Ebay

[eureka77]

When buying things off Ebay, I was wondering if anybody has been burned, or has pointers or things to look for. I've never bought anything online, my thing is craigslist where ya can look at it in person and do a face to face deal.
I'm bidding on a detector and it's getting close to purchising and just thought I'd ask.

 

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[Iron Patch]

I have done MANY ebay deals and the problems make up such a small % it's not even worth thinking about. You can learn a lot by how long a seller has been registered, their feedback, what they're selling, what they've sold, how they sell it, and how they answer your questions. If all checks out, pay with Paypal and you should be fine. The people that usually make a fuss on this forum or anywhere else are the ones that did something stupid and paid the price. Ebay is a calculated risk, but if you're smart a very low risk.

 

[Saturna]

I look for actual pictures of the item, not generic web shots.

Well written descriptions, not copy/pastes from the Web or a poorly written sentence especially for higher priced items.

Look at feedback, of course, but also click on some of the seller's recent sales (3 months), if any, in the feedback section and what type of items they have sold. See also the type of FB they leave for others.

Ask a question and see how well they respond.

Google the seller's username and see if anything comes up.

You can go to http://toolhaus.org to quickly assess negative FB for an Ebay member.




As a sidenote, did you know you can use a 'widecard' to search. This is the *.
Example chev* will find chev, chevy, chevrolet, and even chev@#$%^ for that matter.

You can also reject certain things with the "-"
Example mustang -shelby will not show anything with shelby also in it.

 

[Mighty AP]

Great advice IP, Ive bought many, many things on ebay & except a few little glitches (minor things) have never had a bad deal. As IP said, buy from people with good feedback ratings & you wont go wrong!

 

[eureka77]

Thanks ya'll. Good site. All positive but he was always the buyer. We'll see what happens.

 

[mlayers]

Read discription of item ral good. Ask questions. Make sure you know what you are buying.....Matt

 

[GopherDaGold]

Free Shipping always looks good to the buyer but you don't always save money especially with the Powersellers. It's just another hook.

 

[Shortstack]

e77:
You've gotten some excellent advice from Iron Patch and Saturna. I, too, have bought a bunch of items from eBay and had only one problem. I bought a model airplane kit that was shipped to the wrong person, a man in Texas and I got HIS stuffed animal. I worked with the seller and mailed the guy his item and he SAID he'd send my item........never did. The seller refunded my money to my PayPal account with profused apologies and gave me the other buyer's user name so I could see if he tried to sell "MY airplane kit". I already had the puke's name and address in Texas.
I've read other people's comments about bad experiences with eBay, but when you consider the millions of deals done everyday, the odds are WITH you on having a good experience.

Here's a good tip for you, if you think you'll be buying a lot of stuff over the internet, open a bank account just for those buying times. Get a debit card for that account and tell the bank NOT TO AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFER FUNDS TO IT FROM YOUR OTHER ACCOUNTS should there be an overdrawn situation. That will be your "brickwall" of protection to keep some SOB from stealing ALL of your money should they hack your information. Keep just enough money in that account to cover any buying you might want to do over the web. My VISA Debit Card has been accepted for debit as well as credit card purchases. When using it as a credit card, that little code number on the back is the key.

One last bit of info. If you're thinking of buying anything from KELLYCO, their eBay seller's name is aardvark. I just bought an Ace 250 kit from their website and the email receipt had that in it. I was still able to use PayPal to pay for my purchases even though I went to their company website instead of the aardvark seller's store.

 

[Iron Patch]

e77:
You've gotten some excellent advice from Iron Patch and Saturna. I, too, have bought a bunch of items from eBay and had only one problem. I bought a model airplane kit that was shipped to the wrong person, a man in Texas and I got HIS stuffed animal. I worked with the seller and mailed the guy his item and he SAID he'd send my item........never did. The seller refunded my money to my PayPal account with profused apologies and gave me the other buyer's user name so I could see if he tried to sell "MY airplane kit". I already had the puke's name and address in Texas.
I've read other people's comments about bad experiences with eBay, but when you consider the millions of deals done everyday, the odds are WITH you on having a good experience.

Here's a good tip for you, if you think you'll be buying a lot of stuff over the internet, open a bank account just for those buying times. Get a debit card for that account and tell the bank NOT TO AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFER FUNDS TO IT FROM YOUR OTHER ACCOUNTS should there be an overdrawn situation. That will be your "brickwall" of protection to keep some SOB from stealing ALL of your money should they hack your information. Keep just enough money in that account to cover any buying you might want to do over the web. My VISA Debit Card has been accepted for debit as well as credit card purchases. When using it as a credit card, that little code number on the back is the key.

One last bit of info. If you're thinking of buying anything from KELLYCO, their eBay seller's name is aardvark. I just bought an Ace 250 kit from their website and the email receipt had that in it. I was still able to use PayPal to pay for my purchases even though I went to their company website instead of the aardvark seller's store.

You made me thing of something I got but didn't buy from a few years back. It was a button, and only worth $20 or so, but had no return address and I hadn't a clue why it was sent to me. It also didn't seem like I was missing anything so it ended up being my little bonus for the week. I would have rathered a model airplane kit but oh well.

 

[texan connection]

Buying? no problems... selling? its got its ups and downs especially with Stupid buyers. And a few that know the game and play it well.... Ive lost some but mostly win.. so i countinue to sell.

Never lost as a buyer.

 

[George (MN)]

I've been cheated on eBay a few times, but that was mostly other electronics. I did get a new detector that I felt was poorly described, a Chinese model from a seller in Germany. Other than that, I've never been cheated on a detector on eBay or on the detecting forums.

What I look for on eBay is 99%+ positive feedback if they've done 200+ transactions, or only 1 or 2 negatives for smaller sellers, then check what the complaint was about. Also, about 100% positive feedback, sometimes they give the seller the benefit of the doubt, or they put negative comment under positive. So I read a page or two of the positives as well as the negatives just to be really sure.

If the seller sounds knowledgeable about the detector or detecting, that might make me trust them more. Might be able to tell from ad or by asking questions. HH, George (MN)

 

[NGE]

Have you ever checked out T-net's classified section under metal detecting stuff for sale? I recently bought a detector from there and am pleased with the seller......NGE

 

[fistfulladirt]

I got ripped off for $150 a couple years back, seller was an antique dealer with excellent sell and buy feedback, over 500+ transactions. Back when you could pay by money order.
We exchanged a few emails over shipping arrangements, then that was it.
She completely dissapeared and I found out through negative feedback replies, that she had bilked a half-dozen others too. That is the one bad experience that I've had out of 50 or so. ffd

 

[Iron Patch]

I got ripped off for $150 a couple years back, seller was an antique dealer with excellent sell and buy feedback, over 500+ transactions. Back when you could pay by money order.
We exchanged a few emails over shipping arrangements, then that was it.
She completely dissapeared and I found out through negative feedback replies, that she had bilked a half-dozen others too. That is the one bad experience that I've had out of 50 or so. ffd

That's called bad luck and there's nothng you can do about that.

On a different note, I just thought of something so figured I might as well say it. If a package is lost the buyer ALWAYS blames the seller, and ALWAYS wants their money back thinking it's his fault... and many times it is not. For anything I've ever sold with high value even if the buyer doesn't pay for insurance I have (almost) always paid the extra out of my own pocket just to not have to deal with the fuss. I'm not sure if it saved me, but one time a $900 package was lost in the system and i was feeling pretty good I had paid the extra few bucks to cover it. It eventually did make it.

Now here's my bad luck story... actually it was bad for a buyer. I sold a coin for $250 and offered the buyer full insurance for $2.00, and he didn't pay it! I guess I was probably in a sour mood because for some odd reason that particular time ticked me off, so instead of doing it the safe way costing about $12.00, I saved three sending it as an express letter with tracking but no insurance. It was the first time I had done that in many many similar transactions and you guessed it... buyer writes saying it didn't make it, even though the tracking said it did. I tend to believe him because he was a serious buyer and actually didn't press me for a refund, which basically admits I was in the right. So as I said, bad luck happens, just the way the game works sometimes.

 

[traderoftreasures]

someone tried to sell a minelab 4500 from another country.. it was around 1800 which i thought was suspicious, well to make it worse they tried to get me to send the money VIA some wiretransfer, which i didn't, and found out shortly there after that it was fraud

 

[mastereagle22]

I will post this for what it's worth.

I recently tried to buy a 32GB flash drive from eBay. The person was listed as being from CA, here in the U.S. turns out they were from China. They had taken a real 32GB drive apart and then inserted a 8 MB drive. The way to tell it was a fake was that their was not letters or numbers on the small silver end that plugs into the PC. I went through eBay and PayPal to dispute the charge and get my money back it did not work out. I lost $65.

So from this I can say:

1. Only buy from someone that lives in the country you do
2. If you can get insurance on your purchase do it
3. Always check the feedback on previous sells. Make sure they have multiple people responding and not the same people over and over
4. If you think anything is wrong with your product file a complaint IMMEDIATELY
5. Finally, and I know this sounds extreme, I ask the seller to send me a picture of the item to my email address with or on top of the day's paper from their location. I know they can photo shop those kinds of pictures but most often they simply won't respond and you will know you probably don't want to be purchasing that item anyway.

I have bought a used detector off eBay and many other items as well. Just be careful, use a little common sense and you should be ok.

 

[Iron Patch]

I will post this for what it's worth.

I recently tried to buy a 32GB flash drive from eBay. The person was listed as being from CA, here in the U.S. turns out they were from China. They had taken a real 32GB drive apart and then inserted a 8 MB drive. The way to tell it was a fake was that their was not letters or numbers on the small silver end that plugs into the PC. I went through eBay and PayPal to dispute the charge and get my money back it did not work out. I lost $65.

So from this I can say:

1. Only buy from someone that lives in the country you do
2. If you can get insurance on your purchase do it
3. Always check the feedback on previous sells. Make sure they have multiple people responding and not the same people over and over
4. If you think anything is wrong with your product file a complaint IMMEDIATELY
5. Finally, and I know this sounds extreme, I ask the seller to send me a picture of the item to my email address with or on top of the day's paper from their location. I know they can photo shop those kinds of pictures but most often they simply won't respond and you will know you probably don't want to be purchasing that item anyway.

I have bought a used detector off eBay and many other items as well. Just be careful, use a little common sense and you should be ok.

Surely there must have been some signs it was listed from China. Well I know there was because all you have to do is click on the sellers name.

I have bought many many items from overseas with very little problems, but don't deal with Asia, and don't have a reason to. For your number #2 insurance doesn't do much because you need the seller to cooperate to claim it, and if you get ripped off that certainly isn't going to happen. Agree with #3, but #4 I'd at least ask the seller before hitting the panic button. As for #5, I definitely would not respond but it has nothing to do with running a shady auction.

 

[mastereagle22]

IP you may be correct but I am telling you this person was using a P.O. Box in California. He had family there. He was actually in China. The email of the seller was listed in ebay as one thing then when the sale went through I got emails from another address.

I brought all this to the attention of eBay and Pay Pal but they just turned a blind eye. Then finally Pay Pal said they would refund my money if I sent back the person's item back to the seller. I did the best I could but no one but the U.S. postal service would let me mail it without a REAL address and phone number which they said they would verify. The tracking number the postal service gave me did NOT meet the requirements Pay Pal set up. So this jerk not only got me for the money, he got his item back and probably resold it. When I spoke with the company that originally made the USB drive the rep told me that they had over 7,000 complaints exactly like mine from eBay customers. This was just ONE company!!!!

And I wouldn't care if you didn't respond to number 5 I simply wouldn't buy from you.

As for your response to #4 , good luck. I waited exactly 1 day too late according to eBay and Pay Pal to file any complaint because I was waiting on a response from the seller. I sent all my emails and attempts to eBay per their instructions the ENTIRE time but they still said in the end I waited 1 day too long. Basically I discovered that if you are sold something like I was eBay and Pay Pal (both the same company by the way) Do not really care that the buyer gets ripped off.

You can debate this with me all you want but since this happened to me and I have all the emails, and the paper trail to prove what I'm saying, it would just be a waste of time.

I guess in the end buying from eBay is an act of faith. I have bought and sold a lot of items through eBay without any trouble. But one time getting ripped off was all it took for me to find a different way to get what I want, and if not then I am VERY VERY careful when dealing with eBay.

 

[Newt]

Link a CREDIT CARD to your paypal account. If something goes wrong and paypal doesn't want to work with you, dispute the charge with your CC company. It worked for me with no repercussions from Paypal.(Ebay and Paypal are basically the same company with the legal stuff).
Newt

 

[Iron Patch]

IP you may be correct but I am telling you this person was using a P.O. Box in California. He had family there. He was actually in China. The email of the seller was listed in ebay as one thing then when the sale went through I got emails from another address.

I brought all this to the attention of eBay and Pay Pal but they just turned a blind eye. Then finally Pay Pal said they would refund my money if I sent back the person's item back to the seller. I did the best I could but no one but the U.S. postal service would let me mail it without a REAL address and phone number which they said they would verify. The tracking number the postal service gave me did NOT meet the requirements Pay Pal set up. So this jerk not only got me for the money, he got his item back and probably resold it. When I spoke with the company that originally made the USB drive the rep told me that they had over 7,000 complaints exactly like mine from eBay customers. This was just ONE company!!!!

And I wouldn't care if you didn't respond to number 5 I simply wouldn't buy from you.

As for your response to #4 , good luck. I waited exactly 1 day too late according to eBay and Pay Pal to file any complaint because I was waiting on a response from the seller. I sent all my emails and attempts to eBay per their instructions the ENTIRE time but they still said in the end I waited 1 day too long. Basically I discovered that if you are sold something like I was eBay and Pay Pal (both the same company by the way) Do not really care that the buyer gets ripped off.

You can debate this with me all you want but since this happened to me and I have all the emails, and the paper trail to prove what I'm saying, it would just be a waste of time.

I guess in the end buying from eBay is an act of faith. I have bought and sold a lot of items through eBay without any trouble. But one time getting ripped off was all it took for me to find a different way to get what I want, and if not then I am VERY VERY careful when dealing with eBay.

You should have sent the item back to the Paypal shipping address, and you would have got the claim. As for waiting too long to file a claim, well what can I say... other then there is quite a long time to file so not sure why anyone would miss it. I believe it's about 45 days if I remember right. I don't have to debate this with you, because I know exactly how it all works having feedback in the thousands.