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Ale

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As a lot of people on this forum put links to things on Ebay they are thinking of buying or have, I thought I would start a thread on problems with Ebay atm. Wasnt sure if it should go on the equipment page or here.

I've had problems with nearly every purchase on Ebay for the last couple of years and my last purchase was for a Christmas present for my son. The item was not as described in the listing. It also wasnt posted until 4 days after the end of the expected delivery period. The seller then wouldnt give me my refund until I removed negative feedback. I ended up having to phone Ebay to get them to step in as their usual process takes even longer with fixed time scales before they will act.

I did some research looking at reviews on Ebay and quickly learned that Ebay is now focused on protecting sellers and if you have any problems as a buyer it is far more difficult to get it resolved than it used to be. That is certainly my experience in 14 years of using Ebay.

I have reached the point that I will avoid using Ebay and would prefer to spend more elsewhere. If you do use them also beware of Chinese importers who describe the item as UK based. It often isnt and what they do is get it sent from China to a UK based person who forwards it on for a small fee. Ebay seem to allow this.

Use them at your own risk.
 
Ale said:
I will avoid using Ebay and would prefer to spend more elsewhere. .
Click to expand...

Never used it and don't intend to start anytime soon. I just don't trust it. Now I'm sure their are many sellers that are excellent and you would have no trouble with them but I am not willing to take the risk.
 
Just make sure they have a 99.9% positive score across 10,000 or more ratings and you're fairly safe. Even from the best postage times can be erratic so I factor that in before ordering. Most sellers with those kinds of stats are bricks and mortar retailers and have good returns policies.
 
I agree with Nigel. And for what it's worth, eBay is like life. If it sounds to good to be true, it usually is.

Also be a bit weary for used goods with very long item descriptions. It's a tactic to sell worn/damaged stuff. They usually put in a little note like has a little denting/damage, needs some work/DIY/attention. If that's in the text ask him VIA EBAY to exactly describe the flaws incl pictures. But these sellers usually have poor feedback.

I never, ever had unsolved issues with eBay. I purchased dozens of thing over eBay. The one time a parcel without tracking data was lost, from Bulgaria off all places (650 quid IOR valdada used scoped.. to cheap to be true, though looked brandnew on pics).. PayPal refunded the whole amount as the seller stopped replying and did not have proof it was actually shipped.
 
I hate ebay,sorry.......
Amazon only for me.
Except the digital thermometer i bought on ebay for £1.89,its super,it took 5 weeks to come from China though!
 
For chinese stuff Dx.com is a really good source. It takes 2-5 weeks to get here, but it's cheap and "no shipping".
 
Funny you should say that, because I stopped selling on eBay because it was so biased towards the buyer. Regardless of the issue they took the buyer's side, and a lot of buyers were taking advantage of this.
 
I recently bought a vacuum packed mattress of ebay. But unbelievably the damn thing was 10cm too short. What a nightmare dealing with the idiots was. First they offered me a £10 refund then eventually half. After 2 weeks they decided to collect it then changed their mind saying was too big. I got the hump then they changed their minds again. By then i was so mad i made the mistake of asking ebay to get involved. They decided i need to take the item to the PO for return. The thing would not fit in my car so i had to carry a folded mattress on my head for the 1/2 mile trip. No way for me to complain or anything. Whoever decided that was fair is quite honestly a massive w***** who i would love to slap some sense into.
I hate ebay now, how dare they i have spent a small fortune with them.
 
I try not to use EBay so much these days after a few disappointments but as some have said, always check the sellers feedback and shop around. Amazon for me is far better, much more reliable and on a par price wise. Having said that I just got a heater with protecter for my brew fridge which arrived from EBay next day so it can be good as long as you're careful about who you give your hard earned cash to.
 
I have used eBay for many years and the only problem i ever had was when i bought a PC base unit which was damaged in the post, the seller said it was fine when it was posted it but of course he had no proof, to cut a long story short i eventually got compensated by the post office, i never buy anything that could easily be damaged in the post and never buy from sellers with less than 98% positive feedback. (you have got to allow for idiots leaving negative feedback which isn't warranted)
 
pms67 said:
I hate ebay,sorry.......
Amazon only for me.
Except the digital thermometer i bought on ebay for ��£1.89,its super,it took 5 weeks to come from China though!
Click to expand...
But it's always worth checking when you buy from Amazon marketplace that the same seller doesn't use eBay too, quite often the same shop will sell the same goods cheaper on eBay. Less commission I guess.
 
Hi!
I've used ebay a lot, recently, as I'm building a recirculating mash system based on two electric boilers. Apart from the long lead times from China and Hong Kong, nothing has gone wrong and everything has turned up.
Recently I've started looking for UK suppliers with short delivery times - it may be a few quid more, but the stuff arrives quickly.
 
Bigcol49 said:
Hi!
I've used ebay a lot, recently, as I'm building a recirculating mash system based on two electric boilers. Apart from the long lead times from China and Hong Kong, nothing has gone wrong and everything has turned up.
Recently I've started looking for UK suppliers with short delivery times - it may be a few quid more, but the stuff arrives quickly.
Click to expand...
Yes, another China source is Bangood, loads of their stuff is on eBay just people importing it and knocking it out at a 300% markup is the problem sometimes.

If I know well in advance I'll order from China and try to be philosophical about the occasional delays, but you're right if you need it now then paying extra is the only sensible solution. And postage isn't always an issue they stick small things in jiffy bags and they'll get here in a week quite often.
 
on the few occasions when I have had problems they have been sorted out quickly.

If you look at the sellers forums a common complaint is that it's all for buyers nothing for sellers.


aamcle

ps if in doubt open a dispute
 
I use Ebay a lot and can't remember having any problems other than something didn't turn up once and we got a refund via the ebay complaints system. If it's a significant amount of money I always check the sellers history and have occasionally decided to buy elsewhere because of this.
 
I use ebay infrequently but operate under a few rules of my own
If I buy
- first check the seller feedback; avoid anything less than about 99%, and always read what folks say under negative feedback, you can usually get a good picture about how good or bad a seller is from that
- don't spend a lot of money; if the transaction goes really wrong then you haven't lost a great deal
- if you have bought from one seller and the transaction went well, use them again
- I avoid all foreign transcations, having said that I bought some nylon hop bags from China recently (first time), cost was £2.35 for 5 bags and the transaction went well
On the rare occasions I sell
- make sure you send through signed for service and takes pictures of what you have sold
I have had a few transactions that have gone slightly wrong but have been settled in the end; and one supplier selling hops from Tonbridge blocked me because I said he was slightly late (which he was) although I had given him positive feedback.
And finally I have to say I thought that ebay was biased towards buyers, but perhaps that has changed
 
A couple of points in relation to comments on here.

Ebay have moved to favouring sellers more than buyers. This may be in response to sellers comments prior to this though. They will lose a lot of customers before it changes back and encourages dodgy sellers imo.

You can buy Ebay businesses with 5000 or 10000 positive comments for a few thousand quid. Unscrupulous sellers sometimes do this so they get what appears to be a good reputation which they use to get extra business, it means nothing sometimes.
Although its against Ebay policy, they do allow sellers to manipulate feedback and get genuine feedback removed. The seller I used at Christmas had a couple removed from other people in the time I was dealing with them to get my refund.
Ebay are too soft on rogue sellers and they are increasing.
 
Ale said:
Although its against Ebay policy, they do allow buyers to manipulate feedback and get genuine feedback removed. The buyer I used at Christmas had a couple removed from other people in the time I was dealing with them to get my refund.
Click to expand...
Do you mean 'seller' and not 'buyer'?
 
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