[fabsroman]

GOB,

Ebay does have some issues with it, which they have been trying to make better. For instance, there was the 2nd chance offer scam. One of the first items I ever bid for on ebay was a set of carbon fiber bike wheels that retail for $2,000. I bid all the way to $1,150 before I stopped bidding. I cannot tell you how many e-mails I received from people offering me a second chance offer. Obviously, I was extremely leery about it since I received so many. Ebay has cured that with the use of hidden bidder ID's during an auction.

Now, they have the link in a question issue which they have not solved and which can cause a less than leery person, or a person with his guard down, to give the scammer an ebay login name and password.

The issues with ebay are defects that they know about. Kind of like a gun with a faulty safety design. The manufacturer should be held somewhat accountable for the death of a person when that safety malfunctions, along with the holder of the gun too for pointing the muzzle at somebody. Same can be said for some of the issues with ebay.

My bad experiences have generally been with people ending auctions early for no apparent reason. The very first item I bid on was a carbon fiber Colnago bike frame that retails for $4,400. It was at $2,000 hours before the end of the auction and I was going to bid $2,400 on it at the auction's close. The reserve had already been met, but the seller cancelled that auction. Next item I was bidding on was a set of Zipp 202 carbon fiber wheels that retail for $1,750. There was a Buy It Now price of $850 on them and a reserve of $499. I know the reserve price because I bid $500 when the bidding was at $50 and all of a sudden I was the winning bidder at $499. Surprise. I learned how the reserve price works very quickly. I put in another bid for $600 so that I wouldn't get over bid and I was the winning bidder with only an hour left in the auction and there was no action on the auction. The guy cancelled the auction after the reserve price was met. That really pissed me off. I reported it to ebay and they did nothing about it. So, I wasted my time bidding on the item.

Ebay has its faults, and the biggest one is that it is seller oriented because the sellers pay ebay's fees.