Explain E-bay to me..(and share buying experiences)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I am a buyer and seller on eBay, have been for a few years now. I also act as a buying and selling agent for other people, like folks that don’t have a computer, or people who don’t want to hook up their personal information online, or people that simply don’t have the time. I also do a lot of side-work teaching people how to use eBay, which is often very interesting.

As with any transaction involving people and their money, once in a while you will run into a problem, but on the whole, you should really enjoy your eBay experience. Most transactions are usually smooth and quick.

Do a search before you post your item (if you are selling something) to see what similiar things are selling for currently.

If you are bidding on things, keep an eye out for the shipping charges, many people (manny peoples? :wink: ) make a few extra bucks on the auction by charging way too much for shipping/handling/insurance.

Also watch out for last minute snipers if you are bidding on something that you really want, it can be very frustrating. OR, if you are the type (heh heh) learn what sniping is and how to do it, and you can increase the amount of auctions you will win.

When you are selling something, especially if it is something you care about or expect a certain amount for, start your auction at the minimum amount that you will take for it. Yes, your eBay fee will be a tad higher, but it’s worth it in the end if you sell it for the right price. Reserve auctions often fail, because if you only have one buyer interested, they will not sit and bid against themselved to meet your reserve. If you don’t care about the final value of the item, start your auction at a penny or $.99, to get the really cheap eBay auction fees.

If I can help further, feel free to post or email.

22

Hopefully this isn’t too much of a highjack, but I’ve got a question for aenea (and anyone else with advice.)

I have about 400 CDs that I’d like to sell. They aren’t collectibles or even out of print, so I guess they’d only sell for 4 or 5 bucks. They aren’t exactly mainstream either - I’m afraid that if they were only listed for a week, I wouldn’t get any bids on many of them.

I was thinking of opening a store on eBay. That way I could list all my CDs, they’d stay on the market for a couple months, and I’d be paying less than listing them individually.

How much would that cost me? Would it require a lot of my time to manage my store? Basically, I’m trying to figure out if the store idea is worthwhile.

Any advice, either on eBay stores or selling used CDs, would be appreciated.

23

I’ve bought about a couple dozen items via eBay and only had one problem. The item was evidently stolen from outside our door before we got a chance to bring it in. I now try to have all packages delivered to my work address.

24

I was on it for a couple of days and have no interest in ever going back. Looking for certain old books and magazines—found some of them; registered and bid on them. Invariably, some SOB would wait till 30 seconds before the auction closed and outbid me by a dollar. When I want to buy something, I want to buy it. I don’t want to arm-wrestle someone for it, and I can’t spend my whole day on the computer checking eBay (I’m too busy spending my whole day on the SDMB!).

Imagine going into a store and seeing a pair of shoes you really want and saying, “I’ll take those—wrap them up.” And the salesperson says, “Oh, but the lady over there wants them, too. Do I have any bids?” Screw that. Not a store I’d ever go back to.

25

That’s called sniping. There are programs out there that will automatically “snipe” auctions for you.

Alternatively, you can buy items with a “BuyItNow” feature (which eBay allows), which allows you to buy an item for a set price before the first bid is made. I allow “BuyItNow” with all my auctions (in fact, I usually provide free shipping with BiN, so as to encourage getting the price I want and getting it quicker than waiting for the auction to end).

Zev Steinhardt

26

Just so you know, there are Subscription, Insertion, and Final Value Fees associated with having an eBay Store.
Here is a link to the Fees page:

Basically, you need to sit and do some math here. Is it cheaper for you to list each of these CD’s individually or in groups, or would it be cheaper to open a “store” for $9.95 a month, plus your store inventory fees, plus auction and final value fees.

"The insertion fee covers any quantity for a single listing, whether you list 1 or 1,000 of the same item. The fees vary based on the duration of your listing. " Which means that you would only pay one insertion fee ($.05) for all of your cd’s. You would still pay for auction fees and final value fees for each sale though.

If you need further detail or help wandering thru this maze, my email address is aenea01@yahoo and I have instant messenger also. :wink:

This is a nifty eBay selling tool, it’s software and a service that you can use for a monthly fee. Your auction fees would still apply though:

27

You can use confirmation with media mail, its great only 40 cents.

For International stuff from the USA, use a Global Priority mail envelope, up to 4lbs, $9.00 (this is for england, other countries might vary). Great for books.

28

I have bought things on eBay for a few years, ranging in value from $20 to $700. I’ve never had a problem, and all my transactions have been quite pleasant. I recently started using PayPal instead of sending personal checks, and that makes it all much more convenient. There have been some real horror stories regarding PayPal in the past, but they seem to have cleaned up their act.

I once got a $1000 camera lens for $250, in brand new condition. Sucker. :slight_smile:

There is no point to sniping. When you see something you want, simply figure out the maximum amount of money you are willing to pay, and bid that. If someone snipes you, well, it’s because they bid higher than your maximum, anyway. Sniping is for irrational bozos who don’t understand how the proxy bidding works. There is no reason to ever bid more than once for a given item.

29

I used my paypal funds one time to buy something for $35 on ebay. A few hours later I got an email from someone who said that the person I bought from was a ripper so I contacted paypal right away. I know they don’t pay people for a few days so there is a window there. Anyway, they gave me $5 & ebay gave me $5. That’s all I got back.

moral:
If I had used my credit card funds through paypal instead, my bank would have got it all back.

30

I am an Ebayer, also! Buy & sell often. Usually selling because it’s very nice to come home & find a check in the mail!

But one thing no one has mentioned is “no sales tax”!

Certain sellers request sales tax if a buyer is from the same state.

This is reason I bought my digital camera off Ebay. Sure, the same camera was at our retail outlets here, but NO sales tax paid on this end!

But don’t worry. Uncle Sam has figured the countless $$$$ lost on these transactions & is figuring a way to tax the sellers or buyers. In the end, someone will pay.

Anyway, have fun! Let the bidding begin!

31

also check feedback cause its real important.

look a the bid history too so you can see if the same person is bidding against you.

A lot of the new electronics there are bought from web sites that have sales & then resold on ebay. If you look around, you can find the original sale site & get it for that price.

32

I don’t really have much to add (but has that ever stopped me from posting).

If you are buying:

  1. Read the auction carefully. If you have any questions, email the seller before you bid.
  2. If you looks way too good to be true, it probably is.
  3. Check the feedback of the seller before buying
  4. Email promptly

If you are selling:

  1. Make your auction as clear as possible.
  2. IMHO, flashy/animated pictures are an eye-sore.
  3. Email promptly

Good luck. Ebay is great, I’ve been buying and selling for years. Worst problem was a non-paying bidder and I was able to re-sell without a problem.

33

I really enjoy those items with the “Buy it Now!” feature as an option; for those items that I feel like I can’t live without (and so far, with my three years membership, I’ve only purchased ten things, so apparently I can live without a lot), this saves me a bunch of time and worry about escalated prices.

And, Eve, it’s true that fighting it out with other netizens does annoy me at times, but E-Bay has many items that cannot be easily found anywhere else. It’s the world’s largest garage sale and I love wading through the mountains of used underwear. :smiley:

I only wish I could find an internal JetDirect card (10 or 10/100–not TokenRing) that doesn’t go up in price beyond the $200 mark. One of these days, mind you…

34

I have both.
Bad: I was bidding on a set of earrings, won the auction, and then got a message from ebay saying that the seller had an unexpected family emergency and I would get my stuff but to please be patient.

Unfortunately, I got this AFTER I sent the money order.
never got my merchandise. Seller never returned emails or phone calls.

Ebay WILL reimburse you IF you fill out all their paperwork. After a $25 deductible. if your whatever-it-was was under $25, you lose, oh well, so sorry.
If it was OVER $25, you’ll get all but $25 back.
You CAN leave negative feedback for the seller - enough neg. feedback and nobody will buy from them. Especially if it’s all things like “never sent items!” You can also report them to Ebay, who say they do investigate fraud and people can be banned from selling / buying if Ebay decides they’re just jerking people around.

however, the rest of my Ebay experiences have been wonderful - everything I’ve ordered arrived quickly, in good shape, and I’ve not had any problems except the one listed above.

35

I just loooove e-bay. If you are content with last year’s model, you can find great bargains.

For instance, the hot video game du jour among the pre-teen set is now PlayStation2 or the XBox. This means that most of YESTERDAY’s hot games can be had for a song and a dance. I got an entire Nintendo 64 system, including 4 controllers, an extra memory card, rumble pack, and a dozen games, for $65 delivered. A few years ago this system would have cost over 500 bucks. No, it’s not state of the art, but you know what? It still offers hours of entertainment.

Ditto with movies. DVD is the hot new thing. So if you’re content with VHS, you can buy huge lots of them for a fraction of what they cost a few years ago. We have a tv/vcr for the car and I was thinking of renting a few movies that the kids haven’t seen for the trip. But on a whim, I checked e-bay. I was shocked at how many people were selling entire collections for pennies on the dollar. I got a lot of 24 “family” movies (Sister Act, Home Alone, Star Wars, Star Trek, Mrs. Doubtfire) for $50. That’s $2 a movie.

And then I was talking to people here who advised me to get a power inverter and I could take my tv/vcr AND hook up Nintendo for the trip. Radio Shack was selling them for $99. I picked one up on e-bay for $36.

So the kids will get a fully functional tv/vcr WITH Nintendo for the ride down. Man, when was a kid I would have been in HEAVEN.

Have I said how much I loooove e-bay?

Oh, and I’ve never had any problems.

36

Hell, Lisa, Nintendo64 ain’t YESTERDAY’s hot system… it’s like several years ago. :stuck_out_tongue:

37

The electronic auction is a reasonably new arena. Before casting aspersions about the venue, kindly become fluent in the art of the dance.

I’ve been to auctions for many years, and there is a methodolgy to avoid being skunked. Learn it via gracious losing and observation rather than dismissing the whole.

38

But give a kid a choice between staring out the window for 12 hours and playing Nintendo, he’ll choose the latter. Hell, I’d play Pong if it was my only choice. :slight_smile:

39

Yeah, he’d choose Nintendo GameCube!

I don’t even have a system, but if I ever get one, it’s the last generation, not twelve generations ago. :wink:

40

I have an ebay ‘shop’ (the eBay.co.uk equivalent of a ‘store’ - I kid you not), but it looks like the extended duration listings aren’t available here, dammit.