buying from ebay?

I

ikijapan

New member
So there are a couple of auctions that are going on at ebay right now that I'm very interested in. But the person selling has 0 feedback, brand spankin new.

I've seen about 5 auctions before just like this, that I was VERY interested in, some various microphones being sold used at like 1/3 the new price, and avoided them thinking maybe it was fraud since that person had 0 feedback, and he sold like 7 things, some of them for several thousand dollars (used triton workstations, akg c12 etc etc) and then all those came back with positive feedback like 1 week later from guys with thousands of feedback...in other words, everything went smooth, and I lost out on some deals of a lifetime.

What do you all think about doing business on ebay with these 0 feedback people. This guy accpets paypal, I think that offers protection, but if I understand correctly it's only up to a certain amount, like $200. And I will be bidding for around $700-$800.
 
I'd be hesitant to buy anything that expensive from a zero feedback eBayer. It really does pay to be cautious, in my opinion. If you get screwed on even one transaction on eBay the money lost takes away any advantage from buying used.
 
Sonic's right, of course. I've been lucky so far; bought and sold items with people with "0" feedback with no problems. I look at it like 'my time is coming', one of these days. Have read alot of Horror stories on feedback forums; it's ALWAYS taking a chance. ;)
 
...another thing I look at if the dealer has low feedback:
multiple identical feedback given by one person in a very short time. This to me looks like nothing but artificial 'boosting' by someone he/she knows, and I avoid such dealers as well.

Best,
Cosmic.
 
Also check the amounts of the auction items. For example, there might be a bunch of good feedbacks for items that went for $1, but now all of a sudden there's an item for $1,200. Likewise, if they've sold a bunch of t-shirts and now are unloading a Manley Vari-Mu, that's a reason to be extra careful.
 
Cosmic said:
...another thing I look at if the dealer has low feedback:
multiple identical feedback given by one person in a very short time. This to me looks like nothing but artificial 'boosting' by someone he/she knows, and I avoid such dealers as well.

Best,
Cosmic.
Click to expand...

Yeah, definitely. The only reason I throw out the question is because I am seriously still licking my wounds from the guy who, signed up 1 day and put up like $10,000 worth of stuff for auction, and I hesitated because I didn't bid, even though I was interested in like half of the things he auctioned.

I even sent him an email and asked for a few pictures, just to ease my mind, and he replied "sorry, I'm too busy at the moment" which to me said 100% DONT BID ON THOSE ITEMS. Then turns out everything was legit, and I lost out on getting stuff less than 25% of original price.

Oh well, luckily the auction has gone too high for my tastes, it is at about 80% of new price...not worth the risk at all for me now, I'd rather buy new.
 
Also, beware of large scale sellers who have their accounts hijacked. For example, if they specialize in dollhouse supplies and have a few hundred auctions going, but like 5 for a Neve console, a couple of Distressors and the like, and the auction listing states something like "DO NOT BID-- email at [scammer@scumbag.com] for private auction details," that is also likely a fake.
 
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