Ebay Any One?
 

Looks like SEIV Deluxe is hot on ebay, NOT. ESCAM, oops I mean Ebay Link

Not a lot of sales for older versions, but a lot of stores trying to sell Deluxe at or above cost.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Care to tell me why you consider it ESCAM? It sort of being my job http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif. Personally I never buy stuff on Ebay what with PayPal, but hey my boss pays me.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

No offense, I like ebay, but have been ripped off too many times over the last five or so years. Hell I warned my bother not to do business over ebay and he lost hundreds in the last couple of months. Ebay does nothing to prevent these scams, and paypal is little or no help. Most people don't trust PayPal given its checkered past and the knowledge of the kind, no offense, of employees they have hired in the past. (The mob kind, ex-con kind, id theft kind)

While 20% of the things I did buy on Ebay I did get, only 10% of those were what they were advertised. The rest were not. I would sell items on Ebay and the people would say they never got them, yet I have a return reciept saying they did.

If we had tougher laws and could go after people for mail and wire fraud when they scam folks then perhaps some of this would improve. If Ebay would inforce seller/buyer contracts and require PROOF of identity prior to granting bidding and selling rights then this fraud might not be a big problem. If Ebay would require sellers to post pictures and accurate information and require all buyers to have a "bond" in escrow before bidding on any item, then perhaps fruad could be avoided. IF there were a set standard for sale and transfer of goods. IE the item sold goes through a third party who insures the item is what was sold, and that the sellor gets their money and the bidder gets what they bid upon then ya, I would do business with ebay again even if it cost a bit more to do so.

But hey, if ebay is making money, why change a thing. The more people who get burned each day and leave are replaced by twice as many new people so there is no real incentive to fix or address the problem. Eventually it will catch up to ebay but buy then it won't matter.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

In our area its gotten much worse. We have people looking for locals with large or expensive items to bid on so they can rob the person. Local police is recommending that any meetings should occur somewhere with guards. Such as.. "To make this easier why dont we just meet at my bank"

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Man I had no idea that was going on. I know that Vancouver PD just busted a guy for selling stolen goods over Ebay, and that down in North Bend they busted a bunch of mexican nationals, illegals here, for selling stollen goods, but robbing people when they show up to sell their stuff.... man thats F***ed up!

*why stupid criminals get caught*
1. They use their real names when bidding on items that they later steal from their owners at the meeting.
2. They use a bogus email, but their IP gives them away.
3. They show up expecting to steal the item when it is they who are about to get robbed.
4. They rebid the item they just stoled on EBay and show up to sell/rob the new bidder who just happens to be an under cover PD officer with lots of back up.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Personally I think Ebay is great for buyers. They've kind of been sticking it to the sellers recently on the fees, but I guess it's the price you pay for access to a world full of customers.

If you only bid on stuff from sellers with good feedback ratings and you'll have no problem. If something looks too good to be true it is. That's true for Ebay like it is for anything else. I don't think it shold be Ebay's responsibility to police that sort of stuff any more then they do now. Read the sellers feeddback before you buy. A guy can't get hundreds or thousands of positive ratings by ripping people off.

And try to remember if you get ripped off, it's not Ebay ripping you off, it's the seller.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Also se4 deluxe is 9.99 now on the strat first website

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

I only bid on items from sellers that have thousands of good ratings.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

My family hasn't had any problems on ebay. Though, we either may have just been lucky, or know how to not get scammed.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Wow....I've never had any problems with Paypal, and very few with Ebay sellers or buyers. Ebay was my first choice for finding CDs for cheap, but now I use Amazon marketplace.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Neither I nor my family have ever had problems with Ebay. Everything has been as advertised. Then again, we're careful.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

The rating system does help but still buyer beware.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Do you mean going to see a seller and just taking what they were trying to sell? I've heard of 'steal to order' scams where people put up an eBay sale and then go steal the thing they were selling once they have a winning bid. It's amazing how brazen criminals can be.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Working with CafePress shops the biggest problem I have with Ebay is that no one wants to do a real auction anymore. They want to SELL things on ebay instad of auctioning them. Its a real pain to get them to try it without theminimum bid and [censored] even though they can make more that way.

Gandalf Parker

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

What I hate most, apart for the scamming, is that you place a bid for an item, and then have too keep bidding because someone has a minimum bid set. WTF! THe buy it now feature is neat but like GP said, takes away from the auction aspect. Ebay is more a big on line garage sale now. "I give you dollar!"

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Yeah, I'm with you on that one AT. I've never understood the point of the reserve auction. If you won't take less then a certain amount for an item, then set that as the minimum price. Why set it up as a reserve auction and make people guess what the starting price is? Can someone explain what the purpose of that feature is?

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

I've bought and sold stuff on ebay, and rarely had problems once I figured out ebay is deathly afraid of credit card company and bank charge-backs http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

The purpose of the reserve price is to ensure the seller makes the minimum amount and also entice the buyer into bidding by creating the apperance of a lower price.

I went to a hard-wood furniture auction a few months back here in orlando and the seller was using reserve prices. A lot of people was rip with him because the auctioneer would close the auctions below the reserve price so he could get to other tiems, but we who bid on thos items and it was below the reserve got nothing.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Wow, you guys have had some bad experiences on eBay.

I bought a poster (Nagel-"blue sweater") on eBay, and it went down just like it was supposed to.

I checked the advertizer's record, made sure that there were a LOT of transactions, and looked at the complaints vs good words. When I got the poster, it was in new condition, well packaged, and I posted a positive comment for the seller's record.

The only trouble I had with the process was that I didn't understand how Paypal worked, so I mistakenly transferred money INTO my paypal account to cover the purchase. However, Paypal deducted the purchase directly from my bank account, not the balance of my Paypal account.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Thats PayPal for ya. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Google Paypal for more examples of odd behavior.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

I have used Paypal only once. I ordered a specialist book from the author. He offered to sign it. I had no problems though I seem to recall back then I did put money into the paypal account. When it came up for renewal I didn't bother because people were warning me about them. My Boss likes Paypal but told me the one problem is when people buy stuff their money goes into his account and he has to pay back his own business.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

I have had good luck with both eBay and PayPal, so far. I do avoid the 'local pick-up only' items, I'd rather pay shiping from around the corner than 'expose' more information about myself or put myself or my family into any danger.

Re: Ebay Any One?
 

Using "reserve" instead of "minimum" is quite logical. It makes use of the auction psychology. Once someone is in it, going up another 25 cents is easy. Thats why an auction can often sell higher than a sale. A reserve can piss some people off and make them leave but it works better than a minimum.

People who wimp out by putting minimums (or to a lesser level, reserves) and then complain that they never did well on ebay are not doing their homework.