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Re: [OM] on ebay

Subject: Re: [OM] on ebay
From: Garth Wood <garth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 01 May 2000 20:07:27 -0600
At 06:05 PM 4/28/00 -0600, Boris Grigorov wrote:
>HI, all.
>I need some buying method suggestions. About ready to 
>give up on ebay(heard a lot of praises about it lately from 
>some of the members)
>Let me know if I am out of my mind.
>My last two transactions were disasterous. 
>simonsays10@xxxxxxxxxxx sent me a lens(Zuiko) full of 
>fungus and a flash with a broken plate. Nothing that I could 
>do, because we negotiated the deal after the bidding was 
>closed. Now, another guy wants to refund my money for the 
>broken lens he send only if I pay for the shipping($13 both 
>ways).

[snip]

Boris:

Well, eBay's definitely a bit of a crapshoot, but overall I'm pleased with how 
I've done there (only two transactions that disappointed me, and as it turned 
out, another Listmember [Chuck Norcutt] ultimately benefited from my being 
hoodwinked on one of those transactions, so in the Grand Scheme of Things, I 
guess that's not too bad).

What I usually do now is, if I have the slightest doubt, I ask the seller to 
give me their real name and phone number via e-mail, and I ring 'em up.  
Usually costs a few bucks (since most of the calls I do are international, as 
the luck of the draw would have it), and then I just chat with 'em.  If, after 
a couple of minutes, my spidey-sense starts tingling, I politely thank them for 
their time, hang up, and don't place any bid.  (I also don't place a bid if 
they refuse to give me a "real-time" contact.)  Since I started doing this two 
years ago, I have yet to suffer a bad transaction on eBay [or photo.net, for 
that matter] -- and although my purchases were relatively modest, at least one 
was in the $2,200.00 U.S. range.

I wouldn't give up on eBay, but I *would* draw up a standard list of questions 
based on your [bad] experiences that you should e-mail every seller *before* 
placing a bid, and if the answers aren't to your satisfaction FOR ANY REASON 
WHATSOEVER, don't bid.

Good luck!

Garth


"No, this is the Great Theatre of Life.  Admission is free, but the taxation is 
mortal.  You come when you can, and leave when you must.  The show is 
continuous.  Good-night."

    -- Robertson Davies
       1913 - 1995


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