Is ebay OK? What's your experience?

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Reilley

Reilley

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I'm looking at the ebay thing and wonder if any of you here have bought gear through ebay; and what kind of luck you're had, and what complications and problems, if any.
Thanks for any feedback.

R
 
I have bought and sold dozens of things on EBay. Never a problem.

Ed
 
Same here. 16 channel mixer, synth expansion card, JoeMeek preamp, a set of 5Z3 tubes, a bunch of mics, drum machine, etc...

I did have some problems with a couple of the mics, but they were sold as-is, untested. I have never bought from anyone with less than 10 transactions or more than 2 negative feedbacks.

A friend of mine did have some bad luck with a stringed instrument purchase from an overseas seller (who had 0 feedback) ...lesson learned.

With a little caution and common sense, I wouldn't worry too much.
 
I bought almost every piece of gear of ebay. If you are patient and find auctions at odd times you can get things for cheap. I saved some money doing this.
 
agreed. I think almost everyone here has used ebay to buy and sell. Hell... we are all probably buying and selling and bidding against each other on a daily basis and dont even know it. Handy ebay tip.... look at the sellers feedback. Next to the sellers name is a number. In some cases it is a negative.... avoid him. But click on the number and it gives a list of all the dudes this seller has done business with. See what they have to say. if its all positive then bid and sleep well. If there is negative.... decide if its a legitimate gripe, or a pissed off kid.
I also like to look up completed auctions on any given piece of gear I consider. It gives me an idea of the "going rate" and where abouts to limit my bid at.
Also, dont be shy about popping in here and asking everyone what they think. But beware! some of us may think well enough that we bid too!
 
I've bought only two items on ebay, a synth and a Delta 1010. Both arrived in perfect condition and working order and both were real bargains. You will get negative experiences from bbs'ers here also. Just remember that you can email the seller with specific questions, be as informed about the item as possible and do some research to determine if it really is a bargain.

rpe
 
I am waiting for a POD that's in transit, the bidding was OK, although it seems some people will pay $10 less than new for an item they're buying sight unseen & sound unheard.
The biggest pain in the ass about the whole thing was the freakin' PayPal. Never, ever had a problem with my credit card before. I would strongly suggest setting up a PayPal account in advance (costs nothing to set up) so you don't piss off the seller who's gonna have to twiddle his thumbs while he waits for your account to be "verified". IF he waits.
 
Does PayPal work with a debit card? Or can you deposit a certain amount with PayPal/ebay?
 
You can pay by credit card OR checking account through paypal. It's a nicely simplified process.

For what it's worth, I've only bought scuba gear using paypal over ebay and I've had no problem at all!

Check out paypal.com for the 411.

Good luck!
 
The Wood Man said:
I am waiting for a POD that's in transit, the bidding was OK, although it seems some people will pay $10 less than new for an item they're buying sight unseen & sound unheard.
Click to expand...

Thats what sometimes makes eBay profitable ! When I sell things like that its usually people living in the middle of no fucking where.
 
Reilley said:
Does PayPal work with a debit card? Or can you deposit a certain amount with PayPal/ebay?
Click to expand...

I use PayPal with my checking account. The only drawback is that the transfer from your bank account to your PayPal account takes 4 days. So, if you write a PayPal "e-check", it takes 4 days for the seller to get the money and usually people won't ship it until the e-check clears. So, to get around that I usually keep about $100 in my PayPal account - that way I can pay for something instantly.
 
Ahh. thanks... I'll have to do that... put some $$$ in the account beforehand.... once I get an account.

Any Canadian ebay users here??
 
I buy and sell tons of stuff on ebay...no problems yet.

usuallly ebay prices are dictated by the unique ebay "market"...depending on the demand for whatever it is you're looking for. Watch the prices for a week or two so you know about what you should pay for one in decent shape.
 
i'd consider selling there for sure but i'm to cheap to buy there :D pawnshop, flea mart, equip :) heh...
 
I've bought and sold quite a few things via Ebay, never any problems.
 
if buying from the US to ship to Canada, be careful about going through UPS. They levy a $40 brokerage fee. Plus, you will have to pay GST and PST on the item when it comes to your door. EVEN IF IT IS SHIPPED AS A GIFT (a gift is only duty-free up to $70 CDN, anything over that gets charged at the same rate).

Search for "homerecording.ca" in the "search" function, it is a thread in the cave I started for Canucks to talk about shipping/online purchases. Basically, if the EBay price is less than a 25% savings over what it would cost locally, after all the charges for shipping/GST etc come down the pipe, it will be the same price as it is across the street. Seriously.

Some shippers will declare a lower value than it is really worth, and this is great to help save money on GST etc, because you are charged on the declared value, BUT, if the product is damaged in transit, the insurance will only cover the declared value. Capiche?

In other words, you might be tempted to order a $800 US mixer from somewhere south of the border, because it costs $1400 CDN locally, but after the exchange that comes to $1095 CDN, and duty charges of minimum $40 for UPS, GST and PST (in BC = 14.5%) your total is now $1293 CDN, plus something like $25US for shipping, now the deal is $1327 CDN. You have saved a whopping $73!!!!!!!

AND, then if something goes wrong, you will have to pay a boatload of shipping back to where you bought it from.

So, some people will then be tempted to say "Hey, let's just declare it to be worth only $300US so that all that GST and stuff doesn't kill me."

So Here it comes, and UPS drops it, and it breaks, and you say, "Hey you broke my $800US mixer, pay up" , and they will say "Okeedokee, here is your declared value of $300".

All I can say (after saying alot, I have bought numerous things from the US via Ebay), it has to be a really really good deal to be a good deal in the end. Don't get suckered into it. ANd first and foremost, check Ebay.ca first, and see if the product is for sale somewhere in Canada .
 
Also,

when dealing on Ebay, stay within the Ebay system. There are scammers out there who will contact you with an outside offer, then direct you to their phony paypal site, and voila! you just got ripped off.

Never pay money order. Always use paypal & credit cards because it adds layers of protection against fraud.

Not adviseable to deal overseas, since you might have a hard time bringing action if trouble occurs.

I even go so far as to only bid on locals, that way if some shit goes wrong I can track them down and knock them the fuck out!
 
Thanks for the advice.

Yes, I know that UPS is the carrier NOT to use, and they burned me so bad on brokerage fees to cross the border, I would not use them for ANYTHING, EVER. However, they make a fortune....
 
..and as for buying into Canada, the biggest problem is that most sellers say that they will only ship to USA, which is a drag.

Maybe if you speak nicely to them...
 
let me guess, it's that $$$ thingy again :( damn big biz sucks today...

wait till they start taxing web purchaces, man, don't get me started ;)
 
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