More eBay Humor

Well enough with that. Look at this one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-Train..._RR_Trains&hash=item2a1ca338bf#ht_1676wt_1185 $1800.00????I guess because there from Dale's personal collection there still not worth it.

 

I vote we ALL QUIT EBAY, and leave the wackos to fight it out amongst themselves!!!! :teeth:

 

I have almost made that decision as well........I'm really fed up with the whiners, the crooks, and the cheap-skates!!
I'm just about to close my account and be done with the whole mess..................

 

At one point that might have been a possible "collector value" for the Super Six Pack. Today, not so much.

 

If there are still collectors out there, maybe he will sell some of the high priced listings he has up for auction.

I'm pretty far removed from the collector mentality, so it is hard to understand why someone would pay that much, but there are many ways to enjoy our hobby.

I am saving it so I can see what happens.

When I sell cars though, I am never lucky to get a buyer that has the collector mentality.

 

I second that! I have a collector car that I have been trying to sell on Ebay. The car has a high auction value of $143. I have an opening bid of @29.95, so for a collector they are getting a GREAT deal. I usually end up getting some waterhead out there that offers me $10-12 including shipping after the auction closes. GIVE ME A BREAK!

 

I think it would be great if all of you boycotted eBay. You won't be bidding against me when I find bargains like the one pictured below (Kadee 32220, a very rare D&RGW RBL that often sells for $50 or more)! (Just kidding.)

Seriously, you can cut out a lot of the noise and vexation on eBay by creating saved searches, with the following settings:

* Auctions only
* Maximum price $XX (I use $10 when searching for rolling stock)
* Sort display by lowest price plus shipping
* Your country only (to keep shipping costs low)

In addition, I ignore the following:

* Sellers with less than 99.9% feedback rating
* Sellers who fail to provide adequate information in their listings
* Listings full of misspellings or threats
* Sellers who refuse to take returns
* Sellers who charge too much for shipping

After applying these rules, I have VERY few listings to look at. I bid just what I'm willing to pay and forget about the bidding until it's over. If I win, fine. If not, fine!

Bryan

 

Bryan, those are good rules to follow.
The only exception is the one I left in the quote. Myself I have what I still feel is a perfect feedback rating, although it's 99.4%.
I had 100% up until some jerk who dinged me cause he wasn't willing to work with me on a problem with an auction.
He bought a stripped shell [including the entire working chassis] from me, after just shy of three months of no feedback I suddenly get a case against me saying there was a problem. AFTER he start to paint the shell, he said he found a crack in it. I offered him three offers, including a full refund for the painted shell.

He left me a negative saying I was to difficult to deal with, so I went from 100% to the 99.4%.

I agree with you about not looking at the auctions with sellers with a lower feedback. But I usually will go down to about 97-98% and then look at their feedback and why they got a negative, then make a decision. Most of the time they got a negative due to the same reason I got one, buyers who are newbies or are impatient or idiots and think everyone is out to get them !

 

You have learned lessons we all knew............."you are preachin' to the choir". :teeth:


I was speaking more as a seller than a buyer, and there isn't much you can do to protect yourself
from the "moonbugs" except ban bidders/or buyers AFTER they make your life miserable.
For what little good I get out of it anymore, it's just not worth the aggravation.
I haven't made anything on articles I've sold there for at least 3 years, and I always eat a buck or two on the
shipping, so I don't get dinged for "high shipping cost" - (this, by the way really gripes me.....they want the stuff in one day, but whine when you charge $6 to send a "priority mail" package across country).
I do it not to make $$, but to get rid of "odd stuff", as a hobby.
But I'm the kind when something becomes more trouble than it's worth, which "Evil-Bay" has, I'm gone!!

 

I totally agree with you on this. I had one guy who opened a case with me about a year ago due he had not received his item yet. When I sent the item out (2 days after the close of the auction due to the weekend) I sent him the tracking ### on the package. I sent it via USPS prirotu flat rate box from Seattle to Chicago area. This should have taken 3 day average to get him the item. However, after 15 days he had not received it yet. That is when I got the case opened against me about the item being not received. It took me a couple hours of back and forth at the P.O. to find out what had happend.

Long story short, I ended up finding what happened to the package and the buyer finally received it. However, he left me a neutral feedback with a comment that it took too long to receive the item. Now had he gave me a negative (like most people would have) it would have taken my feedback well below the 99.8% mark. And all because the P.O. last it in the shuffle.

Now is that really fair?

 

That is still allowed.

 

No, I did not Ken. I had already left feedback and thought once you left feedback, you could not change or alter it in anyway. I am now at the point that I wait for the buyer to leave feedback before I write in my feedback as a seller.

If they dont leave feedback, then neither do I.

 

This to me is the first sign of an untrustworthy seller, or a seller who has something to hide (i.e. that they havent been honest in their listing)..AND what do you expect to achieve by not leaving feedback first..? That the buyers feedback score doesnt go up by one, if yours doesnt?? A seller cant leave a negative anymore, nor can they leave a positive score with a negative comment, so what is the point in waiting....?I only wish that a buyer could block a seller in the same way sellers can block buyers..OK, Give me your thoughts on this sale..I see two "used" SD40-2 locomotives listed BIN.. The seller has 100% feedback 400+ sales.. I contacted the seller, asked a few questions, and he answered almost immediately.. I purchased the two SD40-2's, contacted the seller after my purchase, paid for the items and received them in the post a few days later.. To my horror, the seller had seen fit to send these SD40-2 in several layers of padding, none of which IMO was upto the task.. Wrapped around the locomotive was a tissue that was covered in packing tape.. He had then placed them in a thin cardboard sleeve, again wrapped in packing tape, and one layer of bubble wrap, and then placed them in a padded bag for postage.. This method would have been fine had they been placed in their original jewel cases first, but they had not...Unfortunately they did not survive the trip as well as I'd hoped.. After spending a few hours rebuilding and repairing the damage to the bogies/trucks, body, handrails, decoder install, couplings etc, I now have two locomotives that run.. The seller did offer a refund, but the purchase price only (no shipping), which I refused as I was not happy with having to eat it on the shipping costs and spending several hours repairing them all because of his inability to pack them correctly..So what feedback score do you suggest that I leave for this seller..??Mark..PS.. sorry for hijacking the thread..

 

As a seller, I leave feedback as soon as I am paid, with that I figure they have done their part as a buyer. As a buyer, I leave appropriate feedback when I receive the item.
I have never understood the logic behind the "feedback hostage" game either........................

 

I would have to agree with Backlash on this one. To me it would look like the seller is trying to hide something or what I always called "Feedback Hostage" Which is partially why eBay "in their infinite wisdom" removed the option that a seller cannot leave a negative anymore. Which in my books, negates the whole purpose of the feedback idea.

When I sell an item, I leave feedback as soon as the buyers pays and base my feedback on the payment. Then hope that the buyer has the courtesy to leave feedback or contact me if there is a problem. In the last round of 11 sales that I listed, I got 3 feedbacks! After 2 weeks I dropped the remaining buyers a follow up email asking if everything was OK or if there was a problem with the item.
I got one more.
There isn't much one can do about not getting feedback all you can do is know that you have done your part and that they can't come back feel the same about you.

Wow that's kind of a tough one. I guess I would leave a neutral since the seller did offered a refund. Not having to pay for the return shipping is not the norm, even if you open a case and win. You will still have to pay for the return shipping. As for the feedback comment, I'd give the reason being "Piss Poor packing".

Was there an eBay Buyers Protection for this auction?

I got a similar loco once. An Atlas first run GP40 [w/o DCC] was listed as Factory new without original case [the couplers had been replaced with MTL couplers] So I knew it wasn't BRAND NEW. When I got it, the loco was placed in a MTL jewel case with no wrapping, but the catch was the jewel case was wrapped in enough paper and stuffed in box. The case was tight in the box, but the loco was rattling around in the jewel case and the couplers, front hand rails and the horn were broke. Nothing that couldn't be fixed and the price was right.

When I placed it on the track, it wouldn't move, budge or hum. I looked at the wheels and they were filthy! I took the shell off I seen why it wasn't working, someone had tried to wire in a hardwired chip! I tried several addresses and then tried to read the chip, all with no avail. So I sent the seller an email explaining what I had found.

To my surprise he replied, "Sorry, no can help you. Sold as is. If it wasn't working you should have told me right away. But since you took it apart and messed with it, I can't help you" So I opened a case. I got my money back but had to pay the return shipping!

I'm glad I kept all the emails because when I opened the case I was able to copy the email to eBay and explained that a Factory New MKT GP40 DID NOT have a after market chip installed when it came from the factory!
The seller's replies to ebay about the loco were priceless lies and twisting of words. At one point, he said "The LHS where I had it tested, said it was in great shape for a used loco"
He got a big fat negative and not so nice comment. It was the only negative that I felt good about leaving.

 

all of the stuff he is selling is super high priced. He has cars that have been removed from their boxes for the photos and still wants $200 for them...don't they know once factory air is released, car value is radically dropped?

 

This is the way it has been for a long time. Rarely does a seller leave feedback prior to the buyer. Although I just had one (a cpl of days ago). I was shocked!!! And- happy. The way I understand the process (and as NSCALERONE has mentioned) once the seller receives payment and ships the item/s his/her part is done. So- they should leave the appropriate feedback. Am I wrong-?

On to the next,
Wolf

 

Nope not all, at least from my point of view.