<p>We are finding the same as Dad II.
Years ago in the old west stage of ebay, the prices were always the best.</p>
<p>Now, there are many resellers on ebay with large quantities of electronics.
We have found that the prices are not always competitive. Amazon with free shipping is a great source for electronics. </p>
<p>Wanted to buy a certain small camera for son for Christmas and found it locally at Electronics Expo here in NJ for $40 better than the best buy it now price on ebay.
So, you do need to be careful not to believe that everything is a bargain.</p>
<p>I buy all kinds of things.
Vintage and newDooney and Burke bags.
Vintage coach bag.
Accesories for cell phones, cameras, chargers.<br>
Additional pieces of china to add to my grandmothers set.
Vintage linens.
Jewelry.
Old coffeehouse menus from old places in Greenwich village.
Fireplace accesories.
I always check sellers ratings and return policies. It is fun perusing looking to see what people put up for sale.</p>
<p>I used to buy books and electronics on Ebay. I rarely use them anymore, especially after finding out how pathetic their assistance is when dealing with a crook. The last two phone purchases from private sellers turned out poorly with a never shipped item and a defective one. Between Ebay and Paypal, all I recovered was 98 cents from the bandits. That and a bunch of emails/notices that they were actively “investigating” and the proud announcement that they had recovered my money.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I believe that Amazon Prime was a stroke of genius. I would gladly pay a bit more to ensure a delivery by Amazon. I find the one-click one-day purchase to be … addictive. </p>
<p>That said, I wish Amazon would clearly display the shipper they plan to use, as I would decline to purchase if delivered by the “Brown” guys. UPS has a horrendous tracking system and a completely irresponsible attitude about leaving packages. In addition, if FedEx understands that second-day delivery means just that, it seems that for UPS it means something like “two days” from the time we pretend to have the goods to the time we pretend to deliver. Tracking means “in transit” until delivered. Out for delivery at 7am (a day late of course) means the driver shows up at 5pm. What a joke of a company! I wish they asked the pictionary champion to draw a calendar and a clock and explain to the morons who work at UPS that customers know how to read those things!</p>
<p>@BunsenBurner re: counterfeit stuff - SO true! I haven’t purchased anything from eBay in ages. I am a fan of MAC cosmetics and, as such, I used to scour eBay for the limited edition/more coveted items of interest. Then came the counterfeiters, who messed it up for all the MAC aficionados. I refuse to risk my health using cosmetics that are made from God knows what.</p>
<p>xiggi, you must just be in an area with a bad UPS or something. Usually UPS gets my things here a day sooner then they are supposed to. I’ve never once had anything here a single minute later then they are supposed to. I can order 3-5 day shipping from Amazon and almost always get it in two days, and i can order 2 day shipping from amazon and almost always get it in one day. I’ve never had a single one of their packages take more then 3 days. Even during December I get their things in 1-3 days. Never had an amazon package delivered thru Fed Ex.</p>
<p>I had a mixup with the gift I got my BF for his birthday in december. I wound up canceling the order from where I bought it, purchased it with two day shipping from amazon prime on a Friday (his birthday was monday) and I was just crossing my fingers hoping that it would come early enough on monday that I would have it when I took it over to his place at lunch. It came around noon on Saturday. I was so happy!</p>
<p>I don’t like UPS and their “by the end of the day” status. It will be “out for delivery” at 5AM but then doesn’t show up on my doorstep until after 4PM normally. I hate being last!</p>
<p>I have purchased items on ebay that I couldn’t get anywhere else–parts for an older camera, chargers, etc. Some vintage items too–depression glass that matched some that I already owned. Two years ago, I got ripped off buying a designer tote. I should have known better and just gone out and bought it at the store and paid the price. The seller’s scam was to change names and sell the same item to buyers. When the item didn’t come right away, he’d say to just wait that he was busy, etc. Then, he sent the buyer a registered letter that required the buyer’s signature. When the buyer tried to get Ebay or PayPal to resolve the dispute, the seller would show the signature and say that he sent the item. I was able to get my money back because I had an AMEX card linked to Paypal. AMEX investigated–I kept all the correspondence and took a photo of the registered letter–which couldn’t possibly have contained a tote bag! As a result of this experience, I have not been back on Ebay. I felt like a real jerk for getting taken.</p>
<p>The first thing I bought on ebay was a set of pink octagonal depression glass dessert plates. I have a set that I inherited from my grandmother and every time my sister visited, she threatened to steal them. So I found her an even nicer set on ebay and she was happy. Later I also found her a set of the same silverplated flatware that I had also inherited and it actually had her initial engraved on it - quite a find. Ebay is great for really specific things like that. </p>
<p>One of my cleverest ebay purchases was for my car. The plastic gasket around the bottom of the antenna mount cracked and fell off (probably because I had an antenna ball for awhile that made the antenna wobble in the wind - this is another good internet shopping story as my H bought it for me and when I saw the credit card charge I had to ask him “Honey, what did you buy from a store called Happy Balls?”) But I digress… The car dealership wanted about $200 to replace the ENTIRE antenna as they said they couldn’t get the individual parts. I went to ebay and bought the mount for about $5 and just snapped it into place.</p>
<p>Fender, it is not one specific area with bad UPS, it happens on a number of delivery addressess. Fwiw, we are talking about the business district of a major US city and even a UPS store used to specifically receive mail and packages in another large city. Nothing in the middle of nowhere. </p>
<p>And, again, I love my experience with Amazon; my “issues” are solely with UPS. For my most recent purchase, I paid the extra to have one-day delivery via Amazon Prime. The package was supposed to arrive on Thursday morning. I needed the item for a trip starting Friday night. Well, UPS found a way to have the package arrive at 6AM but deliver it only at 5pm on … Friday. Will I complain to Amazon about the 4 dollars wasted? No, but I am not about to ship anything with UPS anytime soon. </p>
<p>PS I get deliveries from Amazon through UPS, Fedex, and also smaller regional carriers.</p>
<p>I haven’t bought on ebay in a while. When I did, I had ok experiences. I just havent used it in a long time.</p>
<p>Last year I had a real problem with Fedex, not once but 3 times changing the weight on packages I had weighed, and charging me significantly more for the packages (I have a business account so get billed). They would change a 1 lb pkg to 6 lbs, and a 6 lb pkg to 22 lbs! There were always excuses. I happened to notice it on a package going to my ds at college, and managed to sweet talk my way into getting the phone number of the local delivery & receiving station where the package was. I was able to get them to re-SWAK it (scan, weigh and key it) and get the price corrected. Of course that made the package a day later than expected. When it happened a second and third time I was able to call my buddies at the receiving location and get it fixed again. </p>
<p>They did some investigating and found that it was happening at our local receiving facility after the pkgs were picked up from Kinkos. Apparently these are franchises-- not one big company. The guy at the receiving facility made some phonecalls, as did I, and I complained to high up in their command (also commended the ppl at the receiving facility and they got some award). Now if I have to send a pkg, I get a receipt when I drop it of and I have them re-weigh it in front of me. Its a real PITA. I would prefer to use UPS, and may consider switching, though I get a food discount on my corp account with Fedex (not sure its worth the hassle though) .Here is a discussion about a similar experience an ebayer had with the Fedex weight change scam thing: [eBay</a> Guides - FRAUD SHIPPING WARNING FedUp with FedEx](<a href=“http://reviews.ebay.com/FRAUD-SHIPPING-WARNING-FedUp-with-FedEx_W0QQugidZ10000000003818356]eBay”>http://reviews.ebay.com/FRAUD-SHIPPING-WARNING-FedUp-with-FedEx_W0QQugidZ10000000003818356)</p>
<p>Forgot to mention-- UPS does have an annoying (although understandible) pattern of delivering to business locations first, and then to residences, when they consider it acceptible to deliver up to 7 pm. We’ve had dinner interrupted with deliveries. In the past few days I’ve sent 2 Fedex expresspacks and a UPS package,and had a UPS delivered to me. What fedex has done several times is hold the expresspak at their receiving facility and post “not due for delivery today” , often when it was there early enough that it could have been out on the truck for delivery that day. But if I used expresssaver rather than 2 day, they only guarantee 3 day delivery, so let it sit. Seems unnecessary, and in some cases it sould have gotten there faster if I sent it via ground than by air.</p>
<p>Yesterday’s UPS was delivered to my house at 1:30 pm and I had mail notification set up. I got the email about an hour later. They had sent my new runnign shoes via 2 day delivery (no charge!) and they came from CA tot eh east coast. The return (of the wrong shoes) I sent via UPS was going to KY and arrived at their location yesterday at 9:30 am.</p>
<p>The fedex email notification is faster (DS got his pkg at 2:30 yesterday and I got the email shortly thereafter) but the pkg going to NY sat at the receiving station and is today listed as on the truck for delivery. As of this minute it is still on the truck.</p>
<p>*** oops typo above- I get a GOOD discount, not a FOOD discount, LOL. I wish :)</p>
<p>It is totally understandable for any of those companies to hold a package for delivery it it happens to arrive at the final sorting facilities earlier than was PAID for. If a package is supposed to be on a three-day cycle, you should not expect it to be shortened to 2 days. And, yes, it does happen that a 2-day delivery shows up earlier, especially if the vendor has a nearby warehouse. That happens often with vendors such as NewEgg. </p>
<p>On the other hand, what is extremely annoying is when a package missed its “slot” in transit and arrives the day AFTER at the planned delivery and is still delivered by “the end of the day.” This is where, in MY experience, UPS is so blatantly annoying as they could not care less than the package is one day late … it WILL stay on the truck until the end of the day. FedEx for all its shortcoming will deliver a late package by the next MORNING. In addition, it is not that hard to talk to someone at FedEx in cases of egregious exception noted on the account. </p>
<p>In the end, we got to decide on a favorite company. I, for one, will not use UPS by choice or design.</p>
<p>One way to get around delivery problems, inaccurate descriptions, non-shipment, etc., is to use Flippity.com to check the item out and/or pick it up in person. You have to complete the transaction on eBay, though.</p>
<p>Fedex expressaver is one of their higher end products, but it says it can take 2-3 (“up to 3”) business days. It almost always costs more to send the expresssaver than Fedex ground, and perhaps I should simply start using my own packing supplies and send it ground and save the $$ (especially when it will get there jsut as fast, if not faster). They don’t HAVE to hold the package for a third day. They just can. And they often (but not always) do. That’s whats annoying. Its not necessary unless they really, <em>really</em> think they have too many other higher priority deliveries. And its hard to believe they have that many overnight or 2 day items that they cant drop off one extra skinny envelope. Who knows…</p>
<p>What do you mean “missing their slot”? I am no big fan of UPS (other than that they are located locally here and I know people who work for them) but I haven’t had the problems you describe. Then again, I don’t use them as much. The fedex purposeful weight overcharge did really fry my cookies , though.</p>
<p>I’ve made a small number of Ebay purchases, but I have not had any trouble; in fact, I have been really happy with practically everything. I generally limit my purchases to items that I can recognize as authentic, because we own similar things. A couple of minor mishaps–bought a book that was entirely in Japanese without noticing that fact (not the seller’s fault).</p>
<p>I will buy certain memorabilia and depression glass made by a company my Great Grandfather was once president of. I have no idea what it’s “worth” but I know what I am willing to spend. I bought a plate for what I thought was a good price and a friend of mine, a true collector, said it was worth nearly three times what I paid. On the other hand, I just recently bought a set of vintage pyrex bowls that I believe I probably paid way too much for. But not more than I was willing to spend.</p>
<p>I buy and sell music (records and CDs, primarily “ethnic” material) on eBay; have also bought my wife a camera and special kitchen shears and sold some pipes. I use the Post Office for all my mailings, and receive most purchases the same way.</p>
