Buying Shit on Ebay

**RichieV** · 17-09-2003, 06:19 PM

Have you ever been ripped off ?

I am extremely nervous buying stuffon Ebay

**RichieV** · 17-09-2003, 06:19 PM

What i mean is i bidded on a virus B but i have a bad feeling about the guy selling it

**Jimfish** · 17-09-2003, 06:32 PM

man ive just started getting well into ebay...
has the geezer got a good rating?

**RichieV** · 17-09-2003, 07:02 PM

he does but there is just something about the page that makes me feel uncomfortable.

For example . he only accepts cash orders

**The Overfiend** · 17-09-2003, 07:12 PM

That's sketchy pay pal is the way to go.

Otherwise I'd go to his house and give him a mouthfull of chorizo

**Jimfish** · 17-09-2003, 07:35 PM

hmm, yeah if you are unsure then **** it - there will be plenty more opportunitys :)

**Antinoise** · 17-09-2003, 08:42 PM

I'm pretty much an Ebay guru. Almost all my audio gear has come from ebay. The key is you to practice good ebay sex or your going to get f**ked.

-Rating is key: Only buy from someone with a high rating. IF someone has a 0 then the chances are you're going to get screwed. The rating # is not everything though. Someone can jack up their rating buying and selling 2$ items.. then to list a 1000$ that’s earmarked for robbery.

-A scam that’s going on right now is people stealing other people’s accounts. What happens is that 'Joe Robber' steals 'Joe High-Ratings' account and lists a bogus item. On the surface it looks cool.. The person has a high rating and you think they must be trusted. But you need to actually go into the guys rating and look at:

-If he has gotten his rating from selling or just buying. (Needs to be a proven seller)
-What has he sold. (Needs to be items of similar nature or price category)

If the guy has a 500 rating from selling baseball cards and suddenly he's selling (3) 20" flat panel monitors…. That a huge red flag!!! More than likely that is a stolen account. This happens much more then you think.

-Escrow:.. If you have any doubts,... Ask for escrow. (Escrow.com works basically like.. The buyer sends the $ to escrow.com.. When they get it, they notify the seller to ship the goods. Then when you (the buyer) gets the goods.. you have a day to examine the product. When everything is checked out you tell escrow.com to release the $ to the seller...... It’s a good process, but adds 10 days to the process and the buyer usually pays the fees which are 2-3% of the cost). ... There is a pitfall in escrow services though. There are many fraudulent foreign escrow services. You can buy an item.. and feel confident in the sale that’s being brokered by an escrow company (of the sellers choise) only to be screwed because the seller is collaborating with the bogus escrow service. Long story short: If you are going to use an escrow service, use escrow.com or nothing!!

The overall guiding principal..... There is nothing on ebay that won’t be listed again a few more times within even a week. So anything that’s doubtful, just pass and wait for the next 'sure sale'.

**Antinoise** · 17-09-2003, 08:45 PM

There is nothing guaranteed in paypal either... That means little. The only reasurance there is that you can check the guys paypal status.

**spiralx** · 17-09-2003, 09:00 PM

Yeah I wouldn't buy anything expensive online unless it was my credit card as you're insured on that for anything over 50 quid. Cash only sounds like a ripoff...

**audioinjection** · 17-09-2003, 09:05 PM

yeah, i only buy stuff using paypal, no cash stuff.

**MARKEG** · 17-09-2003, 09:54 PM

antinoise - excellent post. thank you.

now we know what we have to do!

**Analbumcover** · 18-09-2003, 12:30 AM

I've bought loads of (expensive) stuff on Ebay and everyone has been absolutely A1 honest.

If you're in anyway dubious about something and there's a lot of money at stake, you can always just go and pick it up in person and pay cash on receipt of the goods. Chances are what ever you spend in petrol there and back will be along the same lines as having it shipped and insured. (Obviously this is fairly easy in the UK - Driving across the US might be a different matter...)

The thing to watch out for at the moment is the Western Union scam. People are listing completely bogus auctions, the content of which is just lifted straight from a genuine auction. They then only accept payment in the form of a Western Union transfer, which they claim protects you, but in actual fact is a dead simple way of them getting your cash without providing any genuine contact details such as their address. All the ones I've seen are pretty easy to spot though, as the seller has invariably only registered the day before, often in Canada.

Asking a few questions is a great way to spot a duff auction as well. If someone is listing gear that they have used, they should be able to easily answer technical questions about it.

On the whole the Ebay community is very honest and looks out for each other. If I see an auction that looks really suspect, I'll just mail the high bidder and let them know, as well as reporting it to Ebay.

**Antinoise** · 18-09-2003, 12:54 AM

Another thing to do is if your a little unsure... Tell them you will be in town and you want to do a local pickup. If they dont have a problem with that then its should be a good deal. In the end you can just tell them to mail it.

If you ever can do a real local pickup.. that is by far the best! However here in the US most things are normally way too far to pickup.

Note: There are far more scammers in US ebay than the european counterparts... Don't be afraid.. just be aware!

**The Overfiend** · 18-09-2003, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by Antinoise

Another thing to do is if your a little unsure... Tell them you will be in town and you want to do a local pickup. If they dont have a problem with that then its should be a good deal. In the end you can just tell them to mail it.

If you ever can do a real local pickup.. that is by far the best! However here in the US most things are normally way too far to pickup.

Note: There are far more scammers in US ebay than the european counterparts... Don't be afraid.. just be aware!

Gee Thanks..

**Adverse** · 18-09-2003, 07:25 PM

antinoise is my consumption advisor, i go to him with everything i think is half baked hehehehe.

he also designs those fancy covers for adverse so everyone clap now :)

**The Overfiend** · 18-09-2003, 11:24 PM

MyDnaTingles.

**RichieV** · 21-09-2003, 07:29 AM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...38071&rd=1

tell me if this looks fishy!!!!

**professor** · 12-11-2003, 09:32 PM

so how did everything turn out???

I've been looking at e-bay a lot recently.

**4play** · 12-11-2003, 10:18 PM

I know a lad who got ripped off 600 quid for a new mixing desk!

The bloke aprently had a bank account in a false name and ripped about 10 people off! and theres nothing he can do about it! Coz when they traced the IP address it was from a libary!!

Dodgy bastard!!!

**Dustin Zahn** · 12-11-2003, 10:49 PM

I've been ripped off a couple times on Ebay. It ****in blows. All in all I lost about $1,500 tops. Not to say every Ebay experience has been bad though. I agree, just check the rating, read the feedback. Look at what the seller sold in the past...see if its consistent and everything looks good. :lol:

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