RipOff Ebay Again?

I have by my computer a paddocks catalogue and a couple of magazines of adverts from the usual folk, and I check prices there before I bid on ebay.

Many people, it would appear, do not.

someone is regularly doing pairs of defender-series light lenses starting at £2.50. they are 65p each from paddocks.

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Some people automatically assume that if its on Ebay, then it must be cheap.

Snap-on tools are another good one, many selling at more than the list price.

Ebay is a great place to sell on, but crap to buy.

Not true, there are some buying bargains too, they're just hard to find in amongst all the crud.

With a bit of care and searching I've made some enourmous saving buying from Ebay, these tend to be higher value items though.

A brand new flat panel NEC 19" monitor I saved £300 on PCWorld Sale prices.

But my biggest saving was importing Dewalt tools from a USA seller that had a UK business partner, I saved £600 on these power tools, that's off real prices not RRP and the voltage is no issue as these are cordless rechargable. No import duty as the tools were shipped from within the UK.

I've found cars are cheap on there, almost trade price in many cases.

Private number plates are about half what the number plate companies sell them for (if that's your thing).

Watches are an absolute killing if you buy from the US, particluarly Cartier, I found items sell for $1000 and I've resold for £1000 in this country, a £300 profit even after import taxes.

With a bit of time and effort you could easily make a living trading on Ebay.

Alan M.

I buy a few things from there but I always check the prices out elsewhere and then set my maximum from that. The cheap bargains ARE there.

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Names ! Names !

Steve

Don't forget that something seemingly over priced to you at your locale may be a bargain to someone who might have to incur big shippings costs.

I needed to make some new spare keys for a 98 Disco I recently bought and the local locksmith said she didn't have any blanks. Ebayers selling them for $4-$13 plus $2 for shipping but I checked the internet and found bulk seller doing 10 blanks for $5 plus $5 priority shipping. The local locksmith cut me 3 keys for the price of 3 blanks I gave her.

I dont see why people complain about eBay prices. If the price is too high then don't bid for it - simple as that. Richard

I've bought and sold thousands worth on eBay, as long as you know what it's worth you will be OK

Just bought a Disco V8 ES LPG on eBay for a lot less than I have seen any in autotrader

Above is a link to the sellers Ebay shop, I'm not related in any way to this guy, just a happy customer.

If you want Dewalt tools this is the place to go, He will also get items to order that He doesn't have in stock, nice guy good service.

Alan M.

Only if you're an idiot and not prepared to hunt and check retail prices. I've got some very good bargains, including a complete car for £55, from which I only wanted the engine & box. I got a complete spares vehicle. Purchasing the engine & box on it's own would have cost me £200 from the breakers market.

And I've had some excellent landrover bargains, including a set of rare self-locking freewheeling hubs for the princely sum of £0.99p, (although the postage was some £12, they are heavy)

Alex

I sometimes wonder if the apparent rip-off prices of small items come with lower postage costs than the standard deals from the traders. So the total cost could be similar.

when checking prices I always see how much it would cost to buy elsewhere including postage or the fuel to go the the shop. the cheapest alternative comes my maximum price, from this I deduct the postage fee the ebay seller is quoting the thus land at my maximim bid.

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

But no one has ....... theres no bids on it. steve the grease

So you end up paying the same for an item off eBay, as you would from a reputable shop, except the item off eBay is of unknown quality, from an unknown, usually anonymous buyer, and may never turn up. That's what makes Ebay crap to buy from.

There probably are the bargains out there somewhere, but there so rare that I've given up searching to any great extent, I just find that the items I do bid on I never win, because I put a maximum on that allows for the fact that I may end up with a substandard item, just the same as any auction, and I nearly always get outbid. There are too many out there paying retail prices for auction items.

Ebay used to be an easy way of getting rid of stuff you no longer needed, and getting a few quid for it, and a place to buy a similar bargain that someone else wants rid of. Now its gone far too commercial, with people making a business of selling cheap tat on there, safe in the knowledge that the buyer has practically no comeback, when he receives the item and discovers it is not the quality he expected. Unfortunately there are so many out there with the attitude 'its an auction, therefore its cheap' who just automatically bid till they win, without ever making any check on what price they could have got it for elsewhere.

As far as buying from any one trading(*) on eBay is concerned the buyer as exactly the same rights as any other consumer purchase from a mailorder trader. The Sale of Goods Act, all the Distance Selling Regulations (the defaults of which are very much in favour of the buyer) etc. Of course there are rogue sellers on eBay just as there are rogue mailorder companies just use a bit of common sense and gut feeling when looking at things for sale. No different to the picking a seller in Exchange & Mart really.

(*)Trading is defined as buying with the intention to sell not to use in your household. Something bought for business use is by defintion trade.

I've never had stuff not turn up. I always read feedback and if there isn't much or if there's anything negative I don't bother. And I read the wording and look at the photos closely.

Though to be honest if I can get it from a mail-order place I trust for a few quid more then I'll use them instead for piece of mind.

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

I don't mind a little bit of negative, any body who has been trading for a while is going to come across some plonker who will neg for some thing very minor or simply a retalitory neg from a buyer who defaulted. I do read negs and any follow up, a trader with "attitude" soon shows up.

On or around Sun, 09 Jan 2005 19:38:51 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice" enlightened us thusly:

I was very restrained in my feedback for the bloke I got a phobile off've recently. gave him a neutral. Phone "in full working order" except that the battery catch has been glued shut... it does in fact work OK, though, and since the simcard is in the toip of it, it's only necessary to remove the battery in order to replace it.

I can in fact get a new housing for a tenner from flatbatt.co.uk, which is prolly not worth the effort...