieving git.

[picklepants]

Got carried away the 1st time I used e-bay and lost �150 (!!!) for Brit Award tickets I never received. I learnt the hard way - never bid more than u r willing to lose. Since then I've only ever bid for things like DVDs, clothes, etc and have all been fine. Final tip - check the feedback that the seller has received - u can usually guage from that if they are trustworthy. Good luck!