Hi all,
I was wondering if any one can tell how ebay works, as i saw some stuff i would like to order but don't really know how to go about it.
And how safe is it, and do you always get your order good.
Please any input would be nice and wht do they mean with bit?
Thanks Ana.
So far I have had nooooo problem on ebay..I have purchased items like cell phone accessories and even a transmission.. You sign up, add paypal account.. and best bet is to first try auctions.. I use the auction all the time before I purchase on 'buy now'. So far so good for me.. Next?
Hi Ana,
I have bought quite a few things off Ebay but it has always been to the US from the US. I don't know how they are with international. I have never had a problem with anything I have bought. I love it! My husband has gotten quite a few things too. I thought it was really easy to sign up and everything. What I had to do was sign up and create a user ID and password and give them a credit card number. Then you can start looking for things that you want and if you find something you would like to bid on, you put in the maximum amount of money you are willing to pay for that item and Ebay will place the bid for you. If someone outbids you, Ebay will automatically bid for you up to that maximum bid that you put in. Whoever is the highest bidder when the auction time is up, gets the item and then you have to communicate with the person selling the item to setup payment and shipping. It has been awhile since I signed up so I am not real sure what you have to go through. I hope I explained things well. Maybe someone else can put in there advice too.
Heather
I was VERY nervous about purchasing from eBay until I needed something that I could not find anywhere else. Now I have no fear. I think the best tip would be to be sure the individual you are buying from has a 99% or higher rating on the system. Also, look at buyer feedback. All of my purchases have been delivered on time and in great condition. In addition to this they must go through customs as my orders have come from the US to Canada.
There are quite a few people here who sell on eBay as well and I'm sure they could also give you some good tips. Like everything you buy, always 'caveat emptor'...buyer beware!
I have had only one problem and got my money back from paypal besides that I have gotten a lot of stuff from them books, pans, custom bday invites, favors and a beautiful sideboard from France.
READ the review, make sure their is not a lot of negative reviews on the item you want to bid on.
It is a great way to find things, I have bought things from overseas.
good luck and happy bidding
The important thing to take note of is how many items the seller has sold (in parenthesis after the seller's name) and what the feedback is. 100% is very good of course. You can also read feedback comments on a seller to see if there are any complaints. When in doubt, don't bid. We have purchased a lot off ebay including two cars! We haven't had any problems.
Good luck and have fun.
I buy and sell on Ebay all the time!!! I love it!! You just have to be careful who you are buying from and the sellers reputation is shown in their feedback total.I have never had a problem out of about 300 items I have bought I have never had a problem...It really is addicting also!!!
Just like a physical storefront, not everything will be perfect but most of the time, there's no hitches.
You have to watch some people, even with good feedback. Just because they have no negative feedback, doesn't mean they didn't screw someone over. Trust your gut.
Just like a physical storefront, not everything will be perfect but most of the time, there's no hitches.
You have to watch some people, even with good feedback. Just because they have no negative feedback, doesn't mean they didn't screw someone over. Trust your gut.
Amen to that. 100% positive feedback means nothing, nor does some negative feedback. Some people will only leave good feedback for fear of reprisal. There used to be an area on E-bay where people would talk and some sellers would list which buyers to stay away from or mention a recent bad experience so you knew who they were talking about. So this would stop people from putting bad feedback on the site. Don't know if that has changed. Some leave negative feedback for no good reason. I bought several hundred things on E-bay and had some not so good experiences with people that had 100% positive feedbacks. I also had some good experiences with people that had less than perfect feedback, maybe one or two negative feedbacks.
I had some really good experiences with people in the U.K. Some negative experiences with people in both the U.S. and in Canada. Bottom line is in the long run, do the sellers do what they can to make things right. If they have negative feedback read it and see how they handled it.
Hugs Squirrelly
so far the only negative experience I've had is how fast my wallet deflates thanks to all the cake and other stuff I've bought!...
so easy to loose your self-control and bid way too much.
Amen to that too!
I think too, how fragile or breakable the items you buy is a good part of it. I was buying a lot of antique dishes, chandeliers, things like that. The packaging can be a nightmare because you just wouldn't believe how badly some things are packed. Like the 100 year old plate that was sent from the U.S. in, a mailing envelope. Seems the buyer made a lot of money by charging rates for the most expensive delivery method available and extra packaging fees, then would send in the regular mail in a very slightly padded envelope. Grrrh, it could make you cry. Good thing I also do mosaics!
Or the Canuck seller who sent a 100 year old solid brass heavily embossed chandelier from an old church in a box with some old clothes as padding, gee, I wonder why all of the candle covers broke? But hey, I got some old smelly socks and an old football jersey to compensate, haha! I did get a really nice decorative pillow that was used for packing, sent it to the drycleaner and used it. And an electrician loved it so much he charged me next to nothing to re-wire it.
I found a lot of issues really upsetting but the worst one to me was the rip-off mailing and packaging fees and then the poor packing.
Well, it is a shopping experience, haha!
Hugs Squirrelly
If it is items such as cake pans, magazine that you can still purchase from the vendor such as some back issues of Cake decorating magazines etc, as well as certain other items be careful of the shipping as sometimes you will end up paying more for a used item than you may be able to buy it for new.
I bid on ebay some and one time it was for the American Cake decorating magazine, and some one ended up paying more than they could have bought the back issues for including the back issue shipping price. I can buy alot of different cake pans cheaper at my local cake supply store, than what you can get them for used on ebay.
Don't get me wrong I love using ebay, just be mindfull of what you are paying total.
Wilma
I loved ebay until last week. I won an auction for an item and the seller never sent the item. Apparently she did this to everyone who won her auctions. She was a new seller--and I gave her the benefit of the doubt because I am going to start selling and you've gotta sell somewhere.
Suffice it to say, she totally screwed all of us--she had like 40-50 items listed. Most people reported her and ebay has revoked her membership. However, with a little bit of investigative work from my step-mother, we figured out that this is not the first time this has happened--she just used a slightly different user name this time.
Apparently she needed some quick Christmas cash and thought the best way to do it was to screw people.
Buyer beware--I will never bid again on somebody who is new.
Lisa
I loved ebay until last week. I won an auction for an item and the seller never sent the item. Apparently she did this to everyone who won her auctions. She was a new seller--and I gave her the benefit of the doubt because I am going to start selling and you've gotta sell somewhere.
Suffice it to say, she totally screwed all of us--she had like 40-50 items listed. Most people reported her and ebay has revoked her membership. However, with a little bit of investigative work from my step-mother, we figured out that this is not the first time this has happened--she just used a slightly different user name this time.
Apparently she needed some quick Christmas cash and thought the best way to do it was to screw people.
Buyer beware--I will never bid again on somebody who is new.
Lisa
Lisa, how did E-bay handle this? Did people receive a refund of their payments from PayPal and such or are they out of pocket?
Hugs Squirrelly
I loved ebay until last week. I won an auction for an item and the seller never sent the item. Apparently she did this to everyone who won her auctions. She was a new seller--and I gave her the benefit of the doubt because I am going to start selling and you've gotta sell somewhere.
Suffice it to say, she totally screwed all of us--she had like 40-50 items listed. Most people reported her and ebay has revoked her membership. However, with a little bit of investigative work from my step-mother, we figured out that this is not the first time this has happened--she just used a slightly different user name this time.
Apparently she needed some quick Christmas cash and thought the best way to do it was to screw people.
Buyer beware--I will never bid again on somebody who is new.
Lisa
Lisa, how did E-bay handle this? Did people receive a refund of their payments from PayPal and such or are they out of pocket?
Hugs Squirrelly
Ebay revoked her membership after all the complaints. They stopped allowing us to put in feedback after the first 4 people did.
They then forwarded me to Paypal to file a dispute. I haven't heard anything on that yet. I don't think there is much that they can do, however, because I would be the farm that she cleared out her paypal account just as soon as the $$ was put in there.
I also contacted my Mastercard and they have opened a dispute file and have given me a tentative credit for the money that was lost. I don't know how they are going to get it back, though, either.
Hopefully it'll just work out.
I was acutally quite irritated with Ebay because the only reason I found out that she got her membership revoked was that her positive feedback TO me was deleted. I also thought that was unfair. I deserve the positive feedback as I completed my end of the transaction (payment) in an extremely timely manner. Whatever, though, I'm just really leary about buying there again.
Lisa
I had my first not-so-great experience last week...I won an auction, paid for it immediately and as of today have not been able communicate with the seller (5 days and 3 e-mail requests later). SO, I went to the paypal website link via my "won" item and filed a claim and disputed the charges. I got an answer back a few hours later that the seller is supposedly sending the item today via USPS (with tracking #)...will see if I get it by Friday...
I would also mention to check out shipping costs because sometimes the price you win plus shipping costs could equal what you would purchase normally at other online stores that may offer free shipping. You have to know exactly what something is worth before you buy it on e-bay...example - I saw a ceramic Bunco jar for sale on an official Bunco website for $4.95 that on e-bay some of the sellers are selling at starting $4.95 bids!!
Well Pay-pal and MasterCard and such, are all insured or can write off losses, so they should be refunding these amounts and then collecting from their insurer on the other end and letting the insurer go after people like that. To my way of thinking, it shouldn't be your problem Lisa. That is why I asked, one of the things I didn't understand was how people were getting taken for a ride and E-bay, PayPal and such were doing nothing about it. I thought that had improved.
I could list pages of some of the things to watch out for and I bet others could do the same. And yet I could also list pages of the good experiences with some sellers too. And I bet people that sell could also do the same.
Hugs Squirrelly
Beware of Ebay! It's addictive! I have been buying on Ebay for over two years and have had only 1 bad experience. I paid by money order and never received my goods. I try only to buy through Paypal as I feel it is safer. Have purchased many cake pans and decorating books along with the other things that I collect.
My main beef with buying on Ebay is the postage. Some sellers really add to the cost for their packaging. I have found most of them to be pretty fair. Guess there always has to be a few in every crowd, eh? LOL
My children have threatened me so I have almost quit buying. I did buy a Porky Pig cake pan last week. Couldn't resist. What I really need to do is start selling some things.
Caduchi, if you are thinking about buying just go to the website and read the tutorials. It is really quite simple. Beware that overseas postage is really expensive.
Lionladydi
I started buying from ebay a year ago when I was planning my wedding/renewal of vows & needed wedding items. I worked my way thru getting at least 25-30 positive feedbacks before selling anything. The only thing that went wrong for me was a ring I got that looked SO big & nice in the pic for $175, when I got it, it was still cute, but DAINTY! So I shipped it back (out of my pocket, of course), and got a refund. Then I ordered rose shaped floating candles & they were all broken when I got them because all the lady did for packaging was a couple walmart sacks stuffed in the box on top of them!!!! She never did reply to me. I agree that when finding something you REALLY want, it is hard not to keep upping your bid, gets addicting fast. I know I have probably paid over-price a few times for things I could have gotten much cheaper if I looked elsewhere. I still go there daily (as often as coming here too)....there is just soooo much you can find there! I am getting irritated at all the pans I start to bid on, though....they have been going for $30+! I love ebay though, then I get to look forward to getting the mail, instead of just bills! haha.
I absolutely LOVE ebay! Lol I never knew about the help sites or anything liek that so i learned from experience. As long as you make sure you have a good seller(ALWAYS read the feedback). My suggestion si not only make sure you have a good seller is read the complete descirption. I've had many who don't accpet paypal or ones that have a different way to make you pay(I.E. want you to pay from their site or through the transaction email isntead of website). I've made a couple good mistakes thinking i could pay with paypal and they didn't accept it. It turned out ok because a money order wasn't hard. 
My one bad experience taught me to be careful about who's the seller. I bought a CD from a guy ,and NEVER got it. I emailed and emailed and emailed. Eventually i went on to Ebay live help and they told me they could do nothing. 
So i email him again after he finally answers. He tells me he needs my address to send me the CD. I was not going to willlingly send him my address over email. I gave him my payment with paypal so he should have had my adress. I got suspsicous and gave it up. It was only 10 dollars so it wasn't a complete lost. He had 100%
I've never had any problems buying from people outside the U.S.(and i'm sure it'd be the same vise-versa). I've bought from people as far as Japan and China.
I am a seller and buyer on e-Bay and have only had two bad experiences with not getting my orders. On one item, Paypal refunded me my money.
I always send my packages using Paypal shipping so that the buyer gets a tracking number and it also let them know when the package was mailed.
This might be just me, but I think that some sellers that do not get a high enough bid do not ship the item and just claim that they mailed it and it was lost in mail. Every seller should be made to use Paypal shipping to insure that the package was mailed.
Thank goodness that I'm not as addicted to e-bay as I once was.
When looking at an item's price, I figure in the shipping with it also and if it goes over the set price that I want to pay, then I leave it there.
I now shop the Thrift Stores, Salvation Armies and Goodwills. Have found alot of things cheap. Got the My Little Pony pan for $2.00. My neice brought me the Boba Fett pan for $1.00. I have so many pans from these stores and have not had a chance to use them yet 
I haven't used over 6 pans of the approximate 50 I have purchsed on Ebay. Finally decided that I might just be collecting them. LOL Now I have purchase a book about collectible pans. Anxious for it to arrive to see what my pans are worth so I can justify buying them to my children. LOL They say anything over 2 is a collection so I have figured out that I even have a collection of collections.
I have so many also that I have them scattered between my house and storage building
I want the old Care Bear pan but can't find it...cost to much on e-bay with the shipping added in.
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