Another reason I hate ebay...

I can totally understand your frustrations guys as I have both bought and sold railway stuff on ebay. But here is the other side of the coin....
I recently bought 2 N Scale locos from a guy in the States (I'm in Scotland btw), when I opened the box, the first loco was the wrong one, the second loco was wrapped in some newspaper and floating around. Having paid $27 for discounted P&P (shipping was only $8.80, nice mark up fella) I expected better. Not surprisingly the second loco was damaged, barely moved, never mind being a great runner! And I soon realised why the picture only showed one side, it was a poor repaint with droopy decalling and worn paintwork.

I emailed the guy for his comments and after 3 weeks of no replies had to raise it with ebay, all of a sudden he got back to me!

In the end he offered me a $15 refund, which to be honest I accepted just to close the matter. As for feedback, well I tried my best with this seller yet he said he couldn't give me +ve feedback so I told him not to bother with any. Rather than leave neutral feedback I too decided not to leave any which in retrospect was probably doing other buyers a disservice. From now on if it aint boxed I aint buying!

I buy 90% of my stuff from the States and this is the first time I have had a problem, the only thing that hacks me off is that American sellers seem to think it costs the earth to ship to the UK, I bought 1 freight car (N Scale) for $9 and paid $18.50 shipping:eek:
 
Philip.E.Thomas said:
the only thing that hacks me off is that American sellers seem to think it costs the earth to ship to the UK, I bought 1 freight car (N Scale) for $9 and paid $18.50 shipping:eek:
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Although we're notoriously dumb :mrgreen::mrgreen: Americans don't think it costs the earth to ship. Rather, many people choose to overcharge for shipping to increase their profit margin on their sales. It is forbidden by ebay (beyond a "reasonable" handling fee) but "reasonable" is subjective and it happens all the time. That is why I like the new rating system. When a person has excessive shipping rates I usually don't buy from them but If I do I am honest and give them an "unreasonable" shipping rating.

Dave
 
puddlejumper said:
Although we're notoriously dumb :mrgreen::mrgreen: Americans don't think it costs the earth to ship. Rather, many people choose to overcharge for shipping to increase their profit margin on their sales. It is forbidden by ebay (beyond a "reasonable" handling fee) but "reasonable" is subjective and it happens all the time. That is why I like the new rating system. When a person has excessive shipping rates I usually don't buy from them but If I do I am honest and give them an "unreasonable" shipping rating.

Dave
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That is an illegal scam that thousands of sellers use to rip off E-bay. Ebay only chrges their fee based on the SELLING cost, NOT the shipping cost. So the sellers take a few bucks off the cost and add it to the shipping. That way, their fee to Ebay is less and they still are able to get what they want to charge overall for the item. They make more, Ebay makes less and the Post Office/UPS ends up looking like the bad guy. It's illegal according to the USPS Postal regulations and when I see this crap, I turn them into Ebay. Don't make me a part of your scam!
 
Dave, I can't believe that you think we Europeans class you as dumb, a good source of organ donations yes, but not dumb :rolleyes:

On a serious note (please don't take offence at my jape) I will of course be wary of purchasing items from sellers based in Arizona (not that I bear any grudges to the folks of Arizona as a whole) who include in their user name, the name of a fictitious ex military renegade who not only shot the original, but several appalling sequels :twisted:

I'll stick to a few trusted suppliers from now on tho'
 
If you use Square Trade, they can help you negotiate with the other party (re) disputes, negative feedback, etc. I've had a ST account for years and although I've never had to use their service (knock wood), the peace of mind has been worth the monthly fee, kinda like insurance...
 
I have almost a 700 rating (100%) most of that was sales....

Things I have learned through experience with e-bay & Paypal:

~ When selling ----- e-bay charges the seller a listing fee...

~ When someone pays by paypal, Paypal charges a percentage of the total with shipping... Therefore it's not a good idea to over charge for shipping, because if the buyer pays by paypal, you lose more of a percentage on the charges

~ after the sale - e-bay comes back and charges the seller for a final value fee.. These go up every year like everything else....

~ e-bay has a really lousy habit of announcing "sellers Listing Specials" either the day before or the day of a sale, so you have to really run around like a nut to take advantage of the sale :( :(

~ As far as paypal, I like them - so far (knock wood) they have helped me as both as a seller and a buyer resolve things for the better for BOTH parties....

~ e-bay is a powerful tool if used correctly.. i have had a few non-payers and have threatened to "report them to e-bay" - most times they pay right away :D

~ the few that did not - were reported - 2 paid after me reporting them - 2 were thrown off e-bay .. i simply re-listed the item and sold it to someone else...

~ As far as credit cards.. That's Part of the Paypal logo - we're Stuck with it - if you don't want to pay through paypal - then arrange some other payment method with the seller in advance of the auction end... :D

~ There are those that will NOT accept paypal

~ There are those that will ONLY accept paypal (me)

~ There are those that REFUSE to pay by Paypal

~ there are those that will ONLY pay by paypal

~ There are those - that will ask stupid questions (yes "stupid") -- a couple have asked me questions that were not only answered in the listing title, but were spelled out in detail in the description wall1wall1wall1

~ Selling on e-bay is difficult..... Don't let anyone kid you...... Selling 1 or 2 things a week is nothing compared to selling 20 - 30 a week..... Collecting information on what to start the listings on..... information on descriptions..... formatting the descriptions.... calculating shipping (weighing the items).... listing the item.... answering questions.... "making yourself" available 3 - 4 hours before the end of the auctions for "late questions"....... seeing the item sell....... verifying the e-bay invoice was sent......... waiting for payment - if not - sending another invoice after 3 days ......... and another after 3 more days wall1wall1 ......Then wrapping and shipping the item (and re-weighing multiple purchases and sending a Combined invoice) and finally getting paid....... taking the money out of paypal (wait 3 days for it to post to your bank account) .......withdrawing the money if you need it for shipping fees...... then FINALLY taking the packages to the post office and sending them on their way....... Then waiting for feedback telling you it actually arrived safely, or if there's trouble....... :( like a broken engine...... fixing the problem

now - go back and read that 22 more times........ and while last weeks auctions are ending - "this weeks" auctions are being listed........ Plus you have to keep track of the paypal balance, because at the end of the month -- e-bay wants Their money too!!!!!

In any given weekend, I spend 4 - 5 hours in front of the computer (watching Nascar while I take care of listing new auctions and bookkeeping on the ending auctions... During the week, I check up on things while I check up in here :) :) and for all my trouble, I get about enough to buy a tank of oil for my oil house heater -- or to pay my electric bill in the summer :( :( But it frees up some cash to help out the economy :D :D :D
 
N Gauger said:
Oh... and don't dare think for a minute that everything actually sells when it's listed :( :( I sell 25% to 50% of what is listed in a GOOD week.... most go unsold, so I re-list them either right away - or i wait a month or so......
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There are staunch eBayers (my DIL or N Gauger for instance) and staunch non-eBayers (me for instance). I wonder, from the sounds of things, eBay can be used for the casual seller or buyer who has one transaction every millennium or so, but more likely, someone who treats buying and selling as a mini-business... or even a full-time business. Where does some of this stuff come from? Are people selling stuff they bought the week before or are these all new things not having been listed before? I can see where some people are selling things they no longer need, or need to sell because they need the money, and there are those that are buying something to use, and they do just that. But someone that spends the best part of a day buying and selling cannot be in any of these categories.

That's probably what scares me more about eBay, there are professional buyers, professional sellers and professional scammers and I'm not sure I would come out ahead by dealing with any one of these people, and I'm not sure I'd know the difference between them and the casual ones.:cry: :cry:

Then again, maybe eBay is like a drug, once you get started you can't quit, and that scares me just as much as anything.:eek: :eek:
 
I've been on eBay since 1999, and although I flirt with being 'Power Seller' from time to time, I don't consider myself a "professional" eBayer. I have a total of 1569 positive feedbacks from 929 different buyers & sellers, which works out to about 15 transactions a month. I have bought a lot of great stuff, and some junk, and I've sold a lot of things to some really great people - some of whom have become 'email buddies' - and a very few stinkers. My policy: if you treat me badly as a seller, I will block you from ever bidding on any of my auctions ever again. If you treat me badly as a buyer, I will put your eBay ID in a text file named 'Never Buy From This Putz Again'.

The eBay community lives and dies on feedback. And it's well-enough organized that you can -- and should -- ask questions before you bid or buy. People who don't respond to my questions don't get my business.
The fees can seem high, but the PITA factor of setting up a merchant credit card account or driving enough traffic to a website to make any money keeps me using eBay and its bezillion visitors a day (it's one of the top 5 websites in terms of traffic on the Internet).

If you ever run into a situation you can't find the answer to about buying or selling on eBay, their online "chat" live help is pretty good.

eBay & PayPal are generally, in my experience, pretty fair about resolving disputes and problems. They know they're the 800 pound gorilla because they take care of their customers, so they're pretty diligent about coming down on scammers, 'blackmailers', and other scummy characters.

The Post Office, however, doesn't get such high marks from me. I recently filed an insurance claim with them over an O scale diesel locomotive that they clearly damaged in transit. $279 claim. Denied. "There is no evidence this damage occurred while in the possession of the USPS." I appealed; sent photos, affidavits, the works. Denied again. Same computer-generated BS. There was no way it could have been damaged anywhere BUT in transit. I no longer offer insurance when shipping USPS. UPS has much better customer service policy (re) insurance claims. The happy ending to this story was that since this locomotive was brand new and was shipped in its original packaging, when I sent it to Atlas for an estimate to repair it, they replied that since it was still under warranty, I got a brand new locomotive from them, no charge!

Whew! Sorry 'bout that -- I'm not usually so long-winded.
 
The basic places to acquire items to sell are:

~ the storage area of your house :) Some things you lose money on - some you make money on.....

~ a wholesaler - you buy low - list higher and make a few bucks an item

~ flea markets.. you really have to reference a bunch of things first - then go buy low - - sell high LOL


Right now - most of my stuff is from teh Comic book Store I managed 15 years ago.. we bought at a stores discount - and now aer selling mostly at a 30% loss overall... :( But we have a lot so we're making out better than average

And yeah - if i could figure out how to make this into a real job - I'd do it... i think hehehehe
 
This has turned into a fairly interesting thread.

I've had far more good experiences than bad ones with ebay. I can think of only 3 or 4 off the top of my head that were less than acceptable. (The bass fraud case I mentioned in my earlier post being one of them.) Everything else has gone well or the seller made it right if I had a problem with something. When I sell, I try to be as accurate as possible in my discriptions and pack stuff for shipping like it was made from hand blown glass. (I worked for UPS for awhile doing customer service. The way some people pack stuff is amazing. Then they wonder why it gets broke. Newspaper is NOT packing material!)

I'm always careful to check feedback before I buy something from eBay as well. I not only check the feedback of the seller but of the ones who left negative feedbacks as well. That way you can get a better idea whether that person had a ligitimate complaint or is just someone that likes to make trouble.

I've been on since sometime in 2000 and I still carry a 100% feedback. The thing that irritates me more than anything are people who don't leave feedback. I'd have better than 200 now if everyone I have done transactions with would have left some sort of comment. Unfortunately, not everyone follows through on this.
 
Cannonball said:
The thing that irritates me more than anything are people who don't leave feedback. I'd have better than 200 now if everyone I have done transactions with would have left some sort of comment. Unfortunately, not everyone follows through on this.
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I agree. I have 100% still, but would be way higher if everyone left feedback. I used to leave feedback right after payment is recieved. Maybe it is dumb, but I feel that the person payed, they held up their end, I leave good feedback. I got screwed once though when I left a + feedback then the buyer tried to pull some BS and wanted some $ back but w/o returning the item. I ended up getting a neutral after refunding $15, and they skated with a positive.

Dave
 
just remember, some of the ones that dont leave any feedback would leave neg, if they was forced to leave any, some people decide to just not leave any rather then neg, so as not to get neg back.
 
Whenever I buy or sell something on eBay, I always send a short
email similar to these:

To Buyers:

Thanks for your winning bid! We will leave positive feedback for
you on eBay once your item has arrived and you leave us positive
feedback. We appreciate your business!

To Sellers:

Thanks for offering this item! When it arrives safely I'll leave you
positive feedback on eBay and I hope you'll for the same for me!

**************************************************************************

If I don't get feedback from them after a reasonable period of
time, I send a follow-up similar to these:

To Buyers:

Greetings! By now hopefully your item has arrived in good
condition. If it has and you are satisfied with the transaction,
would you kindly take a moment to leave me positive feedback on
eBay? Just go to the 'Items I've Won' section of your 'My eBay' page
and click on the 'Leave Feedback' link in the 'Action' column. As
soon as you do that, I'll be very happy to leave you positive
feedback on this transaction, too. If for some reason you're not
completely satisfied with this transaction, please let me know
before you leave feedback and I'll try to do everything I can to
make you a happy eBay Buyer!

To Sellers:

Greetings! We have received [item name and auction #] we
recently purchased from you through eBay and have left you
positive feedback there. Would you kindly take a moment to leave
us positive feedback on eBay as well? We'd greatly appreciate it!

**************************************************************************

If I'm the Buyer, I leave feedback as soon as the item arrives in
good condition.

If I'm the Seller I never leave feedback until I get some from the
Buyer.

If I feel like leaving negative (or even neutral) feedback, I always
try to work the problem out with the other party.

eBay forbids retaliatory negative feedback. If you ever get any, file
a dispute with eBay!
 
riverotter said:
If I'm the Buyer, I leave feedback as soon as the item arrives in
good condition.

If I'm the Seller I never leave feedback until I get some from the
Buyer.
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I'm the same way and it irritates me when people can't do the same in kind.

The one that really suprised me was a guy I bought a Spectrum Baldwin from. The first one arrived broken so I sent it back. He sent me a second one and an added gift for my problems. The second one ran great. (Better than my Spectrum diesel.) I left him an absolutely glowing positive feedback rating and never got so much as a "paid on time" from him. That kind of stung a bit because I spent quite a bit of time with him on the phone and we seemed to have a lot in common.
 
Cannonball said:
I'm the same way and it irritates me when people can't do the same in kind.

The one that really suprised me was a guy I bought a Spectrum Baldwin from. The first one arrived broken so I sent it back. He sent me a second one and an added gift for my problems. The second one ran great. (Better than my Spectrum diesel.) I left him an absolutely glowing positive feedback rating and never got so much as a "paid on time" from him. That kind of stung a bit because I spent quite a bit of time with him on the phone and we seemed to have a lot in common.
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I know what you mean about this kind of situation. On balance, however, I have made many more "web friends" through eBay than I've had neutral or negative experiences. Sometimes these correspondences have lasted many months, or longer.
 
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