Do you buy/sell on Ebay?

My professor swears by Ebay and says it's the best thing next to buttered bread. I went there to check out what he was talking about and yeah, it's all right, but what is the craze all about? Just wondering...maybe I'm missing something:shrug:

it is particularly good for hard to find (in the stores) items and collectibles.

okay, that makes sense. I need to do some more browsing then. Is everything sold in auction style or can you just go on and "buy" it?

There is a tab you can click to get just the "Buy it Now"s to come up.

Watch out for people who gouge you on shipping and handling costs...they avoid paying higher eBay fees that way.

But you have to realize the Ebay isn't, at all, what it once was. It's more of a general Marketplace now, with occaisionally good deals present, than it is a true open auction site.

Plus, they have GOT to do something with the inflated shipping prices, they are simply out of hand.

That RAWKS!

:rofl:

I saw it on Purplepride.org and I couldn't resist. I've been saying for years that John Madden wanted to marry Bart Favrah. This pic was just too good to pass up.

:rofl:

The decorum???

After the season he's having, I think he should be wearing a nice black veil.

You MUST make sure what the shipping charges are before even bidding on anything.

Don't they make a percentage cut of the final sales price on certain items? That would effect their bottom line.

nothing on the s&h - but! they also own paypal which charges a percentage on the entire amount. ebay looks after their bottom line, don't worry too much for them ;-)

Shipping and handling = shipping and extra profit

If I see shipping charges more than $4 to $10 I won't bid either, unless I know it's a heavy item. Sometimes I contact the seller and chastise them about their shipping charges. They usually don't reply.

But that's the only way. You have to carefully look to see what the shipping costs are. Especially since it's easy to cheat paypal/ebay's system of computing it.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-shipping.html

the problem is proving it. I LOVE eBAy and use it all the time. As a collector it helped dive down the supply/demand and makes collectibles far cheaper than the scalpers rates you'd find in flea markets, conventions, and comic shops.

For 12 years I was props mistress for a large Gilbert & Sullivan group. One show requires a genii lamp. I spent WEEKS looking for one in antique shops and giant flea markets (pre-internet).

Twelve years later, that show comes around again, and I ordered one from ebay ($12) and gave it to the new props mistress to spare her the trouble. Total time searching? About 10 minutes.

It was a LOT easier to deal with. All these damn Ebay "store" that are up now make it much harder to browse.

He's into buying/selling coins and it works well for him, plus they're easy to ship/receive.

I used to get Italian charms for $.99. I was putting together bracelets for a family reunion. Would have cost me a fortune if I'd had to pay regular price for them! Some of the stores have regular internet sites and you can tell what their regular prices are.

I've bought all sorts of things from eBay for less than I can find anywhere else. (I only buy new things.) With the feedback system, it's pretty easy to tell which sellers are good and which ones are not. I like to see 99%-100% feedback from a seller.

There are still many good deals to be found on eBay.

For me, e-bay's been a field where I can manifest grace and invite others into connecting, a source of brief comraderie, wounderous attainments and ultimately, our purification in though, speech and action in what we do. I find this heightened with connecting to others in various places around the world.

2 years ago I attempted to sell a Snap-On Impact Wrench and got screwed 4 times before finally completing a sale.
What sucks is that when someone does not pay up and complete the sale eBay does not refund your listing fee. They only refund their sales commission. What also sucks is when you leave negative feedback for these f**kers they retaliate with negative feedback and eBay does NOTHING about it. One woman that screwed me on the impact wrench left me feedback accusing me of cashing her check and never sending her the wrench. There are a lot of unscrupulous people on eBay.

ebay ain't what it was, now the stuff for sale is too expensive if you're a buyer and too cheap if you were a seller

it's not real people any more anyway, it's all abt the powersellers (businesses, even huge big box stores)

but ah back in the day!

I buy clothing for my kids - I have three. The oldest is 3 and I have twins that are 17 months. It is just too expensive to go out and buy quality clothing - can get pretty good lots of clothes on Ebay. I also go to a great consignment shop in my area. Then I sell the clothes that they have outgrown, that are still in good condition.

I also get their Thomas trains on Ebay. Much, much cheaper than any toy store. I have sold some of the kids' toys also.

I ship my clothing in poly bags to keep the prices down and I don't take returns. I state all of my policies very clearly in my listings. I have only had one real problem. It was more of a nuisance.

I have learned that feedback is key. Also just because it is on Ebay doesn't mean you are getting a deal. I have seen things on there that are priced a lot higher than you can get right in the store.

Craigslist is great for big items that you want to go pick up to avoid enormous shipping fees. Plus you can look at the item first.

It simply requires more good handicapping now. You can't just show up and find a bargain on every page. Some people will sloppily list an item with a low Buy It Now simply because they don't know the going rate and just guess. It's always a good idea to skip to the last page of a Search inquiry and look at the recently listed items to see if anyone made that mistake.

If you're selling something, always look at Completed Items to check the going rate plus which descriptions produced the highest bids. I continue to believe the best strategy is to include a reasonable reserve price but no minimum bid. That way bidders search for the reserve price so you get a flurry of small bids, and therefore people putting your item on their Watch This Item.

I just chewed out my sister for selling two concert tickets at $15 shipping. Can you believe that? I shipped two computer items to Ecuador for less than that a few months ago. My sister just looked at what others were charging for shipping and listed the same. Shipping charges are by far my #1 pet peeve on eBay. It's actually far beyond a peeve. I refuse to do business with lowlifes who rake on shipping.

About a year ago I did find a computer item for 1 cent Buy It Now and $12 shipping. The item generally sold for $15 to $25 so I reluctantly bought it.

Right now I'm trying to find an old toy from my childhood as a Christmas present for my nephew. It's popular but in the next couple of weeks someone will make a mistake and offer it too low, or with a wacko closing time like 4 AM.

Sometimes I'll just go hunting to see if I can get a "buy it now" price that is better than any of the other online stores, and I often succeed.

They live in the UK and the Japanese sell their older vehicles through "dealers" to the UK once they cannot pass the stringent tests in Japan.

They got a terrific deal on their people carrier (minivan) and have had no problems so far.

Amazing what that site has become in the last few years!

I bought most of my sports jerseys there and it's a great place to buy hard to find items like clip-on ties or a hartford whalers jersey.

far). It is the place I go to first for just about anything. I have purchased antiques, china, depression glass, digital camera accessories, artist supplies, craft supplies, fabric, furniture, books, pet items, and even my diabetic dog's testing strips and lancets. Never had a problem with a seller.

I've had a handful of not so great experiences...but the vast majority of transactions have been positive ones.