More eBay Humor

OC Engineer JD Jan 16, 2009

  1. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    :LOL:
     
  2. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    I think I'll start an eBay listing with....

    "This NOT a rare GP-40! As a matter of fact there are thousands(!) of these out there, in more road names than you can count on your hands. :ROFLMAO: I'm going to start my bidding at $0.99 because the reason I'm selling is that I have too many of these. Good luck!"
     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    :ROFLMAO::D:ROFLMAO::D:ROFLMAO::D !!!
     
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  4. jtomstarr

    jtomstarr TrainBoard Member

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    All,
    If this is a FM-C -FAIRBANKS MORSE C Liner-
    Bachmann N Scale Vintage Santa Fe Diesel Locomotive #215 | eBay

    This was at the bottom of his ebay posting > Bachmann N Scale Vintage Santa Fe FM C Diesel Locomotive #215


    This item is in good pre-owned condition. Unit has been tested and is in running condition. Please see photos for more details and condition.

    Please ask any questions you may have about this item before you bid.

    Thanks for coming by! <

    Well then.. this must be a EMD F9A ! Please see my photo.

    Tom


    IMG_0474.jpg

     
  5. jtomstarr

    jtomstarr TrainBoard Member

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  6. Massey

    Massey TrainBoard Member

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    To anyone wondering the value of something then I have an easy solution for ya! Simply start the bidding at $.99 and wait to see what it sells for.

    Funny thing about this comes from personal experience. When selling my HO scale stuff I listed an engine for $120 Buy it now and it didn't sell. It was re-listed at BIN for $100 and still didn't sell. It was a Kato GP35 in NS paint, it was a hard to find model and should have sold. So I put it up for $.99 and no reserve. It ended up selling for $180 just 5 days later!! I think it was either the sticker shock of the BIN price or the thrill of the auction that got me a better price. Either way I won!
     
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  7. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Back when I used that venue, I tried the 99 cent opening bid theme a few times. (Model RR items, books, railroadiana.) I got burned on every one. :(
     
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  8. Massey

    Massey TrainBoard Member

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    I never said all my $.99 were successful. I think I lost more than I gained but oh well. After having to refund over 50% of a model due to a rivet counter not paying much attention to the photos I stopped selling trains there all together. A Lego sale nearly got me good too. A woman bought a Lego tram from me at a good price. I displayed the tram fully assembled but I shipped it taken apart. She put in a claim that the tram was broken. E-bay was siding with her and requesting me to refund her for the "broken" toy. I finally managed to get a phone call with the lady and she didn't realize that this was a building toy. Her grandson who the train was for was there with her and I asked her to give him the Legos. She did, and he knew exactly what it was! The kid was really happy and she apologized for the claim and canceled it.
     
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  9. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    Same here. I had one listing where I stated at least 4 times that the caboose I was listing had a missing coupler. I posted 4 photos showing it that way. The guy claimed it was recieved 'broken' and filed a claim demanding a refund. He also demanded I pay for return postage ! Ebay sided with him ! Ebay took the $$ out of my Paypal account. He ended up with the caboose. EBay lost a seller. Paypal may still have the $1.17 i left in the account when I quit selling there 15 years ago !!! :mad::mad::mad::mad:
     
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  10. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    That is not unusual, given what I have heard from numerous FeePay sellers. Despite that, my experience always has been the opposite. One thing that I always did when I sold something defective, regardless of how minor the defect, was that I always stated at least three times that the item was being sold "AS-IS". This was in addition to stating the defect(s) at least three times in the text of the auction. Finally, in the text of the auction, I invited the prospective bidders to examine the photographs that showed the defect.

    Despite that, I did get a few complaints. FeePay sided with me every time. I pointed out to the FeePay arbiter the three times (minimum) that I had stated both defect and that the sale was "AS-IS". I also pointed out the photograph(s) that sh0wed the defect. FeePay never made me issue a refund. In all but one case, FeePay even suppressed the negative feedback.

    It has gotten to the point, though, that now every sale is "AS-IS". This is due to several hustlers, remorseful buyers, various bad actors and assorted terrorists who complained that something did not run as did the four other copies of it that they supposedly had and how for ten dollars, they knew someone who could "fix" it. After a couple of those, I just put up everything "AS-IS". Even after that, a few of the hustlers and FeePay terrorists tried to hustle me, but, I pointed out the "AS-IS" and they were stuck.
     
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  11. Massey

    Massey TrainBoard Member

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    My worst case was selling a MacBook Pro. I took tons of pictures of it, wiped the HDD and listed it with the serial number both on the screen and a close up of the serial number on the bottom. I sold it for a fair price and a week later the guy said it was damaged in shipping. He put in a claim and when I requested photos of the damaged box and damaged computer none were to be had. He claimed he didn’t have a camera of any type. I said fine and requested the computer back in the original packaging. So a week later some oddball box shows up with a busted up Dell computer in it. eBay refunded him the same day it showed delivered back to me. I disputed the claim and refund and provided the pictures of the box, and a video of me opening the box so that they could tell I wasn’t trying what the buyer did... a switcheroo move. In the end I won the case, got a full refund of the returned money, got to throw away the Dell and the buyer got canned. Apparently this wasn’t his first attempt at doing this. Due to my diligence in photographing the Mac, and the video of me opening the box with the sellers return address to find a computer I never owned, they doubled checked his claims, his wins and oddly the items he has sold, which turned out to be items he had won, but claimed broken. Oddly none of those items were broken when he resold them.
     
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  12. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    Yup...

    Back in the day and being somewhat of a novice seller I learned quickly to always list stuff that may be defective in one way or the other that listing the defect alomg with pictures showing the defect was sufficient enough that 96% of the time...EBay would side with the seller. Then...as you stated unscrupulous buyers evolved and sellers evolved right with them. Thus listings "AS IS" became the NEW norm over just stating the obvious the defect(s) with pictures..and EBay was once again on the sellers side.

    Its a cutthroat world selling on EBay and I no longer had the stomach for it ...;):whistle:
    .
     
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  13. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I was looking at an auction website that has an interesting feature to eliminate sniping and increase earnings for Sellers.

    Rather than have an absolute drop-dead exact time when all bidding ends, they have a 15 Minute Rule where if someone places a bid 15 Minutes before scheduled expiration, bidding is extended for another 15 minutes and even longer if bids keep coming in. Bidding ends only when no bids have been received in the prior 15 Minutes. Sellers and Bidders all get a fair shake this way.

    I wonder why eBay doesn't do this?
     
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  14. PAPPY1

    PAPPY1 TrainBoard Member

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    What would be the name of this website? Thanks
     
  15. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I should have mentioned that it's not a site that auctions trains.
     
  16. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I want to believe this concept is easily adapted to use for trains. :)
     
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  17. PGE-N°2

    PGE-N°2 TrainBoard Member

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  18. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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  19. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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  20. Maletrain

    Maletrain TrainBoard Member

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    The down side of doing things that way is that unscrupulous sellers are tempted to use sham bidder accounts to keep upping the price against a lone legitimate bidder, trying to get his highest price. EBay's approach works more like a live auction, and does not get the maximum price that the highest bidder would have gone to - just one "bid increment" above what the second highest bidder will go to.

    I have used both systems as a buyer, and prefer eBay's. I decide what my maximum bid will be and place it very close to the end. Not exactly "snipng" but designed to avoid competition from people who want to "win" more than they really want the object in the listing.
     
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