eBay stories

[Meatloaf]

I've been buying and selling on Ebay for about a year and have mixed feelings about the experience.

Some classics:

1. Lonely folk that like to use Ebay to chat, have no intention of buying.

2. The same lonely folk continuing to contact you outside of eBay.

3. Paying $20 to ship something that weighs about an ounce 2 miles because the buyer refuses to let you drive over and pick it up.

4. Winning an auction and then having the seller refuse to hand over the goods because they went too cheap.

5. Email that are written in some form of English, perhaps from another century.

Anyone else have any horrid eBay stories?

[BlkMage]

Actually, I've never had a problem with eBay.

One small hangup though. Bought carb rebuild kits, got the wrong ones in the mail, but the guy immediately sent me the right ones and a package with postage paid to get the wrong ones back to him. All this took less than a week.

[dpotter58]

I got taken once on a gas tank and set of handlebars for my bike. I got most of it back through ebay but it was a pain in the ass. Other than that, its all good.

[JWSanders]

Ive been pretty lucky on th' Bay too. Not one single transaction that went to an unresolvable state. Have well over 100 on my account and a few hundred on another.

1 and 2 in your list are just crazy. They wouldn't email me long...unless they like expletives and generally nasty attitudes. And maybe long diatribes about their mother and lineage in general.

#4 is a violation of EBay's TOS and a report would be in order for sure. Not that it may do much, but that's just wrong. I have had a seller tell my that they lost their ass on an item though..but sold it nonetheless. Tough titties..

[79XS11F]

The only issue I have with ebay sellers is when they don't get what they expected and then charge a SH*t load for shipping and handling. The item arrives with the postage sticker and cost on it and I see that they have overcharged by several hundred percent. I don't mind paying someone to pack up an item and cover postage but when they start burning me I stop buying from them.
Rob

[Geezer]

I got taken on a set of carbs. The same guy screwed over other buyers and lost his account but managed to keep my money.

Another time I sold a 20 buck item and the guy paid with an eCheck. I made the mistake of shipping the item before the payment cleared (and it bounced.) I filed a complaint with eBay but nothing ever came of it. It would be nice to have a network of biker goon-squads to take care of internet scamers.

I've sold hundreds of items on eBay over the past 5 or 6 years and have many more happy dealings than bad. Like the time I scored a set of 1979 Standard side covers for 40 bucks.

Geezer

[Hired_Goon]

Bid on an XS1100 once. Missed out as it went past my limit. Was a local listing 50 Km's from me.

Next day received a second chance offer by email. Email addy left me a bit suss.

Luckily the seller had put a phone number in an answer to one of the questions.

Rang to check if the second chance offer was for real.

Of course it wasn't. Reported it to ebay then spent a week stringing the scammer along via email trying to get some "retribution" info out of them. **** like that makes a man wanna break some bones.

Didn't work.

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

I bought the Battle Cruiser on Ebay. The seller was great, we spent close to three hours on his deck watching wildlife, telling biker stories and drinking coffee on the day I picked it up.

[kf4anm]

I have bought and sold my only suggestions are:

control the shipping. like rob said nothing worse than paying 10 or 15 bucks for freight and get it with a 2 dollar parcel post stamp. Nothing wrong with packing charges but they have to be realistic. as big as ebay is they should be able to get in the bed with the usps and ups and have a structured shipping system. They currently have one with ups by zip code that seems to make thing pretty honest. make it manditory that all shipping be zip code, and weight based with a few carrier options. its crazy to see stuff listed for a dollar then have 35 or 40 freight on it.


second, my bigger pet peave. seperate the commercial buy it now from the private auctions completely. I know you can tab it after a search but put that stuff over in another department completely. its like going to a flea market and 90% percent of the vendors are selling tom bosley smc catalog junk.

however, in conclusion my theory about the solution to the problem can only be flawed by applying my generic answer to solving any of mankings problems:

If there is person smart enough to create it, then there is someone with the same brain power out there that can break it.

[81xsproject]

I have generally had good experiences. As I have access to an ultrasonic cleaner I have been flipping carbs. I did get a set that supposedly came off a running bike that were such garbage they are now parts carbs.

My only complaint is how impossible it is to get ebay to do ANYTHING. Best example is the "NOS" tank emblem scam. I see new ones listed about every other day. I report the seller to ebay every time. Hopefully sooner or later they get tired of getting reports and actually do something about it.

[ccogswel]

I've got burned two times.

The first time it happened I was just starting out on ebay. It was on a reese hitch. After I won the auction I got an email. The email gave me the total amount to send. Never gave any thought about it. I sent them a money order. Never got anything back. I contacted ebay and filed with them after following their rules. Got some of my money back. Paid 40 for the hitch another 40 for shipping and ebay don't cover shipping charges so after the 25 filing fee that ebay charged I got a check for 15 bucks.

The second time I bought a used computer lcd screen for a laptop I was building. The seller said it worked great. When I got it, it looked to be good until I plugged it in. It was broke inside the screen. I tried to contact the guy. But he blew me off and I wasn't about to use ebay as it wasn't that much.

Those were really the only ones that got me. But I do agree with everyone about over charged shipping and I really hate that the seller waits to see what feedback you leave for them before they leave it for you. I wish ebay would fix it so the seller has to leave feedback first. As you the buyer, when you pay for what you want, your side of the agreement is done. The seller should leave feedback. I think that's only fair. I think it would stop a lot of over pricing on shipping and allow ebay users to leave the appropriate feedback. I may be wrong but thats how I feel.

I would have to say I have had more great experiences then bad. And I have talked to a lot of great people and had a chance to meet a few in person.