** Bad eBay Stories/Sellers **

[Master Jetfire]

I looked up plastic dreams on evil bay but can't find him. His user name seems very familiar though!

I think the user name is www.plasticdreams.com if I'm not mistaken. Either way, I will never ever buy from him again.

[metalformer]

My favorite line is:

Figure 100% Complete. Then you win the bid and it's "I can't find the (insert part name here) but I'll mail it to you when I find it." :tflaugh

My only bad experience was not with a TF but a Death Metal CD. The guy sent it to another person by mistake. :tfsad :tfmad

 

But he refund me so no big deal. :tfgrin

[Bizzmoff]

Here goes my rant on the subject of eBay:

 

Years ago eBay was fun. Nobody used "Buy It Now" and most listings started at just $1.00. You felt like you were at a real auction. Bidding pace increased until the final second. I bought many Transformers that way and enjoyed the experience.

 

Today it seems that every seller is using a "BIN" price for just a dollar over the starting price. Nobody wants to bid on an item with a bid already on it. Shipping and handling prices are going crazy high to make the sell price appear lower. Large companies are using eBay mainly as advertising for their online store.

 

I have had better luck buying TF pieces off of www.robotmonstertoys.com and www.toyarchive.com than off of eBay. Right now I want an Armada Nemesis Prime and an Energon Ultra Magnus but eBay seems to be the only place to find one. Japanese N Prime $43.00 and E Mag for $90.00 BIN ??? Maybe I'll wait until I'm rich.

[Blue_Springer]

I buy TFs in person from local shops, Ebay's a last resort thanks to the guy who sold me a fake Gundam model. I forget his name since its been a while since I've gone to Ebay for models, but long story short: payed 60$ total and when I got the (trashed via shipping?) model I went to the guy for a refund and got only half the money back and the unbuilt pile of scrap is still resting on my bookcase as a reminder.

[Robimus Prime]

Today it seems that every seller is using a "BIN" price for just a dollar over the starting price. Nobody wants to bid on an item with a bid already on it. Shipping and handling prices are going crazy high to make the sell price appear lower.

As an avid ebay user, I play both sides of the fence. My auctions always start out at $0.99. I never use BIN, because as you've mentioned, "It takes the fun out of the auction." As for shipping, I use USPS Priority. With everything broken into zones now, it varies by what part of the country you're in, as to your shipping costs. The majority of what I ship isn't more than $4.30, and this price includes manditory delivery confirmation. Insurance as always, is an option, but recomended.

 

 

As a buyer, I do agree with you on the outrageousness of some BIN auctions. I've also had by share of shipping cost frustrations as well. There's nothing like receiving a package in a USPS Priority mail box, with a $3.90 postage label affixed to it, and having paid $8.95 for shipping! :wtf

[jimoinj]

Okay I've got to out Translabels. I note that his last 9 or so feedbacks on e-bay are negative too, and they all had their money taken but were sent nothing.

 

 

AMENDMENT (14/6/04): I finally received these stickers a few days ago. They were only sent in May. So at least I received them, albeit very late.

[jlbeowolf]

Okay I've got to out Translabels. I note that his last 9 or so feedbacks on e-bay are negative too, and they all had their money taken but were sent nothing.

The people at translabels had some medical problems...it was on there website...I believe everything is back to normal now.

 

Buying, I've never had any problems. Selling, I've had my share of non paying bidders. Had one buyer who's son supposidly bid on a dreamcast w games i was selling. Supposidly he didn't want it and didn't have the money to pay for it. The mom did however pay me for the fees that ebay charges and

[Bluestreak_26]

My foremost gripe about EBay is the claimed rarity of many TFs -- specially the ones still in stores. I almost fell off my bed laughing last week when I saw an Armada Unicron advertized as "RARE!!!!" Come on, people! A mib Blue Diaclone Bluestreak is "RARE!!!!" An Armada Unicron is "SO PLENTIFUL MY TRU IS NOW HANDING THEM OUT TO HOMELESS PEOPLE TO BUILD SHELTERS WITH!!!!"

 

I almost expect to see "MISB UNICRON UNIQUE!!!! -- ACT FAST, ONLY FOUR LEFT!!!"

 

Anywho, as per shipping, when I sell on EBay I only charge my buyers what the post office charges me to post. Lately, I've been charging less as posting prices have gone up (probably due to gas prices). I don't charge for packing or "handling." And it's about time someone give me a medal, darn it! Seriously, I'm very fair to my buyers, and my feedback and return customers are a testament to that. So I'm quite happy.

 

My biggest gripe as a seller is simply that people don't read the auction. That really hurts -- especially with BiN. They go ahead and "Buy it Now" and then tell me that they need it tomorrow (7-10 days shipping) and that they will be paying by cheque (10-14 days to clear) otherwise their son/daughter will be disappointed on their birthday. Jeesh. I don't need the guilt. Or to pay the final sale and relist fees. Or to beg them for that money. It's usually a no-win situation.

 

As a buyer I've only had one package outright lost (Armada Thrust and Wheeljack -- well before they appeared in stores in Canada -- I thought I was getting a jump on things). And then there was a chrome Bluestreak from HK that was "Just as pictured -- no more; no less!" It turned out to be a completely different chrome Bluestreak (the one I had bid on had clear windows; the one that came had chrome painted over them). I still looks really cool so I wasn't too broken up about it.

 

On the nicer side, I won an auction for a lot of G1 minibots, including the original six, for a good price, and got Bumblejumper in good shape thrown in.

 

Overall I'm very happy with my EBay experiences. It has both opened up an opportunity of me to buy some TFs that I wouldn't get otherwise and sell some TFs so that I can pay for the ones I buy. Nice system, that.

 

Be well.

 

Aron

[trench]

I've only ever been ripped off completely on eBay once and I've bought hundreds of things. It was about two years ago for a DVD, the dude said he mailed it. It was less than $10 so I kind of forgot about it until just now.

 

Another time I thought I had been ripped off, but out of the blue the items arrived about four months later.

 

I've had minor problems a couple of other times, bought about twenty comic books from a guy (brand new ones for about $1 a piece), paid two bucks extra for bags and boards which were forgotten (I got such a good deal on the comics it was more of an annoyance). Another time I got a MISB RID Optimus, which when it came was open with all the twist-ties removed (but was mint other than that).

[Fortress_Maximus]

Bluestreak_26, I completely know what you mean about bidders who just do not read the auction rules. I try to make mine very easy to locate and worded so even a middle school child can understand. Conversely though, one thing I really hate is when I lose out on something b/c I took the time to email the seller first before bidding on a BIN auction. Usually the seller does not respond quickly enough and I don’t want to violate the rules if they say pay pal only and I cannot pay with that form of payment. I always ask first and get their permission, then bid, instead of doing in afterwards. :redface

 

I had one really bad experience as a bidder recently, where the seller would not ship me my item after they told me they cased the mo. I emailed them over ten times using their contact info and the question forms. Some moron sent it via UPS to a P.O. Box addy; idiots, USPS does not accept anything from UPS and UPS does not ship to P.O. Boxes! As such, my item got returned to them and I wasted over two months hunting them down, emailing, getting ignored and tons of lip service. Evilbay customer representatives are completely useless. Truly, their customer reps do not know how to READ emails and ANSWER the questions contained within! :tard Every single time I ask them for help, it takes around six or more emails and I must waste time and energy repeatedly explaining myself to those morons. I finally got closure on my situation after I got their telephone number. I needed a telephone number for this auction, but the auction itself was de-listed and thus there was no record of my doing a transaction with them. Evilbay has it set up that if there is no record of a transaction between yourself and another user, you cannot get their number. This is equally as stupid as not being able to put in feedback for an unregistered user. But, IMO the one that takes the cake is how you must wait an additional 10 days after you’ve filed a non-paying bidder form, which cannot be filed until after eight days of the auction has passed. So in total you’ve wasted over 18 days trying to both report the deadbeat buyer and get your final credit back. :stone

 

Another thing I strongly dislike about ebay is how they refuse to charge a MONETARY FINE to all deadbeat buyers and sellers alike! Since they now have the credit card number to verify someone is at least 18 years old for each account, why don’t they charge the card owner a penalty if and whenever the user fails to pay within a reasonable time say, ten business days? Or fine the seller when they fail to mail out the item after receiving the payment? I for one do not think charging deadbeats a monetary fine is unreasonable at all, hit them where it really hurts in their wallets. Giving them warnings doesn’t mean squat, bad users can get another account and heck even change their user name and hide their old feedback. :stone

 

Ebay does not make any effort to discourage irresponsible bidders and sellers alike from existing on their site. I made these exact suggestions and the live chat people said they would pass it along. However, we all know evilbay is only in the business to make money without really helping improve the service for its users. IMO this is one very bad conflict of interest when they claim they want to promote a safe auction environment but ebay does nothing to prevent bad users from continuing to remain, such hypocrisy! If it was not for the fact they have a larger audience I would never use them to sell, I prefer Yahoo auctions in the terms of features, ease of use, fees, and customer service. :redface