Oh the good old days of eBay...

[-coquelicot-]

I've been reading a lot of threads in this forum, and in particular, those about bad eBay experiences - scamming sellers, bad buyers, and fake items.

I remember, about 4 years ago, Louis Vuitton was not nearly as plentiful on eBay as it is now. I received a purse in the mail from Louis Vuitton in SoHo, and my cousin had it sent to me as a birthday present.

I didn't like the thing, however, as it was rather small, and a bit too eighties looking for me. (I don't remember the exact name of it)

At any rate, I only had 9 eBay feedbacks at the time (all positive, but all from sellers), and I listed it for sale, without accepting Paypal.

Granted, I included everything in the auction that came with the purse - so original tissue, receipt, ribbon, catalogues, and even the UPS box, but all of that stuff is so easily faked nowadays!

I would NEVER have been able to sell that item for near retail today, with the same auction specifications. But I am glad that I was able to, as I was (and still am) honest!

Does anyone here have similar *good* eBay stories?

 

[Jen Loves LV]

I've been using ebay for about 5 years, doing more selling than buying and really haven't had many bad experiences, the good ones are more plentiful for me. The ID i have now has only one negative from a person that sold me a fake purse, and I in turn left her a negative, the one and only negative I have ever left. I have found a lot of good deals and sold a lot of stuff to fund my good deals LOL

I think as with any place where money is exchanged for goods, we tend to hear about the bad more than the good. I'm sure the good experiences far outweigh the bad, we just don't hear about them!

 

[ShimmaPuff]

I have had really extraordinary luck, as almost all my eBay experiences over the years have been good ones.

That said, however, I had already severely curtailed my eBay activity, even before declaring a General Shopping Moratorium, because the sad truth is that eBay has undergone some very dramatic changes, especially over the past year or so, due - just like so many things - to those advances in technology, which just as they give with our ever cuter and littler cell phones with ever-expanding functionality, and our increasingly sophisticated TVs that can now pause live events for us, and let us see our favorite shows when we want to, as many times as we want to, and fancier computers that give us the option of even watching those shows on the internet, also take away some things. Like more money.

And sadly, one of those things is the likelihood that your every eBay experience will be a good one. In fact, that likelihood goes down with every dollar of the transaction.

Gone are the days when eBay was the World's Yard Sale, when buyers and sellers started out from a position of trust, just plain old folks doing business with other plain old folks.

First came the Corporate Invasion, where almost overnight, your seller was less likely to be your counterpart in another state or country, but actually an affliliate, covert or overt, of a large company, much like the sudden proliferation on Amazon of people selling books for a penny - the plain old folks trying to clear out space in the family room could hardly compete with that!

And now, as we can see, not only from the cautionary tales on this forum, but on others, as well as offline, eBay has become one of the best bets for the scoundrels and scammers and schemers, every day, every hour, somebody figures out a new and more sophisticated way to exploit eBay and PayPal, both programatically and vis a vis "social engineering," which is a fancy way of saying "taking advantage of nice people who tend to trust others."

So yes, Virginia, there WERE good old days of eBay, certainly relative to the really peril-fraught present days.

Sure, your chances as a buyer are still pretty good if you are buying only low cost items, but it is increasingly expensive for anyone to sell low cost items, unless they are essentially a business, in which case, the cost of the item is going to go up.

Which does not mean that you can't still find bargains on eBay - it just means that it is going to cost you so much in time and effort to find them that like the proverbial drive across town to save $2 on the socks that costs $5 in gas, you have to do some serious arithmetic to be sure it really IS a bargain!

 

[-coquelicot-]

Shimmapuff, I completely agree.

Nowadays, with all the powersellers, it's very difficult for a small, occasional seller (like myself) to edge in on their auctions. It's also harder for buyers to find a good bargain. Everything is suddenly new, in boxes, with tags, and for only 5% less than retail.

I went to sell a pair of shoes on eBay just the other day, and their categories are no longer "New" and "Used" - they're "New with Tags," "New without Tags," and "Other."

I realize I may be looking too much into it, but it seems like for them to get rid of the "Used" category or to rename it to "Other" is a subtle way of discouraging used items.

What is most confusing to me, though, is buyers who up bid something *to* the actual retail price, and sometimes more with shipping!

Between all these things and poor sellers/buyers, I wish that there were a better way. I'm just waiting for the day Google unveils its kinder, friendlier "Google Auctions"

 

[Prada Psycho]

Unfortunately we all seem to come to the eBay sub-forum and mostly gripe about our eBay horror stories. If I had never used eBay before, this place alone would scare me off! I'm one of the fortunate ones, like ShimmaPuff. I've been on eBay well over 5 years now, have completed over 700 transactions and only had issues come up on one or two. Those were minor things as well. And though I didn't consider my first/only negative minor at the time, it hasn't hurt me as far as transactions after that. Not that many people have 100% positive feedback anyway because there ARE so many jerks on eBay.

I constantly tell people not to be afraid of eBay, but do be very smart. Learn the rules, check out your seller's feedback, other items they are selling and length of time on eBay before you do business with them. Read every single LETTER in a listing to be certain of what you are getting and the shipping charges. Use toolhaus.org to get a list of their negative/neutral feedback comments and try to get a full picture of what sort of seller they are. Above all: KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SHOPPING FOR, INSIDE AND OUT! That's how people get ripped off on eBay. They buy things blind then suffer from their mistake. I even bought a $5000 (appraised value) diamond bracelet. I know diamonds and I know eBay, so I felt very safe making that purchase. And yes, it was very much as represented. What a sweet deal THAT was!

Yep, much like people don't want to mess with Bluefly, I've had nothing but positive experiences from them and from eBay. If I hadn't, I wouldn't continue to do business with either place.

 

[koalaph]

I used to buy a lot in ebay and at those time fake bags are very rare and I am proud to say that I got most of my nice fendi baguettes in ebay years and years ago but it has been years since i laylowed in buying bec of the horror stories and fake postings i see or auth pictures but sending fakes bags

 

[ShimmaPuff]

coquelicot, you bring up one of the most bizarre aspects of eBay, but one that can be especially helpful for newbies to know about and reflect on:

Every day, people - LOTS of people, spend MORE for an item on eBay than they would if they bought it at full retail at the fanciest store in the mall.

Why? It's that social engineering thing again, psychology.

Especially people who bid "manually" as opposed to using a program, or sticking strictly to that rule of "decide what you'll pay and don't go over it, no matter what," they get into that auction mode, their competitive juices start gushing, and now they are no longer buying a beige lambswool sweater, available at JC Penney for $40, they are pitting their all against "otherbidder1967" who keeps upping the bid by 50 cents, there are only 20 minutes to go, and next thing you know, they have promised "njsweaterseller2000" the sum of $67.50, and all they feel is an adrenaline rush of triumph because they "won."

Prada Psycho, I think you have summed up the single biggest change. Gone are the days when someone can just plunge in and start using eBay, either as a buyer or a seller. It is IMPERATIVE now that people educate themselves, that they read all the voluminous "help" on eBay itself, and that they come to forums like this one, and read these awful tales.

Each one will have its own lesson, each one details another pitfall that our newbie CAN avoid, if they take the time to learn about them, which means read, read, read, and then read some more, and if they are determined to bid on auctions as opposed to simply using eBay as an online retailer, that they follow that sound Rule One that is not new, but has been around, and been good advice since the beginning:

Decide what you are willing to pay for the item, set your maximum bid at that figure, and walk away.

If someone else outbids you, they were willing to pay more for it than you were. It's that simple.

Whatever it was, there will be another one.

So just find another seller with the item you want, and set your maximum bid again. Or Buy it Now.

That's the best way to avoid collecting your own tale of woe, and keep your eBay participation clearly focused on obtaining specific items, not playing an online game that pits you against "otherbidder1967" in a thrilling budget-defying, no-holds barred contest of mousefinger dexterity and connection speed!