Buying On Ebay, What Is More Important To You?

1. Considering that you can easily buy an existing ebay account with 100% feedback any time you want
2. that ebay removes negative feedbacks for preferred sellers
3. that it is common for people to issue 'revenge' negative feedbacks
4. that it is common for people to use multiple accounts to pump up positive feedbacks

Which is these is not true?

And speaking of misinformed, please show us ANY post where I said that ebay favors the buyer.
Don

CanadaStamp - Below is a link to a recent post of mine regarding cartel sales on 5 May in just one ebay category, 19th Century US Unused. It looked at just ONE Cartel ID. Sales by dollar value made up over 50% of total sales for that period in that category. Add in other cartel IDs and other categories and the percentages are truly stunning and very disturbing. And this is only the cartel. It does not take into account all of the other bad actors that operate on ebay with impunity. 90% good? Not a chance.

https://goscf.com/t/61896

Cost is the first thing that catches my attention on an item of interest; then I look at the number of feedbacks to get an idea of how long the seller has been around.

I look at SH costs separately, but I suppose it could be consider as over all "cost" for your question. Sometime SH makes an otherwise total sale price/cost unacceptable.

I agree with Don about the actual value of ebay ratings and rarely look at them or what they mean.

By 'feedback of the seller' do you mean the percentage rating or the number of feedbacks the seller has? I think some buyers would be put off buying from someone who has zero feedback and just registered a week before. I have had successful dealings with such sellers, but I think their low overall feedback score (sometimes zero!!!) has put off other buyers and allowed me to get the item at an exceptionally low price.

But I do avoid ebay sellers if they have too many negatives and the negatives seem to be reasonably argued complaints.

Hi steevh,
'Seem' is the operative word and a very good choice of words on your part. That's the point, no one can tell if the feedback is real or not. For example if you anger someone on this forum, they could purposely buy something from you and write a reasonably argued complaint against you. If they were really motivated, they could make a bunch of purchases from you and you end up with a real problem. Blocking them has no impact since they could easily use multiple accounts which you have no idea about.

On the other hand, common sense tells us (us = anyone who has ever owned and operated a retail store) that it is impossible to make 1000s of transactions without someone complaining. It is not uncommon for some customers to complain even when you do everything exactly right.

So we have fake negative feedbacks and fake positive feedbacks. And what about the 3rd party industry that exists selling existing ebay accounts with plenty of positive feedbacks? Here are just two of the hundreds of places you can buy existing ebay accounts.
http://ebayselleraccounts.com/
http://www.topratedaccounts.com/

The bottom line is that the oversight of the feedback system is done by a party ( ebay) which has a HUGE vested interest in keeping buyer confidence high. If the feedback system were to be handled by a outside third party (like the Better Business Bureau) than it could probably be trusted. But as it is now it is nothing more than a marketing scheme that ebay uses to increase their bottom line.

We all know and acknowledge that ebay has tilted the playing field in favor of buyers with their general terms and conditions. Do we really think they ebay has not tilted the feedback playing field too?

All of this sucks for the decent folks who try to use it correctly and are really just getting duped.
Don

51studebaker...

As ever its a case of caveat emptor, but on top of that you've got the PayPal refund system.

I havent had any serious problems with either buying or selling on ebay, but then again, I dont use it for any big ticket items. Nothing more than US$100 or so, and typically much less. I'd be far more circumspect if I was buying anything for serious cash.

But from what I can see most of the people getting seriously burned seem to be foolish and greedy, and to believe the free lunch really does exist.

For ebay, I look at price and, depending on what I'm purchasing, something in the description to assure me of my purchase.

I tend to check feedback but sometimes forget.

I've only ever had four problems with ebay transactions and one wasn't even really a problem. As a seller, there were two occasions where I sold a small item ($5 or less) and never received payment. As a buyer, once I made a purchase without checking feedback. Unfortunately, I never received the item, which was a common feedback. ebay refunded me fully after appropriate time passed. The second time, the buyer sent something different. Worked out fine, so not really a big deal.

That said, the largest purchase I made on ebay has been $100, so I do save my larger purchases direct from dealers without ebay involvement.

I look at the feedback of a seller if it's less than 100% and more often than not it's someone having a whinge.

Shipping costs (for 1 or a small number of stamps) on some lots is what does my head in. I'm not buying a stamp for US$2 and paying US$20+ in shipping unless the stamp is actually worth WAY more than $2 (ie: postmark).

I tend to shy away from such sellers, but there have been times when I've taken the plunge and bought from them with no problems. I'll only do that for very inexpensive items, though.



I've hardly ever paid more than $100 for any ebay item, philatelic or not. I think the only exception was a rare Japanese book from 1888, containing a 10-page section on Volapük. I've bid over $100 on a few ebay auctions for stamps or postal history, but someone with deeper pockets has always won.

CanadaStamp

Studebaker - Don , only said:




I agree with him and my experience with good Canadian sellers is 95% good (do not buy from US as I buy Canadian stamps and at times do not like the prices, shipping and "sorry we do not ship to Canada" !! As for the US$, a lot of Canadians sell in US$ (what can I do !!)

René

I have simplified my ebay interactions by refusing to spend anymore on an item (plus the shipping cost) than I can afford to lose.

Living in a country that is much more densely populated than North America(the UK). I don't buy things by mail or e bay if it's more sensible to see and examine the item at first hand. A number of my colleagues at the stamp club do and seem to be satisfied with e bay, but to me it seems a no brainer to only trade for things sight unseen if you trust the dealer and you know exactly what you will get, or are willing to gamble on what you get. I mailed a bid to an auction many years ago for some GB official stamps of Queen Victoria they came and I got forty stamps for a real bargain price. I haven't detected anything wrong with them but since getting them I can't help wondering why they were 1% or less of full catalogue price.

Different strokes for different folks. If it's an item I want at a price I like, I buy it, regardless of who the seller is (unless it is a seller I personally have had difficulties with).

Seller reputation means nothing to me, as eBay/PayPal/credit card company offer several layers of protection. Some of the best deals and/or the most unusual items I've purchased on ebay have come from sellers who don't typically deal in stamps.

If I limited my searches to only known reputable sellers, that would severely limit the size of the net I could cast.

However, I understand the reasoning from those who will only purchase from known/trusted sellers. I just choose not to shop with such a limitation.