Any guidelines on eBay purchases?

[John Garza (3665)]

Oh yes, lots of 'racketeers' on ebay. Years ago, when I was looking for books on vintage computers (70's era) I came across one guy that apparently was picking up books on the cheap from Amazon and selling at a huge markup on ebay as they were 'collectible'. He never showed you full images of the book, or even the titles.

[SteveC]

I tend to build a discount factor into bids for less than
well photographed items on ebay. Same for sellers with
less than the magic number of positive feedbacks. I have
Also bought cars on ebay with some due diligence so
maybe I trust the platform somewhat and am willing to
play some games to make it work right.

My eBay rules tend to duplicate what has been said already:
--powered on and clean gets near full bid.
--poor pictures can mask flaws knowingly.
Look at sellers other items and feedback carefully.
If they rarely deal in tech toys then their untested may be just that.
--NIB (New In Box) should be met with skepticism.
More skepticism the older the market was.
--I have found the market premium inconsistent for:
Complete Sets, Original Packaging, and Documentation.
All can add value, but may not today.
Standing on their own will have a wide bid ask spread.
--eBay can be a great venue for some particularly valuable items.
--Lots of positive feedback is usually a good sign, but not absolute.
--eBay has become more and more focused on their gigantic sellers.
--I put a slight premium on US sellers for fewer points of failure.
But I buy parts from all over so that is not absolute.
--I have been known to pay a Buy It Now premium to just be done.

At least one reputable eBay seller has a presence here and sells
good stuff.

-steve

[shoman24v]

It all depends. Ask questions is the first thing to do. Trying to have the sellers run self tests is important. Always make offers because a lot of sellers think they are sitting on gold.

[akpoff]

Another area to watch is shipping. High shipping can mean:

1) New sellers who don't know how to save the buyer money on shipping,
2) Sellers who don't care since the buyer pays,
3) Sellers who make extra money on shipping costs.

I ran into 1 and 2 recently. In the first instance the seller didn't shop around. When I asked whether ground was an option she found the price went from $80 to $35! However another seller wouldn't budge on UPS Ground because he didn't want to drive to the Post Office, which suggests I would've paid for pickup at his house.

BTW, I've had good luck messaging sellers and asking them to offer more shipping options. I usually add a comment that I'm fine with slower if it saves money. USPS Expedited is always higher than regular USPS First Class. Media Mail class is great for books but shouldn't be used for magazines because of the ads, but a lot of sellers will offer it for vintage mags anyway.

#3 is a special category. I've seen listings with reasonable purchase prices but really high shipping costs ... ratios of 1:3 and worse. I think the goal is twofold: 1) make money on shipping, and 2) discourage returns.

Lastly, I was talking to a family member who sells online. eBay offers discounted pricing to sellers. What you see quoted isn't necessarily what the seller pays. But, sellers can pass their discount through to the buyer ... if they know about it.

High shipping prices and inflexibility on shipping method are red flags for me.

Cheers,

--Aaron