EBAY Heaven or Hell

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seangday

Airman
22
0
Nov 23, 2009
Sort of noticed looking through some threads, that ebay does'nt seem popular with some folks. So forgive me if this has been asked before, but what do others think? Personally as I look round the room, over 90% of my stuff has been purchased from ebay.No problems at all, the majority of people are very helpful and friendly and all my kits, paints or whatever is usually here between two days to a week. My 'local' model shop is a 100 mile round trip and a 'day out', so Ithink its a godsend to the likes of myself.
 
...as I look round the room, over 90% of my stuff has been purchased from eBay...
There's a clue in there
eBay is (has become) a buyer's market, not a seller's
Most of the vendors I've purchased from think the site is greedy, charges for putting the auction up and then a percentage of the selling price, take a pretty big slice out of their profits. Their charges were hiked a couple of years ago, not sure if that's happened again more recently but a couple of the vendors I used to buy from regularly have now folded their operations. I'm not saying this is endemic and everybody is folding but there's alot of disgruntled sellers out there.

They also changed the feedback system; a seller can't leave negative feedback about a buyer or some crap. This is ridiculous, there are bad characters on both sides of the auction process, to tie the seller's hands behind his back is very unfair.

I've vaguely heard of complaints about the Safe Harbour system but no story springs to mind, I've made complaints about a couple of sellers and had no problems with it, other than it's a bit slow and laborious.

I've only ever bought on eBay, never sold, so I've no reason to take sides with the sellers but they seem to get a tougher deal than the buyers.
 
for specialty items I use Ebay for everything else I use Kijiji , I've bought lots off kijiji as most of the sales are from people in distress that need loot fast and its local
 
I used to use Ebay but after a couple "hard fought" autions I've kinda slowed. Not only do you have to sift through tons of price-gouging sellers to find the one person who honestly wants to sell, but some buyers I think its a personal vendetta to outbid everyone. They set timers and I have heard dual PCs to win bids. Went through one auction to the very last second. Now Craig's List, I have had great success, buying and selling.
 
Ask my dad. He sells old camera from my grandpas collection. He said he doesn't care about the charges if the item is sold for over 10 dollars. Otherwise he wouldn't waste his time selling something like that.
 
Well I set myself a limit on what I prepared to pay.Like Njaco syas, there seems to be some people just trying to outbid others for the sake of it. If you look at the new airfix Spitfires, most are going for siily money.To be honest, if I can't get a bargain, I don't bother. I know what cost what and theres no point paying over the odds.
 
Never tried eBay, but when I bid on online auctions, I follow Seangday's and B-17engineer's method.
I also know from some sellers that it's easy to get a friend in another city to pump up the bids, so I'm pretty careful with what I bid on, and how much I want to offer.
 
I buy and sell quite a bit on EvilBay or FeeBay. As someone mentioned earlier eBay is for buyers more then sellers. They force you to use all their tools and services and then charge you out the a$$ for it. it has gotten harder and harder to make a profit selling on FeeBay without taking advantage of the buyer. :evil:
 
Never used ebay. That said I've looked into it but at the end of the day I don't particularly like auctions. Im a very cautious buyer about anything and the most internet purchasing I do is either local online stores or Amazon.com.

Theres something to be said about the satisfaction of making a physical puchase in a store and taking it home, part of the fun. Though I do understand people who are not within a sensible distance of stores and online is the only practical way to buy what they want.
 
Never used ebay. That said I've looked into it but at the end of the day I don't particularly like auctions. Im a very cautious buyer about anything and the most internet purchasing I do is either local online stores or Amazon.com.

Theres something to be said about the satisfaction of making a physical puchase in a store and taking it home, part of the fun. Though I do understand people who are not within a sensible distance of stores and online is the only practical way to buy what they want.

Ahhh but Heinz there is also the satisfaction of finding a little package on your doorstep! I use FeeBay for getting movies now anyway. Last picked up 4 Hitchcock movie DVD for $11 - brand new!

Now if I can only find "Battle of the River Platte" in my region!!!
 
Good point Heinz, love doing that myself. Nothing better than finding a kit for a couple of quid or one that I had as a kid. But I'd really need to be going for multiple 'bonus' purchases. Plus our postie is a friend of the family and we trying to keep him in a job!
 
98% of the time online auction sites are okay but that 2% of the time ,they can be very frustrating with a buyer/seller

People are just moron's and to point out the obvious people are everywhere

imo of course
 

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