Lilred's Rant of the Week-Ebay

[Lilred]

Well ya'll..I got the day off..so I can sit around and wait fer the tornados from Katrina to blow thru..lol
This week I'm rantin on Ebay..and here's why...

Sometimes you'll see Lilred prowlin round Ebay like a cougar on a rabbit. I usually watch the Civil War stuff, as well as the books. I love the old books. Over the weekend, I saw a book called "Civil War Stories as told by the soldiers" which was done in 1887. 9$ was the startin bid....I got riled..just like tintypes that go fer 10$ a piece..that there is people's family history..stuck on ebay of all places..whatever..they have no pride.
So anyways..I wont about to let that book go..so i bid 10$. It automatically came back..."You have been outbid."
Well that *&^&%$%&...thinks he's slick dont he? I'll show him slick...so I bid again..15$.

"You have been outbid."

Why I oughta whoop him with a broom handle I was sayin to myself. Then I thought..slow down Lilred ya goober..yer gonna wind up spendin a fortune on this thing...ahh what the hell..I figgered..at least I'd make him pay out the butt fer it...so there I went countin pennies like a millionare in a 2 dollar hoehouse..I'll make him give 30$ fer it..the sorry hethren..that'll learn him fer stealin away my deal of the century...27.50$..final offer from Lilred...hehehe..

Page come back as the high bidder...uh oh..Lilred done dun messed up royal. 5 hours left...I blew it off..somebody'll outbid me I'm sure of it. Refresh...refresh..refresh...holy crap in the slop trough..nobody bid on the dam thing..and I bought the book fer 27.50$
So my rant is on myself this week..Lilred..you got about as much sense as God give a turnip. I fell in that classic oblivion of him gittin a buddy to bid just to make the price go up.
How many idgits just like me fall fer that every day on Ebay? Probaly alot..it aint hard to do iffin you see somethin you like.
Oh well...from the looks of it..that looks to be a wonderful book to add to my collection..to bad I had to git it usin my classic form of excessive gooberism and idgitry. :D ;)

PS. It wont all a lost cause..I did git a nive #4 Victor trap fer 8$ :D

[Andy L]

Only thing I ever bought off EBay was for $20. It was a little gift for my youngest son last Christmas. I bought it at the first of December and was assured it was plenty of time to get it in.

Well, they were wrong. I never got it. Still havent. I have been through all the dispute and arbitration crap they do, but no game and no refund. I put in the bad word for the guy that sold it, but I see him selling stuff all the time. Curious how many others he scams. And, its a small enough amount of money, he knows that no one will pursue it.

Lesson learned. No ebay for me. Ill stick to reputable stores for my online purchases.

Andy

[fabsroman]

While I have looked at selling things on E-Bay and even looked at a couple of things for sale on E-Bay, I am very leery of everything and everybody on there.

Several years ago, a guy that was dating my girlfriend's niece put and ad on E-Bay selling Playstation 2's right before Christmas for $300 a piece. Playstation 2's had just come out, they were really hot, and they were really hard to find. To make a long story short, the guy was collecting and cashing checks but never sending the Playstation because he didn't have any. The police were waiting for him one day when he went to check the PO Box he was using for the checks and they arrested him. This idiot made the newspaper around here, but I don't know the final outcome of this story because the girlfriend and I broke up before he went to trial.

As far as bidding goes, about the only thing I have bid on recently was a goose call that I think Rocky was selling on here. Skeet and I got into a little war and he out bid me. I just decided that I was willing to spend that much money on that call at that time.

I have always been leery of bidding on items because a lot of people get caught up in the moment and want to "Win" the bid. Hence, they start thinking with their heart instead of their head.

I am also getting very leery of internet purchases. I ordered some Bendix rear brake rotors for my car from partsamerica.com at $40 each. When the package came, the rotors weren't from Bendix but from a Chinese no-name manufacturer. Of course, they said these were substitutions because the Bendix were not available. Thing is, they still charged me $40 a piece. I just couldn't swallow that because the cheapest name brand rotors were Raybestos at $22 a piece. The customer service was great though. I called them up, they faxed me a Return Merchandise Authorization form, and I dropped the package off at the UPS across the street. I had also ordered a bunch of other parts from them.

My wife ordered some photo thank you cards from Yahoo last week that were supposed to have a 4x6 photo on top with a 2" space on the bottom for the Thank You and additional writing. What we got were 150 4x8 photos with no room for writing and no Thank You on them. Her dress had also been cropped out of the photo. There was no phone number for Yahoo Photos on the invoice. So, she e-mailed them about it last week. We still have not received a response from them. This kind of customer service pisses me off.

[Rocky Raab]

I've had mostly good luck with eBay.

I'm waiting for a PDA that I just won, as a matter of fact. I did buy an external CD drive for an older laptop, only to find that the drive was even older and essentially useless. But I can't think of anything else where I got burned.

I also sell quite a few things there. I don't ship until I'm paid, and I often send something extra with the bought item. Maybe that will help boost the eBay image - or at least my own.

I'm about to organize and list my collection of NASA launch decals and patches. I probably have a thousand crew stickers of various Space Shuttle launches. Might as well offer 'em up.

[Wolvie]

When I do bid on Ebay,...I bid almost at the end,...
I watch the item ,...then if the price hasnt gotten out of control and is still with in reason,....I bid at the last minute.

I usually get it,...out of the last 10 bids I won 8,...

Later All
SAKE HUNTIN~

[Steverino]

There is some good deals to be had on E-Bay but there's also alot of crap to sift through too. Last year in Chicago, a theft ring of people that were ripping off their employers (Home Depot) got busted after someone that had purchased a BNIB Makita compound miter saw dirt- cheap and had the police show up at their door when thet registered the warranty. Home Depot had tracked the missing serial numbers to the warranty registrations and the buyers ended up fingering the thieves that stole the merchandise from the stores.

I have also read alot of stories of identity theft and PayPal scams being perpetrated on E-Bay.

What I have done is found legitamate stores (like archery shops) that had links from e-bay that I bought direct from istead of going through e-bay.

I also have friends that have sold junk (we're talking old avocado green formica countertops and black wrought iron railings) and have gotten hundreds of dollars for them!:rolleyes:

What's the saying-one mans junk is another mans treasure

[Rocky Raab]

True, there's a buyer for almost everything. That's the upside of things like eBay and swap meets and gun shows.

The downside is that there's a way to scam almost anything, based on greed. The old saying about "too good to be true" is still valid.

Good deals, fine. Great deals, well...maybe.
But unbelievable deals get people burned.

[fabsroman]

I agree completely Rocky. When it smells too good to be true, it usually is.

[wrenchman]

thanks for the fix red

[model 70]

I dunno. I use ebay alot to fund my hobbies(guns, hunting, tattoos, etc.). Since I work for a car dealership I get some stuff that they're just tossing out. Too good to be true? I regularly get sets of aluminum wheels that retail for well over $1000(it's a luxery car dealership) and sell them for as little as $200 a set. I get other stuff in too that I sell for like 15% of what they would cost you over the counter. Still, I know there are some scammers on there but I ain't one.:D

[Blktail]

A few rules to operate by though:
Never bid without a quote on shipping and handling.
Check the feedback or request a phone number.
Bid once at the very end and bid what you are willing to pay, not a cent more or less.

[Valigator]

Dont know too much about buyin and sellin on there....we have stores down here now called Sold Simple or something like that...you take your stuff in, they photo, they list and they store it and ship it when purshased...they take 25 percent I think and dont take anything over a 150lbs. I have a few items I am gonna take down and see what happens...

[Rocky Raab]

Yup, Val. I think it'd be a great business for somebody to get into.

Sort of like a consignment store, but your advertising is on eBay (and/or other such internet sites). You could even run it from your home at first. When it grew, move some stuff to a storage building, and finally to a storefront when it starts paying off.

eBay has a software for free download called TurboLister that makes it a snap to build ads. I use it. It only costs five bucks to have eBay check out your financial status and get listed as a Certified Seller.

Never let it be said that there's no way to make money or work for yourself.