E-Bay: What a crock

[fabsroman]

I just started bidding on stuff on e-bay, and I can tell you that it is no fun. The first item I was interested in was a bike frame that was going for $1,800. I was just about to sit down the 12 hours before the end of the auction to bid up to $2,100 on it, and possibly more, after having been back and forth with the seller with questions, and the seller ended the auction early.

Two days ago, I decided to bid on a set of bike wheels that were currently at $350, with the reserve not met and a Buy It Now price of $750. Like an idiot, I put a max bid amount of $500 in and the reserve was $499. So, the item went from $350 to $500 in the blink of an eye. Decided to up my bid amount to $550 so that I would seem strong to any other bidder, and some other guy bid $550 today, which still left me as the high bidder by the skin on my teeth. So, I increased my maximum bid to $600, which made the current bid $560 very early this morning. The auction was supposed to end on Sunday, but the seller cancelled the auction and relisted the wheels with a new reserve and a new Buy It Now price of $675.

I am so pissed off right now that it isn't even funny, especially since this behaviour is against E-bay rules. I have also seen a lot of other behaviour that is against e-bay rules (e.g., e-mail me directly for the Buy It Now price which is not listed on the e-bay auction ad). This stuff isn't anything like a real auction. The guy selling the wheels should have been obligated to sell them to the highest bidder once his reserve price was met.

Can you tell how mad I am?

[skeet]

Fabs...the best thing you can do is report him to ebay. You are right. What he did is against ebay rules. At the very least he will get a nasty ebay letter...at the worst he will be canned. They will check his past dealings. BTW if they put a email me for a buy it now price it will almost certainly be a scam...Leave them alone. Don't even email...they are usually phishing for addys to ransack...
BTW if you want to spend that much for a bike...just to save the gas(I know how cheap you can be)...Buy a moped and get 150-200 MPG Also how is your dad? Hope to see ya when I get back in October. Can we go shoot at Pintail again?

[Rocky Raab]

I agree. Chances are those items don't even exist. BOTH of the items I supposedly "bought" through Paypal were eBay items - and I'd bet you a dollar to a doughnut that they both also were pulled early, and relisted purely for the purpose of running the next PayPal scam buy. They only need an eBay sale item number to make it seem legitimate - the items themselves are certainly bogus.

[skeet]

I think they list an item and after it has taken a few hits or people looking they pull the item themselves and try to sell off ebay scamming people...then for no real listing fee they relist the item and do it over again. If they sold the item off ebay that company doesn't get involved. even if they are used to scam someone.

[quigleysharps4570]

Originally posted by fabsroman
I just started bidding on stuff on e-bay, and I can tell you that it is no fun. The first item I was interested in was a bike frame that was going for $1,800. I was just about to sit down the 12 hours before the end of the auction to bid up to $2,100 on it, and possibly more

At the risk of being booted off here by the powers to be...sometimes I wonder if you've got the brains God gave a possum.

[fabsroman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have no idea what that comment refers to. It could be that I have no brains for bidding $2,100 on a bike frame, or it could be for bidding that kind of money on e-bay, or it could be for both. If you know anything about bikes, the Colnago frame is considered the Ferrari of bicycles, and the carbon fiber bikes are made with the help of Ferrari. The Colnago factory is in Cambiago, Italy, which is supposed to be rather close to Ferrari's headquarters. Colnago even offers a couple of limited edition Ferrari labeled bikes that come with the Ferrari prancing horse on them. So, do I think bidding $2,100 on a one year old frame in great condition is insane when the same exact frame, just a 2006 instead of 2005, retails for $4,100, I don't think so. I ended up ordering a similar, brand new, Colnago carbon fiber frame that retails in the US for $3,600 from a Swiss dealer for $2,500, and it is supposed to arrive at the end of September. Before you get your panties in a bunch and think I have less brains than a bat or a fish for spending that kind of money and ordering from a Swiss dealer, let me say that I did a ton of asking around on a bike chatboard about this outfit in Switzerland and all the feedback was positive, and I did a ton of goole searches and nothing bad came back. Nobody had any issues with them, and the owner responded to my e-mails within 24 hours of each one. However, there was one guy that was talking bad about the shop on the board, and the owner went on the board to justify his position. In the end, the guy that was talking bad stated that he got the frame just as promised, he was charged exactly what he was supposed to be charged, and he saved $1,000 by ordering it from this dealer. In fact, he thanked the owner for saving him that much money. See, there is only one Colnago importer/distributor in the US, so it can price fix the frames at will, until people get smart enough to order them from the English shops and this Swiss shop. Of course, one would have to have a little brain power to find a conversion for British pounds to US dollars and Swiss francs to US dollars, before they can be sure they are getting a good deal. Luckily, I had that much brain power.

As far as the possible second meaning of your statement, I did some homework before bidding on it. I checked a ton of feedback on the guy and everything seemed pretty good. Did the same thing for the guy with the wheels. The guy with the wheels had 352 transactions on e-bay and his feedback rating was 99.4% positive over the last three years. If you want to clarify your statement a little, I'll try to explain why I just might have a little bit more brains than God gave a possum, but not much more. By the way, the wheels I bid $560 on, they retail for $1,750 brand new and the ones up for auction were two to three years old.

Yeah, the auctions with the e-mails listed in them are definitely frauds and I have reported a couple to e-bay because I was pissed off about them. Saw another ad wherein the guy was selling the entire Colnago bike, but stated that he forgot to put a reserve price on the auction and that he would not let it go for anything less than $3,500. The reason he conveniently forgot to put a reserve price on the auction is because he would have been charged a higher transaction fee by e-bay.

If I had known any better, I would have reported the cancellation of the frame sale too, but I was a complete novice then.

So, how do you guys bid on stuff on e-bay? There are some smaller items that I would like to buy, like vintage cranks for my old bike. Does anybody on here bid for higher dollar stuff, and if so, how has that gone?

Plenty of people on a bike chatboard I visit have bought wheels, frames, etc. on e-bay. Even noticed one guy from the board selling a frame on e-bay and he had the same screen name and location listed on e-bay and on the chatboard. Plus, he knew a ton about bikes.

What I really love are the descriptions of bikes wherein the components do not even come close to what is on the bike, and then they have the e-mail me for the Buy It Now price. What a crock.

Skeet,

The reason I want to spend this amount of money for a bike is because I used to race competitively before going to undergrad and law school. Still road the bike here and there during the past 15 years, but I am starting to get back into it. Even raced a couple of times against the new Team Discovery leader, George Hincapie, and even though I lost each time, it wasn't by that much. Yeah, I am cheap, but I don't think riding a bike to Court or to meet clients would go over well. My current bike is 20 years old, and the technology is way outdated. Plus, the frame is too big for me which makes it somewhat uncomfortable to ride.

My dad is doing well, and we are planning on taking a ride to Delaware on Sunday to go to a calling contest hosted at the hunting club Rubicon just joined.

As far as shooting is concerned, you know me. With a brain smaller than a possum, there is no way that I could ever refuse an invitation to go shooting with you. LOL Seriously, I would like nothing more than for all of us to get together again and do some shooting. My dad and I had a great time that day.

[BILLY D.]

Originally posted by quigleysharps4570
At the risk of being booted off here by the powers to be...sometimes I wonder if you've got the brains God gave a possum.

quigley

well son you picked a heck of a time to make that statement by replying while two moderators and the administrator are present. lol

personally there are three places that never see my business, ebay, paypal and walmart. got no use for any of them.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

Hey fabs to each his own right?...we all have hobbies and those without same said interests can't figure out why one spends so much money on them...I would never think to spend thousands on a set of golf clubs (don't golf) but also understand the need for good equipment/tools in the pursuit of happiness. I know I have $$$ tied up in my hobbies..we ride mtn bikes now and then on the rails to trails in my local now and then and it only requires a cheap walmart bike to have fun but I also pass lots with bikes that look like something from space. There is one local here with one of those bikes ya almost lay down on..sure you know the type..and he rides at least 10,000 miles per yr on the thing..now me?..I will take one with a motor any day for those kind of rides.....this man lost his sidekick 2 yrs ago....guess the girl didn't see him on the highway..just be safe out there or your brain might end up looking like one of an opposum...

The reason the chicken crossed the road?...just to show the possum it can be done.

Time to leave now and gather my trail cameras...expensive hobby of mine....if they are still there that is...one is an hr and half from here.

[fabsroman]

Yeah, I tell hunters how much I spend on bike and they have a heart attack. I tell bike riders how much I spend on a sporting clays o/u and they have a heart attack.

The type of bike wherein the rider lays down in is called a recumbent. I would never ride one of those things. Too hard to keep in a straight line and too low for drivers to actually see the rider.

I am usually pretty safe while riding. I hold a very straight line to the right of the white line if there is a shoulder, and when there is no shoulder I hold a straight line next to the white line. My only addiction is drafting off of trucks. I drafted a mail truck at 46 mph earlier in the month and drafted a dump truck at 38 mph in the middle of the month. Both were for several miles. While I was drafting the dump truck, I had a park police office pull up beside me and shake his finger at me. Needless to say, I pulled out of the draft from the truck. I have drafted school buses before and the kids were cheering like crazy. The crowd of kids at the back of the bus was insane.

I too have a mountain bike, but I only paid $800 for it. I am not that into mountain bike riding, but bought one because my two sisters were getting mountain bikes and they wanted me to ride with them. That was 6 or so years ago. We rode a lot for the first year, then a little the second year. After that, I was the only one riding the mountain bike. However, we did happen to go once last year before my wedding. Other than that, my sisters' bikes have been sitting in my parents' garage collecting dust.


Quigley,

The only reason you sit there thinking that I am an idiot is because I am willing to post about all my screw ups so that I can get advice. I talked with several people about this e-bay issue last night, and have decided that e-bay just isn't for me. The amount of time I spent tracking these auctions and searching for them, I could have spent working on client's cases and made enough money to buy the wheels and frame brand new, as I did with the frame.

Most people keep their screw ups quiet because they do not want other people to think they are idiots. I put mine out there if I think people can offer me help/advice. I would rather learn before a real disaster happens then keep my pride and get burned.

Of course, I am sure that you, being as smart as you are, have never made any mistakes in life. One of my brothers calls me the smartest dumb man ever, because he thinks I have no common sense. Of course, when he put $25,000 of his own money down on a new house with his girlfriend, and they broke up a month before the house was finished and he had to go to settlement, guess who he called. He lost the $25,000 deposit because he didn't want to go through with settlement (i.e., he couldn't afford the monthly payments on his own at the time).

We all make mistakes. Some of us are man enough to own up to them and we do not care what other people think. Think all you want about how much of an idiot I am, that is fine with me. Heck, I prefer for opposing counsel to think that I am a moron, that way I can get the upperhand on them as they sit back and think they are going to roll right over me. The best adversary is one that under estimates his opponent, not that we are adversaries.

[Rocky Raab]

When I read Quigley's post, I honestly thought it was just a chain yank, the kind of thing friends do across a campfire.

I'll hold that opinion unless contradicted.

[tooldummy]

I've about had it with E-bay and Pay Pal both after what happened with Rocky and now Fabs. About 6 months ago a company I do a lot of business with through my job cought an employee selling stuff he was stealing from them on E-bay. They contacted E-bay immediately and they wouldn't do anything to help them. And were talking about $25,000 or more the best they can figure. With all the scams and everything I am seriously considering cancelling my accounts. I mostly bought used brass anyway, and I have plenty now. I'm not sure how much I still need my accounts.

Billy, I hear you about Wall-Mart. I feel the same way, but they've crowded most of the other businesses out of business in my part of the country. There just isn't much left in small towns anymore except Wall-Mart, but I do the best I can not to do business with them.

[TreeDoc]

I have about a hundred purchases and a few sales through ebaY and only 2 were marginally sour but I was in control. The first was a nice offshore fishing rod that I bid on and won for a good deal at about $150 bucks. The seller resided in Santa Barbara, about 2 hours south of me and I prearranged to pick up the rod and save shipping because I knew I would travelling through town. After I won, I couldn't pin him down to a date and time where we could connect so he said he would ship it. I never received it nor any communication from him. I had his address and phone number and sent hima certified mail and left messages that I was coming after him and was also involving the county DA's Office in the fraud if I didn't get the money back immediately through PayPal. It worked and I was payed back. He was just a guy with issues and couldn't get his crap together.

Second was an ATV I wanted to buy. Keep in mind, many ATV sales on ebaY are total frauds. I found exactly what I wanted and the pricwas looking normal. It was a deal in Orange County, CA which is 4 hours south and again, I travel down there relatively often. I made contact with the seller and told them I would not pay any other way than cash in hand and in person after I saw a clear title and the true condition of the machine. They were in complete agreement so I started bidding on the machine against another person. I was going big on this one and was willing to drop $4500 on the auction but I never play my cards early on ebaY because it usually starts a bidding flurry and just raises the price. I waited till the last 10 seconds and put in my proxy of $4500, it was only at $2800 when I did. I knew I would win in that much time. When my confirmation screen came up it said "Auction Closed Early" and that the machine sold to some yahoo that was never in the bidding process for $3000! I was pissssssed and contacted the seller who gave me some song and dance that they felt better selling to this other guy for no special reason. I'm confident the buyer was sham and probably a plant from the seller because the whole auction was a fraud to begin with and they knew they would have to see me to get the money.

You have to be prudent and know your stuff when buying on ebaY. It can be a great thing if you do your homework. It can be a ripoff if you don't.

[TreeDoc]

BTW Fabs, I guess you missed my reply about bikes in the Waterfowl Forum.

I was just schooled on bike prices. I decided to buy a Mountain Bike. My neighbor as well as my "adopted" 24 year old son (as I call him) are really into the MTB scene. I thought I'd get in too, I have to get some excersise and cardio. I figured I could get into a decent bike somewhere around $500-$750 and really be set. LMAO!!!! That was a joke...and it was on me!!!

I just spent Two Grand on this frikkin' bike so I could get into a quality full suspension, hydraulic disc brake model. Shoooot, I was only $1500 over my budget....no problem, right?

My neighbor's jealous because I have newer components than his ride. I come to find out that my "adopted son's" bike was a custom build on an Ellsworth frame and he has over $4500 in his. Another friend was a sponsored pro rider for several years but now is recreational and he's sporting over $7000 of equipment over the trail! The technology is absolutely incredible. I rode a trail with the guys yesterday. It was my first technical trail ride with lots of uphill, switchbacks, poisen oak, and then a long gnarly, rocky downhill. This is a long way from the old Stingray guys! What would have launched us into orbit on our old bikes barely causes a bump on these new tech bikes. I was pretty freaked doing this on my first run but quickly realized that the capabilty of these machines is simply amazing! I only crashed once, too!

[Rocky Raab]

Cool lookin' bike there, TD.

Let me stress that I am NOT upset at all with either eBay or PayPal. Both of them have treated me fair and square - nothing but.

I sell small things on eBay, have a 99% rating as a seller and 100% as a buyer. Paypal did restore all my funds when I caught and reported the scam attempts. If anybody is at fault it that whole fiasco it must be me. I must have (at some point) answered one of those bogus emails or somehow let my password get out.

I'll continue to do business with both, but I'll be MUCH more careful.

[fabsroman]

TD,

This is the first time I checked this board today, so if you posted about the bike in waterfowl today, I never would have seen it. However, I'll be checking that forum in a little while and I'll look for the post about the bike.

I just lost an auction on some carbon fiber wheels on e-bay. The wheels normally go for $2,400, and I bid $1,050 with 3 minutes left in the auction. Somebody else must have bid a lot higher because they won at $1,075. I just didn't want to spend that kind of money on a set of wheels right now. When the wheels were at $300, I bid a little, but once they got up to $600, I let everything sit still. I happened to be over my brothers' this evening an hour before the auction was to end, and I saw that they had gotten to $800. So, I put a maximum bid of $900 in and I became the new high bidder. By the time I drove home to my place 45 minutes away, somebody else was winning at $910. At that point, I figured I would wait until the last couple of minutes and put in my final offer. It just didn't cut it.

I have come to the conclusion that while I can save some money on e-bay, I hate buying used stuff and I hate spending my time researching this stuff, researching the seller's feedback, and then following the item and bidding on it. I have a bunch of files on my office floor that I need to do work on, so in the amount of time I have spent bidding on these frames and wheelsets, I could have made the difference in what I would have saved so that I could have bought them new. For instance, I was bidding on a frame that cost $3,100, new and was willing to go to $2,100 for it. That was the one that was ended early. For $2,500, I ordered a different frame, brand new, made by the same manufacturer but better suited to my riding style (i.e., stiffer and lighter). I'm going to end up buying a medium priced wheelset new and I am going to buy the high dollar set after tax season in April/May when I get back into the racing scene.

By the way, that is one heck of a nice bike, and I am glad to hear that you only fell once on your first ride. Bike riding can be a ton of fun, and it is less harsh on your joints compared to running. Plus, the only gadgets you get to play with when running are your shoes. Bikes have so many gadgets to them that it is insane.

Anyway, I am going to stay away from e-bay for a little while.