It is me, or are people really buying things off Ebay at ridiculous prices.

I have been looking for a Greenlee 555e for quite some time, I don't need one this second but I figure if I found a good deal I would pick one up.

Some people are bidding $3000 for a used thing, and some went for over $4000.

Same with a Fluke 434. Someone paid over $4500 for one.

Using a simple search off google, you can buy a brand new 555e for @$2900.

I got my 434 for less than $3700.

What are they thinking?


Dnk.......

Ebay used to be good when it first came out. But now common items go for around retail it seems. Add shipping, not knowing who you are buying from and the difficulty if there is a problem with the item, it isn't worth it to me.

It is good if you are looking for something rare, but I wouldn't buy tools off it.

When I was building my pool I got a lot of the stuff on Ebay. I got a big bag of 44 misc grounding clamps and such (including a few Kupletaps) for $8, a couple GFCI QO breakers for $6 each and some Jandy valve actuators for ~$50. You just have to use good Ebay dicipline and don't pay too much.

Go to a regular auction, and watch people get whipped up into a frenzy, overpaying for the goods, they will pay the cost of new goods (or more) for used merchandise. The key to any auction is knowing when to back off after it reaches the max price one is willing to pay for it.

P.S. If it hits 1/2 of new price, its past time to be considering buying new,w/ wear, no warrenty, not worth it, IMO.

Another thing about regular auctions, it's sometime fun to watch people buy goods they cannot use, was at one for a retiring EC, they were buying 8'strips for $10 ea (new) the problem was they were 277V.

I think the trick with e-Bay is the same as anywhere else: Don't buy on impulse.

A lot of stuff goes for almost or sometimes above retail even before S/H fees. But you can get some really sweet deals: After a lot of patients, I got a brand-new, with-warranty Fluke 179 for $140 which included shipping.

-John

I'm not a big fan of eBay or auction sites in general mainly because they rarely seem to have what I want, when I want, at a price I'm willing to pay. I've certainly seen any number of items sell for well above retail. I think it's the "auction" atmosphere that just makes people stupid. Which is great if you're the seller...

[This message has been edited by MikeK3145 (edited 10-09-2005).]

Dnkldorf....
that price for the bender is with-out the "shoes" it's ALOT more once you buy them!
bought mine for $1500 WITH the shoes on e-bay 2 yrs ago
bill

Hmmmmm.......maybe I should 'list' the bucket truck there.....

John

well i have to say i've been buying on ebay for about two years & have had only one bad experience the whole time.like the others are saying ya gotta know what you wanta pay for something & stop. some times ya get a deal then ya don't. as for most of the sellers on ebay 99 % of them are great people & willing to work things out,then you have a few bad apples just like anywhere else. just my 3cents worth.

[This message has been edited by circuit man (edited 10-09-2005).]

I've bought a bunch of tools on eBay, but I always check ToolUp.com to check the price of a new one.

If I can't buy it for 1/2 of the new price I don't bother.

Be careful with the pictures, some people don't use the picture of the actual item.

I am sure that eBay is an easy fencing operation of stolen tools. Can't prove it though.

Ebay is a pirates' paradise.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I went looking there for pipe bending equipment.
I found a lot of incomplete gear there. I found minimal descriptions....what you saw in the pic was apparrently what you got. If you failed to notice that a few critical smaller parts were absent- well, too bad.
One piece pictured was a Harbor Freight "pipe bender," of extremely limited use. The description failed to mention the make of the item....but a search under "greenlee benders" got it to pop up.
Pricing, for the complete sets, was often higher than retail.

When I see lots of "new" stuff...say, five 1/2" benders, with an asking price less than the cost of one.... I can't help but be suspicious. Ditto with odd assortments of tools. And, when a $2000 tool is listed at $150, the word "Theft" screams out at me.

You know neither the seller nor his source. Some of these sharpies take "let the buyer beware" to an extreme. To believe that someone, out of the generosity of their hearts, is willing to provide you with such great bargains defies belief.

Pawn brokers have always been associated with stolen goods- so some regulations were placed upon them. Ebay, and other "auction" houses, have no such constraints.

Finally, there is the nature of auctions themselves. Apart from "auction fever," there are various scams that use the auction as a means to fleece you. These include the seller bidding on his own stuff (often through a "shill," or partner), excessive handling fees, counterfeit goods, and targeting you for future "special offers."

I'm not about to give a thief a market. Sure, I've had folks consider me the 'village idiot' for this attitude, but I don't care. Someone else may buy it- but not me!

Remember, anybody can claim anything on the internet. A fancy web site may easily originate in the trunck of a car in a bar parking lot. There is no reason to expect an "auction house" to care about the source of the goods sold- any more than the local flea market.

The next time someone brags about their "great deals"....look in their tool box. If every tool has a different name engraved on it, you can be sure that there are some victims out there.

If I am ranting a little much, consider this: Until recently, the other half of my duplex was a dope den. Almost across the street from me, there was a "sell your stuff on the internet" business. I saw every doper in town going in there, selling items they had 'scavenged.' When we finally closed down the dope house, it wasn't long before the "business" moved on as well!

"For evil to triumph, good men need do nothing."

If you are the seller sometimes that last minute of the auction impulse to need an item will make people not realize that they just paid more for a used itme than a brand new one and you end up with more than you ever thought you would get.
One example I can offer is an aquarium I had laying aroudn the house that I decided to try and sell on Ebay.
I hoped to get about $80 for it, I listed it for $80 and next thing I know it ended at $167.50.
The next day the guy calls me and says his truck broke down and would not be able to pick it up until he got his truck fixed, then asked if it was ok if he paid for it.
I say sure that would be great and he comes by and pays for it.
This was about 2 weeks ago and I have not heard from this guy after several times trying to contact him.
I now have an old aquarium sitting in my basement that some guy paid for and has not picked it up.
Some people just get fired up at the last few minutes of the auction and have to have the item.
As a buyer it is definitely good to set a cap on what you are willing to pay, and once the price goes higher let the impulse buyers have their way.

Reno, I understand what you are saying but not all good deals are stolen merchandise. That link I gave you in chat the other night is one of them. I checked them out, they are a large publicly traded company with their main office located in the Netherlands.

reno wrote:


In some cases, yeah I would tend to agree.

However, a lot of what I buy on eBay (AMX control system components) goes for pennies on the dollar simply because it was removed during an upgrade or demolition and is not needed. A few of the sellers let it go cheap because they're not aware of it's real value, and others simply because to them it's clutter or dead inventory.

And I frequently get old cinema equipment (or new equipment not needed) (Power amps, lenses, projector parts, etc.) that I sell with a very low reserve {meaning a minimum price I'll accept for the item to actually sell} or no reserve at all. I have almost always been surprised to get a lot more than I thought I would.

I do agree that tools, especially things like benders, sawzalls, and so on which are high theft items, should be apporached with caution. But what about an older EC who's retiring from the trade and is willing to part with the tools at any price? Kinda like an international yard sale deal. After years of use, probably not expecting (or caring to) get top dollar.

A look at the seller's feedback rating (anything below 95% would be suspect in my book) and reviewing the negatives given on one's rating {to see any seller's feedback comments, simply click on the feedback rating #} should tell a lot about their honesty. Some negatives are a result of shipping delays or simple miscommunications, not necessarily a bad transaction. A feedback comment, once it is left, cannot be changed or reversed {except in extremely rare cases by eBay admin} so a single hothead can trash an otherwise reputable seller's rating.

The best rules for dealing on eBay have been mentioned here already, but to summarize:

1: Check out the seller's ratings before you bid;
2: Read the entire listing before bidding, if it's incomplete or vague, bid with caution;
3: Ask questions! Virtually all listings have a link to ask the seller questions. If you're really interested in the item, use it. If the reply isn't satisfactory (or you get no reply) then don't bid.
4: Don't make your maximum bid more that you're willing to pay for the item. If some bozo is willing to outbid you and pay too much, bully for them!
5: For an item you really want, wait until the last hour or so of the auction before you start bidding, you can sometimes get a better deal that way.;
6: If you're bidding on multiple items from the same seller, don't be afraid to ask for combined shipping if you're the winner, it can save a lot of money and most honest sellers will oblige. (The exception would be on heavy items where the total package weight would be over about 50-60lbs. The overweight charges would eat up any savings.); and
7: Finally, Caveat emptor. ["Let the buyer beware"} Use common sense and you can have fun and save a lot on any auction site.

And if you have any old inventory, tools, etc that you want to get rid of, consider listing them yourself. You may be pleasantly surprised!

edited to add:

Hotline1 wrote:


Go for it!! The ebay Motors section specializes in that sort of thing!

[This message has been edited by mxslick (edited 10-09-2005).]

First, I sell at Ebay and I am not a pirate. Common sense goes a long way with Ebay. If I was looking at any of the adds that you saw, I would have simply passed them up. Incomplete gear or minimal descriptions means, go to the next auction. If you viewed Ebay as a billion garage sales going on at once, you would do better. Every garage holds a different seller. The majority are good people (like myself) who can easily be identified with the Feedback rating that every seller has listed right next to thier name. Just simple math. If I find a seller with 99.9 or 100% positive feedback at 2000+ feedbacks, I know I am looking at an honest seller and that they will do whatever they can to rectify any misunderstandings etc. should they occur. They NEED to protect that perfect feedback or the sales will begin to stop. I had to laugh at that one because after 5 years I continually sell my goods for about 1/5th their original cost, they are not stolen and they are goods that have never been used. I have repeat buyers that know me (the seller) and my source. --- And, my wife does think I'm too generous as a matter of fact. I guess you have to read the Ebay site rules. I have seen and read about many sellers being banned forever for illegal stuff. Remember again, these people never had many feedbacks to begin with (dead givaway. Again - feedbacks would refect this activity and the sellers true intent.


[This message has been edited by sponge (edited 10-09-2005).]

E-bay has it's advantages and disadvantages as everyone has pointed out thus far.

I tend to look at feedback and what the Negatives say about the person. People tend to just repeat themselves when everything is fine and dandy, but the negs. tell a different story.

This website has helped me in many a buy on E-bay: http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs

Just follow the directions and it will show only negs and neutrals. Pretty handy thing when dealing with new sellers.

I myself have had some great experiences with Ebay and not many bad ones

as to Ebay being a "pirates paradise" well, in my school we are required to have a Ti-83+ graphing calculator, retaling from from 75-100$, you can get one in perfect condition on ebay for 35-50$, well soon enough these calculators started getting stolen frequently and sold on Ebay, at least 2-3 dozen were stolen last year, some from people who's family's simply could not afford to buy such a high price item twice, and I imagine this could happen just as easily at a jobsite, someone buys a brand new Hole Hawg, Sawzall, Fluke, next day it's up for auction

I'm with Reno on this one. I have nothing but disdain for Ebay.

A few years ago I did photography on the side. That was before the photographic digital revolution made every pimply faced kid with a digital camera and a computer with Photoshop a "wedding photographer", but I digress...

I've been a member of a photography forum for many years. As you can imagine Ebay is a popular place for photographic equipment, especially it seems for the unscrupulous to sell to the naive.

Many times there were forum members who had equipment that had problems and rather than pay to have it fixed decided to sell it on Ebay and use the money to buy a new one. Usually their way of thinking was that they weren't going to disclose the problem so they can get the most money.

On the other hand there were buyers who never got the merchandise after paying for it, got something broken with the seller blaming it on UPS, even got a box with a brick in it, I could go on. Most often the buyer got something that had an intermittant problem that didn't show up for a month or two or didn't notice that some function didn't work until months after receiving it. Just what the seller was counting on.

Now, I'm sure that there are a majority of honest sellers as well as ligitimate deals on Ebay, but the very concept of it's operation makes it easy for those who would be dishonest to conduct business.

Like gambling, if you can't afford to lose what you spent you shouldn't be there.

-Hal

I mostly use Ebay for used computer parts although comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware is also a pretty good place to find old parts if you are a regular.
I also use Ebay for collectable type stuff.

I doubt there is much in the way of stolen stuff there.

I agree, finding a <insert big expensive tool>, missing the parts you keep in the cab of your truck, is probably stolen.

I've sold around 50 items on eBay and have purchased over 200 items on eBay. I have a 100% feedback rating combined for both. I have been happy with all my transactions. My worst experience was an item that took a little too long to arrive (2 weeks), but that is extremely rare. Most items get to me within a week and in good shape. I buy all power tools and some electrical supplies on eBay. Some things that may make my experiences better than others:

-I only buy new items, no used or reconditioned.
-The seller needs to have an almost perfect feedback rating, if they have any negatives, I read to see what the negatives were for.
-Read the item description and pictures more than once, if the description is incomplete or if they don't have photos, I don't bid.
-If they don't take PayPal for payment, I won't buy from them. I want to pay for the auction immediately after winning online, I don't want to have to go buy a money order or cashiers check. Also PayPal gives you some protection as a buyer.
-I usually buy items that are "Buy It Now" or I stalk the auction and bid in the last minute(not hour, minute) otherwise you'll be outbid unless you bid too much.
-If it's too good to be true, it probably is.


[This message has been edited by Electric Eagle (edited 10-09-2005).]

I doubt there is much in the way of stolen stuff there.

But how would anybody know? That's a common misconception. As an example:

Many of you may know we are a telephone interconnect and low voltage contractor. We are an Avaya dealer.

I can tell you that ANY new Avaya equipment for sale on Ebay (as well as anywhere else on the web) may not be stolen but it has been obtained illegitimately by the seller because no authorized dealer is allowed to sell to them. To do so will result in termination of their contract. Obviously there is no warranty on any such equipment.

That's one manufacturer I'm familiar with.

The problem of illegitimate goods being sold through such places as Ebay has become so pervasive that Panasonic will be instituting an authentication process for their telephone equipment. The way it works is the installer must call in and give their dealer number, the serial number of the equipment and probably the customer's name and location. Then they will be issued a password that must be entered before the equipment will function. I expect that something like this will become more and more commonplace with other manufacturers just as it is with software.

-Hal

That is a good idea Panasonic has got going, but you know that unscrupulous people will come up with programs similiar to keycode generators that will make up the password or code necessary to get the system or software working.

Just like money as soon as the new "counterfeit-proof" money comes out from the treasury there is already some guy in his basement with a fresh stack of crisp new funny money.
No matter what people do to safeguard themselves or their propert there is always a crook that is a step ahead with a new trick up his sleeve.


[This message has been edited by mkoloj (edited 10-10-2005).]

You know, there are a lot of sick people out there, people that have fun at other people's expense. Its those kind of people who rip off people on ebay, or who get around security systems just for the fun of it. Without people like that, there wouldnt be a need for security systems. But sadly there are too many people who cant be trusted for the system to ever work like that.

Ebay isnt all bad. The few things that I have gotten were exactly what I was expecting and exactly what I paid for. And the new thing ebay has is this thing that allows you to put in your max bid and it automatically bids for you. So you dont have to sit there and watch it, just put in how much you are willing to pay and if someone outbids you then you just dont have to worry about it. Its quite nifty if I do say so myself.
M@T

Check out this thread from the Mercedes Diesel forum www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum/showthread.php3?t=83554

Please take note that the events I will now relate do NOT involve ebay, but do show some of the "minefields' out there. The moral of this story is" know your seller.

I am currently involved in building a restaraunt. These folks, for reasons unknow to me, decided to buy their stuff all at once from some East-Coast "broker."

The ice machine came missing a remote condenser; a replacement condenser costs more than what they paid for the machine.

The ice-cream machine came improperly wired. The manufacturer was more than happy to help- but was stymied by the absolute lack of any nameplates or serial numbers on it. Even "concealed" serial numbers in obscure places were absent. The best guess of the manufacturer is that, at some point, the machine was stolen.

The vendor has been of litle help, beyond cashing the check. The money at stake is well beyond limits for most small-claims actions, and the customer isn't about to travel across the country to sue in any event.

This is why it is in your interest to deal with local providers, with whom you have a established a relationship. You need to be able to encourage them to care- they don't want to risk the damage to their reputation that an unhappy customer can cause. While it may seem that you are paying a few dollars more up front, you get the value back down the road.

What BigB posted would be a nightmare you would never wake up from. That guy sounds like a royal pain. All of my purchases on eBay have been fine except for one. Bought a motorcycle, sent deposit through Paypal with credit card and never heard from the seller again. Paypal wouldn't refund my money due to insufficient funds in the sellers account so the credit card company took it from Paypal. Paypal was not pleased. But overall, eBay has been a cheaper alternative to buying brand new tools at retail prices for a low income apprentice.

Cow,
When you bought the bike did you ever go to check it out before you bid on it ???

I recently bought a little fishing boat off Ebay, I was looking for a while and there were plenty of buyers I contacted to go and take a look at the boat they were selling before I bid on it that never responded to my requests, to me I treated those people like another scam-artist with a seat that is in need of an A@# to occupy it, and moved on.

I have seen heard of people that bought a vehicle or other big ticket item and never even went to inspect their prospective purchase.

IMO it is just plain crazy and\or stupid to put a down payment on something that you have never seen and is in unknown condition.

Buyer beware. You can get a really good deal on ebay, but you can really get stung too.

Mkoloj, no I didn't see the bike in person before I bought it. It was basically a new bike that only had a few hours on it. Purchased two more motorcycles and a Mustang also since then, sight unseen, with only a few minor problems. Bottom line, I would do it again. I really don't see the problem, Ebay motors has safeguards against sellers misrepresenting their vehicles. If they have great feedback, plenty of pictures and will answer all your emails promptly I don't have a problem buying sight unseen. But that's just me.

I've been using eBay on an occasional basis for a few years now, and have been fairly fortunate in that I can think of only two bad transactions. One I simply never received the goods and the other the idiot shoved equipment into an oversized cardboard box with absolutely no packaging whatsoever.

On the whole though, I've had no problems. Most of my transactions are for vintage equipment, old reference books, adding to my record collection etc. In fact I have one regular seller in the latter category based in Ohio who has been extremely helpful, willing to wait a couple of weeks to batch auctions together so I only get one overseas shipping charge.

We just need to remember that eBay has a cross-section of the good, the bad, and the ugly, just the like the real world.

It is all in how carefull you are. But even then, you can still get bit.

I habe made almost 100 purchases and used to have a perfect rating. I bid on, and won, a setup for communicating with my cell phone through the computer. It was the cable and the software from Motorola. Good price, great feedback.

I get the package and all is OK. The cable is Motorola OEM. The disc, however, didn't look exactly right. I attempted to load it and it failed to load. 4 hours later I call Motorola for support, and eventually discover that the CD is bootleged.
Fortunately I had not left any feedback yet. So I tried to contact the seller; no answer. So I leave a negitive feedback; he blasts me for lying and being a sore bidder.

Well, two weeks later I look at his feedback and he has 20 or so negitives for that very disc. I just happened to be the poor slob who was first to catch it.

Oh well, lesson learned.

Ed

BigEd FWIW - Ebay has resolved issues like yours many times before. Your previous 100 positive feedbacks and the sellers 20 "busted" negative feedbacks would be a clear cut case to them. They will erase your negative feedback record and eventually terminate the scammers account. First step is the live Ebay help link. I've fended off a couple of scammers "potential negatives" before with their help. I'm at 166 positives, no negatives so far...

I've just had my first Ebay drama today after approx 80 purchases. I recieved this email about 4 hours ago:

The following is a notice from eBay Trust & Safety regarding:

Item Number - xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Item Title - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Our records show that you were a bidder on this item. We recently removed this listing and have suspended the seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we will not be able to share further details related to this seller.

If someone claiming to be the seller asks you to complete a transaction outside of eBay, we strongly recommend that you ignore the request. Transactions for items listed on eBay that are completed outside of the eBay marketplace are not covered by the Buyer Protection services offered by eBay and can be highly indicative of fraud.

If you have not sent payment to the seller, we urge you to not proceed with the transaction.

If you have already paid, you may wish to pursue recouping your funds. Some steps you might take include:

1. Ask the seller for a refund
2. If you paid by check, ask your bank to stop payment
3. If you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company's security department
4. If you have made a payment by money order or wire transfer, you may contact that company for further information at 1-800-325-6000 (Western Union), or at 1-800-926-9400 (Money Gram)
5. If you paid with PayPal, review the Buyer Complaint Process at:

/csg/p?www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/protections-buyer-outside

6. Review eligibility requirements for eBay's standard purchase protection program at:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-fraud-claim-requirements.html

There are many tips on how to protect yourself with any Internet transaction in the eBay Security Center located at:
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter

Our goal is to ensure that your eBay experience is safe so that you can buy confidently. It is rare that something goes wrong with a transaction on eBay, but we're here to help you protect yourself in the event it does. If you have any questions, please reply directly to this email.

Regards,
Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)
eBay Inc

I had paid for the purchases & freight about 2 hours prior to recieving this email, the seller has shut up shop & now the fun begins. I paid for the items using funds transfer from my account, I contacted the bank & the girl said that because the funds are going to another bank, it may be stopped before the funds have been moved. Will keep you posted.

When I'm looking at a seller's feedback and see one or two negatives among hundreds of positives, I generally follow the links through to look at the feedback for the person who gave those negatives.

In virtually all those cases I find that the person giving bad feedback is generally being unreasonable in some way or another (e.g. complaining that it's been 48 hours and he "still" hasn't received his goods ).

Fortunately, I've not run into such an awkward customer yet, so I've clocked up 160 positives with no neutrals or negatives yet (as mentioned before though, quite a lot of my transactions are repeat business).



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 10-15-2005).]

Yeah, eBay is pretty good at fighting against bad sellers (and bad bidders) as well.

I had one incident when I was selling some high-end audio amplifiers. I had eight of them listed and one buyer wanted all eight of them! Sounds great, right? Well.....

Each amp had a total shipping weight of 40 lbs., so I had stated in the auction text (twice) that I would not do any C.O.D. on these items. This chap wanted them sent C.O.D., I sent him an email reminding him that they cannot be sent C.O.D. due to the weight. (Final price with shipping was around $350.00US each.) He insisted that I had to send them C.O.D. because the payment summary at the top of the page said C.O.D. was one method. (That summary carries over from previous auctions by a seller and is sometimes overlooked in the auction set-up process.) I reminded him that the rules on eBay state that the text of the auction superceed any other information.

Well, he of 450+ feedback (a few negatives) puffed up and insisted that if I did not pay him to cancel his bids he would leave negative feedback for me, but if paid him he would leave a positive.

Well, can we say extortion, boys and girls?

I sent a copy of his emails to eBay along with the link to the auction. eBay ruled in my favor and banned this bidder from the site. (Did I mention the guy was a doctor?)

This was the only bad experience in over 110 transactions.

I also have a 93 all positive rating, with about 17 or so repeat transactions. (Repeat business from either a seller or buyer doesn't count toward your total feedback rating.)

It's in the way that you use it.... (wasn't that a song?)

Ebay left me swinging in the wind. I bought a "30' pool light". It was a 15 foot pool light with 15 feet of extra SJOW in the box.
The seller "PhatDude" said I cut the cord and gave me a negative. Ebay said I could get them to look into it for $25. I just live with the negative.

Well you could have just twisted the wires together, wrapped them in tape, and dropped it in the pool, couldn't you? Honestly, some people are just so picky.......

(Or maybe you could have used it with Joe T's famous "soap bottle extension cord" ).

Ebay is a great place for old electrical gear like pulse clocks and masterclocks, also reel to reel tapes I have bought NOS.
I have bought quite a few items over the last 3 years and had no problems with the dealers.
I check the feedback rating and 95% or better is fine to me.
Have done about 44 buys and my profile is 100%.

In one case I bought a clock in Italy and was quoted air freight, post office there said that no surface option was available hence very expensive postage. When the seller posted the clock the post office had a lower rate to NZ. the seller offered me a refund for the extra I paid via Paypal or could sent me another clock of the same type for free. I opted for the other clock. and the second parcel arrived in due course.

I have to say that postage is the killer and is very expensive up to 20 Kilo's.

For bidding the best is to wait to the last minute and stick to your budget.

The wife used to work for Grainger HQ in their securtiy/loss prevention department.

They had a ring of assistant managers that were short-listing meters (ordered 4 received 2) or listing them as broken or otherwise "damaged in transit", then selling them on EBay for a fraction of the normal retail.

They were caught (IIRC) because one of the perps listed the serial number in the auction, and it was traceable to one of his sign-offs.

Now that wasn't very smart.

I've had good luck on ebay, with over 60 buys, a good deal of it motorola radios/accessories..I've only had a couple of problems.. one DOA lightmeter (seller took the return after some stalling), one wrong model motorola SVA (easy return after I pointed out the error, and that I needed the listed model.), and one short shipment on a dutch auction (seller shipped second item as soon as I notified him). I've never recevied negative feedback, or had to leave any.
I think the biggest single item that I have bought was a IFR service monitor for $3000.


I've gotten some real deals, mostly due to finding things that had incomplete descriptions, or in the wrong category, and knowing what I was looking at.

I generally wait on bidding until the last couple minutes of the auction.. otherwise the price gets driven up.. if you do it right, you can sometimes snag items for dirt cheap while folks are looking the other way.. I've also had items snagged out from under me, so it goes both ways..

I got a older panasonic phone system a few weeks ago for a $53 + shipping. I was able to add a few additional cards for $10-20 each, and have ended up with a working system that I will be installing for a non-profit that I work for, which has a seriously limited telecom budget.

As other have said:

know what you are buying
know what it is worth
know what it is worth to you
know how much you are willing to spend.
watch out for shipping gotchas.

beware of shipping internationally, or even canada-> us.

"beware of shipping internationally, or even canada-> us."

Why?
I have bought and sold in Canada, Europe and even Australia/New Zealand. No problems. Just be sure what the shipping is going to be. The funny thing is Australia/NZ shipping seems to be faster and cheaper than Europe. My wife gets her "drug gum" from NZ.
It gets here air express in a couple days about half of the best US price we can find.

My eBay experiences have been quite positive for the most part- got some really good deals on spec-grade receptacles and switches from one seller a little over a year ago. In fact, I bid on some "4-way pilot light" switches from the same seller; did some more research and could not find such an animal though 3-ways are listed in at least one catalog (it really didn't matter to me for my purpose). Got the switches, checked them with my trusty VOM and they were two-pole switches but the markings on the back are identical to some 4-ways. So I e-mailed the seller and informed him.

The guy refunded my money and said I could keep the switches. All nine of them.

Yessir, you do have to use caution on eBay and it is deleterious for recovering impulse buyers (so is Costco for that matter but that's another topic!). But there can be some good deals, you just gotta shop around.

Think I'll put that old Megger I bought on eBay a while back to good use today; gotta figure out why that new 20A multiwire circuit popped when I cut the ribbon...

I just got thru an ordeal with an auction I won about a month ago, I bought a pair of tail-lights for my truck and the auction was for a pair of used OEM tail-lights, the seller shipped me a pair of after-market clear tail-lights that are illegal in my state to use on the road.
Thru Ebay I got all his personal info including full name, address and phone #. I tried contacting him several times and he never responded.
I filed a complaint with Paypal.
The seller had 10 days to respond once Paypal contacted him, he never did.
The judgement was awarded in my favor because he never responded.
I got a credit for the full auction price including shipping and handling posted to my Paypal account.
I have not had any mention of returning the product I was shipped.
I was very impressed I didn't think I would get anything and was ready to eat the $11 I paid.
I could not be more satisfied with the service I was provided, I never spoke to one person and all it took was 5 minutes to fill out the online forms and 10 days later I have an e-mail saying that the funds have been refunded to my account.

The ones which are totally clear and you are supposed to use red bulbs? As I understand it, they are completely illegal throughout all 50 states, since there are no DoT approved red bulbs.

Some late-model cars over here are now using tail lights with a clear outer cover, but a separate red lens behind it. I think they might be O.K. Stateside as well, so long as they have the appropriate red refelctor added as well.

Peronally, I don't like the look of them anyway. What's wrong with regular red-lensed lights like we've used for decades?

Yea I think the clear ones are an ugly fad, I don't even see them at all anymore on the roads here in the states.
I just had a broken tail-light on my truck so I wanted to replace it, I thought "For $11\pair why not replace them both so they are weathered equally.
Anyway I got my $11 back, I have an ugly pair of tail-lights that I got for the time I spent dealing with the guy.
After all this I have found another pair on Ebay, won that auction and have what I was originally looking for without a penny lost.

This guy had 100% feedback (until I got done with him), everything looked legit but he still tried to rip me off.
I will still continue to shop on Ebay when I am looking to save a few $.

US->Canada is not a problem, but some people have reported delays with items going from Canada->US (reportedly due to customs and/or the post office)

I have bought items from Canada, and the UK without problem, but I thought I should pass on the caution.

I've only ever sent items to the U.S. from here a couple of times, but never had any queries on delays. That's not enough to really build up any sort of reliable picture on possible customs/postal delays.

I get stuff sent U.S. -> U.K. quite regularly, and have never experienced any problems.


Those us with U.S. vehicles here have enough trouble sometimes with vehicle inspectors who don't know the rules they are supposed to be enforcing.

If I had a nickel for every time some inspector or cop has raised his eyebrows about the red rear turn signals or amber parking lights, well, I wouldn't be rich, but I'd have a few dollars!




[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 12-31-2005).]