Is It Me or Does It Seem Ebay is Full of Scam Artists?

[tantos]

I was looking to buy some stuff on ebay but every seller I looked had some major negative complaints against them and they always had a reply to those complaints.
Whatever happened to honest sellers? Can't a person get good deals on ebay anymore without having to worry about getting ripped off by fake merchandise?

 

[NewSc2]

uh, i don't know about you, but almost everybody i buy from only has 0-2 negatives, and usually it's something like lost shipping or broken merchandise.

 

[PsychoAndy]

Its not so much we're scam artists as it is ebay's system is flawed in the respect that I can follow everything by the book and still get negative feedback.

-PAB

 

[2canSAM]

Originally posted by: PsychoAndy
Its not so much we're scam artists as it is ebay's system is flawed in the respect that I can follow everything by the book and still get negative feedback.

-PAB

Exactly, I have one negative feedback. I had left a user a negative becuase he was a "Non-paying bidder". He then got to turn around and give me a Negative rating. Although his rating does show his true maturity record, I am still having to have a negative becuase he messed up. And it really bothers me that ebay will do nothing about it.

 

[Jhill]

As long as EBAY gets their money I doubt they even care.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: 2canSAM
it really bothers me that ebay will do nothing about it.

that is the problem with ebay in general, they don't have the means or manpower to make things right, its just a big "Wild West" without the sherrif

 

[badluck]

was looking to buy some stuff on ebay but every seller I looked had some major negative complaints against them and they always had a reply to those complaints.

Why wouldn't a seller respond to negative comments written about them? eBay's system is so flawed that replying to negative feedback is the only way to dispute claims made by buyers. The buyer can completely lie about a transaction and leave the seller SOL.

In my case, I had bidders page through 10 pages of my positive feedbacks just to question 1 negative that I had, a year and a half ago. They totally looked over 300+ positives to ask about one negative.

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: badluck

was looking to buy some stuff on ebay but every seller I looked had some major negative complaints against them and they always had a reply to those complaints.

Why wouldn't a seller respond to negative comments written about them? eBay's system is so flawed that replying to negative feedback is the only way to dispute claims made by buyers. The buyer can completely lie about a transaction and leave the seller SOL.

In my case, I had bidders page through 10 pages of my positive feedbacks just to question 1 negative that I had, a year and a half ago. They totally looked over 300+ positives to ask about one negative.

Another thing is the entire concept of rating "feedback" on a sheer transaction basis.

Someone is rated "higher" than me because they sold 1000 trinkets at $4 each. However someone who's sold 50 servers at $9,000 each isnt given the same "respect". I seriously think transaction value should impact feedback as you're going to see more validity to someone consistently moving high value items and getting positive responses rather than someone moving mostly low value stuff and moving up to the bigtime.

-PAB

 

[Pardus]

I bought a video card on ebay and it had a nice crack in the pcb board, how do you crack a video card is beyond me. Good thing the card was only $70, still it was money lost.

Complaining to ebay is pointless, they dont do anything about it. The person i bought from had almost 200 postivie feedbacks too, a lot of feedbacks doesnt mean anything.

Most people dont take anything back, its a big gamble.

If you plan to buy something there, think of it as the casino, you go to the table knowing you will loose your bet, if you win, thats great, but dont expect it.

In the longrun, the few dollars you save isnt worth it. Buy from anandtech or newegg.

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: ActiveX
I bought a video card on ebay and it had a nice crack in the pcb board, how do you crack a video card is beyond me. Good thing the card was only $70, still it was money lost.

Complaining to ebay is pointless, they dont do anything about it. The person i bought from had almost 200 postivie feedbacks too, a lot of feedbacks doesnt mean anything.

Most people dont take anything back, its a big gamble.

If you plan to buy something there, think of it as the casino, you go to the table knowing you will loose your bet, if you win, thats great, but dont expect it.

In the longrun, the few dollars you save isnt worth it. Buy from anandtech or newegg.

Last time I checked, AT dosent sell anything.

And thats why I only deal new equipment. The MFR screws up, they handle it.

-PAB

 

[GoingUp]

The worst are those people who order multiple systems from dell and try to resell them, you have to watch out for those kinds of characters

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs
The worst are those people who order multiple systems from dell and try to resell them, you have to watch out for those kinds of characters

Some of them even order entire pallets of stuff at a time, and complain about Dell not fufilling a 900 piece memory order. The height if lunacy I tell you!

 

[Pardus]

Last time I checked, AT dosent sell anything.

PsychoAndy, AT has a buy and sell forum, go look if you dont know..geez.

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: ActiveX

Last time I checked, AT dosent sell anything.

PsychoAndy, AT has a buy and sell forum, go look if you dont know..geez.

I'm being technical and saying that AT does not buy and sell anything. AT users do that.

I am ferengi. Hear me roar.

-PAB

 

[vegetation]

Yep, few years back this really bothered me since I sold only 3 figure and above stuff, my feedback rating was only trickling in since quantity was low. I used to get people at the post office asking me what my rating was, they would laugh when I said it was under 100. I told them, "Well, I only deal with high dollar stuff", but they just brushed it off. Anyways, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. I eventually went into selling $5 items that only brought me about 25 cents profit a piece but it boosted my rating by several thousand.

Someone is rated "higher" than me because they sold 1000 trinkets at $4 each. However someone who's sold 50 servers at $9,000 each isnt given the same "respect". I seriously think transaction value should impact feedback as you're going to see more validity to someone consistently moving high value items and getting positive responses rather than someone moving mostly low value stuff and moving up to the bigtime.

-PAB

 

[Staples]

I have bought several expensive (over $500) on Ebay and everyone happened to have been from a power seller. I know there is very little likelyhood that I will get stiffed by a power seller.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Staples
I have bought several expensive (over $500) on Ebay and everyone happened to have been from a power seller. I know there is very little likelyhood that I will get stiffed by a power seller.

And why do you think that? Do you even know what a "power seller" is?

 

[SerraYX]

Originally posted by: badluck

was looking to buy some stuff on ebay but every seller I looked had some major negative complaints against them and they always had a reply to those complaints.

Why wouldn't a seller respond to negative comments written about them? eBay's system is so flawed that replying to negative feedback is the only way to dispute claims made by buyers. The buyer can completely lie about a transaction and leave the seller SOL.

In my case, I had bidders page through 10 pages of my positive feedbacks just to question 1 negative that I had, a year and a half ago. They totally looked over 300+ positives to ask about one negative.

But it is a problem when someone has those 300 positive feedbacks over a month or two. That one negative could be "wasn't contacted, seller had several deals and ignored me" and I'll pass on that item. Sellers like this don't even contact or reply to the buyer, and sometimes forget to leave feedback, which really irks me.

 

[badluck]

ActiveX, it is your responsible to ask the seller if they will return DOA merchandise. If you assumed they would take it back, that is your fault. They could have sold it to you and known that it was defective, but many sellers who have been on eBay for years would rather fix a situation rather than get neg feedback.

That goes for everything on eBay. You cannot assume anything.

 

[Pardus]

badluck, your right. i'm done with fleabay.

 

[KevinH]

I agree with PAB here. For the past few months, I've been buying and selling some big ticket items on Ebay and only have 21 feedbacks and my "reputation" is basically a newb. The same goes for the FS/FT forum here. Wish there was anohter way but for what it's worth, it works for the most part.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: KevinH
I agree with PAB here. For the past few months, I've been buying and selling some big ticket items on Ebay and only have 21 feedbacks and my "reputation" is basically a newb. The same goes for the FS/FT forum here. Wish there was anohter way but for what it's worth, it works for the most part.

Not for people like me who actually READ heatware / ebay evals. Higher $ = better.

 

[tantos]

What's worst is that damn "private" option to hide all evaluations on ebay now. I mean it's bad enough when we do get to read complaints but now they allow people to hide their ratings.

 

[Bleep]

Anandtech is a seller. He sells subscriptions to a message board. Get technical.

Bleep

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: Bleep
Anandtech is a seller. He sells subscriptions to a message board. Get technical.

Bleep

hehe. owned.