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937 Posts
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12753
February 17th, 2005 03:00
Tips for buying on eBay
Over the past few years I have made over 1000 successful purchases on eBay with only a couple of handfuls of rotten transactions. Most of those were in the first hundred transactions. Because so many forum participants bad mouth eBay, I have decided to pass along some tips on how to make your eBay purchases more successful. Some or much of this will not be new information to the experienced eBayer. I have found that I can buy most computer parts cheaper on eBay than anywhere else. I refurbish certain obsolete Dell laptops for resale so have need of basically of all the parts necessary to build one from scratch. I have not bought anything directly from Dell in about a year. Once in a while it becomes necessary, but for the most part, I can find anything I need on eBay.
Here we go: first and foremost find out from the seller if the part is guaranteed to work normally on arrival if this is not so stated in the auction description. There is a handy link in the auction description to email the seller with a question. If you do not get a return email with the guarantee then skip the auction. Next look at the shipping charge. If it seems unreasonably high then first look at the seller's About Me page and see if there are any explanations. If nothing there, or there is no About Me page for that seller then email the seller and ask if they will agree to ship at actual cost rather than their listed shipping charge. You will be surprised to find that a few sellers will agree to this or a compromise, while others are totally inflexible. But be sure to figure the shipping cost in your bid. I just subtract the shipping cost from the most I am willing to pay for the lot and use that as my maximum proxy bid. For the record, I am also a notorious auction sniper. We'll leave it at that with no further explanations of that aspect of bidding.
I have a Paypal account linked both to some credit cards and my checking account. I will not buy anything from a seller unless they accept Paypal. Most sellers who accept Paypal also will accept payment with a credit card through Paypal which provides the maximum protection if you use either a Discover or American Express Credit Card (more on these cards later). If you have paid for your auction item with Paypal and it does not show up in a reasonable time then email the seller to try and find out a tracking number or some assurance the item has actually been shipped. If you don't get a reply and/or if you don't have it in about 25 days then it is time to file a Buyer Complaint with Paypal. This needs to happen within 30 days of the end of the auction. Paypal immediately deducts the amount of the auction from the seller's Paypal account running it negative if there is not enough money there. This in effect freezes the seller's Paypal account untill he or she puts in enough money to cover the negative balance. Paypal will not release the funds to the seller until he or she shows proof of delivery to the buyer. If the seller never provides proof of delivery then Paypal will try and recover as much of your money as possible. This is where the Discover and/or American Express cards work for you if Paypal cannot recover the full amount of the auction. These are currently the only credit card companies that will charge back to Paypal. Of the two, I believe American Express is the safest. I have never yet had them fail to charge back a Paypal transaction on either non-delivered merchandise or defective merchandise which I returned. Paypal gets quite upset over these chargebacks especially when you have not first filed a Buyer Complaint with them, and they threaten to close your account if you get too many but they also are watching the bottom line.
Finally use the eBay feedback feature to help weed out unreliable sellers. Sellers with a 98-100% positive feedbacks based on a number of transactions (the more the better) are generally a very good indicator of a reliable seller. As an eBay member you may also email previous buyers of this seller. The first time I deal with an unfamiliar seller I read most of their negative or neutral feedback comments, if any, to try and ascertain the problem with that transaction. There are bunches of nutty bidders out there who do not really understand how eBay works and that the auction is a legally binding contract, and you can frequently pick this fact up by their feedback comment. Frankly, I don't know how some sellers manage 100% positive feedback unless they totally ignore the non-payers. When a seller leaves negative feedback for a non-paying bidder he or she has a good chance of receiving retalitory negative feedback with some lame comment.
Hope this has been helpful,
funtoupgrade
P.S. Had no idea which board to post this on so put here on the Inspiron board which is where I spend most of my time.
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andy2434
133 Posts
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February 17th, 2005 04:00
Paypal also offers Buyer Protection, which I don't know much about, because I never required it. However, it's good to know it is there.
I have purchased a Toshiba laptop, cell phones, notebook memory, hard drives, software, notebook batteries, Omega and Rolex watches, 1gb cruizer mini, PCMCIA cards, printers, monitors, etc. on ebay without a single incident.
All of my transactions saved me a bunch of cashola. With the exception of my most recent transaction . . . An ATI MR9600 PT 126mb video card. Hey, Dell gave me much too much grief, so I figured, "What the heck."
I have passed on deals, which looked too good to be true.
Exercising prudence on ebay is a must.
On high $$$ items, I always contact the seller and ask questions, prior to bidding. I attempt to get a feel for whom it is I may be potentially dealing with.
In addition to that, I will always e-mail mutiple buyers, whom have had a recent transaction on the similiar or exact item(s), which I am interested in.
To date, I am very satisfied with my dealings on ebay.
Practice a bit of prudence and I trust everyones' experiences on ebay are productive.
tedtea
74 Posts
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February 17th, 2005 04:00
(the above is to make sure rick doesnt come back with a brusque reply *wink*)
1. the final bidding price -> does it include shipping price.
2. i suppose the buyer bears shipping charges; how does the seller gets reimbursed for the shipping charges?
thanks !
Dr.Knowitall
101 Posts
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February 17th, 2005 04:00
andy2434
133 Posts
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February 17th, 2005 05:00
Hmm . . . I am too lazy to build notebooks. I just mod notebooks. I just build desktops . . . But you didn't mention desktops, did you? Nor did I mention bidding on desktops. . . ;)
Dr.Knowitall
101 Posts
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February 17th, 2005 05:00
andy2434
133 Posts
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February 17th, 2005 05:00
1. No, the final bidding price does not include shipping charges. Be sure to factor in the shipping and handling cost prior to bidding. Usually, the shipping costs are listed. If not, there will be a shipping calculator, where shipping is determined by entering in your zip code. Some sellers charge large shipping and handling charges. I keep this in mind in determining, whom I bid to.
2. I use paypal only and during the final transaction process on paypal shipping and handling are manually added, if not already transferred automatically to that line item.
Happy bidding!
rickmktg
2 Intern
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11.9K Posts
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February 17th, 2005 10:00
funtoupgrade
2 Intern
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937 Posts
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February 17th, 2005 15:00
I totally disagree with the good doctor. Of my over 1000 successful eBay purchases, perhaps 50 to 100 have been for laptops or the bottom half of one. I cannot tell you I was 100% satisfied with every single one but again the vast majority were as promised. Again this takes asking lots of questions beforehand of the seller. If the seller refuses to answer or does not adequately answer my questions then I skip that auction. If some part of the computer is not as advertised you can always try to get a rebate from seller rather than return it. This works about 60% of the time. Here is the email I send them:
tedtea
74 Posts
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February 18th, 2005 05:00
I gotta laugh.
Notwithstanding the note (the above is to make sure rick doesnt come back with a brusque reply *wink*),
Rick did manage to better himself and replied with:
Is that "brusque" enough for you? If you don't like that I provide people with info so they can learn how to use search, don't read the posts. It's called teaching...
Well I beg to differ.
1. the forum is a place where people come with questions and other people tries to answer them. Everything is ex gratia and therefore one can only expect that if the answer is well-received then the person who came up with the answer gets personal satisfaction.
2. Your perspective that it's "teaching" -> well teaching can be done in many ways, and I daresay there won't be many people who would be amused at your "teaching" methods.
3. While it is true that people with questions could have used various search engines (even the one in DCF), and even more so when sometimes their questions are "lame" and bordering on extreme "stupidity", it's their right to do so. Sometimes people prefer a little personal touch, rather than a whole listing of search results wherein they have to sift through. And other times, they really don't know or didn't have the knowledge to go elsewhere to look for answers.
4. Therefore as a DCF participant, I think it behooves me to behave in a way that fosters humourous exchanges of ideas, not putting down on other people's thoughts, and generally not acting as "hey i'm God, I'm omniscient".
5.I do recall reading one of the newbies's questions and you just shot him down. Sadly I cant concur with that.
6. Of course I have my "brusque" days when my friends get snappy and brusque replies when they try to chat me up in MSN.
7. And rick, thanks for the answer to my dumb and dumber question. :)
I am really long-winded.
Jankerson... it's your turn. All the i5160s unite!!!!
hahahahahahah :) LOL
johnallg
2 Intern
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7.3K Posts
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February 19th, 2005 00:00
When you have spent a fair amount of time here answering user's questions and the forum record has the same answers dozens of times, you will understand a reply to search the forum for an answer. It gets old repeating the same answer over and over and over....
If someone is to lazy to research their problem before posting, and don't want to sift the info for the solution, nothing is learned on one's own. Nor will it be retained. We who provide help here do it for fun and a willingness to help others with problems. Wasting time does not appeal to any of us.
While it is within their right to post a question that has been asked 20 times in the last week or so, it is within our right to inform them to search. Those who act like "hey i'm God, I'm omniscient" don't last around here very long. The forum body doesn't tolerate it. Rick has been around a long time.
There are dumb and stupid questions, but remembering not all computer users have the same knowledge\ability helps - everyone was a newbie at one time.