To shop eBay or not to shop eBay

[sisco50]

I have a tip as well.... don't shop eBay for the holidays. I just received their holiday catalog in the mail and I don't see the point of the catalog. The prices listed for the items on sale are "from" and "average" prices. Must be an auction.... hehehehehe I won't be making any Christmas purchases from eBay. I will shop the mall where I can see the price and touch the item I want to buy.

[Dreamer]

I think sisco makes an awsome point.

Honestly, only lazy bums shop on ebay for the holidays so you won't be getting a killer deal, unless you are looking for something nobody else wants. Go to the mall and buy it there. You dont' have to worry about the condition, whether it is what you think it is, and you know you'll have it for christmas. And if you have a problem, returns are pretty straight forward

[FightingBack]

I would totally have to disagree with you guys. I LOVE eBay despite all the scam auctions out there. I purchased three christmas presents off there this year and they were brand new and work great!

I bought a 17" LCD TV for my parents bedroom because they've always wanted a flat screen in their room instead of their big thick 13" screen. They think these flat screens are the neatest things! You wont believe the money I saved on this brand new item! I saved hundreds of dollars! The retail value was like $550 and I got it really cheap!

I also bought two gift cards off of eBay and I saved a good $50 - $75 there too! Example say I was buying $100 gift card, I could get it for $80-$90.

I have had bad experiences with eBay in the past, nothing that couldn't be fixed, but that isn't going to stop me from shopping on there and saving hundreds of dollars!

[mercinary]

FightingBack's view is probably the popular one. eBay does present the opportunity to save a lot of dough. This is why I think people should take note of our suggestions for a safe eBay shopping experience.

-Merc

[jokach]

I used to shop on eBay and still do on occasion, and i'm not a lazy bum (as Dreamer states). My thoughts on where they currently stand and where they are going are expressed throughout these boards, so I won't bore anybody with them, but merc's points are good ones, the buyer beware, its rare to get a great deal on ebay, but you can save a few bucks.

[sisco50]

FightingBack,

I certainly respect your viewpoint. It is obvious that you have had good experiences with eBay. I on the other hand, have had some bad experiences with eBay and PayPal as well. There is the $200.00 in cyberspace somewhere between eBay and PayPal that belongs to me. It is not the amount of money that I am speaking of but the fact that I can get no resolution that bothers me. I have been ripped here and can not get a bit of action from those folks. They will not even communicate with me about the subject. This is just another area to be leery of when doing business with them. I am glad to hear that some ppl still have good luck in dealing with that crowd. I have given up on them. :(

[mercinary]

This is turning into a discussion of its own, so I have spawned a new thread.

For anyone interested, this all was spawned from a thread I posted regarding some tips for safe eBaying over the holidays here:

http://www.matrixwatch.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1752

-Merc

[Goatman]

I'm a n00b to this group as of yesterday and I just want to thank all of you MW-dawgs for the great work you do.:)

I am the group moderator at eBay Scam Killers and I am always looking for "brothers-in-arms" groups to join when it comes to eBay scams.

The groups at 419eater.com and thescambaiter.com are focused on Nigerian 419 advance fee fraud, but even they have now opened eBay Scam forums per my request. It's the eBay scams that really irk me, as I believe anyone stupid enough to fall for a Nigerian 419 scam is, well... stupid!
;)
Some groups frown on baiting scammers, so I won't get into it here, but will admit that I have run 9 eBay scam baits and am working on #10 & 11 now. :D
The 3-week old, 40-member eBay Scam Killers group is floating anywhere from 15-20 baits per week - mostly in eBay Motors.

But again, I want to thank all of you for the great work you do here. We're all trying to stop eBay fraud and I see the numbers growing almost daily.

Happy Thanksgiving!

... you can call me...
"Mac" ;)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eBay_scamkillers/

[ycchen]

Goatman, welcome to matrixwatch!

Yes, we share the same goal of protecting the customers from scam, even though we might have different approach to fight the scam :)

Keep up your good job!

[MatrixWatch]

GoatMan,
Welcome to the site. We have a terrific anti-scam team here. The team leaders have done a terrific job at not only fine tuning their methods and reporting thousands of fraudulent auctions each week, but they have also successfully made their efforts more global. From what I have last heard, our guys are fighting ebay fraud in 2 or 3 continents now! :)

Our membership recently hit 1,600 users, and we continue to grow. Our concerns are also growing as well, especially as we learn about how prevalent the scam issue is becoming. I think that linking the various groups together through community is a terrific endeavor, and it will no doubt lead to a great deal of understanding of new methods.

You and your group are welcome here, and I hope that our open and active forums will suit your needs and interests.
:D

wd

[sisco50]

Here is something I found at my3cents today:

"Ebay/PayPal Complaint
Posted By: Anonymous on 9/8/2004

Ebay/PayPal Complaints, Waste Of Time!

I am really amazed at how Ebay/PayPal cares Nothing about Consumers who get ripped off on Ebay Purchases. What's more, their Feedback System is a joke! If you leave Negative FeedBack for a Seller, attempting to simply warn others of your bad experience, the Seller can do the same to You, without any substanciated facts, simply Revenge.

Moreover, if you attempt to file a Complaint with PayPal on an Item that was "not as described", PayPal allows you to waste your time writing the complaint, then when you submit it, it Automatically Closes the Dispute!!! What's more, it won'nt let you file anymore complaints against this Seller! How convenient of them to waste your time and basically treat your problem as "your problem"! Neither of these conmpanies cares about a Buyer in the least!

A Seller could send you a PhoneBook instead of say a Laptop, you spent big bucks on, and their Policies would apply to "Not as Described" in the add and besically leave you in the cold, without any cares or assistance. Try It, if you have a bad experience with a Seller, you'll be glad to avoid it if possible... There's been no improvement to Ebay's Fraud or dispute sysems in the least, over the past few years."

[KCGarden]

I have my personal set of rules for shopping on eBay. I have broken my rules before, but I've still never been disatisfied with any purchase. In fact, I would say I've been far happier with my eBay purchases than with store bought goods. Of course, I price items obsessively and only buy from eBay when the savings is substantial. The reason I've been happier with eBay is everything I've gotten from eBay still works or was in the condition described. In contrast, my store bought new digital camera worked right up until the end of warranty. If I had gotten the camera from eBay, it would have been just as likely to have problems, but would have been cheaper.

I believe people have had serious problems with Paypal and eBay. I believe both companies should do everything they can to resolve those problems, but they aren't. Still customers have similar problems no matter where they shop and if a buyer is cautious and is very diligent about comparison pricing, eBay is a valuable resource. For example, I recently bought a studio light kit for 2/3 retail price. I couldn't afford retail price at all. So it was eBay, or nothing. Kit arrived, as described.

As for laziness, is it lazy to want to avoid Holiday crowds? In an extreme example, the traffic became so bad at a mall near me, cars were stuck for hours and ran out of gas while trying to get out of the parking lot. lol Yeah, worst case scenario, but still...

Finally, I applaud the efforts of eBay scam watchers. Keep up the good work.

[ColdVengeance]

I am really amazed at how Ebay/PayPal cares Nothing about Consumers who get ripped off on Ebay Purchases. What's more, their Feedback System is a joke! If you leave Negative FeedBack for a Seller, attempting to simply warn others of your bad experience, the Seller can do the same to You, without any substanciated facts, simply Revenge.

Moreover, if you attempt to file a Complaint with PayPal on an Item that was "not as described", PayPal allows you to waste your time writing the complaint, then when you submit it, it Automatically Closes the Dispute!!! What's more, it won'nt let you file anymore complaints against this Seller! How convenient of them to waste your time and basically treat your problem as "your problem"! Neither of these conmpanies cares about a Buyer in the least!
."

Can't agree with you more. Started off as a careful, highly responsible, polite, informative buyer. Was always goin' through Sellers history, always trying to complete my payments ASAP and always trying to keep in close contact with Sellers about shipping info etc (3/10 responding promptly though). What did I get? Did my first purchases OK (was lucky perhaps??) and then problems started showing up. Now I'm in the middle of a case with a Seller, who took money allright and who's been wasting my time and wearing my being since 3/1/2007(!!!) telling unbelievable stories about returned or lost parcels, etc. To cut it short, he's offered item refund provided I remove my neg!!! Great nerve! :mad: