Discussion on buying and selling on E-bay...

[George M]

Hey Gang,
Since most of us by now have bought and sold on E-bay, thought I would ask how most respond to a couple of different scenarios and what the result has been. Want to say, I have been pretty lucky overall and the E-bay system seems pretty solid but have a question about both buying and selling.

Selling: Have a item I sold recently and the buyer who won the auction hasn't paid. I sell only to people in the US and only accept Paypal. I stipulate on my description that if payment isn't made in 3 days, buyer will forfeit item and I will relist. That is where I am at as I write this. I have sent of course an invoice and follow up e-mail requesting payment and would ship immediately upon payment...yada yada...no response and no payment. What do you guys do at this point? Do you contact E-bay...if so how? The single most important thing to me is my feedback which is 100% and want to protect this at all costs. I don't want a disgruntled dead beat buyer to ding my feedback if I take them to task for not paying. How long should I wait?...any advice?

Second scenario:
Buying: By and large I have had great experience buying stuff on e-bay. Of course it is incumbent upon the buyer to purchase from reputable sellers with good feedback...I avoid those with less than 98.5% or so. The question is...what do you do when a seller is very slow to ship you something. I bought an item on Sunday and paid immediately on Paypal and sent them an e-mail a day or so later since I heard nothing about when the item would be shipped and they still have not responded and its Wednesday. Most sellers will respond to e-mail if not be forthright with when an item will be shipped. What do you guys do in this instance?

Since I have a couple of different things going on with e-bay right now, both of which aren't the best I thought I would poll the collective board for experiences as this board is always a wealth of information and real car guys buy and sometimes sell stuff on E-bay Believe a good discussion about personal e-bay experiences would probably benefit most.
Thanks for any advice,
George

[bjl4776]

I have had nothing but good things to say about ebay. Every item i have bought I have was sent out within two buisiness days of me paying, and I have even made a few friends with selling items. I always get confused when people talk bad about ebay and won't use it. I have had a friend that purchased three cars on ebay without seeing them and only had a problem with one of them, but was quickly taken care of by ebay. My uncle even recently bought a 2002 M5 off of ebay without any probelm. I guess Iv been lucky, but I don't have any advice to give you because iv never had to deal with dumbass buyers/sellers.

[califblue]

George, from my past experiences 350 + positive feedbacks myself for buying & selling.

scenario # 1) Contact him again and tell him after 10 you will re-list the item and leave him negative feedback...he can reply to your feedback but it DOES NOT go against your rating it is only listed and response.

#2) I use the 10 day rule. if he doesn't reply with in 10 days give him one more chance telling him you will report him as a DEAD Beat Seller


my .02 ...hope it helps

[George M]

bj that didn't help a bit Seriously, thanks for you comments. I too have had great success on e-bay. I believe in large degree you make your own luck by being wise who you are buying from in particular but if you are selling, you can only preclude a certain segment of buyers so you are somewhat at the mercy of the gods. Deadbeat buyers is very common on e-bay and wondered how those experienced with selling dealt with that scenario which is pretty inevitable. Important thing is technique...you don't want to hurt your feedback in the process.
Thanks anyway,
George

[TheDuke]

I had nothing but good experiences with ebay, most of my items that I bought were shipped quickly and without any problems. I even bought my BMW on ebay. When it goes for expensive stuff I prefer pickup by person not shipping. (I don’t trust UPS, I had a friend working there. He told me few stories about them). I haven’t tried selling yet but soon I’ll try it.

[TheDuke]

State that people with no feedback or negative ones should contact you before bidding. By the way how much does ebay charge for an auction. I’ll be putting my friends 04 Chrysler Crossfire on sale soon, and I’m wondering what fees I should expect. The price gonna be $24K

[632 Regal]

George, on the seller I would give it 10 days cause maybe they just ship out without confirmation emails, that has happened on more than a few occasions.

the buyer, something could have disrupted his life for the moment and again I would be patient and wait at least 7 days for payment. On the 5th day send another email telling him that you will report him to ebay as a deadbeat and leave neg feedback.

That about sums it up.

my 2¢

[George M]

Thanks for your comments Califblue...couple of questions please:

Scenario #1: OK...the deal...after you have done what you suggested...and lets say they decide to pay begrudgingly...can they still ding "you" with bad feedback?...after you threatened them with negative feedback for not paying within the alotted time?

Scenario #2:
Thing that is maddening about buying and the seller is sitting on your item is I have already deposited money into their Paypal account for the item. Frustrating that they would not respond to an e-mail with when they would ship the item. I would think waitng ten days to threaten them with being a dead beat seller may be a bit long to wait...so wondered what the rule of thumb is if there is one.

Thanks CalifBlue...you are a seasoned E-bay vet.
George

[George M]

Good advice Jeff...was curious if there was a general concensus to the above.
Thanks for your input...sound advice.
George

[GaryE]

Ebay is quality me thinks!

Don't forget there is buyer blocks that you can put in place to help deter non paying bidders, take a look here if you haven't already done so: http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI...ockPreferences (sorry only have an .co.uk link - must be a .com one also!)

I too have bought a car off of ebay. Managed to get a steal of a deal and has made me very happy.

Good luck with your baying ...

Gary