<p>We got lucky and found a fantastic deal on a gigantic old karastan wool rug.</p>
<p>My old (and I do mean OLD) printer died and I would have bought a new printer, except I had 3 brand new print cartridges that would have gone to waste. So I bought the same printer on ebay (and keep a much smaller inventory of ink on hand).</p>
<p>I bought an excercise video (the kind that is advertised on TV, but if you google the name of the video, you read all sorts of horror stories about how the videos come really late and the company sets you up for a monthly consult fee that you never agreed to). So I got the video without having to worry about the other shennanigans (no I haven’t really gotten into the exercise yet).</p>
<p>I find that I am terrible at bidding…getting so frustrated at losing at the last minute all the time.</p>
<p>Wall tapestries for my daughter’s college apt. Prettier than pictures & cheaper too!</p>
<p>I used to buy on Ebay quite a bit. I bought a lot of nice linens. I love Pottery Barn and have changed my bed linens as well as my kids. Not as much on there as there used to be.
I find this true with a lot of name brand items. We used to buy Birkenstocks too, but it isn’t easy to find them anymore.
My last couple of purchases were not very smoothe.
I bought a quilt and duvet set , but the seller lost track of my payment and I had to track it down. She was a big seller, but ( and this is my mistake ) had a rather significant negative feedback , mostly for not sending the items once she rec’d payment…that and not responding to emails.</p>
<p>A few months later , she contacted me and basically tried to pressure me into leaving positive feedback. I had opted to not leave feedback for her at all after reading the nasty comments she had left for her numerous dissatisfied customers. She knew I was not happy . I told her to leave positive feedback for me first , which she didn’t do.</p>
<p>Having bought things for years, I think that there are a lot of shady sellers there now so I am reluctant.</p>
<p>On the plus side, we used to sell a lot of our items from our store there, which was great in the winter months. That has dried up because suppliers have stopped allowing their products to be sold there.</p>
<p>We also sold a few used cars, which was great !!</p>
<p>I mostly buy OOP music & books. Recently, I needed a new cell phone and my contract was not up yet. Bought one for about $100 from one of the “power sellers” on Ebay. When I went to activate at the store, they told me it was stolen, immediately confiscated it and recommended I file a police report. Figured it was an honest mistake from the seller, contacted him and he immediately refunded plus a little extra for my trouble. No threats or anger necessary (though I would have filed the report if he hadn’t made good). Wound up leaving positive feedback for him and he replied in kind. I find most sellers are honest, but I am very diligent in reading the feedback before I place a bid.</p>
<p>lje62, you are right about people retaliating with negative feedback. If you want to give negative feedback, do it at the very last minute. I believe that is 90 days after the transaction. </p>
<p>ellemenope, try [eSnipe</a> - Bid on eBay Automatically - eSnipe 3.0](<a href=“http://www.esnipe.com%5DeSnipe”>http://www.esnipe.com). They will place a bid for you in the last seconds of an auction and you pay them a small percentage. I’ve used it on big ticket items where I expect a lot of bidding.</p>
<p>For a few years I only bought stuff on ebay … mostly sports memoribilia (cards, yearbooks, media guides, old magazines, etc) … and then I had way too much stuff. So over the last year I’ve started selling off a bunch of the memoribilia. </p>
<p>Overall 99+% of the transactions go great … and then every once in a while someone is a total jerk. As a seller the most common issue is people choosing to not get shipping insurance and then complaining about the item getting lost even when provided proof that the item was shipped. </p>
<p>I only deal with things that cost something like $1-$20 so it’s all low risk … I can’t imagin buying a car or a wedding dress or anything like that over eBay.</p>
<p>My H sells stuff on ebay - pretty much anything we find in our basement. Mostly books, legos, small electronics. It doesn’t take up too much time. He has a system - he won’t list anything until he has a box for shipping, so most times he ships same day. Gets lots of good feedback. It’s a fun hobby, and those small transactions add up.</p>
<p>I bought a set of new factory repair manuals for my SUV at a fraction of the cost from the dealer.</p>
<p>I’ve also bought a few “collectible” type items that have almost no value to anyone but me. They were priced accordingly. </p>
<p>I’ve noticed in some cases (for antique or vintage items of certain categories) what I believe to be shill bids and transactions. No direct evidence, only observation. </p>
<p>I think you can get some decent deals there, but you need to know what you’re doing , and use your head.</p>
<p>I bought a Coach key chain from a big eBay seller - it was a total fake 
and came broken. I tried contacting the seller several times and failed to get a response. I left negative feedback and they then left negative feedback for me. Saying I never tried to contact them (not true) :mad: . We agreed to mutually withdraw our negative feedbacks. I now rarely buy from big business-type eBay sellers - especially if they have a lot of mutual feedback withdrawals, and I never leave feedback for any seller who does not leave immediate feed back for me (the buyer), after I have paid. As a seller I leave positive feedback immediately after the buyer pays. I feel once the bidder/buyer has made their payment they desire positive feedback. When I leave feedback for a seller (after I receive the item), I usually say Great eBay seller, ships quickly, good communication, leaves immediate feedback. Hopefully other seller will see this and do likewise.</p>
<p>My D has asked for only 1 item this year. The retail price is more money then I would pay for almost anything. I am impressed that she only wants one thing and it is something she would use almost daily.
I found a seller on ebay who has several of them for sale for less then half the retail cost. The seller has about 130 feedback and of those all are positive except for 1. He says he is a distributer of this item. No one else comes close to listing it for this low of a price.
I am leary of buying something that seems to good to be true. Yet the feedback is all good and all the things he has sold are in this field.
Any good ebay advice?
The item is an equestrian helmet.</p>
<p>I’ve never sold anything on ebay; I have purchased items, but not very often. D2 wanted a designer purse for her 19th birthday in August, and rather than paying the full freight (which I thought was outrageous) I bought one on ebay and got scammed. It wasn’t the typical sale of a fake. What happened was that the seller never sent me the item. Claimed that he did, but I never got it. I filed a complaint with Paypal. While waiting for Paypal, I got a Fedex letter from the seller–which required a signature. In it was a note saying that my purse was coming and that the seller thought it was better to send a note rather than an email and that I should be patient because my purse would arrive shortly. Later, Paypal found for the seller–he produced the signed Fedex slip, which he claimed was for the package with the purse. Needless to say, I protested but Paypal did nothing. I complained to ebay and was going to leave negative feedback, but ebay had removed the item. After doing some research, I found that the seller was running a scam. He had photos of a real designer purse and a copy of a receipt for it and he just kept changing his name and selling the same purse. He also used the same feedback each time. I got this from the Purse Forum (yeah. . .a forum for people who are into designer purses). Apparently, there were quite a few people who got scammed and were complaining that ebay did nothing about it–numerous people had reported the guy. I had paid for the purse with an Amex card and used their dispute service to stop payment. I’m waiting to hear what happens–I documented everything and the customer service guy at Amex thought I had a great case. We’ll see. . . after this experience I’m thinking of giving up on ebay.</p>
<p>I got scammed by ebay a few yrs back, from a seller with 100% positive feedback, though not very many transactions. I never rec’d any compensation from ebay, or the state of Oregon, who was prosecuting the seller…the ball got dropped. ( I read that a lot of the scams in the US come from Oregon )</p>
<p>Ebay seems to have less legit and honest sellers than it did when I started as a consumer.</p>
<p>I have been thinking about selling some things, and if I do should act fast before the holidays are over. Still a bit reluctant.</p>
<p>Wow - that guy put a lot of planning into that purse scam. Sneaky!</p>
<p>I’ve had pretty good luck to date. We bought our living room rug on eBay from a guy who bought the contents of a house down on the jersey shore. It’s an old Karastan that we never could have afforded elsewhere, or even found in that size. Other than needing a minor cleaning it was much nicer than expected. Tried a few times recently to get S2 a new TI-83 calculator, but was outbid each time. Oh well. I haven’t sold much on eBay, but did get my money back for an acoustic guitar I bought back in the 80’s. </p>
<p>mom60 - Good feedback is usually a good indication that the seller is legitimate. I would definitely email the seller with any questions beforehand. Could you find a photo and description of the helmet in Stateline Tack (my sister is in the harness racing business) or somewhere, and send it to him, asking if it is indeed the same item? I always check out negative feedback against a seller very carefully. I think it’s much riskier with things like electronics or movies, when items could be rebuilt or bootlegs.</p>
<p>130 transactions with only 1 negative is pretty good. Read through the feedback to see if others have purchased a similar item and if the feedback sounds legitimate. I’ve purchased at least 110 items and only have been scammed once. It hasn’t stopped me. That purse story is wild!! Thanks for the warning on that one.</p>
<p>I’ve purchased 47 times on eBay and have never had a problem. The only minor issue was when one seller took her time sending me the item – she took two weeks longer than she should have. I’ve bought women’s magazines from the 1940s, a TI83 computer for my son, a banjo, some Under Armour compression shorts, two Corningware casserole dishes, and – my main obsession – antique silver flatware in my great-grandmother’s pattern. </p>
<p>I’m eager to learn how to sell on eBay. Someone teach me.</p>
<p>For people who are leery of selling–
I am too – listing is sort of a nuisance, and you hate to risk receiving dreaded negative feedback because of an honest mistake. I think there’s a new rule that buyers cannot receive negative feedback, though I may be wrong.
When I sold our acoustic guitar I made it very clear in the description that I knew absolutely nothing about guitars, and just described it as carefully as I possibly could, measured, and included photos from every angle possible. I also encouraged people to ask questions before bidding, and got at least a dozen inquiries. The person who won the auction was very very happy with it, thank goodness. Am glad someone else is enjoying it rather than it sitting in the closet unused.</p>
<p>The only problem was that, once I received more than expected for the guitar via Paypal (about $400), I had no way to really get at that money (unless I planned to buy a ton of stuff on eBay) so ended up getting a Paypal debit card. NOT what I’d planned, but didn’t know what else to do with it.</p>
<p>I have sold timeshare, out of date computer monitor, shoes, clothes, frequent flier miles (when it was legal), concert tickets. I have bought everything under the sun. My transactions have been from a few dollar to thousands. I’ve had only a few problems. Whenever I wasn’t sure about a transaction I have always used AmEx. I would email the seller with very specific question(s) about the item, if it is not true then I would have ground with my credit card to get the money back.</p>
<p>Sellers are no longer allowed to give negative feedback to buyers, by the way. I think that changed to stop some of the retaliation feedbacks. As a buyer you can still leave negative feedback.</p>
<p>really that isn’t fair. My husband has been a seller for years and there are , sometimes bad transactions from the buyer. It is a two way street. Some people are sort of crazy, and we encountered a few. Why should they have an advantage over a legit seller ?</p>