talkmagic.co.uk

ok, I bought something of an ebay trader the other day, when I got it - I got it fast, well packaged - but the product - while still useable - wasnt quiiiite what i expected. I decided to keep it but state that fact as a GENERAL point in the POSITIVE feedback I left... I also left positive glowing feedback for a 2nd item I bought of him.

What did I get in return.... negative feedback simply saying "Left inappropriate feedback." nothing about the almost instant payment I sent him, nothing about my patience with the confusing emails he sent me. Nothing relevant to the sale at all.... So now my feedback rating has gone down just because he cant accept a lil criticism, thank you very much ****wipe ( I can beep swear here cant I? lol ) I aing gonna say who the seller was obviously.

rant over

Anyone else had problems on ebay though?

People tend to be alot like that in general with everything concerning the internet ... people seem to think that because the internet is a casual text based affair that they dont need to provide the same curtusies as they would when talking in-person or on the phone.

It's like with MSN messanger .... if somone makes a phone call to your mobile phone and you dont answer, they think nothing off it, but if they send you a message on MSN and you dont reply sharpish, they get a bee in thier bonnet.... i was read an article recently in my 'Computer Weekly' magazine (i know, i know ... you can make any comment you like, i'll have heard them all before) ... it was discussing the approriate time span for people to reply to one another e-mails.

I think the whole on-line communications has caught people a little off gaurd and it will take them a little while to understand the etiquete of how it should be done ... but i think people are slowly getting the idea, i mean the TM Boards are a model example of this... on the whole people are pleasant and agreeable, isnt that how it should be?

Sorry to hear about your bad experiance with EBay, the guy was probably little bit of a putz... ever watch 'My Name is Earl'? ... I'm sure he'll get his come-uppance!

"Do good things, and good things happen ... do bad things, and bad things happen" ... Earl Hickey!

Rob

ooo my name is earl, awesome show lol. n yeah bit of a putz lol.
I think if ebay had an extra guideline for feedback saying it should be related to the sale, that would help, at least then I stand a chance of getting it removed lol. ay well lol. people are definatly less reserved on the web compared to real life, just say what they want and think its ok cos you cant punc.... er.... complain to them about it in person lol.

Yeah, i'd usualy just kick them in the nu......

Rob

eBay sucks.

No it doesn't.

Yes it does.

Does it?

Well, in my experience, with eBay—as both a buyer and seller—you have to be prepared to take the rough and the smooth. For every 5 good transactions, you'll get one bad one. I've been scammed out of £150 before now, and it hurts.

Feedback left by bulk sellers is often done in bulk... they will often have a list as long as your arm, and a negative comment misplaced isn't uncommon.

I tend to steer clear of eBay these days, as I've had more than a fair share of bad transactions, and when things go wrong, you're basically on your own.

I don't want to sound negative, though. Most people find eBay to be the best thing since sliced bread, but bear in mind that like anything internetty (< Add THAT to the Oxford English dic, please!) you have to take a gamble, as it's a virtual world, and you're dealing with people you've got no direct contact with most of the time.

Some small hints:
1. Where possible, try to contact the seller first if the item sounds too good to be true
2. ALWAYS check their feedback for negatives, no matter how many positives they have
3. Sometimes, if the 'Item is located in:' matches your country, the seller may still be shipping from abroad. This can mean lost parcels, long delays, etc. Check with them first. If they can't be bothered to respond, then perhaps that's a fair indication of the type of person you're dealing with.
4. Don't buy SMALL EXPENSIVE items. This is how I got scammed. Item gets lost in post, seller tells you it's the mail's fault, you fill in a postal claim, and you're on your own.
5. DON'T SELL outside your own country! I've also been scammed this way... you get the funds, package your goods and post (like a proper little angelic eBayer should!). 3 days later, you get a fraud report from PayPal, and your funds are re-claimed. International sales and stuff aren't eligible for seller protection, and basically, you're stuffed. The address will be generic, and so there's not even any comeback on that. PLUS... you'll notice that the eBay member who bought from you disappears off the face of the planet.
6. USE YOUR LOAF! If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. EBay sellers use aggressive marketing to dress things up to sound fantastic, wheras in fact they aren't (see below...)
7. PROTECT YOURSELF... never give any eBay passwords or credentials out, and for goodness sake, always deal via PayPal, even if you're using a card. Giving your card details out to third parties is a bit worrying!

In point 6, I said 'see below...'... here's a scam which I for one fell foul of. And it was actually amusing in the event, but ho-hum...

I managed to gain some unwanted points on my driving license (Driving at 54 MPH through a 50 zone and getting caught—but hey, what's a 400bhp Cosworth for, certainly not Sunday driving ).
I saw an eBay advert which claimed:
"NEVER get caught for speeding again, the GUARANTEED way to avoid points on your license. Swedish research shows that 99% of people using our methods NEVER get speeding fines".

Now, not to say that I condone speeding. I don't. Far from it. A good friend of mine lost his daughter to a speeding motorist outside a school, so I kind of detest speeders.

But the advert sounded interesting. And being as I used to get pulled over quite a lot just for OWNING the car, I decided to have a bash. And £10 didn't sound too bad compared to a £300 'Snooper' (at that time).

So, 3 days later I get an envelope. Inside? A sticker which was intended to be stuck inside your car near the speedometer. It simply said "KEEP BELOW THE LEGAL SPEED LIMIT". Psychology?

But £10 for an inkjetted label was a total rip off. I was well and truly had. The clever buggers!

Moral: eBay is a great marketplace. Enjoy it. But DO NOT go crying to mommy when things go sour. Because basically, it's ineviable.

lol funny little story bout the speedo there, bu tseriously mate - but to add to your list of tips, taking seriously an item on ebay with NEVER and GAURANTEED in the description is a major no no lol

Ive been using ebay for just over a year and a half now, this is the first bad experience with it so I guess if your carefull you should be ok, check for neg feedback ( i have a plugin for firefox which automatically checks and displays all the neg feedback for the ebayer - handy if they have like 300 feedback lol )
always message them with a general query about the item - ask something obvious if you cant think of anything, then take note of how and if they reply.

oo, this strictly speaking isnt allowed on ebay - but occasionaly sellers listing items at ridiculously low prices, only to bump up the cost ALOT with the postage. you get this alot with eletrical items from china/japan etc. them listings in themselves are against the t&c so avoid at all costs

Ok, two bad experiences in as many days. another item I bought which was listed as new, now turns out to be 2nd hand - well used and by the sellers own admission ( since the sale ) they've had it for around a year. im not having much luck here lol (and yes i am gonna get my refund on this)

down2infinity wrote:Ive been using ebay for just over a year and a half now, this is the first bad experience with it so I guess if your carefull you should be ok, check for neg feedback ( i have a plugin for firefox which automatically checks and displays all the neg feedback for the ebayer - handy if they have like 300 feedback lol )

Where can I find that extension for Firefox?
I've never used e-bay but I'm looking for some magic books there.

you can get it from https://addons.mozilla.org/addon.php?id=560 but check what version of firefox you have cos it doesnt work with all of them.
if it doesnt work use http://www.toolhaus.org/negs-firefox.html

The Firefox site has a large number of really good plugins. I'm using Noscript to stop those annoying popover ads and cyberspace is a lot nicer with it. No script runs unless I say so.

seige wrote:Some small hints:
1. Where possible, try to contact the seller first if the item sounds too good to be true
2. ALWAYS check their feedback for negatives, no matter how many positives they have
3. Sometimes, if the 'Item is located in:' matches your country, the seller may still be shipping from abroad. This can mean lost parcels, long delays, etc. Check with them first. If they can't be bothered to respond, then perhaps that's a fair indication of the type of person you're dealing with.
4. Don't buy SMALL EXPENSIVE items. This is how I got scammed. Item gets lost in post, seller tells you it's the mail's fault, you fill in a postal claim, and you're on your own.
5. DON'T SELL outside your own country! I've also been scammed this way... you get the funds, package your goods and post (like a proper little angelic eBayer should!). 3 days later, you get a fraud report from PayPal, and your funds are re-claimed. International sales and stuff aren't eligible for seller protection, and basically, you're stuffed. The address will be generic, and so there's not even any comeback on that. PLUS... you'll notice that the eBay member who bought from you disappears off the face of the planet.
6. USE YOUR LOAF! If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. EBay sellers use aggressive marketing to dress things up to sound fantastic, wheras in fact they aren't (see below...)
7. PROTECT YOURSELF... never give any eBay passwords or credentials out, and for goodness sake, always deal via PayPal, even if you're using a card. Giving your card details out to third parties is a bit worrying!

Some comments
2) In addition, check what THEY give out. Some sellers have 1000 points but check what feedback they leave? Only -ve. Ever. What this means is up to you.
4) Not true. Pay with Paypal, make any old claim and Paypal assumes the seller is at fault. THEY will have to prove they sent the item - eg registered mail.
which brings us to 5) country has nothing to do with it. You think mail can't get lost just because you're 2hrs drive away? Again, Paypal always assumes the seller is at fault. So ALWAYS send using registered mail - you prove you sent it, if it's lost it's not your fault.
7) I agree. But also, don't trust Paypal either! Add your card, buy, then remove it! Search the web for Paypal horror stories!

Scams exist on and off ebay. Just because it's 'published' on the web people get careless.