eBay experiences

[HalRoachFan]

How long have each of you been a member of eBay? I'm sure we all have had mostly good experiences with eBay. But have any of you been ripped off?

I've been a member since 1999, and I first signed up when I was 15 years old. I started using it shortly after I got my first internet-connected computer, mainly to collect ALL of the rare and out-of-print "Little Rascals" videos I could find. Before I had regular access to eBay, I had a very small collection of rare videos because it's really hard to find rare things like that going door to door in video stores. Whenever I had come across any in person, I was very lucky. Now, I've gotten the Little Rascals collection I had always dreamed of but thought I would never get all these.

I've had 100% good experiences on my end of transactions, but about 98% on the part of the other members'. I had two people who were a problem when I purchased their items (which both add up around a total of $50 including shipping). After that, I've been more careful about reading their feedback ratings before bidding, because both of these sellers had a little too many negatives. Here's what happened:

The first time I got jipped was when I bought a Little Rascals video with 3 shorts that were professionally transfered from film to VHS, and one of them was an episode I didn't have yet and was never commercially released on video by anyone (it's called "Jubilo, Jr." from 1924). I received the video but it was a bad copy (how hard is it to dub VHS's?). The first short was missing the opening titles and the VCR displays were on the screen during the first few minutes (PLAY, the timer, date, etc.). I requested a better dub from him and I sent it back. The mistake I made was making my own copy just in case I didn't get another copy. I never got it and it was already too late to leave a negative. Fortunately, I did a trade with someone who got the tape from the same seller, so now I have a copy.

The other bad experience happened more recently, when I pre-ordered the Christina Aguilera: Stripped Live in the UK DVD. I NEVER got it at all and never got a refund. Before I could leave a negative, he was already suspended (or quit) from eBay for all those negatives he got. I guess that's better than myself leaving a negative, is it not?

Imagine that. Both of those times I couldn't leave a feedback.

I haven't been ripped off the other day, as I got what I paid for... but the video capture device I bought is a piece of crap. Not the seller's fault.

[Mr. Toad]

I signed on in late 98. Aside from a bunch of people who did not pay I have not been ripped off. One seller took months to send a Snow White doll, but that is the worse buying experience I have had. I find only bidding on items from people with impeccable histories and actually researching what the negative feedback was is key.

[Sunset Girl]

I started doing eBay back in late 1996/early 1997 when the local libraries first started to offer computer access. I had the account for a few years and everything went fine until I lost track of several transations in one month. I explained to them that I had been suffering from severe depression and was very apologetic, even offering to send the sellers a little extra $$ to set things right, but they suspended me anyway. But I guess I deserved it, as I didn't keep my end of the bargain.

When I tried to open another account, the rules for signing up had changed. I didn't have a "permanent" email address (like AOL) and I didn't have a credit card, so I was SOL. But when I met my fiance, he let me use his card to start over. I'm proud to say that I haven't had any problems this time around, as my depression is a lot better. My feedback is currently 100%.

The only time I ever got ripped off was when I tried to buy studio worktapes of the Black Cauldron (long before it was released on home video). I bid on a lot of three of them, and the seller never came through with sending them out. I was not a happy camper and began to wonder if the tapes really existed.

But overall, eBay has been such a positive experience. My favorite stuff to look for is Japanese merchandise from some of my favorite shows, which is really hard to come by here in the states. I've bought tons of Japanese CD's, other-region DVD's, toys, books, and of course I've also bought more mundane things like cell phone faceplates and such.

I'm still amazed that I can access so many things from any part of the world from my little old computer, here. Yay!

[Hikari]

My boyfriend joined ebay in november 99 I didn't really know about ebay before I met my boyfriend in 2002 I didn't have a credit card also so it took while before I bought something .The first thing I bought was my digital camera that was out of print lol discontinued I was pretty confident for a first buy It costs me 1000 canadians dollars which is 830US now at that time it was around 720US. I received as stated and I was really satisfied since I was the first in my college photography program to own a semi-professionnal camera and from this moment I was trusting ebay.After this first transactionit took a while before I use it again.


it started again when my boyfriend bought me my first 3 disney dvd it just tumble .I bought a lot of dvd from ebay this is where I learned about the stupid vault and the oop dvd I bought lady and the tramp for 13 $ I was so happy When I received it I knew already it was a fake I already owned about 30 disney dvd I was really mad and even before I could leave negative feedback the seller was banned and I never got my money back but after this experience I begin to be a bootleg specialist I checked the pictures for every little details and didn't trust anymore the seller with stock pictures.I finally got a few like pinocchio and mulan gold edition which are hard to reproduce because of the gold band .My boyfriend on christmas 2003 bought me 2 dvd which he tought even they didnt have pictures would be authenthic which iturned out to be 2 cheaps bootleg of little mermaid having DTS written on the top and lady and the tramp also but this time the seller was
nice we send him back the dvds and he refund us but still I was angry and for a couple of sales I warned the bidders they we bidding on bootlegs but still I left him positive feedback but I wrote it was bootlegs from that time on I am very careful on buying oop stuff but since I have them all I don't have any problems .I am really a ebay addict even if I have only 117 feedbacks.That's about it !!

[_tink_]

I joined ebay in March of 2003 I believe. I've had a few bad transactions as a buyer. A few months after I joined I bought 2 disney dvd's from this one seller. They had lots of dvd's up for sale and they had good feedback so I thought I was safe. The same day I sent them my money I noticed they either closed their ebay account or got suspended. She gave us her home address to send payment to so we wrote her a few letters, but never got anything. Atleast it was only $20 bucks for the 2 movies, good thing I got them cheap.

A few months after that happened we bought a windows 98 upgrade cd(this was before we got new computers). Again the person had really good feedback and everything, but we waited and waited and never recieved anything. We hounded them through e-mail for a few months before we finally got a response. They finally sent our money back after almost 6 months and 5 extra dollars for our troubles we had.

Last June/July I finally tried selling stuff on ebay. Only had one bad buyer that never paid. At the time I was new to selling so I didnt know I only had a certain amount of time to turn them in to ebay. I missed the 45 day time period by like 2 days! All in all I haven't lost to much I guess.

[DreamerQ18]

Wow I feel bad for all who have had bad buying experiences shopping with e-bay I started buying when I was 15 and I got my computer. I was looking for a rare CD sold only in the UK. But I have had nothing but good experiences all the sellers have been very polite and promt.

E-bay is great so long as it is not abused but thats just me. i give two thums up

[RJKD23]

I joined EBAY in December 2003 (two months after turning 18 and getting my credit card). He joined EBAY that same month toooo.

So far, we're both still on EBAY selling & buying...
I'm extra careful with the DVDS because I don't want to have to deal with those bootlegs.

We buy the TMNT Figures that are Mint in Box or Mint on Card and date back to the 1980s and ran till..1997. (i'm talking the cuter, older series. not the new crap they have out)

Oh, and I buy my Romance/CHICK-LIT books from there because I only prefer HARDCOVER.

[DaveWadding]

We buy the TMNT Figures that are Mint in Box or Mint on Card and date back to the 1980s and ran till..1997. (i'm talking the cuter, older series. not the new crap they have out)

Oh, you mean those that I have all lying around my house

Never really had a bad buying experience on ebay... except one time I bought an autograph or something and it didnt come for forever, but the seller was really nice and included a note explaining her situation and such...so I was all okay.

and there was that time my sister wabted me to get her some Queer As Folk magnets which are/were cheaply made and crap, I didnt go through my normal channels and such because she was the one that wanted these magnets, but I since left a negative feedback.

As for selling, I've never listed anything on EBAY...but I list lots of stuff on half.com, which is cool.

[RJKD23]

We buy the TMNT Figures that are Mint in Box or Mint on Card and date back to the 1980s and ran till..1997. (i'm talking the cuter, older series. not the new crap they have out)

Oh, you mean those that I have all lying around my house

uhm..we only collect RAPHAEL, and we've already completed the collection.

take care of the figures! they're treasures...almost like OOP Disney DVDs!

[Key]

I joined eBay almost exactly a year ago and all my experiences so far have been good ones (thankfully). I could actually have joined up a lot sooner but I didn't know that I didn't need a credit card to register and only needed a paid email address (i.e., no yahoo.com, hotmail.com, etc.). Silly me. v.v

I've only bought various manga and Disney DVDs from sellers and paid in cash for all my transactions. I haven't been ripped off yet as I've always read feedback before bidding on anything so I guess I'm one of the lucky ones *knock on wood*.

[DaveWadding]

Oh, you mean those that I have all lying around my house

uhm..we only collect RAPHAEL, and we've already completed the collection.

take care of the figures! they're treasures...almost like OOP Disney DVDs!

And Raph isnt even the COOLEST one

I seem to have lots of April still in package for some random reason.

[Lightyear]

Before I knew what to look for with buying Disney DVD's (Wish I found you guys before), I've gotten two bootlegs, one I got my money back, the other, I'm about to talk to the the seller for a refund..

Other than than, I've had no problems with Ebay, selling or buying.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Well, time to bump since my mother and I have had recent success on eBay. We've only sold about 10 or 11 items, but they have seen a major profit. Just over the past 6 months we have made $232.93 with just 9 items with another item about to sell in 4 days. And on top of that my mother has more things (though, all I know of are scissors which seem to sell between $20 - $45 depending on the rarity/how many people out there want it) to sell and I can't believe the progress we have made together. I see this as a long-term "hobbie" that we can both enjoy until she runs out of stuff (which she won't because she continually buys things, off of, noneotherthan, eBay so technically we aren't really earning too much money, but it's a start). So, I guess all I really have to say is that I'm glad with the success that my mother and I are having on eBay and I hope that this success continues (as long as she stops buying so much stuff).

[DarthPrime]

I joined eBay in 1999 although I haven't used it in a few years. I signed up at first to buy cards for Magic the Gathering (I used to play a lot about 10 years ago, although I don't anymore.)

After that I mainly sold stuff on eBay. I sold a ton of original Gen 1 Transformers, some old SNES games, Magic cards, etc... I've bought a few things since then, but not many.

All of my transactions went good except for one Transformer auction. It sold for over $400 and the buyer backed out at first. He emailed me a day later and said to not relist it and give him a negative, because he wanted it and was sending a Money Order. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and waited. A few days later I got the payment, and sent the item off to him. I don't know if he had doubts, or didn't have the money at first or what. It was just a odd experience, but I am glad that he did decide to buy the item.

[Mr. Toad]

An update since 2005 - I lost about 70 bucks with a bad seller. I was too late to get my paypal refund siling just after the 45 day limit.

[Walter]

I joined Ebay in July 2004. My experiences with them have been mostly positive so far. I am very dependent on Paypal when doing business on Ebay.

One time, my father won an auction and paid for it, but never got it. When trying to contact the seller, he just didn't seem interested in resolving the matter. This was before any of us knew about Paypal.

Biggest mistake is getting caught up in the bidding war game, and end up paying more than I should have. And it gets very frustrating when bidding on something, there always seem to be one person who bids, just to drive up the price significantly. And this person has done it multiple times on the same product.

[Disney-Fan]

Hey guys, a bit off-topic but this seemed like the most relevant place to ask. I'm looking for the Friends Complete Series collection on E-Bay and found a guy selling them for a relatively cheap sum, except it's hard to know if he's trust-worthy or not. Here's the link. What do you think?

[DisneyFreak5282]

Hey guys, a bit off-topic but this seemed like the most relevant place to ask. I'm looking for the Friends Complete Series collection on E-Bay and found a guy selling them for a relatively cheap sum, except it's hard to know if he's trust-worthy or not. Here's the link. What do you think?

Well, he does have 100% feedback, but every single other item this guy is selling is the exact same thing. I would stay clear of this just to be safe.

[Leonia]

I joined eBay around 2004/2005 (don't remember exact year), and most of my experiences have been good.

I've had one really bad experience though, back in September 2008. I finally found a copy of Tales of Destiny for the PS1 at a decent price, and I paid for the item two days after winning the bid, but I never got my item. Worse was that the seller kept telling me she did send it, but never gave me a tracking number or anything. Even worse was that I waited way too late to leave any form of negative feedback, and never got my money back.

I know, it's a bit of a moot point to buy the original Tales of Destiny when I have the PS2 remake, but I swear the video game gods do not want me to play the original English version.

After that bad experience (and all the other changes eBay's introduced) I doubt I'll be buying anything from eBay again...

[blackcauldron85]

Hey guys, a bit off-topic but this seemed like the most relevant place to ask. I'm looking for the Friends Complete Series collection on E-Bay and found a guy selling them for a relatively cheap sum, except it's hard to know if he's trust-worthy or not. Here's the link. What do you think?

Well, he does have 100% feedback, but every single other item this guy is selling is the exact same thing. I would stay clear of this just to be safe.

I agree with Ryan- I just can't understand how this guy would have so many copies of this and be able to sell them at this price. I could understand him buying a few during Black Friday or something and selling them, but it is suspicious. I mean, there is the possibility that these could be legit, but it just doesn't seem likely. They could be very good bootlegs, I don't know. I just checked his feedback, and if he has sold any, the buyers haven't left any feedback. A good phrase about eBay is, if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. At least when it comes to DVDs. If I'm selling something, then often I just want to get some money versus none, so often I will put the cheapest price (I'm talking more about selling books and DVDs on Half.com), just to, I guess, ensure that my item will sell.

but I never got my item. Worse was that the seller kept telling me she did send it, but never gave me a tracking number or anything. Even worse was that I waited way too late to leave any form of negative feedback, and never got my money back.

After that bad experience (and all the other changes eBay's introduced) I doubt I'll be buying anything from eBay again...

In my mind, you have learned from that experience. You said that you have had mostly positive experiences...my advice would be, learn from that experience. Most people selling on eBay probably aren't out to scam people- they're just trying to make some money and clean out their house! If a situation like that happens again, contact eBay. You shouldn't ever leave bad feedback instead of contacting eBay if you don't receive an item. Let eBay know that there's a problem. They will help you handle the situation and get your money back.