Remember EBAY

[wulf109]

Some years ago when I first discovered Ebay it was populated by people like me,private sellers,buying and selling personal items. It has gotten much bigger and is now populated by commercial sellers,the private seller is now a very rare commodity. The prices they charge are well above what you can buy for from any internet retailer and they usually charge exhorbitant amounts for shipping.
There are a very few exceptions of sellers who charge reasonable prices and only slightly higher shipping charges but they are rare indeed.
Ebay really isn't an auction site anymore,it has become an outlet for commercial sellers who are usually out to ripoff uninformed buyers.
Just a personal rant.

These comments apply to new merchandise. If your looking for discontinued or obsolete items Ebay can still be a valuable resource.
I bought and sold many Betamax VCR's on ebay and you would be hard put to find a source for that kind of trading other than ebay.

[Hardcoreruss]

I agree, it has become a complete con over the past couple of years. As with you a few years a go it was possible to get a bargain. Now even if you save a few quid you are charged double the shipping so they make a profit.

Yet another site to go shit (catch eh !!!)

Well said Wulf !!!

[pacmania_2001]

Agreed.

Their are too many commercial sellers on there now. I find that Ebay Australia still has a good mix though. We are normally about a year and a half behind America though so it wouldn't suprise me if in about a years time the same thing happens here.

[hilikus]

I absolutely agree. I go looking for deals on things and there's one or two people selling it and it's marked up and shipping is outrageous. Last time I checked it doesn't cost $30 to ship a light digital camera. Fortunately there are still deals if you look hard and/or long enough. I did end up getting a sweet deal on a 3.3 MP digital camera. But for the most part I find myself checking low-cost internet retailers before I check anywhere else.

Sucks.

[LanEvo7]

Sometimes it is better to buy something off ebay. At least they have a feedback profile. Sometimes the lower cost retailers screw you and you can't really do anything about it. Granted leaving a negative feedback isn't going to help you, but if they get start getting a lot, nobody is going to buy from them.

The shipping charges that some people charge are outrageous. I was looking at the DVD-Rs they were selling. Some people tried to charge $25 on a 50 pack. Crazy!!!!

[davideck]

I like EBay! Sure, EBay is much bigger now because it is so successful. I like having the commercial sellers mixed in with the private sellers, and I love using PayPal instead of sending out my credit card number every time I make an online purchase. I have sold several items for much more than I could have received at a local auction, and I have purchased things that were simply not available anywhere else. Whenever I am in the market for something, I always check EBay first as a price/availability reference point. I recently purchased a DataVideo TBC-3000 for $237 including shipping. Show me where I could have gotten that deal elsewhere!

[bunginuts]

I do agrre how Ebay sucks now. Especially when you know the shipping isn't as much as they charge. Like if you win a 50 pack of dvd-r its like 16.95 to ship them. Media mail is like 3.00 for the weight. I'm an active seller on Ebay and I only charge what it costs me for shipping and the packaging. If I could find another online auction site like Ebay I'd gladly switch. There is also a big poblem with people not paying these days.

[jfebus]

Some sellers gives you a nice price but rip you off with the shipping charges...

It's really a shame...

[housepig]

sorry, I disagree with all of this...

... if someone is charging too much shipping, I don't bid.
... if someone doesn't have shipping listed, and won't answer emails about how much shipping will be, I don't bid
... if it's something I can get cheaper from a retail store or another online distributor, I don't bid

and there are still plenty of bargains, you just have to look for them and know what you are looking at.

I've done a lot on eBay as a seller and a buyer, and I've had waaay more problems with people as a seller.... mainly from people who don't read the auction description. Then they get pissed that I won't change the way I ship, or accept the payments I specified I don't accept, or leave them negative feedback when 3 months of non-payment go by...

this almost sounds like a band argument - "they were cool until they put out a major label album / went on that big tour / made that video / put out a song I don't like / people I don't like found out about them, now they're just a bunch of sellouts"

- housepig

[Karate Media]

I agree in part -- I'll never find as good a deal on a digital camera as I did on my Sony just a few years ago on eBay.

That said, I still find some incredible things there. For example, I picked up some nice-condition TRS-80 Color Computers for less than $10 apiece, from different sellers (I was overcome by nostalgia) -- CoCo fan sites would sell something in the same condition for at least $30. Recently, I even had a seller offer to refund my entire amount (which wasn't very much) because he didn't ship my book 2-day air like he claimed. I was so floored that I agreed to meet him halfway $$-wise -- there are still good sellers out there.

It's not just poor sellers, either -- it really is misinformed buyers causing some of the trouble, too. Another example -- bidders were driving the price on a sale of Poser 5 close to $300, while the exact same product was available from Amazon.com at the same time for $199, plus a $50 rebate (obviously, I ended up buying my copy from amazon). Bidders were too lulled into the idea that eBay=bargain, and/or too lazy to price-shop elsewhere. Either way, some poor sap screwed him/herself out of $150 by buying that software on eBay. It wasn't the seller's fault, though...

[pacmania_2001]

Reminds me of a story that happened to a friend of mine.

He was over the moon at winning a JVC CD Player head unit off eBay for $20 lower than the price my friend paid for his.

The problem was, he bought a different (and lower) model that was going in stores for $299 for $329(not including postage either). My other friend, by doing some research and price comparison got the next model up (retail price: $399) for $349 off line.

Moral of the story: Do research before bidding on any item.

[Bob W]

I have a large collection of 50's collector cars and I still check ebay for hard to find parts for these fine cars. Sometimes that the only source for NOS items.

[txpharoah]

The running gag in the media world is that eBay "has more money than brains." It turns out to be true in most cases, with items way overbid and by bidders not knowing a damned thing about what they are buying.

Fine for me when I sell and make 2x what it's worth, but a pain when you have to deal with a whining moron buyer: "I didn't think it was this" and "this isn't what I wanted." (In all cases - too bad. Should have thought of that BEFORE you bid; and now it's YOUR JOB to resell the item, not mine.)

[bigmicka]

ebay blows.

i got sick of being pipped at the post, by someone waiting till one second before the auction closes to bid.

then when i finally did win my first auction which was an asus amd raid motherboard, i contacted the seller who then informed me, that he didnt have the product he was selling. and tried to sell me a older motherboard with less features for the same price, his justification was that th R.R.P. was higher on it. someone else was the sucker born that minute.

mic

[txpharoah]

ebay blows. i got sick of being pipped at the post, by someone waiting till one second before the auction closes to bid.

Bid sniping is fair game for those with patience. I do it because it's the nature of the game. Just know your limits and don't go a bid $2000 for a $50 item. Sniping can result in better prices than using the proxy feature.

But buyers are still a larger problem than the sellers. At least from my experience and from analyst reports last year (forgot where published, was some months back). Ebay is pretty good at managing the sellers, though not perfect. Buyers are almost entirely unchecked, and there are lots of fakes and too many kids with user IDs these days.

Not directed at anyone here yet, but anybody that thinks all sellers are bad should probably re-evaluate his/her own position as a buyer. Some people should just go to the store and leave eBay alone - they cannot handle mature transactions.

[scottb721]

i got sick of being pipped at the post, by someone waiting till one second before the auction closes to bid.

It's not the last bid that wins, it's the highest.
If you bid the maximum that you're willing to spend on an item and get beaten that whats wrong with that. It doesn't matter when the higher bid came in.
Each person bids the highest amount they see fit and the rest works itself out.

[bigmicka]

yes i know its part of the game.

having the highest bid and continually pressing refresh till the auction has finished only to be beaten without an amount of time to enter another bid get frustrating after the first 30 times.

its great that you hold out and get the best bargains that way. it works for some and not others.

in the end it was not the snipping alone that made me stop using the service, it was with the addition of the bad experince i had with my first win. that is the type of experience that can put someone off using the service, which it did in my case.


mic

[spiderman2k1]

ebay is the biggest online auction but it's still worth doing a wuick search on Yahoo auction and amazon auction you never when some is going to post some thing

[Excellerator]

From a sellers standpoint, the Ebay fees start to get a bit annoying. For example, if you list 10 items and only 3 sell then the little profit to be made is eatin up by the 7 that didn't sell. And not every auction sells like they would have you to believe.

Also people starting selling products at dealers cost, where is the profit to be made that way.l I am not trying to rip people off, but isn't the idea of selling to make a little $$$ and not just give the products away. Maybe that is because I am too honest with my shipping charges.

Plus you always get the buyer that bids and wins and then goes "I am sorry but I no longer need this." and its not all that easy to reclaim the Ebay final auction fees.

Just me raving.......

[DKruskie]

It's kinda funny that I ran across this post, just yesterday a had phone call from some guy that wanted me and my wife to sell commercially on ebay. The guy didnt want to take no for an answer, so I finally had to hang up on him, he even had the nerve to call back. My wife and I used to enjoy going to ebay to buy stuff we didnt really need..lol Now after this, it makes me not wanting to go back. Just my 2 cents worth.



David

[oldfart13]

I'll have to go against the flow on this one. I like Ebay and have been with it a number of years now. I regularly use PayPal, since it's much less cumbersome than giving out my credit card numbers. I still buy a lot of stuff locally but some stuff will never be available in my community at a decent price so I'm not hurting local retailers by buying from Ebay. If you can get a better deal than Ebay, then do so. Whining about a competitor or their business practises benefits no one. If you don't like something in this world, change it or your attitude...

[jaxxboss]

Last year while looking on ebay to update my cd writer to one that would overburn i found a few I really liked, but kept getting sniped at the end. For some insane reason I decided to check pricewatch.com (dont know why I didnt do this earlier) Any way, I found my unit, bought it and even after shipping I paid LESS that what I woulod have on ebay.
I almost decided to put a unit up (on ebay) that I DID NOT own and when it sold, I would just have the company send it to the guy that won my auction. Im sure alot of peeps do this and not a bad way to make a few bucks, so long as everyone pays up. But, I was ALMOST stupid to buy on Ebay without checking elsewhere first. Glad my brain kicked in.

[zzyzzx]

eBay is great for finding people selling stuff that you want. Just get their email address and find their online store and buy directly. You should get a slightly better deal w/o the eBay fees, etc.

[LanEvo7]

It all depends on what you buy, if its computer related, its very hard to get a good deal. Sometimes other items are great bargain.

[housepig]

It all depends on what you buy, if its computer related, its very hard to get a good deal. Sometimes other items are great bargain.

excellent point - eBay was originally concieved as a trading post for people who collected Pez dispensers (like eBay's founder).

for collectables, it's a good deal or a bad deal depending on what you have - one the one hand, I just recieved a poster for the movie "The Wicker Man" in the mail today, courtesy of eBay. It took 6 or 7 auctions before I found one that I could afford, but I finally got one at a price I liked. On the other hand, my copy of Fangoria #1 that used to be worth $60 and is now worth $10... because there are a whole lot more around than people thought there were, before eBay had people searching their closets for copies...

but for retail items, you really have to know what you are buying and what the market is. I would think the more informed you are about what you're looking for, the happier you'll be using eBay....

- housepig

[Treebeard]

Hey since there is lots of talk of the Ebay of old check out this Ebay clone website. Looks just like ebay did about 2 or 3 years ago.
I have never done business at this place so I dont know of the quality of it. But from the looks somebody was lame and cant design their own setup.

www.epier.com

How about fake and misleading items you saw there?

It reminds me that I was browsing through it one day, for fun, and was looking at a LD of Blade-Runner, they showed a cover and actually sold a different version of it (LD picture was of a non-director's cut LD cover, but what they sell WAS the DC). And it goes on, for example, to old photographs of movie stars from early 30's with fake autographs... I'm sure there are more...

[txpharoah]

excellent point - eBay was originally concieved as a trading post for people who collected Pez dispensers (like eBay's founder).

Sorry to tell you this, but that's an urban legend. I'd have to find the story again, but the founder was trying to make money. The name eBay was some sort of amalgam from leftover names. I'll try to hunt down the story for you guys. The whole PEZ thing was just a PR piece, and a good one at that.

Anyway, yes fees are ridiculous, buyers are getting dumber by the day, and deals can be found, but you have to do your research. I'm amazed at the junk I can sell (things I'd have thrown away had eBay not existed). Whatever they pay, I'm glad to collect. I start my prices off at what I want, and then let it go from there.

[drewson99]

ebay might not be great for bargains, but IMHO, it is great for:

finding rare or foreign goods.

selling clutter that pawn shops wouldn't take or wouldn't give decent $ for.

selling unique products. (when you are the only person with a certain product, and you put it on ebay, it is like winning the lottery. )

I have sold items which I exclusively owned for 10 to 15 times their value, simply because ebay brins out the obsessive compulsive in people. I have often seen products (like PS2 games for example) which are in stores, not out of stock anywhere, which sold for 47.99, plus $7 shipping! The bidding was at 25-30 or so until the last few minutes, but it is the "winning" some people are hooked on. they actually spend EXTRA and have to wait for their product to be shipped. But they CAN say they won an auction...

Andy

[housepig]

txpharoah -

I wasn't totally accurate, but it's closer to a misstatement than an Urban Legend...

from the ebay canada website :

eBay was conceived initially as a result of a conversation between Pierre Omidyar and his wife, an avid Pez™ collector (she currently covets a collection of more than 400 dispensers). She commented to Pierre how great it would be if she were able to collect Pez dispensers and interact with other collectors over the Internet.

As an early Internet enthusiast, Pierre knew that people needed a central location to buy and sell unique items and to meet other users with similar interests. He started eBay to fulfill this need.

- housepig