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"your views on ebay"

I was just wondering what your views on buying or selling things on ebay were?

I am currently trying to sell something on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd (space) =1&item=7507863462&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Problem with Amazon sellers is the P&P; ~£5 mark for hardware peripherals is a bit stupid.

The thing with Ebay is it's more self-monitoring... as in you have to make sure the person you're buying off is genuine by checking feedback. Ebay themselves can't monitor every item / seller, and can't be responsibe for people ripping you off as they have nothing to do with the quality / sending of goods. Obviously if someone has loads of negative feedback you don't buy / sell to them.

As far as I'm aware second hand stuff off Amazon is sold through people with their own 'Amazon' stores. I'm pretty sure not everyone can sign up for these, so Amazon are going to have an easier job monitoring them rather than Ebay who let anyone sell items, so cannot realistically monitor sellers... The buyers have to.

I would use that but I simply don't like the guarantee setup they have.

Ebay seem happier to let people rip you off than Amazon. Mabye this is simply because Ebay deals in a lot more secondhand goods than Amazon and can't monitor everything.

I certainly trust Amazon a lot more when ordering secondhand goods. Their refund and guarantee information is clearly explained and not hidden amongst loads of other crap.

Hedfix wrote:
> I don't like bidding. I prefer Amazon because I pay a fixed
> pre-determined price and their guarantees seem to be very good.

I never bid on Ebay, just By It Now.

sixpacker wrote:
> I'm really p!ssed off with eGay, i have paid for 2 expensive items and
> neither have arrived

That's really the sellers fault not Ebays though isn't it? Or possibly yours if you didn't bother to check the sellers had good feedback for items in the past...


Anyway, my thoughts on Ebay are that in general it's good if you are careful who you buy off, and read descriptions and postage prices carefully. I don't think I've ever paid for something off Ebay that hasn't arrived, worst I've had is second hand CDs that skipped slightly. If you're selling you can't really lose out as you wait for payment before shipping.

One thing I dislike is they allow touts to sell tickets (eg. for the Reading festival, that I couldn't get a ticket for this year, and now there are 100s of them on Ebay for about £60 more than face value), when selling on such tickets is supposed to be illegal...

You can probably find the seperate parts on sale there.

I am new to ebay (joined this week) but i like it, i have only gone for *buy now* items apart from 1 which is a laptop which is cheap at the moment but i'm sure ill get out-bid for it, even though i really just want the ram and the dvd drive out of it.

I don't plan on ever spending alot of money on ebay, nothing over £60 really as i don't trust that it will go smoothly every time.

I don't like bidding. I prefer Amazon because I pay a fixed pre-determined price and their guarantees seem to be very good.

Nimco wrote:
> Even if you were given it, £25 seems pointless when the camera
> is worth over three times that.

£25 is his *starting* price for it - I would expect bidding to push that up somewhat.

Ebay is largely safe, you can usually tell how reliable a buyer or seller is by:

a) ensuring that they have lots of good feedback (as well as a good feedback ratio)

b) browse previous items they've bought and sold - if they trade in items costing 30p each and have 50 positive feedback since they registered two weeks ago, then it could be a scam. If they are getting good feedback on transactions worth considerably more over a long period of time, you can be as certain as you can be that that buyer/seller is safe.