Is it me or is Ebay starting to fill up with morons?

[pfh]

I must admit- I am not an "Ebayer" and most likely won't ever be one but I have done a lot of looking.
I've only bought 2 items and just sold (I hope) my first item but get this:
I received 5 e-mails with questions about the item I had for sale. I did have a recerve price. 2 out of the 5 e-mails asked me to reveal my reserve price!! Please! That's why you bid dumba**!! If you'er interested then bid- jeesh!
Then you get the questions about the fact you have a low ebay number rating and it looks suspicous. Well, no sh**! If you just started doing transactions then you'd have no feedback scores. Everybody has to start somewhere- gimme a break.

I know, I know, a little critical here but I just felt the need to vent a little.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. I know there's dishonest people in everything but I can't help but think that it's gonna be the morons, cons, creeps and the "few bad apples" that will ruin the Ebay way.

[lumis]

ebay used to be cool, when they didnt charge you for everything they could think of.. and before all the companies came in to it.. there arent near as many deals to be had.. i consider it to be more of an obscure item resource.. than a place to look before i make a purchase online.. i try to avoid ebay unless i have to, or find a really really good deal.. alot of the sellers are very shady..

[oldfart13]

I get these emails all the time: please stop the auction so I can buy the item at a low price; do you have another of the same item at a lower price than what your asking price was?; etc. I just have a good laugh about it and say 'no' and leave it at that. I have guys telling me it looks suspicious because I haven't had any negative comments in the past 3 years! I sometimes wonder why these people get on Ebay in the first place, but I just laugh it off. No sense losing any sleep over it...

[BJ_M]

there is so much crap and dealers and scams going on with ebay - you wonder if they are going to jump the shark ...

it is a ripe time for a private sale only place like ebay to show up --- or ebay to seperate the two (private and commercial)

[waheed]

just ignore and delete thosse emails. thats what i do. i only answer sensible emails.

[Roundabout]

I've only sold things on eBay, through a friend's account that has very high positive feedback. I've never sold anything under my name, though I've had an account for over three years.

There's been stuff I'd like to buy, but after seeing all the scams around, I'm nervous about sending money to unknown people.

I found some P-4 CPU's on there cheap after rebates, but I don't trust the rebate (some over $100) from a company I've never heard of (this wasn't a private sale, but an eBay store).

For example, they had P-4 2.4Ghz 800fsb retail box for like $100 a/r. But you have to pony up about $200 first, then wait for a rebate from them. What if they decide not to send it? Not much recourse, and you're stuck with a higher than normal price for the CPU.

I don't know, but I agree with BJ_M, someone needs to come up with something better than eBay for buying and selling. Too many scamsters have me scared off.

[canadateck]

The fee's they charge now are Crazy,its robbery,If the guy doesnt pay you still have to pay the listing fee,You can file a final value credit,but still lose the listing fee if it doesnt sell the second time.And now you have to wait longer to file on the non Payers,and there are tons of them.I have been selling on ebay for years and have two acounts that are power seller status, sometime's I lose over 150$US a month on listing fee's because people bid and dont pay.they have this new thing where you can block people with less then 1 or 2 feedbacks not sure the amount,but anyway that does NOT work.

I have started using Google ad's now,this save tons of money,and I dont have to give a CUT to anyone,I pay only for the Click,so they can buy 12 thing's and in Ebay terms,I only pay one listing fee.

I dont even want to get into how Paypal is full of S***,this is the worst company/Terms/service..This is where most People get RIPPED off at, with the HELP of Paypal.

[pfh]

Thanks, I feel better.
Agree whole heartedly with BJ_M as well.

[AlecWest]

I can't remember the last time I ever "bid" for something on eBay. Guess I'm not an auction type of person ... though, with 7gbit broadband I could probably swing a few my way. Generally, I look for new items where the "Buy Me Now" price plus shipping is less than it costs to buy from a store. And if I find such an item, I always check out buyer comments about the seller. I've never gotten ripped off yet. The only time I was ever disappointed was when I ordered a used computer for a friend and it arrived DOA. But, the seller paid for return shipping and refunded what I paid for it (including my shipping) so I can't complain.

But, there are two worrisome things I see. The scams out there are unbelievable. For proof of that, just visit eBay and look for a laptop computer ... sorting by price, lowest to highest, and see all the "one-cent" offers. The other worrisome thing (not for me, personally) is that I see a lot of people bidding on stuff that could be bought brand new "cheaper" from a reputable online store. In short, I see a lot of people buying stuff on eBay thinking it's alway cheaper there ... when in fact, the buyers obviously haven't done any comparison shopping.

[yoda313]

Hello,

Never really had a problem with ebay. I have a 77 feedback rating all positive.

I've sold and bought stuff without too much trouble.

Kevin

[BJ_M]

light sabers ? i think i saw those

[Roundabout]

Just saw a story on the news tonight about another scam listing on eBay.

Apparently, someone decided to capitalize on the success of Desperate Housewives and listed a "walk-on" opportunity along with a "day of hanging out on the set". Only problem is, no such opportunity existed.

The bids were up well over $8,000 and the scamster ("moviemiracles" was the name of the seller if I remember correctly) may have collected the money already.

The studio that owns "Housewives" filed suit against 'moviemiracles', but the people that paid may never get their money back. It's too late already, if the check has been cashed.

I don't know where all that will wind up, but, like I said before, there are far too many scams going on for me to risk my money on anything there.

Hopefully something better will come along. Meanwhile, I'll stick with reputable stores when I want to buy something.

[zzyzzx]

eBay has been full of morons for quite some time. However, I've never had a problem either buying or selling.

[pacmania_2001]

Never had a problem buying or selling although I only use it for obscure items, not things I can buy offline or online at a store.

[Ward River]

Disagree with the people who say there aren't any bargains to be had on eBay anymore, that it's all gone commercial, businesses taking over, etc. The deals are still there to be had you just have to look harder and you have to resist the urge to watch and bid on items. If you see something you like, bookmark it rather than "watching it" and sending up the red flag to the seller who may shill bid it, and most importantly, snipe. Broadband internet is a godsend to eBay snipers. I've nailed several auctions with a snipe bid in the final 1-3 seconds.

That's how you get deals on eBay.

[BJ_M]

or get snipe software that will do it for you


or even free services that do it for you ... http://www.auctionstealer.com

kinda takes the fun out of the whole thing, might as well have 1 day auctions only

[BJ_M]

one thing that really gets me with ebay is that when you bid -yoru user name and password are sent over the net in the clear (unencrypted) , with that info (very easy to sniff) - someone can get into your account and all yoru personal info there .. in fact this hase been done many times .. and with that you can get into paypal and info there ..


it makes the whole log in proccess to your account (over https) rather useless ..


all they would have to do is to ether encrypt the pass/user client side (a program or java script to do this) or use https for bidding.

[pfh]

The sniping really pissed me off. For a lot of people it's gotta be the fact that they are "getting off" on the "hunt and kill" of the ebay game!!

Really has made the whole ebay bidding a joke!http://www.auctionstealer.com/

I have to agree with those that see a use for obscure items but after that it aint worth it.

[hech54]

Ebay is THE best place to find out of print CD's, LP's, VHS tapes etc etc etc.
Usually it is the dirtballs who sell bootleg or obviously illegal material who bitch and cry the most about Ebay and Paypal....that and people who are just out to rip other people off with vague and misleading descriptions.

[VideoTechMan]

I hardly use Ebay myself....last time I sold anything was about 2 years ago, and I dont have very much feedback since I dont use it much. But now in light of reading this thread, I know for sure now not to bother with Ebay. I dont like the fact that you get charged the listing fee, even if your item doesnt sell. Robbers.

VTM

[vitualis]

I usually send e-mails to people who have items that I consider buying. Firstly, it "scopes" them out. If they can't reply by e-mail quickly about a potential sale, then I doubt very much they would be interested in communication well after the sale.

Secondly, I usually have questions for them that isn't provided in the product description.

Also, the best "deals" I've had is from the CLUELESS seller who don't research on eBay the value of their item. For example, I once bought a HP Jornada 720 for $AU 225 by offering that price straight up when the highest bid was only around $AU 100 (with about a week left in the auction). If he let the auction go to completion, it would probably had sold for up to $AU 500! In fact, when I resold that item, I got $AU 475 for it!

Regards.

[dukenukem]

hey they have good items rarely seen like once there was a guy selling his air guitar,case not included and the highest bid was over $2,000. Always read seller reviews to see if they have any bad ratings.I my self have never used ebay to buy as i just surf the place to find the stupid stuff and see how many idiots are bidding on it.

[oldfart13]

The newspapers (all of them I checked here in town) all charge a listing fee even if your item doesn't sell. What is the difference between that and Ebay?

Don't expect to get everything in life for free...

[canadateck]

There is a Few Papers here that you can list stuff for free.Nothing is really free in life,But have you looked at what Ebay charges? They also charge a Fee when you do sell the Item.If you sell somthing on Ebay for 10$ it cost 70Cents,Then if you take Payal they charge you another 70Cents, They tell buyers not to pay by Money order,"Paypal is Safer",I guess it has nothing to do with them making more money on top of the sale of the Ebay listing. This is the reason, I now mostly use Google ad's,and my own merchant account.

[Deku Scrub]

I'm tired of all the scammers and idiots on eBay.

However, when it comes to questions regarding reserve prices- I don't see anything wrong with that.

In fact, reserves are silly.
It's like saying "I want to sell an item, and I have a certain price in mind. But I'm not gonna tell you what that price is. You're just gonna have to guess." WTF? On what planet does that sound reasonable?

[Zisguy1]

In fact, reserves are silly.
It's like saying "I want to sell an item, and I have a certain price in mind. But I'm not gonna tell you what that price is. You're just gonna have to guess." WTF? On what planet does that sound reasonable?

It's a way to attract bidders. The only other choice a person has is to start the bidding at the lowest price they're willing to accept. Oftentimes that turns off people looking for a bargain (and can easily result in items not selling) so some people use a reserve price instead. Basically it's a way to get bidding started, not much else. It does have limited usage, and makes perfect sense to me.

[Deku Scrub]

^
I see your point, but to hide the reserve amount is ridiculous IMO.
I would rather bid on a high starting price than a reserve... at least I know I'm actually buying something if I win.

[samijubal]

Reserve stuff usually sells for less than the same thing with a low starting price and no reserve. People seem to avoid reserve stuff, me included.