For some, maybe.

Post #207,697 by Nightowl 5/16/05 4:34:10 PM Reply	For some, maybe. For us, we'd rather be more careful. I'm not knocking e-bay, I just don't use it. I'll hunt up whatever I want till I locate it on a reputable site. :) Brenda "The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr
Post #207,698 by pwhysall 5/16/05 4:35:25 PM Reply	splutter What's a "reputable site", if not eBay? Or is this the invisible Hand of John, again? Peter [link\|http://www.ubuntulinux.org\|Ubuntu Linux] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Home] Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
Post #207,709 by Nightowl 5/16/05 4:59:18 PM Reply	It's not all about John If my brother hadn't been ripped off, I would probably have a different view on it. Brenda "The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr
Post #207,700 by Steve Lowe 5/16/05 4:40:23 PM 5/16/05 4:40:50 PM Reply	You infer that ebay isn't a reputable site. When it is, in fact, one of the more reputable sites on the internet. If you buy something that isn't as advertised, there's a buyer protection program. If you sell something, you get payment before you ship it. There really is little risk beyond understanding what you're doing and what the rules are. As to privacy policy, ebay is a leader there. -- Steve Edited by Steve Lowe May 16, 2005, 04:40:50 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #207,703 by bepatient 5/16/05 4:47:57 PM Reply	I've never had an issue. Even on some things that I had reservations about buying. That said, there are some things I would likely never buy on ebay, like guitars for example. I want to touch it/play it before I buy it. Can't do that on ebay (yet). PC parts (buy/sell), auto parts (buy for friends hopping up Acuras)...been using it for 4+ years on a regular basis. I bought my entire home theater system on a combination of ubid/ebay and haven't had any issues with it. In fact, the ONKYO amp was bought on ebay...the supplier was Crazy Eddy's in NY. If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. _{Fudd's First Law of Opposition} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #207,706 by Steve Lowe 5/16/05 4:54:14 PM Reply	My brother recently bought a bass guitar. My brother recently bought a bass guitar on ebay, but the seller had a 10 day trial period specified on the auction. My brother had played several of the same model so pretty much knew what he wanted. He's still got it :) But yeah..that's one reason I've never bought a Carvin guitar. Always want to play them first. I was in San Diego recently and went to the Carvin factory store. I decided that I don't care for their 'rapid play' neck, I prefer something more akin to a Louisville Slugger. -- Steve
Post #207,732 by jb4 5/16/05 6:27:54 PM 5/16/05 6:28:07 PM Reply	Must be nice to have big hands... Louisville slugger, eh? Indeed... jb4 shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub* + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf.* BULLSHIT Edited by jb4 May 16, 2005, 06:28:07 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #207,708 by Nightowl 5/16/05 4:58:11 PM Reply	Re: You infer that ebay isn't a reputable site. I didn't mean to infer IT wasn't, I meant the people aren't always. If there were all these protections, why did my brother get ripped off? I consider a reputable site to be something like Sears, Panasonic, or Barnes and Noble, established, known, and reachable if anything goes wrong. I'm sure you can reach the people who run e-bay, but you can't always reach the ones that rip you off. Brenda "The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr
Post #207,734 by jb4 5/16/05 6:35:41 PM 5/16/05 6:36:09 PM Reply	I don't know why your brother got "ripped off" Did he use payPal to pay for it? Or a credit card? If so, then there just isn't any way he could have gotten ripped off, unless: 1) He didn't follow the all-to-easy-to-follow procedure for disputing a sale 2) It was a hundred years ago, before they had all the safeguards in the currently do 3) He really didn't get ripped off, or there was some sort of trivial misunderstanding that, by the time the story was told to you, became him getting ripped off. As to number 2); hey, things change. 5 years ago, I'd have never used my cable company to access the internet. BBut today, here I am, sending even more of my green stamps to Comcast (grimble...). You might want to reconsider your stance here, Brenda. Look at all the IWETHEY'ers who are saying that it works. I jumped in before I heard these endorsements; and even if I haden't, just seeing this thread, with the feedback from people whose opinion I have come to trust over the last decade (yes, that even includes you, Beep!) would be all I'd need to give it a try! jb4 shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub* + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf.* BULLSHIT Edited by jb4 May 16, 2005, 06:36:09 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #207,760 by Nightowl 5/16/05 11:59:04 PM 5/17/05 12:01:13 AM Reply	Re: I don't know why your brother got "ripped off" Did he use payPal to pay for it? Or a credit card? If so, then there just isn't any way he could have gotten ripped off, unless: How about he just sent the check to the guy and the guy didn't send the merchandise? That is what happened. And the guy cashed the check before my brother got a clue things were gone bad. Then he disappeared off E-bay. I mean if the rule is not to ship till you get the money, how do they keep people from taking the money and running and not sending anything? Edit: he contacted the guy several times before he "disappeared" and was assured the merchandise was sent. But it never was. ...You might want to reconsider your stance here, Brenda. Look at all the IWETHEY'ers who are saying that it works. ...! The difference though, is whether or not I have a need to use it, and I don't. I find most everything I want online in other manners, and don't have to "bid" against anyone else for them. It's kinda like cable TV I guess. It would be nice to have it, I could watch more hockey, but I live fine without it. I'm not saying it doesn't work, either. I'm saying it's not totally foolproof, is all. I don't know when it happened, maybe a year or so back, but my brother lost hundreds of dollars when it did. Brenda "The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr Edited by Nightowl May 17, 2005, 12:01:13 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #207,778 by admin 5/17/05 6:40:03 AM Reply	Your brother did it to himself, then. The way they keep people from not sending anything is by using a credit card or PayPal, both of which will give you your money back if the seller never sends the goods. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #207,876 by n3jja 5/17/05 7:03:47 PM Reply	I use Postal Money Orders. Then if something goes wrong, it's Mail Fraud. Your brother was dumb enough to send a personal check, I assume?
Post #207,879 by Another Scott 5/17/05 7:08:15 PM Reply	That's what I did before I finally got a PayPal account.
Post #207,881 by n3jja 5/17/05 7:11:58 PM Reply	Had that once. Got rid of it. I don't buy or sell often enough on Ebay to warrant having it.
Post #207,882 by Another Scott 5/17/05 7:21:50 PM Reply	Seems pretty painless, mostly. I've only used it to pay for things. I've never sold anything on eBay, though I've been tempted to look into it.... I did get awfully annoyed with them when they insisted that I "Get Verified" and give them a checking account number. Since the payment then defaults to using the checking account (thereby saving them the 3% or whatever the CC company charges), they save money, but the purchaser no longer gets the 'insurance' provided by the card. As long as I'm not in a hurry, I can flip it back to the CC and foil their Evil Plan. But it's annoying. Electronic money transfer by purchasers is a good thing (I remember spending about $50 to Western Union $200 a few years ago). I just wish it were a little more transparent than PayPal. Cheers, Scott.
Post #207,963 by jb4 5/18/05 11:42:52 AM Reply	The purchaser gets "insurance"... ...through PayPal itself if you use the direct-from-checking-account payment method. I still like to use the credit card, though.... jb4 shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub* + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf.* BULLSHIT
Post #208,103 by scoenye 5/19/05 4:48:18 PM Reply	They charged me to set up that "free" account Needless to say, that account didn't last long...
Post #207,726 by CRConrad 5/16/05 6:13:53 PM Reply	Naah, she implies it. She wants you to infer it. HTH!
Post #207,716 by ben_tilly 5/16/05 5:33:00 PM Reply	Plan to use it for 10 items, then get back to me Their reported fraud rate is 1/10,000. There is reason to believe that this figure is somewhat low. Other shopping channels have a shrinkage of about 1-2%. I personally doubt that eBay's is that high. (People are generally more willing to steal from big companies than other individuals...) Let's say that their actual fraud rate is 1%. Suppose that you get a 10% better deal from eBay than you do elsewhere. (Odds are that that's slightly pessimistic as well...) After 10 times you've probably not been defrauded, and if you have then you've almost certainly not been defrauded twice. (If a 1% fraud rate, the odds that it has happened once are about 10%, and twice are below 0.2%.) Even if you've been defrauded once, you're still even. If you haven't been defrauded, you're ahead. This is the same kind of numbers game that is used as the basis of insurance. But on eBay the numbers are favourable enough that it takes very little time to get to the point where it is worthwhile. This is before taking into account the things that eBay does to try to make buying through them a more pleasant experience. You can also choose to minimize your risk in various ways, for instance you can only buy from eBay sellers who've done a lot of selling. (Lots of people run businesses there, and so you get a lot of feedback on them.) If you don't want to use eBay, that is your choice. But not doing it because you're scared of being robbed is being penny wise and pound foolish. The risk really is worth it. Cheers, Ben PS Disclaimer. I work for eBay, though in a capacity that has nothing to do with their auction site. I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
Post #207,740 by bepatient 5/16/05 7:00:20 PM Reply	Latest example Need a minipci combo card for a Thinkpad laptop. I could buy it from a "reputable" dealer...such as IBM. Their price is $259 without taxes or shipping. I just purchased this (yet to arrive) from a gentleman on ebay for the landed cost of $14.99. If I get screwed on this deal. I can try it 16 more times before I'm up to the price I would pay from the "reputable" store. If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. _{Fudd's First Law of Opposition} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #207,744 by Another Scott 5/16/05 7:19:11 PM Reply	No real problems here either. I've bought computer stuff, inexpensive collectables, used cell phones, PDAs, posters, and some jewelry. Everything went pretty well. Some of the cell phones weren't exactly as described, but they were close enough (e.g. a label was missing). It wasn't worth the hassle to complain. The jewelry was something that didn't quite meet my overblown expectations. But it was one of those "if you think it's too good to be true, it probably is" things. The pearls are very nice, but not quite the *fabulous* things described in the listing. The vendor (who had thousands of positive responses going back several years) closed up shop before I even had a chance to leave feedback. But I don't think I was cheated. The vast majority of the things I've purchased on eBay have exceeded my expectations. Most people who sell stuff there really do want you to be happy. A friend in Ohio bought a car in California on eBay. It took several months for everything to be completed (he had to arrange transportation), but it went pretty well. He bought another in Georgia that went just about perfectly. Greg [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=125618\|bought ] one too. eBay's like any store in this respect: You need to investigate the purchase before you complete the transaction. If you don't feel comfortable about it, don't do it. But I've felt better buying stuff on eBay than the few times I've bought stuff at the local Wal-Mart. Cheers, Scott.
Post #207,761 by Nightowl 5/17/05 12:03:44 AM Reply	Hehehe ...But I've felt better buying stuff on eBay than the few times I've bought stuff at the local Wal-Mart. I don't shop at Walmart, either. ;) Brenda "The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr
Post #207,731 by jb4 5/16/05 6:25:59 PM Reply	A bit of history: Just got a refund from PayPal, due to a seller not bothering to send me the goods. Didn't cost me a dime, and the process was easier than getting back money from MasterCard. Yes there are disreputable sellers on eBay. Most of them don't hang around long, as the rest of the community self-polices (along with eBay and its faithful side-kick, PayPal) rather effectively -- actually sorta like this community. The site itself is as reputable as it gets on the wild-n-wooly internet. When Ben defends it, you gotta know there's something being done right.... And who's "we", Kemosabe?!? jb4 shrub\ufffdbish (Am., from shrub* + rubbish, after the derisive name for America's 43 president; 2003) n. 1. a form of nonsensical political doubletalk wherein the speaker attempts to defend the indefensible by lying, obfuscation, or otherwise misstating the facts; GIBBERISH. 2. any of a collection of utterances from America's putative 43rd president. cf.* BULLSHIT
Post #207,762 by Nightowl 5/17/05 12:08:54 AM Reply	Not that it matters But the we is me and John. But I didn't like e-bay or the concept of it long before John was a factor, because I've never cared for auction sites or places. Brenda "The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr

Welcome to IWETHEY!