ebay.....not cancer...just askin

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maglets
maglets Member Posts: 2,576 Member
does anyone have any ebay experience either buying or selling?

I would love to hear from you....thanks

maggie...

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  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
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    Perhaps
    You're not STILL trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge are you Mags?
  • maglets
    maglets Member Posts: 2,576 Member
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    PhillieG said:

    Perhaps
    You're not STILL trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge are you Mags?

    philly
    darn you got onto that ruse of mine right away.....hahaha

    no I just thought it would be interesting on this frigid gloomy day to hear if people regularly bought or sold.....

    now philly about that bridge...:):)

    maggie....luv ur avatar phil
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
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    maglets said:

    philly
    darn you got onto that ruse of mine right away.....hahaha

    no I just thought it would be interesting on this frigid gloomy day to hear if people regularly bought or sold.....

    now philly about that bridge...:):)

    maggie....luv ur avatar phil

    Just buying but a lot.....
    My wife buys lots of things from ebay , you need any help?
  • maglets
    maglets Member Posts: 2,576 Member
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    pepebcn said:

    Just buying but a lot.....
    My wife buys lots of things from ebay , you need any help?

    curious
    just curious pepe to see the way that people use the service....darned old shipping often costs more than the item.....

    just tryin to stay warmmmmm -27 and blowin

    maggie
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
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    I have
    I have bought some stuff for music (a drum machine, a wah-wah pedal) and one Christmas I bought a Wii when you could NOT find them in any store. I paid way too much but it was the one thing the kids REALLY wanted. Now I use it too for tennis, golf, bowling and also we use Netflix with it. It's great for that.

    I've sold a thing or two also but mainly bought. With the exception of the Wii I got good deals on everything.

    You do have to watch the shipping costs. Sometimes they sell stuff cheap but then it's $15 to ship it! I stay away from those things.
  • herdizziness
    herdizziness Member Posts: 3,624 Member
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    Bought and Sold
    I've bought and sold on ebay. I haven't had a problem with it. It's been a while thought, about two years.
    Winter Marie
  • Lovekitties
    Lovekitties Member Posts: 3,364 Member
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    I have bought things
    While not a regular, there have been times when I have gotten gifts for others on ebay.

    I have found that you need to check out all/most of the like items and compare not only cost and shipping but condition as well. Given the choice between a cheaper one and one that comes in original packaging, go with the more expensive.

    Also, if you are looking for several things, check out the folks who may have more than one thing on your list. Sometimes you can get a break on the postage.

    Hugs to you Maggie...stay warm and out of the deep snow.

    Marie who loves kitties
  • jararno
    jararno Member Posts: 186
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    Ebay
    Ebay.....Yeah I know all about it! I have been buying and selling for years! Mostly buying!
    Biggest thing is to really check the shipping costs and know about the actual value of what you are buying or selling.

    A lightweight item with an unusual size can be a pain to ship as the postal rate in the USA can be crazy. International shipping can also be interesting. I have not had very good luck with stuff shipped from Canada. Seems to take a long time and arrive broken. I am not sure where the trouble lies!

    I have purchased bicycles, furniture, sporting event tickets, clothing, hobby supplies, gemstones, jewelry and assorted other goodies. I am trying to slow down on my spending and haven't been spending on Ebay these days. It can be addictive!

    I used to sell dollhouse miniatures, but stopped many years ago. I recently sold an expensive video game for my son as was suprised on how much profit was lost on fees. Most people pay with Paypal which is easy, but a fee is charged and Ebay charges fees also.
    The BUYER pays the shipping, but sometimes the seller ends up having to pay extra if the shipping was calculated wrong.

    The best thing about Ebay is that you can almost always find what you are looking for!

    Have A Great Day!

    Take care,

    Barb
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
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    Selling and Buying
    I have been using Ebay since 1999. Buying and selling. It has changed greatly, and for the better in the last two years. Ebay is an open forum for people to buy and sell goods. Remember if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. With that said, there are new sellers whom do not pay attention to seller protections and one can find exceptionally good values.

    Read the feedback from the other buyer about the seller. Does not ship on time, packaged poorly, several was not as described, are reasons to stay away from sellers. If one has many good responses and one or two poor responses, I look at that has one can not please all of the people all of the time.

    Watch for shipping costs on Ebay! There are many whom seem to have a good price on the product. They make their money on the excessive shipping costs. This is common practice for foreign sellers.

    If you have any questions, I would be happy to help you out.

    Amazon is not seller friendly! If one has a good product Amazon will undercut the seller. Amazon used to have higher standards for sellers then Ebay. Ebay raised their standards for feedback and leaves the sellers alone. The buyers decide the quality of the sellers.

    Bonanzle is interesting for collector items. Bonanzle is good for the buyers and the sellers.

    Best Always, mike
  • Love2Cats
    Love2Cats Member Posts: 127
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    Ebay consumer
    Hello, I have bought tons of stuff on Ebay over the years. Here are some tips

    1. If you want Ebay to sort the items by price + shipping, there is a small box that says "sort by" which contains a drop down list. Choose the option of "price + shipping:lowest first", and this will automatically sort all of product for the total cost of the item including the shipping expenses.

    2. You can buy some items immediately, or bid on ones you hope to win. If you really want to win an item, do not bid on it until the last minute of the auction. I use a timer to help me bid when it's down to the last 10 seconds of the auction. If you bid on an item way before the end of the auction, you start a bidding competition, and this will start driving the price up, and begin a bidding war with other people who want that item too. Also, I met someone a long time ago, who used to sell a lot of stuff on Ebay. I asked him if he ever bid on some of his items to drive the selling price up, and he told me "yes".

    3. Use Paypal. It is the prefered payment method of most of the sellers anyhow, and its simple...you only have to log in your credit card one time to register, instead of each time you make a purchase. It's also safer, because only Paypal knows your credit/debit card numbers, instead of giving out your number to every vendor you purchase from.Paypal is a free service, so there are no additional charges. Also, the purchases you make with Paypal are backed up with a guarantee in case someone tries to rip you off, or refuses to refund you money for defective item or an item that was never received. Twice I have had to open a dispute with Paypal, to get money back from a vendor. Both times Paypal ruled in my favor, and I was promptly refunded my money.

    Have fun shopping!
  • CherylHutch
    CherylHutch Member Posts: 1,375
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    eBay
    Hey Mags...

    Ok, I haven't bought/sold for eons.... although I must admit, it can get addicting if you are into auctions. Especially if you are down to the last minute on an item and there are a few people trying to outbid the others... with no one knowing if they are losing by a couple of cents or dollars or ??

    Shipping from the States to Canada can be outrageous. I think that's what finally made me get over the fun of it. If you win an item for $10 and have to spend $30 US in shipping... well, it kind of loses the "Oh, what a deal I got!" feeling :D

    Mind you, you might want to try playing on eBay Canada -- http://www.ebay.ca/ At least those will be Canadian postal rates and considered domestic shipping. It's worth a try :)

    Cheryl
  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
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    eBay
    Hey Mags...

    Ok, I haven't bought/sold for eons.... although I must admit, it can get addicting if you are into auctions. Especially if you are down to the last minute on an item and there are a few people trying to outbid the others... with no one knowing if they are losing by a couple of cents or dollars or ??

    Shipping from the States to Canada can be outrageous. I think that's what finally made me get over the fun of it. If you win an item for $10 and have to spend $30 US in shipping... well, it kind of loses the "Oh, what a deal I got!" feeling :D

    Mind you, you might want to try playing on eBay Canada -- http://www.ebay.ca/ At least those will be Canadian postal rates and considered domestic shipping. It's worth a try :)

    Cheryl

    over bidding
    To stop over bidding use ESnipe.com. This tool allows you to set a price and it will bid at the last few seconds for you. The value becomes that you do not get into bidding wars, your time waiting for an auction to end, and one can bid on multiple items simultaneously. It costs 1% of the bid and a maximum of 5$. This can be used well for under bidding expensive items in hopes that one will fall through the cracks.

    Best Always, mike
  • idlehunters
    idlehunters Member Posts: 1,787 Member
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    thxmiker said:

    over bidding
    To stop over bidding use ESnipe.com. This tool allows you to set a price and it will bid at the last few seconds for you. The value becomes that you do not get into bidding wars, your time waiting for an auction to end, and one can bid on multiple items simultaneously. It costs 1% of the bid and a maximum of 5$. This can be used well for under bidding expensive items in hopes that one will fall through the cracks.

    Best Always, mike

    Hi Mags!
    I sold on Ebay for several years. Bought some but mostly sold. My specialty was second hand designer clothing. I would go to yard sales in very posh neighborhoods and there I would find the most amazing deals. Some yard sales were so good I would make an offer to buy ALL the clothing at the sale. Spend $500. to $1000. on the lot but return was 4x that. My biggest sale year I made a little over $18,000. I never charged a handling fee and posted a calculator with every listing to enter your zip code and shipping would be automatically calculated according to weight, which was also stated in listing. I ONLY dealt with Paypal as a way of payment and never bought or sold outside the US. I had great fun with it. No time now though. One good thing.... I went thru all storage areas in my house and put whatever I could on Ebay. "One mans junk is another mans treasure" VERY true on Ebay. Take care.

    Jennie
  • just4Brooks
    just4Brooks Member Posts: 980 Member
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    I used to
    I used to sell plants before cancer. Made good money but it was a lot of work. Now ebay fee's are too much and it just cut into mt share too much to make it worth it. The first thing I ever sold on ebay was a crill basket I bought for 2 bucks and sold for $400. I was hooked
  • schnauzerheads
    schnauzerheads Member Posts: 53 Member
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    eBay
    Hey Maggie,

    I love eBay... Mostly buying, but may be doing some selling soon while the lab bills come in! :-) I usually try to find individuals selling stuff, with good ratings, the bidding is fun and you can get great deals while helping someone make a few bucks. eBay also has a Buyer Protection policy (free) where they will refund your cost if you pay someone who doesn't deliver. There are some "stores" who put things up and charge more than what you could pay at Amazon or someplace similar. Watch the shipping fees! They might sell a pencil for $0.25 and charge you $5 for shipping. I've sold a few things. but that seems to be more of a hassle than it's worth. By the time you pack, buy postage and ship it (some folks have it down to a science and actually make a decent living; I just don't have the time), you'd be better off using Craigslist. While Craigslist can be really cool, it can also be called Flakeslist, it's amazing the amount of people who e-mail to ask a bunch of questions about something they have no intention of buying, or they don't show up, or they try to talk you down from a $5 TV. You can usually get a good sense of who you're dealing with if they never call and only e-mail. On both sites, always be aware of scammers... there are plenty of signs, and you can read about it on both sites. When I'm selling on Craigslist, I always take the sale to a public place.... just read too many weird stories and I don't want strangers checking out my house. Sorry about the ramble, and I know you didn't ask about Craigslist.... :-) Hope you have fun with eBay...

    Kevin
  • maglets
    maglets Member Posts: 2,576 Member
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    eBay
    Hey Maggie,

    I love eBay... Mostly buying, but may be doing some selling soon while the lab bills come in! :-) I usually try to find individuals selling stuff, with good ratings, the bidding is fun and you can get great deals while helping someone make a few bucks. eBay also has a Buyer Protection policy (free) where they will refund your cost if you pay someone who doesn't deliver. There are some "stores" who put things up and charge more than what you could pay at Amazon or someplace similar. Watch the shipping fees! They might sell a pencil for $0.25 and charge you $5 for shipping. I've sold a few things. but that seems to be more of a hassle than it's worth. By the time you pack, buy postage and ship it (some folks have it down to a science and actually make a decent living; I just don't have the time), you'd be better off using Craigslist. While Craigslist can be really cool, it can also be called Flakeslist, it's amazing the amount of people who e-mail to ask a bunch of questions about something they have no intention of buying, or they don't show up, or they try to talk you down from a $5 TV. You can usually get a good sense of who you're dealing with if they never call and only e-mail. On both sites, always be aware of scammers... there are plenty of signs, and you can read about it on both sites. When I'm selling on Craigslist, I always take the sale to a public place.... just read too many weird stories and I don't want strangers checking out my house. Sorry about the ramble, and I know you didn't ask about Craigslist.... :-) Hope you have fun with eBay...

    Kevin

    wow thanks guys
    thanks guys for all your excellent feedback :):)

    I have bought and I have sold....never had a really really bad experience but I like hearing about your ebay observations

    mags.....