Titting arse time waster........Bloody ebay

[Bren]

Although the term "caveat emptor" still applies people seem to think because it is eBay they have some kind of protection.

 

Well I've got news for you, you waste of skin, you don't.

 

I may come over as all bitter, I think it's because whenever I have bought something I have always made a fair offer - unfortunately this is never reciprocated judging by the oxygen thieves I have dealt with in the past.

 

My dream is to open a used car lot whereby I never actually sell anything, I just tell everybody who comes in to fuck off.

 

Basil Fawlty in a sheepskin springs to mind.

[Mr Lobster]

Got to say, as much as I wouldn't fancy trying to sell another cheap car on ebay, when I have done I've not had any bother.

 

Kangoo - chap saw ad, rang up and asked if I'd take slightly less than the BIN. Turned up the following day, paid and drove off.

 

R4 GTL - Auction ran to end, buyer got in contact following day and paid in full by bank transfer then sent a driver to collect a couple of weeks later.

 

Alto - Ended early as first person to come and see made a good offer.

 

Maybe I'm just lucky...

[MrDuke]

Aye, the only car I've eBayed was the fester - despite not getting in touch for days or sending a deposit like I'd asked, the winning bidder eventually turned up with a trailer, spent 5 mins looking it over then shoved cash in my hand and departed happily. If anything, that's made me even more reluctant to try it again, as I've probably used up all my luck with a first-time success.

[drum]

If you advertise in the local rag, gumtree whatever then expect a prospective buyer to haggle, I would if I was that buyer. Cars were almost always advertised 'ono'.

 

Ebay is an auction and there shouldn't be any haggling provided it is as advertised. Non buyers need to be better dealt with. I've bought a few cars off eBay and it's never crossed my mind not to cough up even when I bid whilst pissed and knew nothing about it until I happened to checked emails 24 hours later.

[srad34]

On the whole, I have had some pretty good buyers on fleabay classifieds, its just the odd knob that spoils the party! 

[gordonbennet]

My lad sold his Impreza via the bay, bloody glad he did to be honest it was pushing out well over 300hp and frightened the living daylights outa me.

 

The winner was in Czechoslovakia (buggered if i know if thats the right speeling) so i assumed that was a waste of time, sure enough the bloke got a mate to drop him off, seriously, a mate drove him from Czech to Northants, they inspected the car, had a cup of coffee with the lad, paid him in pound notes and drove it back home, bloody nice blokes too apparently.

 

Lad then went a bought a fuckin great 1200 cc KTM sports bike                      shakes head and wanders off muttering oaths about fuckin kids

[eddyramrod]

Aye, the only car I've eBayed was the fester - despite not getting in touch for days or sending a deposit like I'd asked, the winning bidder eventually turned up with a trailer, spent 5 mins looking it over then shoved cash in my hand and departed happily. If anything, that's made me even more reluctant to try it again, as I've probably used up all my luck with a first-time success.

 

And here I've spent the last ten months believing I bought the Cherry off your ebay listing rather than the thread here...     See, two successful car sales.  You're doing better than you thought!

[New POD]

Someone once pulled out of buying my £400 1986 Bluebird because it didn't have full service history

 

I suspect that the £40 Mk2 cavalier Sri I bought had a full history.  It had all mot's with it,  Numerous Main Dealer stamps and bills to cover the first 19 years, but nothing to cover the next 2 years. Problem was that in the first 19 years it had covered 13K, and in the next 2 years it had gone to 75K with no service at all.  Still I did 3 oil changes in the next 2000 miles. One straight away, one when the head gasket went, and one, because I felt it deserved one, and I had Vauxhall trade club and oil was cheap.

[sierraman]

By the time my cars come up for sale they are absolutely buggered...

[MrDuke]

And here I've spent the last ten months believing I bought the Cherry off your ebay listing rather than the thread here...     See, two successful car sales.  You're doing better than you thought!

 

 

 

In that case, I've definitely maxed-out on luck, and any future attempts will meet with utter failure....

[Junkman]

If you advertise in the local rag, gumtree whatever then expect a prospective buyer to haggle...

I expect him to be as dumb as wank of a merchant navy sailor. If he isn't, it's a rare surprise.

 

Ebay is an auction and there shouldn't be any haggling provided it is as advertised.

Yes, that's what one would expect, and what should be the norm. Alas, it isn't.

[Felly Magic]

I've had a few mongs on evilbay, and one really took the biscuit. It was a model bus I was flogging, and this obnoxious little twat refused to pay, turned out he'd done the same to about half a dozen sellers, I got a torrent of expletives when I politely asked for payment, and so did others. He was fairly local (Thetford) so did a bit of digging, and found out it was a kid, so I wrote to his parents snail mail style, explaining the situation, I also enclosed copies of other auctions he'd won and not coughed up for, which ran into hundreds of pounds. A few days later I got a phone call, a deeply apologetic man was on the phone, and he said he'd taken a hammer to his son's laptop. Luckily my ebay fees were refunded for that item, and I re listed it, and it went for a little more, and that person coughed up the dough about a minute after the auction ended. I've even sold stuff on ebay to Italy, and the buyer asked if I had any more to sell, as he was so pleased, and it had arrived in just over 5 days of me sending it. It just goes to show that evilbay is swings and roundabouts. I will not sell a car on there though, its weigh in or part ex like Iain. I've also had a few transactions with fellow shitters, and all I can say is these have been smoother than a melted bar of Galaxy

[Junkman]

I've even sold stuff on ebay to Italy, and the buyer asked if I had any more to sell, as he was so pleased, and it had arrived in just over 5 days of me sending it.

 

Yes, the Italian post is the most reliable in the world. It got a bad reputation simply on the grounds that the Italian buyers unfortunately aren't. To the contrary.

The usual scam is, that they claim the item hasn't arrived. Despite you sent it tracked, and it says 'delivered', they claim it hasn't arrived, and Paypal/Ebay refunds them regardless, so they end up with what you sent, and the refund. One of them now has my Jada 1/18 '63 Caddy Coupe DeVille in copper pearl without ever paying me a Penny for it. He even sent me messages stressing how smart he is and how dumb I am. I hope he gets cancer and his dick falls off in slices before he croaks it.

 

You, Sir, are pushing your luck by sending stuff to Italy.

 

Another popular scam is that someone owns a model kit with the odd part missing. So he buys a complete kit, takes out the missing pieces, then files a claim that the kit he was sent is incomplete, and returns it for a full refund, so now the seller is stuck with an incomplete kit. Interestingly, this predominantly happens with long obsolete and very valuable ones.

Thus I now have an Otaki Porsche 930 Turbo kit with the transparent parts tree missing, which is free to any Autoshiter who wants to be stuck with it. And it's not the only one. I also have a 1/32 Airfix Herald first edition with the door handles missing, and a few others along these lines.

 

I know that I repeat myself, but do not sell anything on Ebay if you are a private seller.

[cms206]

I must admit I've been pretty lucky on the 'bay, though I've only ever sold buses on it; my best return was on a Dennis Lancet, bought for a rotten Fiesta van and £120 and sold for £1800 plus delivery at £1.50 a mile to Rotherham.

We'll see what happens; I've got two cars listed on ebay just now which have just hit their reserves..

[Keymaster]

I seem to have had the opposite experience to a lot of people here... Decided to jib ebay this year after yet another dickhead seller / post office failure. Never had a problem selling cars on there though thanks to detailed listings, clear photos and ignoring people who asked questions that were covered off on the listing. Buyers all turned up on time, quick inspection, then cash handed over.

[Rocket88]

Bought / sold quite a lot of stuff via ebay, including cars. Never had any great dramas, although it does help that living over here means that if someone's serious, they have to make the effort to get over here.

[jakebullet]

You, Sir, are pushing your luck by sending stuff to Italy.

 

I know that I repeat myself, but do not sell anything on Ebay if you are a private seller.

 

The other thing with Italy is lots of them live in blocks of flats where postman Pat just dumps everyones mail, and you go and steal any you like the look of from your neighbours.

 

You're no better protected as a business seller. It can even sting worse as if you tell the current thief du jour to go do one their low DSR score will be the one that kills your top rated seller discount. So in robbing you of £5 they also cost you £40.

 

2 top tips:

Print a bar code on the address label. Stupid thieves think er, maybe it's tracked. Only works with the real thickies.

Expect to be robbed. So put 10p extra on your post cost as a shoplifter tax. Hopefully all the 10p's add up to pay for the thieves.

[Hertz]

Not sold a car on ebay for a while, mixed bag of results previously to be honest. I have sold lots of spare parts though all over the world and things have gone pretty well so far (touches wood). Most recently I sold a couple of items to a chap in Germany and combined his post to save him £8, he paid the full amount to which I said no and would refund via paypal. He replied saying "Take the money for you, next time vote Labour please and protest against the Gardians-Akt"
 

My reply was "Viva Ed Miliband" and pocketed the 8 beads.

[Lankytim]

Gardians akt? What's that then?

[Hertz]

I have absolutely no idea!

[daveb47]

I recently sold a good quality radio scanning reciever,only a few months old.

Got message that it didnt work at all then paypal blocked.got them to send it back discovered that it had been opened and internals replaced by damaged/bodged ones.

Told ebay but they still found in buyers favour.

Wont sell anything on there any more.

Con merchants best friends.

[Junkman]

Gardians akt? What's that then?

 

Guardian - Akt der Willkür (act of despotism)

He was referring to the destruction of hard discs in the Guardian (a British newspaper) offices under the presence of members of two secret services, one of them foreign, the most blatant violation of press freedom in the Western World in human history, and largely withheld from the British public.

Thanks God the Guardian's journalists were smart enough to have made copies of the data on those hard discs, which are stored in an undisclosed location.

[morris_ital_lover]

Another popular scam is that someone owns a model kit with the odd part missing. So he buys a complete kit, takes out the missing pieces, then files a claim that the kit he was sent is incomplete, and returns it for a full refund, so now the seller is stuck with an incomplete kit. Interestingly, this predominantly happens with long obsolete and very valuable ones.

Thus I now have an Otaki Porsche 930 Turbo kit with the transparent parts tree missing, which is free to any Autoshiter who wants to be stuck with it. And it's not the only one. I also have a 1/32 Airfix Herald first edition with the door handles missing, and a few others along these lines.

 

I know that I repeat myself, but do not sell anything on Ebay if you are a private seller.

 

A Belgian bastard did that to me... I got my knickers in a twist and made it even worse, I found his profile on a forum elsewhere and I've bizarrely not got round to naming and shaming him. I now have a (then rare) Airfix Monty's Humber sans transfers and transparencies.

 

(What have you got that's 1/32 and in need of a home I might be able to help )

[Junkman]

(What have you got that's 1/32 and in need of a home I might be able to help )

 

There is hardly anything left, but what I have left you can have for free plus postage, unless you want to come and collect it.

It's nothing really special though.

 

 

All: Notice that I rather give stuff away for free, than list it on fucktardbay.

[Mr Lobster]

 

 

You're no better protected as a business seller. It can even sting worse as if you tell the current thief du jour to go do one their low DSR score will be the one that kills your top rated seller discount. So in robbing you of £5 they also cost you £40.

 

 

Yes and no. As a business seller you have to allow a margin to cover the fact that some items to some countries will get 'lost' and build a margin into everything to cover that. We do ship to Italy and most stuff gets there no problem though its certainly one of the worst for missing items. Stuff almost never goes missing to Norway / Denmark / Sweden and rarely to France or Germany. 

 

Also, if you send with a tracking number (International Signed For will do) then regardless of whether you are a private seller or not then if the buyer claims its not delivered as long as the post system shows it has been then you are covered by PayPal. Similarly with chargebacks and the like.

 

Couple of other points. Royal Mail state that International Signed For and Recorded items aren't trackable. They are, they just don't tell you but there is an RM website where you can track Recorded items. I'll try and find it and shove a link up in a bit.

 

If you are sending stuff abroad then the obvious ones to avoid are Russia (virtually everything goes missing), much of South America, Romania (see Russia), Italy and sometimes Greece. Don't have many issues elsewhere. 

 

Most of the stuff that is claimed to go missing via ebay sales is clearly stolen. If you look at the details of these cases there is a pattern (i've studied this) although I'm not telling you what!

 

Ebay make it too easy for people to say stuff hasn't arrived though. We get a lot more claims for lost items through ebay than our own website. ebay make it easier for people to be dishonest -  though the same can also be said of Amazon and Rakuten to be fair.

 

I have to say though, stuff going missing or people claiming for a 'faulty' item is still relatively rare, thankfully the vast majority of buyers are decent and honest and its only a very small percentage who report missing items and its reasonable to assume that some will be genuine.

 

My tips would be - use tracked / signed for where possible and always have a return address on the back of the parcel.

[jakebullet]

I dumped Greece yonks ago when they started getting worse than Italy. Also starting to have a few more problems with Spain than I used to have.

 

Half the problem with ebay is the feeling of helplessness. My latest hasn't arrived mate! sent alarms ringing, so I asked 7 other people he'd bought from recently how they'd done. 7 replies saying INR. 7 of us phoned ebay / used report a buyer to ask them to look at his pattern of thieving. He's still active and freebaying.

 

I'm thinking about a new policy of monitoring thieves accounts, and every time they buy something send them a packet of rubbish, accidently forgetting to put a stamp on it.

 

My stuff isn't worth enough for recorded, plus I use PPI so royal mail isn't at all interested in helping out. I'm dreading the day they manage to lose a sackful.

[Micrashed]

eBay.

 

Mixed bag really. Ive had stuff magically "go missing" and plenty of stuff sold without a hitch. Mostly its tat that I sell these days with collection only - like the caravan. Bit naffed with that as its a classified with best offer, currently I have a best offer Im willing to accept but if I do it ends the sale, then if the buyer decides not to go through with it unlike an auction I cant reclaim my £14.99 listing fee.

 

Ive emailed the bloke making an offer and invited them to phone me and come and see the van, and if they like it I have said I will accept their offer of £3600. So far no contact at all.

Hmmm.

 

On the flip side I have had a few things that have not arrived, pretty much without fail stuff from China. So I dont know if its a no sale con, or if the stuff is being stolen en route. The weirdest one was a recorded package sent to me that was "signed" in my name, not by me, and never arrived. We never did get to the bottom of that one. The GPO wouldnt accept a claim despite evidence that teh signatures didnt match and I was at work 40 miles away when it was "delivered" and the seller / ebay obviously had a delivery signature so found in the sellers favour.

 

It was only £4.99 worth of irmsher "i" badge so I let it lie in the end. I doubt the police would have been arsed for less than a fiver. Hardly the Great Train Robbery.

[brickwall]

If enough folk complain to Trading Standards something will be done. I was chatting to a lawyer friend and he said as soon as the law comes involved up, ebay cough up. People don't realise that ebay don't make the laws - they just have terms of service  which cannot affect your statutory rights. 1/2 of all online businesses have terms that are not lawful or are considered  unfair. This is where ebay fall down as they just make it up.

[richardthestag]

I have zero tolerance of fuckwits on Ebay and Gumtree and it's served me well. I can sniff a fucktard at 100 paces and half the time when I get replies to my ads I vet them straight away and don't even bother answering them.

Wouldn't be the first time I've just hung up on some twat halfway through his 'negotiation' over the phone, or on one memorable occasion simply locked up the car, turned round and went back into the house.

 

I have very little trouble selling stuff on t'internet, possibly as a direct result of my 'attitude', or possibly just luck.

 

done this, I just tell them it is sold if they cant string four words together on the phone or the email / txt is shit.

 

In Wycombeshite you get the added disadvantage of the prospective buyer turning up with extended fucking family. then offer 1/3 of the asking price, I just lock car and walk off. One called me every 15 mins upping his offer by an ayrton, was polite to start with because he knew where i lived but it ended up with me telling him the minimum I would accept which was 2k above asking price and told him to fuck off. did the trick.

 

Had a couple of scammers on ebay but on the whole I am up on it, I have the buyers address, easy enough to confirm that it is accurate especially if i only send to the paypal registered address and then have the option to post them cat shit should I feel particularly inclined. Not worth bothering with ebay nor paypal, they rarely find in the sellers favour so little point losing sleep over it, get even not mad

 

Oddly the more fishy it has smelt the better the deal has gone! lottery it can be.

[D-Dubya]

I tried to sell a Nissan Almera via gumtree, x reg, bit tatty, long mot but no tax, £300 Ono advertised willing to take £275. My advert couldn't be clearer, it's a shed, it's got knocks, rips and tears, but everything bar one window switch works. Everyone who turned up wanted showroom new and didn't even make an offer afte fucking about with it for half an hour. One fella wanted a test drive round the block rather than up and down the drive and private street, I said no due to the tax situation, he got miffed and I just said if you want to do that it's a £300 deposit because if he gets stopped in it and the police seize it due to no tax and no insurance (it wasn't insured either as it was sorn) I would lose money getting it back. He told me to go fuck myself. It got sold to the takeaway delivery guy whose polo imploded in front of me one evening for £250 and two free takeaways for two delivered.

 

Selling the 306 was as bad.