I recently bought some modeling related stuff on Ebay and have to admit that I’m pretty pissed off at some of the sellers. For example, I won the auction for this used, 20 years old thin book that sells for 2 bucks, then the seller charges for 6 bucks shipping via UPS, when media mail cost less than 2 bucks! I’m sorry, but I not in that big of a hurry to read the book![:(!]
Yeah…tell me something I don’t know.
Our local bank here on Oz, which shall remain nameless (well, the initials are Commonwealth Bank) are full of stupid people, too.
I once closed down the account of a credit card, at the bank and in person, and paid cash. There were, apparently, a couple of account keeping fees or interest or something - the oustanding amount came to 4 cents - yes, $0.04 of a dollar.
They sent me 6 or 7 letters trying to get the 4 cents back - and the stamps on each letter were 35 cents each!!! Did anyone think to cut their losses and forget about the 4 cents? No, they spent 2 and a half bucks trying to get back 4 cents. Money well spent, I say. And, no, I never did pay back the 4 cents.
Cheers,
LeeTree
Ive been told that some companys try to turn a profit on over charging for shipping.
I just got two kits from squadron and the shipping was only six bucks and that includes insurance.
I shipped a kit to illinois and that only cost me $3.50 via UPS.
Life is a rip off.
I never buy unless I know what the S/H is going to be. If they don’t list it up front use the ask the seller option. Most that don’t show S/H cost in the auction will try to pad S/H if you win with a low bid. If you use the ask the seller option, save the reply until your prize arrives. I wonder if sellers know how many pass over their auction because they don’t declare S/H up front.[:)]
One of the worst s&h scams on Ebay is when sellers try to charge $5 or more to mail a couple of decal sheets. Another rip off is when sellers try to charge extra money for Paypal. This extra charge is never mentioned up front, only when you win the auction and get notification from the seller. I have a list of ripoff artists and do not bid again on their auctions no matter how much I may want an item.
Hou - I see that you bought a publication of some kind. Next time, before you bid, check out Barnes & Noble, www.bn.com , online for “used and out of print”. I have been buying a few things from them lately such as Schiffer books and Profile Publications. Their shipping charges are fairly minimal, and often for free, if you purchase two or more qualifying items.
And while we’re talking about Ebay,
check the mail order hobby shops such as Great Models. www.greatmodels.com . I have found a lot of their prices much cheaper than the same thing on Ebay.
If one doesn’t already exist, I think we should create a thread (what is a “sticky” thread?) where we all submit our suggestions for online hobby shops.
We sold some shirts to a guy in Australia who was visiting. He sent his personal check for $113 US. When we went to cash or deposit the check Our bank told us that they would charge us $80 to process the check, then to add insult to injury they said that the Australian Bank might charge the same leaving us $47 in the hole… no doubt if I was a drug dealer her in Florida they would have processed it with no problem. To this day I’m still trying to get in touch with the guy to see if he can get me a credit card. We stopped doing business overseas as a result of this.
As for e-bay stuff I’v heard too many bad stories and been burned enough to come to the realization that there are other ways to get what I want. Or pay a little extra for the piece of mind.
Mike
I’ll consider myself lucky to have not run across any of the eBay “scammers”. The only bad experience occurred when a laconic seller (he answered my queries with single syllable words) gave me the wrong address!! Fortunately the address didn’t exist so the USPS eventually got my money order back to me.
Generally, I’ve bought stuff from fine folks on eBay.
i’ve had nothing but great luck with ebay…but i too wont buy if the seller doesnt specifiy shipping costs up front…frequently, by the time you factor in shipping, you can get a kit for the same price from your local shop and you dont have to wait for it to arrive
Ok, this made me laugh LOUD. How hilarious.
Yeah, very subtle… LOL
hou -
The above post are pretty much spot on.
eBay is basically a blind auction, you are pretty much taking the seller at his/her word. Most folks there are pretty decent, and try to do the right thing, unfortunatelely some don’t. I’ve been pretty lucky, for the most part.
I only use eBay for OOP items, and if I think the “Shipping” is out of line, or missing, I write the seller and ask, It then depends on how badly I want the item.
So, unless some one does something really dishonest, the burdon of decision is on the buyer.
Archer out.
I’ve bought a few models on ebay, and the last one I bought oooooohhhhhhh… what a mess, the guy was flat out lying about recieving our payment. Well to make a long story short, from the time we bought from him until ebay kicked him off LOL he had like 2 pos 17 neg. but I got my model and we didn’t end up getting neg feedback. so alls well that ends well (it was Matchbox 1/76 LRDG willys jeep and chev 30 cwt) check out the armor forum for pics