[moped rider]

Spotted on Ebay and already bid up to £10. The seller should be locked up. Why does he not say that this item can be purchased in the shops for £3 rather than tell porky pies.....

Scalextric SPORT/Classic convertor track

Moped

 

[gecko]

I quote:
"Apparently this a truly unique opportunity to add a "hard-to-get-hold-of" item to your Scalextric circuit" ...."that isn't widely available in the shops."

What a load of old 'tosh', no wonder the bidders ID has been kept quiet - too embrassed!

Stuff like this happens all the time on Ebay, I saw a Scalextric Sport Pitstop cardboard kit sold for over £20 not too long ago, and they are only £10 online or in the high street.

Nevermind

Mark

 

[Mecoprop]

On the face of it, that is truly appalling!
Though hard to believe and I haven't bothered to check, I wonder if they ARE hard to get hold of currently? If so, it would be a way to wangle out of moral culpability.

 

[mtucker666]

They are not easy to find but not that hard - all e-tailers/specialist have them but my local toys r us and model shops never seem to have them.

There will always be silly buyers (I always hope for them and got one when selling my Argos TVR for £50 a car!) although I'm always suspicous of auctions where bidders id's are hidden as I always think they are 0 rated or new ids which makes me think they are just alternetaive id of the seller.

Matt

 

[scalextricracer]

I agree

But while there are people who dont do there homework, shop around or are unable to see the untruths, there will always be a market for the sellers.

I have purchased a few itmes of ebay and have paid a good price got a 60 pitstop in very good condition for £40, picked up a couple of jaguars xj9 for £13 each. I have always been wary of anything that says rare, hard to get hold of, i think people should avoid these items.

You wouldn't go into a car show room and let the sales person tell you the car your gonna buy is a hard to get hold item.

Forearmed is forewarned.

ScalextricRacer

 

[Brit Slot Nut]

Hey guys,

The place is full of shady characters!

The other day there were two Newray twin axle caravans without diecast bmws(retail £3) and the guy wanted £19.99 as a start with £4 P+P!

read feedback and look at items that they buy and sell, if it looks fishy then it probably is, so stay away!!

BSN

 

[Tropi]

I've never used Ebay, but on reading something like this . . .
Is feedback worth anything at all?
If an idiot is unaware enough to realize that the price is ridiculous, then I presume he is also idiot enough to provide good feedback rating if he receives the goods swiftly etc.

 

[jonny s]

The feedback is a joke. If someone gets a bad reputation they simply change their user ID and start again , with the help of E Bay of course. I am currently taking legal action to right a wrong and I will win. E bay are not interested even though you would consider them liable for allowing a dodgy seller to reappear having already been detected. Trading standards are helpful and the small claims court is available to chase down dishonest sellers,whoever they are.

 

[gecko]

I quite offen buy and sell on Ebay - like everything it has it's pitfalls, the rules I usually stick by are:
1) Be careful buying from someone with no or low feedback, however everyone has to start somewhere, it's true that people can change their ID, but a little icon next to their username shows this, and ask yourself this question "Why did they change their ID?" - AVOID!

2) If something is bothering you about an item, ask the seller a question - if they reply that the item is complete and when it turns up on your doorstep incomplete, you've got a good case for complaining, oh and don't email a seller a question about an auction that is ending in a couple of hours!

3) Feedback can be a joke, there are alot of dealers on Ebay buying stock and reselling it a week later trying to make a quick buck! Take a little time to read through a couple of different feedback comments left by recent buyers and sellers, so you can build a good picture of the person you are buying from.

4) Study, study, study - check that other items aren't being sold for cheaper or at the same price, it is very rare to find only one of a particular item on Ebay. Plus what usually happens is that items come and go in trends, one time a vintage Scalextric Pit Lane can sell for around £80, a month later Ebay is littered with them and you can pick on up for £30 - just be patient.

5) If you really want something try an "Auction Stealer" (www.auctionstealer.com) its FREE and submits a bid for you in the last 10 SECONDS of an auction, a great tool. All you do is sign up, enter the auction number and the auction site it is on, set your highest bid and sit back and wait! And yes I know its cheating, but thats life!

6) Don't bother bidding to early on an item, it just pushes the price up. Wait to the last 5-10 minutes and then strike.

7) Look for auctions that have an unusual end time e.g 11:30pm or 8:00am, less opposition.

8) Try bidding in 'funny' numbers, e.g rather than bidding £15 for an item try £15.03 or £15.28 - most new Ebay users bid in round figures, that 3p difference could mean winning or losing.

9) Check postage, postage costs are the biggest area for cons, but do take into account things like packaging and the time it takes to post the item. However if someone is stating £6 for a single fly panoz (boxed) delivered via Royal Mail Special Delivery (which is next day delivery) and it doesn't turn up for over a week - that is a bloody con, oh can you guess this is not a fictional story.

Can't think of any more useful tips, but if I do I'll post them up.

Cheers
Mark

 

[MK2-Escort]

QUOTE it's true that people can change their ID, but a little icon next to their username shows this, and ask yourself this question "Why did they change their ID?" - AVOID!

They are not changing their ID, but just their username. Their feedback, and everything else still remains the same.

QUOTE Why did they change their ID

Well, maybe they just wanted a change, or something. It is NOT anything to do with 'dodgy deals'.

MK2

 

[GBMark]

I have been buying and selling on Ebay for about a year now and so far have had no problems.

In situations like the Sport/Classic connector piece, to do something about it, I think I would be more inclined to e-mail the bidders and warn them that the description is misleading.

Agree about the pointless roll of feedback, it is a good idea in principle but how can you give an honest appraisal about the transaction in 80 characters or less !!. No wonder most people simply type "top Ebayer A+++++++" every time just to appease the buyer/seller.

Besides, even sellers with a poor rating still have enough positive feedbacks claiming that they are wonderful people and should be on the next honours list for their services to fair trading......and does anyone really bother trawling through loads of pages to find the negative feedback that someone got 6 months ago, why Ebay dont allow a "search for negative feedback" is beyond me.

Anyway, the single most important thing to remember when using Ebay is to get some price comparisons first. Check high street prices, internet mail order, do a search in Google for what you are looking for and as Gecko says, you must take into account the postage costs....and dont forget that it is possible that you are paying a lot of p&p for something that could well turn up 2nd class in a box that has seen better days.

It is also important not to get drawn into the madness of the Auction. Set a max figure and stick to it, avoid the "win at all costs" mentality.

.....and just to finish off my ramblings, I have started noticing the Challengers that have found their way onto Ebay....I dont think one has sold yet for less than £45 and a second hand one went for £46.

 

[Difflock]

Someone put a challenger on there starting at 99p. I figured it was definitely worth a fiver to me

However, other bidders soon put paid to that idea

Mark.

 

[The Muffin Man]

LOL.....well I thought that was funny (and I'm now wishing I hadn't just chucked my convertors in the bin when I switched to all sport track!).

Anyway, I have also been using ebay to buy all sorts of stuff (slots to cpu's) and sell some of my unwanted gear. As Jonny S has said in other threads "things are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them" (apols if not quite as said, but you get the gist).

If someone thinks they are getting a bargain and are happy to pay £10 for a £3 item, then as long as they are happy there's no problem. I personally always look around for everything before I buy and know the retail prices before I bid on ebay, that way you at least have a sensible level to bid up to.

As they used to say in Rome.........Caveat Emptor!

 

[Cambridge Blue]

It is always about knowing what item is worth. Saw a set of convertors go for £14.50 just recently plus £1.65 P&P so £10 looks a bargain!

CB

 

[jonny s]

Don`t want to go on but the feedback situation is as I posted. The negative feed back is not always shown and is dumped if user name changes. I say this because of a recent experience. Can`t go on cos of legal situation but I bought an item recently for a fair enough price. The item was not as advertised and was faulty. The seller was not interested, e bay not interested,trading standards...very interested! I trawled through loads of previous buyers from the same guy and discovered by e mail lots of hidden nitemares. Even though these people had posted negative feed back it was not shown. To cut a very long story short I paid £4,800 for an item and had to go to law to get my money back. Small claims court is the way and yesterday the guy settled out of court. e Bay didn`t want to know, not interested even refused to answer any more e mails. I just think that e bay has a responsibility to ensure that if a seller has a bad rep,it should be there to see? I bet you feel better about overspending by a tenner now eh!!

 

[Difflock]

Glad to hear you got some sort of result there Johnny, but what an absolute pain to get it!

Mark.

 

[soapy]

It is entirely possible that the guy lives in Timbuktu and the drive to the city to get that part makes up for the extra money in gasoline and time. On the other hand he is prolly just an idiot...

 

[550rs]

I haven't used eBay but I am aware of another approach to warn potential buyers - maybe the eBay'ers hear could comment please?

I've heard you can make a bid then retract it and leave a comment.
I've seen this used to warn buyers of a shonky loudspeaker deal, the ones sold from white vans in Sydney. One bidder did this and left a URL in the comments pointing to a news article describing the scam. It killed the sale stone dead.

But I don't understand the basic tenet that if you're smart enough to make purchases via the internet, you'd have to be smart enough to use a search engine, wouldn't you?

 

[gecko]

Check this out!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...&category=20056

At £65 quid the guys got to be joking, especially as Pendle have it for approx £25 - or am I missing something?

Mark

 

[jonny s]

Thanks Mark. Got my money today. Nitemare but I never give up so it turned out ok in the end

My main issue is with E bay who are just not interested in protecting people despite what they waffle on about to the contrary.