Community poll forum: Poll: Do you use eBay? If so, how often? If not, why not

Seriously.. First off enforcement of Criminal Acts within the STATES for things done over the INTERNET Is tough enough if not darn near impossible... It's more a well we'll file a report and silly internet user should know better kind of deal..

BUT when you ship internationally, you basically throw any governing "law" out the window. Even the supposed rules of ebay would not apply.

I stick by my first statement, the majority shareholders of Ebay and the UNDERWRITERS should all be sued for basically what amounts to fraud and a Ponzi scheme of EPIC proportions lol

I have bought and sold on eBay for several years. I have bought or sold about 90 items without a problem. Caveat Emptor is my code. As a seller, I gambled once and sent a package to an address that was not the verified, official one. All went well, whew!!
When I first began trading, and was very apprehensive about getting scammed, a seller sent me an invoice that was higher than the one won on the auction. I told him that I was backing out of the deal, because I couldn't trust him. He was slightly upset (he believed he had to pay some fees to eBay). eBay required that he make a negative feedback towards me to waive the fees. He did. So far this is the only negative feedback that I received; and it was kind of eBay's fault. I always use PayPal, check the seller's feedback for quantity and quality, communicate with the seller for pricier items (to ensure great seller skills), take the time to course through the eBay site to learn as much as possible, and leave feedback first when I'm a buyer (the seller leaves feedback when he's sure the buyer is satisfied). In fact, the computer that I'm using was bought on eBay; $1600 and fully loaded even with 3year warranty.

AS I HAVE STATED PREVIOUSLY, I THINK E-BAY IS A CORRUPT SYSTEM.THE NUMEROUS REPLIES ON THIS FORUM SEEM TO SUPPORT MY CLAIM. KEEP IN MIND THAT THERE ARE PROBABLY MANY THOUSANDS OF "E-BAYERS" OUT THERE THAT REMAIN QUIET ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES-THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBURG SO TO SPEAK. REPEAT: KEEP EVERY AND ALL DOCUMENTATION(S), E-BAY LISTING AND E-MAILS ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR SCAM. FILE THEM AWAY IN A HARD FOLDER (PAPER-NOT ON YOUR COMPUTER). THEN JUST WAIT FOR THE CLASS ACTION LAWYERS TO GO AFTER E-BAY. YOU MOST PROBABLY WILL RECEIVE SOME REIMBURSEMENT FOR YOUR LOSS. THE BEST PART OF ALL IS THE SATISFACTION THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN E-BAY TO TASK. THE NEXT THING IS TO STOP BUYING/SELLING ON E-BAY. E-BAY WILL WILL CORRECT THIS SITUATION WHEN THEIR REVENUES AND PROFITS DROP. IT'S ALL IN THE STOCK PRICE AND BONUSES..........HAPPY HUNTING

Live in Canada. Ordered a Toshiba VCR/DVD player from New York. It arrived damaged and was in original sealed package. The DVD door dropped open. Paid to have it shipped. Paid to send it back. Have tracking information. New York firm delayed communication beyond the 60 day ebay/paypal limit even though they had the item back in their hands. No replacement sent/offered/received. Wrote to Toshiba both in Canada and the USA. Neither would honor a purchase from the neighboring country. I was stuck with $100.00 in shipping charges, no merchandise, and feeling very frustrated.

Bought a nice unit locally a year or so later from Sears. Sears is looking pretty good to me these days.

I am a regular eBay seller of digital goods. I sell game card codes for World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, I get a lot of purchases from stolen eBay and PayPal accounts. Therefore I have to authenticate my customers and make sure that the real account owner is the one making the purchase. Over time, I have perfected my authentication system and made it less of a hassle to my customers and me. I only accept purchases from accounts with a verified shipping address even if the item is digital. Here are red flags to look for when selling digital goods...
-Buyer has very poor English communication skills.
-Buyer sends multiple emails requesting item, asap.
-Buyer wants to buy more of the product from you before you send him the item.
-Buyer offers to buy more outside of eBay.
-Buyer has an account in a risky country - including but not limited to... China, Russia, Brazil, and any Eastern European country.
-Buyer leaves positive feedback before you send him the item.

When in doubt, refund the buyer and file a mutual agreement to not complete the transaction strike. Always wait for buyer to leave feedback. If the buyer was a potential scammer, leave him neutral feedback stating that future sellers should be cautious when dealing with the buyer. If the buyer was for sure a scammer, report it to eBay and do not leave any feedback because you may be leaving it on someones stolen account.

I sell digital goods that are extremely prone to fraud. I sell game card codes that I know for a fact work. There would be no good reason for a buyer to leave me negative feedback. With digital goods, MANY buyers are fraudsters and place a chargeback on the transaction and because it is not covered by PayPal's Seller Protection Policy, they win no matter what. Therefore, I give feedback only once the buyer has and I make sure all of my customers are satisfied. Look at my feedback if you will - my eBay user ID is eplutons. You will see that people are really happy with both my service and my products and my choice of when to leave feedback a tool I can't forsake. By the way, I do leave feedback immediately after the buyer pays before shipping, when dealing with tangible goods. I must admit you make a point but it does not apply to me.

I go on it a few times every now and again...
ebay... good place

I have had one issue with E-Bay that I wasn't able to get resolved and I must admit that was my fault. I really feel that they have stepped up and improved their customer service but I would never rely on the number of positive feedbacks a seller has. I recently helped my son purchase a cell phone from a seller with not hundreds or thousands but tens of thousand positive feedback yet when we got the phone we experienced problems with the internet so we took it to a local dealer here and discovered it was a fake well at least all was fake but the case it was in but it hadn't gone through the last phase of completion and after buying this phone we noticed words misspelled on the menu but of course the local carrier had photographed and documented all of this. I contacted the seller and they were really fast to agree to replacing the phone or refunding my money and that kinda scared me so I read the email several times and noticed that they were only willing to refund a portion of what I paid wanting to keep 15% restocking fee (I ask how much work is in shoving a fake phone onto the shelf with the others) I replied saying that I would at no time allow them to keep a dollar of the money and I expected to be refunded shipping charges as well considering I had done all I was required to do yet they had lied from the first word typed in their description. I did contact E-Bay and Pay Pal along with several other buyers who had left negative feedback after my purchase and I'm happy to say that both E-Bay and Pay Pal supported me and I was given a FULL refund. I really think the experience one has is the result of how it is first presented to the seller so that they know exactly how serious you are and what you will and will not settle for. My son had won his money from an essay he had written so I was angry he had been scammed to begin with so no way was I going to settle for any less than he had paid and that included his shipping charges. I an currently fighting to get his negative feedback removed because it was placed from revenge only because I paid him within minutes after it had ended and I left only neutral for him and I really feel that E-Bay will remove it if he doesn't agree to do so after looking at the facts of the transaction.....................I would always advise caution to be used anytime you deal with or purchase items online.............I heard of some who paid for and was sent a photo only of a cell phone when they thought they were buying an actual phone.............I was kinda lucky really when I compare myself to what they are fighting........