Helping e-bay members

[Terry M.]

Re: Helping e-bay members

Actually it is not all that good for buyers either.

Try buying something that the seller miss-represents.

My daughter recently got scammed that way. The item was supposed to be a brand name garment, but when it came it was a knock-off. Ebay wants her to get a letter from a department store, on their letterhead, saying the garment is a fake. You know the chances of that happening?

I told her years ago eBay and PayPal were designed just to make money for them and both buyers and sellers interests are low on their list of priorities and everything that has happened since has only reinforced my opinion of that.

[Pete B.]

Re: Helping e-bay members

Wrong wrong wrong!!! regarding nothing can go wrong for the buyer!!!

I bought a piece of industrial equiptment, paid $1500 through pay pal. Buyer "died" in the mean time. Never got the equiptment, the guys friend who had the same voice as the guy who sold it to me said he would ship it in a few weeks when the estate was settled. Never happened, filed with pay pal with the buyer protection clause, in the mean time the guy cleared out his account I was told that I had no recourse unless the guy added new money to his account. I got a goose egg...lesson learned dont pay 100 percent for big ticket items!

Ken's right, that PayPal can be a very positive situation for buyers. There's really nothing that can go wrong,...for the buyer.
But, the problem is, it's is a huge financial drag, for the seller.
I disagree that is exactly why eBay went to using PayPal (too many people sending checks & money orders & not getting their stuff).
eBay bought PayPal outright in 2002 for 1.5 billion dollars. They didn't do it to "help their buyers", they did it to make money. Lots, and lots of money. Nothing wrong with that, as that's capitalism at it's finest.
For the quarter of January1 to March 31st, 2008 (before eBay implemented the no checks and money order policy), PayPal net revenue was 582 million dollars, with 14.42 billion dollars in transacations.
Forcing PayPal fees on all sellers, is the gift that keeps giving, and giving for eBay.
But, since Meg Whitman left, eBay still keeps declining, and losing sellers. The eBay closing stock price Friday, was $11.93.
When check and money order payments were permitted, a buyer could decide for themselves, IF, they wished to do business with the seller. But sellers now have no choice in the matter. It's either pay PayPal fees that average 5%, or, have their auctions cancelled.
Now, that same buyer has fewer established sellers. I'm one of many sellers who left eBay last November, when it went "paperless payments". Ridge

[Ridge K.]

Re: Helping e-bay members

Wrong wrong wrong!!! regarding nothing can go wrong for the buyer!!!

I bought a piece of industrial equiptment, paid $1500 through pay pal Buyer "died" in the mean time. Never got the equiptment, the guys friend who had the same voice as the guy who sold it to me said he wold ship it in a few weeks when the estate was settled. Never happend, filed with pay pal and the buyer protection clause, in the mean time the guy cleared out his account I was told that I had no recourse unless the guy added new money to his account. I got a goose egg...lesson learned dont pay 100 percent fo big ticket items!

Terry and Pete, I stand corrected. You both gave excellent points.
I know nothing about buying with PayPal, and probably shouldn't have commented on buying with PayPal.....have never done it.
But, I do know a little about eBay selling. I sold 250K worth of parts on eBay, over a seven year period, before terminating my business with them just last November. PM me if you would like to review my former feedback record. I had an eBay user id that sounded something like: 427corvette3x2 (now out of business)
Personally, I'm done with eBay's multi-billion dollar greed, until the current CEO is gone, and policy changes are rescinded. Seems like corporate greed has been in the news quite a bit lately.
Thanks for the excellent points of view. Ridge.

[Terry M.]

Re: Helping e-bay members

Ridge -- I meant nothing personal in my comment.

I think we all can agree that eBay and PayPal are out for themselves (and apparently not doing so well at that) and neither the seller nor buyer can count on them for help if something goes wrong.

I understand Ken's point that it is less costly in the long run to buy or sell on-line. I never counted travel expenses, swap meet entrance fees or food as part of the cost of parts, but I can understand how someone selling parts would have to do that. Those things are, after all, the cost of doing business. So to, I think, is the occasional loss that comes from a bad deal. I am sure vendors at swap meets face the problem of "shrinkage" as does the corner store.

I kind of miss the face-to-face of the swap meets, but the on-line exposure to more parts, more sellers, and more buyers is a siren song that is hard to overcome.

[Roy B.]

Re: Helping e-bay members

I don't know about the east but here out west you just don't see swap meet Corvette parts for sale anymore , it's all on e-bay. And 90% are listed from the east area . Only cars are said to be from Ca. So they get bigger money.