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Anyone else an ebayer?

carjakester

carjakester

macrumors 68020
Original poster
i sell and buy a lot of stuff on ebay, just sold a bunch of stuff laying around that i don't use (old computer, camera, headphones, video games etc.) and ended up making a hefty 700 dollars. Now I'm seriously considering buying an iPad mini for reading at home. my iPad 4 is too heavy, maybe even a kindle.
 
I use eBay occasionally. Ive had my account since early 2003 but I only have a few hundred feedback. Most of my sales and bids are coin related.
 
I'm still a minor, but I do have access to my parents account and have sold about 3 dozen items to date (with permission and supervision, of course). I've also become a fan of dealing on forums such as this one- I've probably done another 3 dozen transactions across 3 forums, and have gotten some really, really good deals (seriously, saved hundreds of dollars over retail, which is great when you only have a part time job). I have gotten some good deals on eBay, but less often... So I guess eBay is good if you are looking for the wider user base and getting seen easier, but here you deal with less fines, better deals, and a higher risk of scammers. Both have been good, and I've only gotten burned a couple times, but I definitely learned my lessons there...

Oh, and I suggest go for a Kindle (one of my better eBay finds, bought the Kindle touch for $28, listed as parts and not working, the system was frozen, and I was planning on fixing it, when I got it everything worked perfectly. Was not a blacklisted unit either 😕. Still, when it retailed at $99 at the time, saving $70 was awesome.). Anyways, for reading without straining your eyes much a kindle just absolutely kicks an iPad to the curb. However, you can't watch movies on a kindle 😀
 
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Ive used ebay from time to time but I mostly avoid selling there now, since the they seemed to really give the power to the buyer, and the fee structure is higher then I'd prefer.

I'm not saying anyone can't make money, because obviously they do, its just that I can do better else where. I can either sell it on craigslist or if I don't want the hassles send my iDevices on gazelle. At this point the only thing I sell are those iDevices.
 
My best deal was my ipad 4 32gb with 4g. It was listed as a 3rd generation ipad and had buy it now for 650, it also had make offer. I made an offer for 200 as a joke and he accepted it, i bought it and when it came in the mail i realized i just got a 750 dollar ipad for 200 dollars brand new.
 
Small-time buyer and seller- I still regularly use it for parts and pieces impossible to source locally. But I still tend to dislike it to sell high-priced items because of rampant scam attempts, and especially very high seller fees, even when it doesn't sell. Oh, and I pretty much hate their shipping calculator, which never seems to match what the postal service estimates, and for mysterious reasons can't calculate shipping to certain countries. Plus bad English quality from sellers, they never seem to understand what I mean.
 
ucfgrad93 said:
I have only bought things on ebay, never sold anything. I sell locally on Craigslist.
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same for me, strictly a buyer on ebay, local websites when i have something to sell

mainly because i don't want to get involved with the whole shipping hoopla
 
On and off...I use it more for selling than buying. I just sold an old iMac on there, a head unit for a Scion tC, and right now I've got some tube amps for auction that end in a few days 😎
 
carjakester said:
My best deal was my ipad 4 32gb with 4g. It was listed as a 3rd generation ipad and had buy it now for 650, it also had make offer. I made an offer for 200 as a joke and he accepted it, i bought it and when it came in the mail i realized i just got a 750 dollar ipad for 200 dollars brand new.
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Sounds like you got a deal that was too good to not be a stolen iPad. 😉

I use eBay all the time, only as a buyer. I've never had any issues.
 
carjakester said:
I have no problem with that
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The general rule of ebay - the only way to get a good deal is to
1. Wait for the right listing, which takes a long time
2. Troll the newly listed items for good buy it now deals, auctions are generally much harder to find a really good deal.
3. Wait for someone clueless about their item to post way under list value or accept a lowball offer.

So if the seller knows anything about their item, or has been on eBay for a while they are highly unlikely to give you a good deal.
 
Astroboy907 said:
The general rule of ebay - the only way to get a good deal is to
1. Wait for the right listing, which takes a long time
2. Troll the newly listed items for good buy it now deals, auctions are generally much harder to find a really good deal.
3. Wait for someone clueless about their item to post way under list value or accept a lowball offer.

So if the seller knows anything about their item, or has been on eBay for a while they are highly unlikely to give you a good deal.
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if i want to buy something i usually look at it for 2-3 weeks until i find the right one and snag a deal, the best deals are poorly or wrongfully described items (such as my iPad), people can list in the wrong sections and once in awhile nobody is able to dig it up, until i do. 😎
 
carjakester said:
if i want to buy something i usually look at it for 2-3 weeks until i find the right one and snag a deal, the best deals are poorly or wrongfully described items (such as my iPad), people can list in the wrong sections and once in awhile nobody is able to dig it up, until i do. 😎
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These people work well for sellers too. I once sold a pre-unibody macbook pro, listed as an auction and buy it now. The auction ended below reserve, so I relisted it, and the high bidder bought the computer for the buy it now price, probably $150 more than the reserve 😕. He left feedback saying how the computer "was a little expensive".... Ok... 😕 could've just put a bid at the buy it now price and waited a couple days for the auction to end...
 
Astroboy907 said:
These people work well for sellers too. I once sold a pre-unibody macbook pro, listed as an auction and buy it now. The auction ended below reserve, so I relisted it, and the high bidder bought the computer for the buy it now price, probably $150 more than the reserve 😕. He left feedback saying how the computer "was a little expensive".... Ok... 😕 could've just put a bid at the buy it now price and waited a couple days for the auction to end...
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some people are so dumb, i just sold my sisters tiffianys necklace, and after the buyer already paid for it and i shipped the item, they then asked if it was real.😕
 
Long time seller and buyer since 2000. Have not been a big seller for a few years now. Fees to high and Canadian dollar to high. Still do sell though. Mostly use it to direct traffic to my own site indirectly.

Do buy the occasional good deal when I find it. Those are getting harder to find though. Just have to know where and how to search. I am actually surprised that Ebay is still in an upward spiral on earnings. I would have thought it would have leveled out by now or even started to decline.

I guess people still get caught up in the belief they are getting it cheaper by bidding, bidding, bidding. I still get awed at what people will pay for some things.
 
I used to be very active, now occasionally.

Number one rule for buying: Never bid early, never incite interest in an item. Work with at least two browser pages open on the same auction in case one stalls on you. Wait for the last minute, but before hand decide 1) I really want this or 2) If there are many auctions for the item and you want lowest price, willing to make multiple stabs at it.

For choice 1- in a single bid, but the highest your willing to pay, with 45 seconds left. If someone tries to notch it up a dollar at a time, you'll win it. If they put in their max bid, then the one willing to pay the most wins.

For choice 2 start a couple of minutes early and do smaller bids, hoping for a deal, but realizing you might run out of time. Make your last bid the big one if you really want it.
 
Huntn said:
I used to be very active, now occasionally.

Number one rule for buying: Never bid early, never incite interest in an item. Work with at least two browser pages open on the same auction in case one stalls on you. Wait for the last minute, but before hand decide 1) I really want this or 2) If there are many auctions for the item and you want lowest price, willing to make multiple stabs at it.

For choice 1- in a single bid, but the highest your willing to pay, with 45 seconds left. If someone tries to notch it up a dollar at a time, you'll win it. If they put in their max bid, then the one willing to pay the most wins.

For choice 2 start a couple of minutes early and do smaller bids, hoping for a deal, but realizing you might run out of time. Make your last bid the big one if you really want it.
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another thing i have won many bids with is adding a few cents on to your bids, most people will bid lets say 100 but if you bid 100.01 or 100.02, you will win the auction from a penny or two versus a person who does a plain 100.
 
carjakester said:
another thing i have won many bids with is adding a few cents on to your bids, most people will bid lets say 100 but if you bid 100.01 or 100.02, you will win the auction from a penny or two versus a person who does a plain 100.
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I had no idea you could increase your bid on ebay by one cent. Maybe this is something relatively new?
 
Huntn said:
I had no idea you could increase your bid on ebay by one cent. Maybe this is something relatively new?
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You aren't increasing the bid by one cent, you increase your maximum bid. You can make your maximum bid anything you want it to.
 
I've dabbled with eBay for several years. I've just started a small eBay "business". I have a line on a high quality product I can get at a deep discount, and I have been "flipping" them on eBay. So far so good! I just make sure not to deal with any international buyers, and I do what I can to only sell to people who have established feedback. If they don't have established feedback or I'm suspicious about them, I wait until the funds clear into my account before shipping anything.
 
Long time eBayer here. Usually if I'm on the look out for something, I'll check eBay first, then Amazon. If neither work out, then the hunt begins.

But, as far as eBay goes, I will generally get low dollar items like screen protectors, cases, or other random "trinkets". I've never bought anything big off eBay since I'm a little hesitant to buy high dollar items off eBay. Anything big dollar is generally bought in store.
 
sdilley14 said:
I've dabbled with eBay for several years. I've just started a small eBay "business". I have a line on a high quality product I can get at a deep discount, and I have been "flipping" them on eBay. So far so good! I just make sure not to deal with any international buyers, and I do what I can to only sell to people who have established feedback. If they don't have established feedback or I'm suspicious about them, I wait until the funds clear into my account before shipping anything.
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Cutting international buyers from high-ticket items make sense, not so much on rare or low-price items. Sometimes the domestic market isn't enough.

Usually when selling, I keep a very close eye on the bidders, and arbitrarily cancel bids from people with very few feedback, an history of bidding on very low-price items, or from countries I don't trust. This is entirely done "on feeling", but since eBay provides no protection for sellers, I think I don't have a choice to always be present.
 
I got into selling things on eBay back in 2008 when the Wii was a hot item that people were paying far above retail for it on there. I used to get up in the morning and go to the department stores purchasing them for retail and reselling them on eBay. I also used to sell my used video games there because I got tired of getting low trade in values from EB Games. Made a pretty decent amount of money from selling that stuff to supplement my income from work.

I got into selling iPhones on there back in 2010 when the iPhone 4 came out. I still had an iPhone 3G that I was satisfied with until I saw Apple debut the thing. I had to have it so I started buying used phones on Craigslist at low prices and reselling them on eBay for huge profits. It was so easy that I continued doing it even after I made enough money to buy my iPhone 4 outright.

Fast forward to today and I have 3 eBay accounts and combined feedback of over 3500. I don't sell on there as much as I used to a few years ago because they have constantly increased fees and become more and more anti-seller. These days I split my sales between eBay/Amazon/Craigslist rather than relying on eBay alone like I used to. I wish there was alternative to eBay to give them competition but none of those competitor sites have even of fraction of eBay's traffic. I've definitely lost money and learned some hard lessons on eBay but I've also made quite a bit. I've seen and dealt with my fair share of scammers over the years. Money can still be made there, but the frustration can be too much for some.
 
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