Topic: Ebay frustrations... anyone else?

[mikedialect]

So, just out of curiosity....


How many people hate ebay? Or love AND hate ebay at the same time?


I have never had a great experience with ebay. It seems GREAT when something pops up that I need, but I either end up paying WAY too much for something or I get outbid at the last moment. Generally I pay top dollar for a part and then a week later it goes for 80% less. Never fails. I get so excited to find parts for my F2 (it's been a pain from the start), but I can never seem to get a balance with acquiring parts. I got outbid on every single item I needed tonight except for the part I already had.

I just needed to vent. I'm sure I lost out to some people on here, too.

[neil young]

what really sucks is the UPS rates these days.they have found there niche and charges have gone sky high to deliver to Canada recently.other than that i have had good experiences with ebay.

[donny]

  It is great.. if you are a seller.     remember;  You are getting          the TOP dollar.
  It is bad..   if you are a buyer.     remember;  You are paying          the TOP dollar.
  It is good, if you know what is the local market price, or when you are looking for the rare part.
  It is not good, you can't see and fondle the part first.

[masonryman]

love to look, like too sell, hate to have to resort to buying off e-bay, but some time when your looking for something certain it's the only way to do it quickly

[mark]

Hoo-boy.. somebody just HAD to open up this here can o' worms.......

I have had lots of fun with eBay over the years. (signed up 7/99). Early on - it was great. Found goodies I had never seen locally. I was amazed on a daily basis at the prices people would pay for stuff that would never sell at a yard sale. Never imagined that all that junk was valuable. How can you tell when you're doin' allright... Does your bank account swell while you're dreamin' at night...
Mine did.

As time went by - things changed.

Begin general rant on all things eBay................

Market saturation. Things that were unobtanium in 1999 became common by 2003. Prices dropped. All those barns and attics getting cleaned out.

eBay became a corporation. Fees were raised - not to improve the site, but to pay dividends to shareholders. Not making that up - it was an official announcement.

At one time you could dump feedback on anyone for anything. As much as you wanted. eBay would kill an auction for pirated Windows cds and *microsoft_buddy* would get slammed with a pile of negatives. From sellers and bidders. Tying f/b to an actual transaction changed that - probably the last change that I could call an improvement.

'Buy it Now'... not on my auctions. 'Reserve Auction'.. very rare.. 'Second Chance'.. also rarely, if only because I rarely have more than one to sell.

'Watch Item'.. It's an auction site dammit - click this button to NOT bid! WTH There are no bids - what is there to watch? Probably just the corporate type way of prodding sellers into higher start prices for higher listing fees. Killed off the cheap auctions because nobody bids anymore.

"..a stupid low "buy it now" price, say $2 fork seals, but charge $30 flat rate shipping anywhere in the US."...
FEES. Listing fee. Final value fee. The more seller wants/gets the more FeePay wants/gets. If they could figure a way to get a piece of the shipping too - those deals might change. What's really stupid there, is that they could list item for 99 cents instead of $2 and save another 15 cents in fees. If you're going to chisel on fees, why not go all the way?

"..It seems GREAT when something pops up that I need, but I either end up paying WAY too much for something or I get outbid at the last moment. Generally I pay top dollar for a part and then a week later it goes for 80% less..."
I like to snipe. I do it the old-fashioned way, by bidding at the last minute. Not with a program. I also get a thrill buying something for $20 when the one I got outbid on the week before went for $100.
It really sucks when I see something I want to get rid of go for $100 - then I list mine and get $20. It all evens out in the end, I guess.

More feedback..
If I am looking at an item, and the seller has ANY negative f/b.. I'm cautious. More than one? That is a big red flag. If I do place a bid, it will be a token at best. If seller tends to withhold f/b until receiving a +++.. another flag, maybe just a yellow this time. If seller posts negatives to people who (1)paid in good faith and (2)received crap (3)after considerable delay and (4)had the guts to stick him for it - that is probably not someone I would want to deal with.
Some people are just picky - I know. Some don't know what they are bidding on - been there. Others expect shiny new boxes on their 50 year old parts - got my one lonely neutral from one of those. "goods received seller did not indicate items very old ??" Your car was a '59 - get shiny new boxes at NAPA.. if you can.

"what really sucks is the UPS rates these days.they have found there niche and charges have gone sky high to deliver .. Yup. Goes for the P.O. too.
..And we figure what we would like to pay for the whole deal and lower the bid accordingly. Good for OOPS but it stinks when I try to sell something heavy.

Communication...

SPAM FILTERING AND EBAY DO NOT MIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I get increasingly whiny email from some chump that claims he hasn't heard from me - after repeated invoices - my blood boils. The next one of those gets a negative: --- FIX - YOUR - SPAM - FILTER - YOU - %#&*ING - MORON!--- .. or something like that.
Get it?

And that will do for now.

Happy trails.

allmarxtoys (578)

[Jonesy]

I find eBay to sometimes be a necessary evil in order to find some stuff. I have two gripes (I'm primarily a buyer, last time I sold something was 2001 or so...)

eBay used to refer to what went on there as "trading". Back in the day, it felt like it. When you won an auction, you actually had to personally e-mail the seller to arrange payment. They had to personally respond. There was real communication going on. Now, eBay does it all for you- just a couple mouse clicks and it's payed for. True, this does make things easier, but you're very disconnected from the transaction. I personally feel this "disconnectedness" makes it easier to screw someone over (at least if they had any scruples to begin with). I guess what I'm trying to say is that the old way was as close as you could to an internet way of "shaking hands and looking them in the eye" before sealing the deal. You could get a gauge on people's personalities by reading their notes.

I also don't like how nowadays it seems like all sellers wait until you leave good feedback for them before they will leave feedback for you. Back in the day (late '90's) as soon as the seller got your money, they would usually post good feedback and you would do the same once you got the item. But now the seller uses feedback as something they can hold over your head and use in a retaliatory fashion lest you say anything negative, a sort of "If you bring me down, you're coming with me" thing.

[toycollector10]

I love ebay. I can find what I want and it has made motorcycle restoration relatively easy.

I can't imagine what a parts hunt would be like without it. Selling is good for me too as the NZ dollar is very weak. Buying therefore is also expensive. VERY.

The site has its frustrations and negatives but overall I enjoy going there daily for a poke around and usually buy something every month or so.

And although I don't like the way people part out perfectly good bikes, without those people there would be fewer parts for our old bikes therefore the prices would be higher than they are now by a considerable margin. So I don't knock it.

[martini]

I love ebay. I can find what I want and it has made motorcycle restoration relatively easy.

I can't imagine what a parts hunt would be like without it. Selling is good for me too as the NZ dollar is very weak. Buying therefore is also expensive. VERY.

The site has its frustrations and negatives but overall I enjoy going there daily for a poke around and usually buy something every month or so.

And although I don't like the way people part out perfectly good bikes, without those people there would be fewer parts for our old bikes therefore the prices would be higher than they are now by a considerable margin. So I don't knock it.

I'm with TC on this one - can't imagine restoring my bike with out it.

What does suck is the fact they just "blocked" it at work - damn!

[dusterdude]

my #$%* exactly,when i pay,ive held up my end of the bargain,leave my feedback then.

[Uncle Ernie]

I've been selling things on eBay regularly lately. Cleaning out the garage and I really need money.  I try to keep costs down, but eBay pulled an auction when I said that I don't like to use paypal because they charge me a lot.  So, I try to figure what an item might go for and raise the shippiong charge accordingly.  That's what eBay TOLD ME TO DO.  eBay has definitely brought some prices/values down, but it seems to have have raised other things.  I don't think I could do it on a regular basis.
Plus- I hate driving around looking for the perfect box.

   next ~

[Gordon]

My biggest problem with feedback on ebay is how lots of buyers (and sellers, too) tend to regard it.  Feedback is voluntary, but many tend to think it is owed to them and get upset when they don't get what they think they deserve, when they think they deserve to get it.  Are you buying feedback on ebay, or merchandise? 

There are several things an unscrupulous buyer can do to hurt a seller after they've paid for the item, so it's in the seller's interest to ensure that the buyer is happy with their purchase before leaving feedback.  If the only indication a seller gets from their buyer that they are happy with the item is the buyer leaving feedback, then that's the buyer's decision.  As a seller, all I ever needed was some kind of communication from the buyer that they were happy, and that the transaction was complete.  A quick email always sufficed.  Positive feedback worked as well, but that's not what I was waiting for. 

As a buyer, exclusively, a person's feedback score means very little.  Unless you have an horrific score, chances are your feedback received won't affect your buying at all, and even if it is horrible, you can either start a new I.D. anytime you want or place your bids too late for the seller to do anything about it.  If you buy and sell, you should have two separate I.D.'s, which will allow you, as a buyer, to leave appropriate feedback for your sellers without fear of their retaliation affecting your selling I.D.  And yes, this is perfectly ebay legal, as long as you don't bid on your own stuff. 

As for buying and selling?  I haven't sold much lately, mainly due to lack of time and lack of things to sell, but I never had much problem with it.  Just offer lots of pictures, describe the items in extreme detail, to the point of making them sound worse than they actually are, package well, and ship in a timely manner. 

As a buyer since '98, sure things have changed, but that's how everything is.  I still find what I want, find good deals, and I'm generally happy with the whole experience.  I've bought dozens of items that would have taken tons more legwork and time to find without ebay.  Sure, it takes a little more time and work to find a good deal on ebay now, but it's still no comparison to the alternative. 

The internet, and everything on it, is part of the real world now.  Which just means you have to watch out for yourself, do your homework, don't get greedy, know what to look out for, and you won't get scammed. 

[dustyc]

So how do the sniping programs work? 

Is one better than others(if there is more than one)? 

What happens when 2(or more) go head to head? 

I'm sure I could Google the answers to these questions, but where's the fun in that?

I've been outbid at the last minute several times and usually I'm glad because I just got caught up in the moment and think I would have regretted the purchase. 

I wonder if there will eventually be software that tracks the ip address of other bidders and shuts down their connection in order to win. 

[Uncle Ernie]

If you're willing to pay more than anyone else, a sniper program isn't going to top you.

[chrismo]

I like shopping on ebay. I can do it from work without driving all over the place looking for my vintage part. What annoys me is when people don't bother to ship the thing for a week after they've been paid.  Paypal makes the transaction so much faster than the old days when you would send a money order by snailmail. And it somehow seems worse to wait for shipping when you are often overcharged on shipping.
Chris

[Hope]

Sniping programs are great.  Don't be outbid in the last few seconds.  Enroll in auctionstealer (visit auctionstealer.com) and they let you snipe 3 auctions per month free.  That way you're not sitting at your computer waiting for the last few seconds just to see if you are outbid.  They will automatically put a bid in for you in the last few seconds.

I've used their services with no problems.  I don't believe in having to pay for such services, though.

If it wasn't for ebay, Cassandra wouldn't be running today.

[Jim F]

Another program is auction snipper. It does the same thing as it gives you a choice of 7 seconds or less
and will automatically put in your highest bid

good luck