Most of us have probably bought items off of eBay, and most of us probably have some gripes about things that irritate or annoy us on eBay.
Aside from their site being being so bloated that it eventually brings my browser to a crawl, some of what irritates me on eBay:
I am presently doing a search for the term 'shortwave' on eBay to find non-shortwave radios. Why? Because it seems that quite a few sellers think that a radio that has a police band, or at least one more band than the standard AM/FM bands, makes it a shortwave radio, rather than having bands that actually receive the shortwave spectrum.
The singular form of lenses is lens, not lense.
Auctions with wallpaper sizes images, and many of them, that not only require scrolling left and right to see the image, but take forever for the page to load.
The "I have not tested it with batteries" excuse. Really? Just how difficult is it to put a battery in something that takes a common battery size?
What the hell do you mean it takes $50 for the shipping to send a 2 pound item via priority mail?
"I don't know anything about operating radios". Huh? Hey; try the 'On' switch (it's the one that says 'On').
What irritates you on eBay?
Lol, I've b***hed about this before: Sellers that say "buyer pays actual shipping", then won't ship to Alaska (or Hawaii). It REALLY got me right after 9/11, when every F-ing auction in America had an American flag plastered all over it, the flag with 50 stars, , but they wouldn't ship to Alaska, even though it's not their dime. Real patriotism, why don't they just say "We support 96% of our country"?
Since we're complaining about eBay, I'm going to throw Craigslist into the mix: I REFUSE to buy from anyone that does the keyword spam BS. IOW, someone selling a yamaha dirt bike, and they throw "ducati, kawasaki, suzuki, honda, atv, banshee, harley, davidson, hd, can am, polaris, crotch rocket" in the ad just to herd in people that are looking for, ,well, not a yamaha dirt bike. I was at one time emailing them from a bunch of different email accounts asking them about their Ducati or their Harley, etc, , but that was just too time consuming.
The BEST of eBay, was years ago I would look for machinist tools, and I would search for "thingy" or the names of popular machinist tool makers that are slightly mis-spelled. I would get auctions where some person (often a woman it seemed) was selling machinist tools they knew nothing about (hence the word "thingy"). More than once is was a woman selling off her husband's tools, and didn't know their value, and didn't name them very well so they got overlooked and went for CHEAP. Sucks for him, I guess he pi$$ed off the wrong woman. .
Here's one that not only uses 'short wave' in the title and description, but cb as well; and it has neither a shortwave nor cb band on it.
multi-band short wave cb radio (http://cgi.ebay.com/multi-band-short-wave-cb-RADIO-am-sports-air-police_W0QQitemZ220294243072QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item220294243072&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14)
A lot
In addition to those listed ...
Item Location "United States" then it ships from China.
Any listing from China. Often the item is $0.99 and shipping is $49.95.
Blurry photos.
It doesn't take $9.95 to mail a DVD.
Music on ads or those annoying talking ads.
Quote from: Menard on October 14, 2008, 11:14:42 PM
"I don't know anything about operating radios". Huh? Hey; try the 'On' switch (it's the one that says 'On').
:teddyr: :teddyr:
Shipping is the most annoying thing: I know how much things cost to ship, it annoys me to be completely ripped off.
The other is fakes. We get burned everynow and then by people with fake headphones, or speakers, and I have to break the bad news that they've bought fake gear.
I don't even use Ebay any more. For DVD's there are so few good deals it's not even worth looking. And then there's all the people with their ridiculous shipping charges, just another layer of junk to sort through. And I got ripped off a couple of times by people who became "no longer a registered Ebay user" right after I sent them my money, and the system wouldn't even let me leave negative feedback. And I'm sick of waiting for auctions to end and having someone outbid me by fifty cents. The fact that they even have computer programs to do crap like that automatically...who needs it. Probably my biggest complaint is that you click on an item and then realize you've stumbled onto some amateur web designer's gi-freakin'-normous webpage that's probably drawing information from ten different sources and it takes forever to load up.
I just order my DVD's from the sellers on Amazon. Lots of great deals, vastly larger selection, shipping is ALWAYS $2.98, no waiting for auctions to end, if there's a problem contact Amazon and they'll get you a refund in 24 hours. Feedback is honest because the sellers can't leave retaliatory (or any) feedback. I guess Ebay switched to the same policy now, but whatever. A bit too late for this ex-customer.
It annoys me when I do a search say for cds, and type in the artist and nothing comes up. I then type in the cd title and get results from international sellers, with the artist listed! :question:
I also, hate when people do not leave me feedback and I also don't understand why people don't pay straight away when they have won an item. If you can't pay for it, don't bid! And when they have just won and outbid someone, that means that they are "online", so just pay when prompted! :hatred:
Bootleg DVDs on sale there are the one thing that gets me a little :hatred:.
Copies of the SA film Shangani Patrol were for sale there and that film will only be on DVD later this year. I hate it when people rip my heritage off.
Most have been already mentioned but I'll reiterate a few.
1.) The shipping scammers who charge outlandish amounts to ship a 99 cent item via first class. Maybe they are thinking shipping peanuts or bubble wrap are expensive?
2.) The one Circus just mentioned about people not paying after auction close. A lot of them put the final bid five minute before the close. You'd figure if they cared that much, they'd pay right away.
3.) Lack of feedback. I pay for my stuff right away so I figure that should be enough for positive feedback.
4.) The fact Ebay seems to turn a blind eye to certain people who have several reports of negative feedback. I thought there was a limit a member could get.
5.) The epic Supreme Court-like battles you have to go through if your merchandise is not shipped. That accompanied with Ebay's laze faire attitude about it. They basically used to say (in so many words) "don't bother us unless you REALLY need to.
6.) Sellers who simply can't figure out how to ship an item a few days after the sale. I had to bug a few after 10 days of waiting. Of course when the package was received it was post marked 10 days after the sale close.
7.) Too many fly by night businesses sellings stuff. I recall when it first started it was mostly small collectors selling items of interest. Now its places from China hawking just about everything.
Theres more, but I should stop now. Does anyone get annoyed with Half.com? I think their media mail prices are a bit too high.
QuoteThe fact that they even have computer programs to do crap like that automatically...who needs it.
If eBay really cared about leveling the playing field, they would have the auctions end at random times within a specified timeframe. The whole "bid at the last two seconds" is BS, take away the ability to know exactly when the auction will end any better than a few hour timeframe and it will be much better IMO.
I have been buying and selling on ebay for over 10 years. This year, I sold quite a lot and did well (selling collectible toys and ephemera - TV photos, magazines, holiday decorations, that kind of old stuff.) That being said, I've had most of the problems cited as a buyer, but as a seller holy moley! People bid, but don't pay, don't respond to invoices sent twice, don't respond to ass-kiss emails where I couldn't possibly be any nicer... so, I open a non paying bidder alert, and suddenly I get a response (immediately) to THAT insisting "payment already sent" with a date 10 days before, my name and a check number... :lookingup: Uhm, right. And the dope has the nerve to write "don't know if check cleared." So I follow up on the non paying bidder alert, 4 times, never any response, and of course that check "lost in the mail" I suppose :lookingup: Finally, I close the alert which means a non pay strike against the bidder - who immediately leaves me negative (my first ever)!! :hatred: Okay, I can't retaliate under ebay's new rules (like that would help) have my feedback sullied after over 10 years, I complain to ebay fill out their form and ebay says "doesn't meet criteria for removing negative feedback...!!" :hatred:
I had a weirdo send obscene messages thru ebay's messaging system to taunt or insult me, an ebayer that I do not know, had no business with, other than he had outbid me or I had outbid him a few times years ago. I reported to ebay. Know what they did? NOTHING!!! :hatred:
Paypal required by sellers. :hatred: I've stopped selling primarily for this reason. Ebay doesn't make enough with listing fees and final value fees, and then get to clip a share of your paypal payment???
I'm hating ebay these days.
Quote from: Allhallowsday on October 15, 2008, 11:20:48 AM
Paypal required by sellers. :hatred: I've stopped selling primarily for this reason. Ebay doesn't make enough with listing fees and final value fees, and then get to clip a share of your paypal payment???
I'm hating ebay these days.
Yeah, I had no idea they had invoices for selling and using paypal as well as insertion fees at first. I don't sell alot of items at once, so money I do make as credit through paypal is sucked out out again to pay Ebay! :hatred:
Zero bidders, bidders with zero feedback that doesn't know who the system works or some clown bidding with no intention of ever paying. I've been burned to many times and 90% of the time it's a zero bidders.
I no longer accept ZERO bidders, I'll cancel their bid in a second and I say so right in my auctions NO ZERO BIDDERS. Learn the ropes on someone else's auction.
I am not 100% convinced there isn't some kind of funny business going on behind the scenes. Across my last dozen plus eBay purchases, EVERY one of them went EXACTLY to my maximum bid EVERY time without fail. If I could hit lottery numbers that consistently I'd be one rich individual.
Quote from: ghouck on October 15, 2008, 08:52:49 PM
I am not 100% convinced there isn't some kind of funny business going on behind the scenes. Across my last dozen plus eBay purchases, EVERY one of them went EXACTLY to my maximum bid EVERY time without fail. If I could hit lottery numbers that consistently I'd be one rich individual.
I hear dat.
When there's lovely lingerie advertised for sale, someone has already worn it. :buggedout: :buggedout:
Now, if it were my underpants advertised for sale, that would be a bargain indeed. :teddyr:
Something like "antique underpants, never been washed, occasionally worn on head"?
A lot of my major beefs have already been mentioned. Most of them have to do with shipping
Top of the list, of course, is sellers who list for a low price and pad the shipping. The flipside of that is offering free shipping and padding the price. I've just recently been buying electronic components, and I noticed at least one Chinese seller with listings offering $5 buy-it-now and $5 shipping and listings offering $10 purchase and free shipping on the same product at the same time.
I can appreciate Ghouck's beef about shipping to Alaska. People are just as irritating when it comes to shipping to Canada. Either they don't ship to Canada at all (for no reason I can understand) or they have a shipping price to Canada that is several times the price for shipping within the USA, even though the actual cost is not that different. At least I can use ebay.ca, which filters out vendors who don't ship to Canada, and allows me to search Canadian vendors first.
People who list things under the wrong category. If I'm browsing the category for police scanners, listing from low price to high, I don't want to see page after page of manuals, carrying cases, frequency lists, earphones and other crap listed there in order to grab my attention with a price lower than anything that actually belongs there.
People who bid against me on something when the same seller has several identical items with no bids on them. It's most likely the seller in many cases, because the other bidder sometimes nudges the price up, then gives up.
Anybody else prefer Ebay back in the early days, before people got the hang of it. People would just bid when they saw something. Over the course of a week, you might be outbid several times. It was fun. Now, nobody bids until the last minute. You could be the sole bidder all week, then have it snatched while you're asleep in your bed. I agree with the idea of ending auctions at random times within a certain period.
I generally stay away from auctions if I can buy it now.
I've also noticed that there aren't as many bargains to be had as there used to be. Of the new merchandise, the good stuff is too pricey to be worth buying once shipping is factored in, and the bargain-priced stuff is imported junk, which is flooding ebay like crazy.
Quote from: AndyC on October 16, 2008, 06:31:07 PM
A lot of my major beefs have already been mentioned. Most of them have to do with shipping
Top of the list, of course, is sellers who list for a low price and pad the shipping. The flipside of that is offering free shipping and padding the price. I've just recently been buying electronic components, and I noticed at least one Chinese seller with listings offering $5 buy-it-now and $5 shipping and listings offering $10 purchase and free shipping on the same product at the same time.
I can appreciate Ghouck's beef about shipping to Alaska. People are just as irritating when it comes to shipping to Canada. Either they don't ship to Canada at all (for no reason I can understand) or they have a shipping price to Canada that is several times the price for shipping within the USA, even though the actual cost is not that different. At least I can use ebay.ca, which filters out vendors who don't ship to Canada, and allows me to search Canadian vendors first.
I generally stay away from auctions if I can buy it now.
I can honestly say I never ever go over £2 for shipping (which is about $4). Also, the last item I sold was a Mego Spiderman doll from 1978, shipped to Canada no problems. :smile:
I totally do the same when it comes to buying, if I can find a decent priced "Buy-It-Now" item I will pay for it if I really want it. I only participate in auctions now if it's for rare cd's and LP's I can't get hold of.
Quote from: ghouck on October 16, 2008, 02:31:35 PM
Something like "antique underpants, never been washed, occasionally worn on head"?
:teddyr: :bouncegiggle:
Quote from: AndyC on October 16, 2008, 06:31:07 PM
Anybody else prefer Ebay back in the early days, before people got the hang of it. People would just bid when they saw something. Over the course of a week, you might be outbid several times. It was fun. Now, nobody bids until the last minute. You could be the sole bidder all week, then have it snatched while you're asleep in your bed. I agree with the idea of ending auctions at random times within a certain period.
Yeah, I remember those days. That seemed like what Ebay was designed for. Now there's really no point in placing a bid until the last hour of the auction.
I agree with you about the stuff listed in the wrong category as well. Listing auctions from lowest price to highest just gives you 20 pages of accessories and crap that you're not interested in.
I've heard that ebay is planning to abandon the auction format and go to direct selling like Amazon.com. Not sure when that's gonna happen, but everything that irritates you all about ebay will be disappearing soon.
http://www.appscout.com/2008/08/ebay_seeking_to_abandon_auctio_1.php
Quote from: Ash on October 17, 2008, 08:31:03 AM
I've heard that ebay is planning to abandon the auction format and go to direct selling like Amazon.com. Not sure when that's gonna happen, but everything that irritates you all about ebay will be disappearing soon.
I like the sound of that. Nothing but 30-day buy-it-now listings, and payments strictly by credit card or Paypal. Suits exactly what I use Ebay for.
I will admit the auctions do have their place, however, especially for the rare/vintage merchandise and the more unusual items that are hard to put a price on. Still, most people have a pretty definite idea of what they'll take for something, which is why anything of real value is listed with a reserve or a very high starting bid. Sellers will just have to put their expectations out there and see what happens. Combined with the "make an offer" option, I think that will work very well.
That brings me to another annoyance. People who provide an option to make an offer, but don't accept offers more than a couple of bucks below the asking price anyway. Kind of a waste of time.
Personally, I'm a believer in things costing what they cost, and buyers can pay it or not. I don't like fluctuating prices, I don't like haggling, and if I participate in an auction, I at least want some fun and the chance of getting a bargain. Ebay auctions haven't been offering much of either lately.
Quote from: Ash on October 17, 2008, 08:31:03 AM
I've heard that ebay is planning to abandon the auction format and go to direct selling like Amazon.com. Not sure when that's gonna happen, but everything that irritates you all about ebay will be disappearing soon.
http://www.appscout.com/2008/08/ebay_seeking_to_abandon_auctio_1.php
If ebay does that, then ebay will no longer exist as what it was originally intended: the online auction site. My complaints have little to do with the auction format. The best way to get great buys on ebay is at auction. It's also the way I've gotten the best yield (I love it when I list something and it sells for much more than it should... :teddyr:)
I'm still hating ebay anyway. :hatred:
Allhallowsday is right I believe, The auction format is great, it makes everyone compromise to some degree, and in the end, everyone should win to some degree. If they abandon the auction format, I see many sellers abandoning eBay altogether, because when they want $200 for something, they're not going to know that it isn't selling because the market for it is only $120. With the current format, they know that after the first auction where it fails. I think the current format works well for the casual seller: Put it up, and the demand will set the ending price. If you're at a position where you'd rather sell it to a friend for $50 than to a stranger for $75, then set your minimum at $75 and let it go.
i'm sick of looking at auctions that show a stock photo of the item, and not a picture of the exact item you're bidding on. i haven't been burned on that, personally, but it's frustrating to have to wade through inconsistent item listing info to figure your way around it.
Quote from: ToyMan on October 17, 2008, 08:01:12 PM
i'm sick of looking at auctions that show a stock photo of the item, and not a picture of the exact item you're bidding on. i haven't been burned on that, personally, but it's frustrating to have to wade through inconsistent item listing info to figure your way around it.
That's funny because I've had two auctions taken down by ebay for showing stock photos.
Technically, stock photos are copyright protected and owned by the brand/company of the item you're selling. And you can't use them without permission.
Those two times, I used stock photos because the items I was selling were Sony items still in the unopened box. I didn't want to open the boxes because that would immediately lower their value.
What am I gonna do, show a picture of just the box?
According to ebay, yes.
What really irked me was that both auctions had only hours left when ebay took them down. Nearly seven days on the auction block and they yank them with 6 hours to go. I about went through the roof when they did that. :hatred:
Eventually, I did end up showing only a couple pictures of the box and explained in the item description that because of copyright issues, I could show only the box and directed them to Google images to see pics of the actual product.
It worked and I was able to sell both items for a handsome profit. :smile:
This summer I sold 2 Jet Ski's on ONE trailer on ebay ... ebay required me to sell them separately on 2 auctions. I argued with them they're on one trailer, what happens if one person buys one and one another? What are they going to do? Ride it home?
Frankly I think it's because they wanted 2 listing fees, so I listed it as buy one get one free, I had the auction taken down a 4 times, but by them I had enough interest and questions that I sold it to a buyer off line and ebay got NOTHING! Listing and final value fees would have been about $200 and the Paypal deposit fee would have been another $40.
I do prefer the auction aspect of it for some items, I listed a few things that I thought was worthless junk and it ended up selling for a few hundred dollars to some collector. Sometimes I like BIN but at times I like being a bargain hunter, earlier this year I got 33 Troma DVD's box lot for $21.55 all because they only posted photos of the titles and spelled Troma "Toma" not to mention their auction ended at 2AM on a Tuesday.
Quote from: Ash on October 17, 2008, 09:55:47 PMI used stock photos because the items I was selling were Sony items still in the unopened box. I didn't want to open the boxes because that would immediately lower their value.
What am I gonna do, show a picture of just the box?
i can see your point, there. i guess, in that situation, i'd just "borrow" some pictures from, like you mentioned, google images.
Quote from: CheezeFlixz on October 18, 2008, 12:35:24 AM
This summer I sold 2 Jet Ski's on ONE trailer on ebay ... ebay required me to sell them separately on 2 auctions. I argued with them they're on one trailer, what happens if one person buys one and one another? What are they going to do? Ride it home?
Frankly I think it's because they wanted 2 listing fees, so I listed it as buy one get one free, I had the auction taken down a 4 times, but by them I had enough interest and questions that I sold it to a buyer off line and ebay got NOTHING! Listing and final value fees would have been about $200 and the Paypal deposit fee would have been another $40.
It used to annoy the hell out of me when my wife and I were selling handmade dog collars on ebay a few years back. We'd post auctions for one collar of a certain pattern, then allow the buyer to pick the collar size and colour of the nylon webbing. Ebay kept pulling them down because we were apparently trying to sell multiple items on a single listing. Didn't matter that it was one auction, one collar, or that each collar was a custom-made item, they wanted us to specify size and colour in the auction and put up more listings.
Our biggest problem was competitors who would flag our auctions for whatever violation they could think of. Ebay would just pull them all indiscriminately. That was a big annoyance about running a business on ebay, any item you could make and sell would be copied by half a dozen people who put no more thought into what they were doing than "I can make that." And most of them would undercut on the price, because they wouldn't factor in their time, just materials and a small markup. On top of that, we got dirty tricks.
Quote from: CheezeFlixz on October 18, 2008, 12:35:24 AM
This summer I sold 2 Jet Ski's on ONE trailer on ebay ... ebay required me to sell them separately on 2 auctions. I argued with them they're on one trailer, what happens if one person buys one and one another? What are they going to do? Ride it home?
Frankly I think it's because they wanted 2 listing fees, so I listed it as buy one get one free, I had the auction taken down a 4 times, but by them I had enough interest and questions that I sold it to a buyer off line and ebay got NOTHING! Listing and final value fees would have been about $200 and the Paypal deposit fee would have been another $40.
This is why I wish another auction site would rise and give eBay some serious competition. If they didn't have a monopoly on the online auction scene, they'd not be able to get away with that. A true sign that eBay is too big for it's britches is the fact they can bully a customer around and not even have to apply common sense. I would have been tempted to write back to Ebay and point out exactly how stupid they've been and what it cost them, and sign it with a big 'ol F.O.
Unfortunately, I don't believe a person could do it without eBay hammering them into oblivion through the legal system.
Quote from: AndyC on October 17, 2008, 08:54:01 AM
Quote from: Ash on October 17, 2008, 08:31:03 AM
I've heard that ebay is planning to abandon the auction format and go to direct selling like Amazon.com. Not sure when that's gonna happen, but everything that irritates you all about ebay will be disappearing soon.
I like the sound of that. Nothing but 30-day buy-it-now listings, and payments strictly by credit card or Paypal. Suits exactly what I use Ebay for.
I do have to take you to task on that for a few reasons, Andy.
First off, that's called Half.com
Amazon.com has sellers who offer used and new and I'll use them as a comparison to eBay if I'm looking for something that I could find on both sites.
As an example, I recently won a copy of comic Ranxerox 2 in hardback for $10 on eBay. The closest, at the time, that I could find on Amazon in equivalent condition was $40 or more. Now why would I want to pay 4 times as much for something I could possibly win in an auction format for much less?
I realize that for people who use Paypal and credit cards there is a certain convenience to it. I prefer to use a credit card when I can as it is just easier for me.
There are, however, people who don't have credit cards or Paypal accounts; believe it or not. There are also times when a credit card is not feasible; perhaps because the seller does not have a Paypal account (some still don't; they've either been grandfathered or have have their account suspended) or they don't want to pay Paypal's extortion fees.
My Paypal account was suspended, so I can no longer do business with the elite who only accept Paypal.
Many of the Paypal only sellers might as well write as a disclaimer "the only thing that matters is that I get paid as quickly as possible; whether you get screwed is of no concern". Many sellers aren't far from that with their requirements for payments in the shortest amount of time and everything that the buyer will do for them, without a mention of what they will do for the buyer.
There is a business principle of 'the customer comes first'; that went out the window some time ago with many (not all) eBay sellers. eBay has largely become a place for sellers who are too incompetent to run a business on their own; so they do it on eBay.
Of course, dealing with collectibles, it is difficult to maintain a loyal base of customers. On Amazon, Half.com, Barnes and Noble, etc., where there are many sellers whoring the same items, customer service becomes key. I've maintained dealings with certain sellers on Amazon, even if they were a little higher than another seller, simply because I've dealt with them before and have come to know to what to expect from them.
Collectibles take a different path as they would not be collectibles if everybody had them. You are likely not to be dealing with the same seller very often as you are looking for collectibles and not shopping sellers. I have two sellers form whom I have bought radios before, they deal largely with radio equipment, they know their stuff, and they have provided excellent service. I have not bought from them again, though I do look through their stores; they earned that by being good sellers, though that is rare for repeats in collectibles.
If eBay switched to a Half.com format (why?...they own the damn site), I would be looking for another auction site rather than buying from that group of sellers for what they think something is worth.
eBay has changed quite a bit over the years. When I first joined eBay, it was largely people selling stuff they didn't want anymore or taking up space in their basements and garages. When you bought from someone, they left you feedback when they received payment and you left them feedback when you got the item.
Over the years, eBay has become littered with the same resellers who were taking over the flea markets; changing it from a place where you bought someone else's junk to a place where someone is trying to whore the same item you could buy at a dollar store for a dollar for 4 to 8 times as much.
Feedback went from a cooperative device to something sellers held hostage requiring you to leave feedback for them first, and creating a lot of false feedback left for fear of retaliation.
Although taking away the option to leave negative feedback for buyers may have fixed that, I feel that is unfair to sellers as it takes a tool away from them; this is, after all, an auction site, not Amazon.
Just a few random thoughts, feel free to ignore me (:tongueout:).
Quote from: Menard on October 19, 2008, 01:14:34 PM
There are, however, people who don't have credit cards or Paypal accounts; believe it or not. There are also times when a credit card is not feasible; perhaps because the seller does not have a Paypal account (some still don't; they've either been grandfathered or have have their account suspended) or they don't want to pay Paypal's extortion fees.
Ebay as of this month requires sellers to accept paypal. I think they have another online option, but I have not researched it as it can't be any better from a seller's standpoint. I have paid ebay enough to list and final value fees. Paypal fees in addition to that? My margin is not that great that it works for me as a seller.
Quote from: Menard on October 19, 2008, 01:14:34 PM
My Paypal account was suspended, so I can no longer do business with the elite who only accept Paypal.
Then you will shortly be done with ebay. Pay by paypal or take a hike is ebay's current philosophy.
Quote from: Menard on October 19, 2008, 01:14:34 PM...There is a business principle of 'the customer comes first'; that went out the window some time ago with many (not all) eBay sellers. eBay has largely become a place for sellers who are too incompetent to run a business on their own; so they do it on eBay.
I was one of the "customer comes first" sellers and have just recently been screwed by several "buyers" who just didn't pay, f'd around with my time, made claims of checks sent that never arrived... There are as many sh!thedz buying as selling on ebay.
With all those complaints, it seems it should be easy for someone to do it better and give them a run for their money. Sad it hasn't happened, or, if it has, I don't know bout it. Bummer.
Menard, I agree with everything you said. I only meant that for my own usage, it will do just fine. Then again, I don't use ebay for all that much anymore, for precisely the reasons you and others have cited.
I agree that ebay was better when it was a lot of second-hand stuff from ordinary people, and sellers didn't expect top dollar for everything. I found a lot more treasures in those days, and a lot more bargains.
I will say that I prefer Paypal from a buyer's point of view for the same reason you suggest sellers like it - a lot of sellers are incompetent, or at least not that good at running a business. I remember when I had to first make contact with the seller, then exchange information and negotiate shipping, obtain a money order, send it, wait for it to get there, wait for the seller to cash it and ship my item, then wait for it to arrive. It took twice as long at the best of times, but it also required a lot more from the seller, which slowed it down even more. These days, I like being able to take care of everything in one shot, partly for my own convenience and partly because it then leaves a lot less up to the seller. You sold the item, money's in your account, just mail the thing.
Oh, I've got more:
Previously, when you found an item you cared to "watch" you'd hit the "watch" button and if you weren't signed in, ebay prompted you to. Now, ebay throws the item you want to "watch" into "Ebay for guests..." (Please hear sarcastic snied tone that'd be in my voice if I were speaking...) :hatred:
Ebay has always sent email notices and links about items they're pushing, often based upon previous purchases, and now, if you click the link, you go to the list, find an item you'd like to watch (see problem above) so I "sign in" first... and hit the back button WRONG!!! to get back to the list or item... Ebay then signs you out...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :hatred:
The format change has now squashed listings to the center of the page, there are so-oh many more "helpful" links on the left side of the page :lookingup: and fully a third (that's one third) of the page left and right of center is devoted to these overbusy links and BLANK SPACE (yeh, I know, the future home for lots of ADVERTISING.) :hatred:
I'm hating ebay more and more everyday.
Quote from: CheezeFlixz on October 18, 2008, 12:35:24 AM
This summer I sold 2 Jet Ski's on ONE trailer on ebay ... ebay required me to sell them separately on 2 auctions. I argued with them they're on one trailer, what happens if one person buys one and one another? What are they going to do? Ride it home?
:teddyr: Good point. :wink: