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03/07/2007 04:39:53 PM · #1 |
Shame on Ebay!
Ebay isn't what it used to be. Commercial sellers have practically taken it over, and Ebay won't protect you from their scams.
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03/07/2007 04:45:15 PM · #2 |
The commercial selling has deflated the value of ebay for me as well. The rampant scams being run, including the fact that (by ebay's numbers) 95% of the CF cards sold on ebay are counterfeit, tells me that ebay has a huge problem that they are not adequately addressing.
I still may use ebay for some purchases, and potentially for sales, but I'm looking more to other sources for most items. |
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03/07/2007 04:47:55 PM · #3 |
Until it starts eating into their profits, I don't see E-bay doing anything to clean itself up wither. It's a shame, they once were a great site to do business. Now, I won't do business with them OR Paypal.
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03/07/2007 04:48:53 PM · #4 |
I bought a 2Gb SD Sandisk Ultra II from eBay and it is an original. Perhaps I found the only honest dealer??
I have cut back alot on my deals tho. Most listings for photo gear are dealers, not private sellers and they are all in Hong Kong. |
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03/07/2007 04:52:46 PM · #5 |
^yeah, which for me is brilliant.
I'm getting all my gear, with international warrenties, for almost half price!
Won a Sandisk 4GB CF card today for £20! |
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03/07/2007 04:53:17 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:
Now, I won't do business with them OR Paypal. |
What is wrong with PayPal? I love their service! |
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03/07/2007 04:58:02 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by skylercall:
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:
Now, I won't do business with them OR Paypal. |
What is wrong with PayPal? I love their service! |
Have them allow someone to steal over $1,000 and do absolutely nothing about it and see how you feel about them then. And to add insult to injury they canceled my account I had for 6 years and won't allow me to have another, because I "owe" them money?
They're all fine and dandy until something goes wrong... and then they leave you hangin'. I wouldn't trust them with the dirt under my shoe now.
Message edited by author 2007-03-07 16:58:38.
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03/07/2007 05:01:43 PM · #8 |
this is a crazy thread. EBAY is absolutely great. I buy tons of stuff. I recently just bought a 1GB and 2GB card for super cheap. Both were perfect.
The problem is in the buyer. Sorry if you have been ripped off and are offended by that. Ebay is a global marketplace with sellers ranging from people just getting rid of somethign they don't need to people making a living to scam artists. Ebay doesn't need to govern the scammers, the buyers do.
There is ample information available to everyone to make a good buying decision. Check feedback, if its not 98% or better more positive than don't buy. If they have no feedback and the item seems too good to be true don't buy. Ask questions, if you don't get a promt thorough response, don't buy. Never ever ever ever put in a last minute bid just to get it in time. A bid is a binding contract so if you didn't do your research and you get screwed thats too bad.
The marketplace like every other market place will not tolerate repeat scammers. If they get negative feedback and people don't buy, they are done unless they open a new account in which they will have no feedback so again they are done.
With all that said, the NUMBER ONE RULE OF EBAY is...
IF ITS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT PROBABLY IS. The canon 5D for $150 is probably a scam.
Do your part w/ ebay and leave feedback, that is the most crucial bit of info potential buyers are looking at. |
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03/07/2007 06:15:16 PM · #9 |
@jmnuggy:
You may want to take a real close look at those cards. If you thought you were getting a name brand card, you may be surprised to find that you in fact got a knock-off, which may have the same capacity but will be much slower and of course good luck with warranty. Now, you may have gotten the real thing, and I hope so, but...
Also, FWIW, in many cases you need to dig deeper than the seller's feedback. There are *so many* hacked accounts that it's difficult to be sure that the person "selling" the item actually is the one who put up the listing.
It's *not* just the buyers' responsibility to practice safe ebaying, it is ebay's responsibility to do what they can to thwart scams. It's apparent that they are not doing enough.
All this said, there are still a lot of honest, forthright sellers on ebay. I'll certainly still consider ebay for certain items that would be difficult to find otherwise. |
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03/07/2007 06:34:42 PM · #10 |
The first time I used eBay I bought a pair of sunglasses that were AWFUL knock-offs! I could've made a better pair by melting plastic straws down. I put it in my feedback that they were knock-offs and of course the seller posted that they were real. That's because ebay doesn't allow counterfeit merch so if a seller admits their gear is fake they'd be shut down....however eBay doesn't seem to police it. They either aren't policing or they just aren't doing it fast enough.
It's insane how many corrupt goods are up for auction. That said, I've bought tons of legit stuff too. You just gotta watch..
P.S. I watched an episode of Market Place where they bought a dozen diamond necklaces on Ebay and MOST were counterfeit...even when they paid a grand for it!!!! Nuts.
Message edited by author 2007-03-07 18:37:34. |
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03/07/2007 06:39:34 PM · #11 |
//www.trademe.co.nz still good to deal on there are some very good photogrphy traders there had a lot of good deals
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03/07/2007 06:44:28 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by kiwinick:
//www.trademe.co.nz still good to deal on there are some very good photogrphy traders there had a lot of good deals |
Agreed trademe great place to buy. I have brought alot over the years and never had any trouble. Never brought photography stuff though...recommend any good sellers? |
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03/07/2007 06:55:06 PM · #13 |
I never use eBay for anything more than $20. However, my own rotten experience with them happened this weekend, when after nine years I found myself locked out of my account. Password retrieval wouldn't work when it insisted that my mother's maiden name was wrong. Excuse me?? When I contacted customer service, they asked me to supply a whole slew of identifying information, which I did. But apparently I gave them the wrong phone number. I've had a lot of phone numbers over the last nine years, who knows which it was?? I was able to tell them where I was living when I registered the account nine years ago, but they didn't care. I told them to just cancel it since it's pretty obvious that, if my password and mother's maiden name don't work, it has been hacked and their own fraud policy mandates that they do just that. Now customer service refuses to correspond with me at all, and if I want to continue to make the odd small purchase there (I was trying to bid of a lot of expired film when this came up), I have to start from scratch. Nine years of 100% positive feedback, down the drain. Thanks eBay! :P
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03/07/2007 07:50:07 PM · #14 |
The only thing Ebay is good for is old collectible stuff, it's hard to replicate the old stuff. I've bought about 40 vintage cameras over the years and my wife is always buying crap like old metal lunchboxes and knick knack vintage things. If you go in for the vintage flea market crowd, you will not be disappointed. Anything that will not go displayed on a shelf is worth it to spend a little extra and buy from a reputable dealer.
The only time we were ripped off on Ebay: we bought a new "official" David Beckham soccer outfit for our 6 y/o boy when he went to Beckham's camp (I couldn't find any stores that had them in his size). It turned out to be a knock off from China and the numbers cracked and started coming off after about 4 washes, but he loved it and didn't know the difference, so in the end it didn't really matter. |
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03/07/2007 07:54:10 PM · #15 |
I'm getting annoyed with its incredible slowness, new 'features' and the fact that though my searches clearly state I want goods from within the EU every single (*(*&*&)(&^%^% one of the listings is from Hong Kong. And ebay refuse to stop sellers from fradulently tagging the location of the goods, even when the sellers openly describe the item as being from abroad.
It's not that these sellers are necessarily fradulent, just that I don't want the hassle of dealing with shipping, returns and complaints from a different continent and I don't appreciate being forced to wade through them.
Also the sell dialog seems to have stopped working in firefox. |
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03/07/2007 08:12:28 PM · #16 |
Over the years I have bought two vehicles, camera equipment, studio flash and many many other things from E-Bay.
I have been saying for over a year now that it is not the same as it was, it has become a place for dealers, cheap immitations and fraudsters. I very rarely buy anything from them anymore. I do buy cheapo camera batteries for my 20D from a dealer I have been using for four or five years but that is about it.
To add insult to injury, it has also become a place to buy cheap Chinese knockoff art. I belong to a group of equine atrists and photographers and we are constantly fighting to get people closed down for duplicating our paintings and photographs and selling anything from light switch covers, cross stitch patterns, greeting and christmas cards and of course poor copies of our photos and paintings. Even some of the more "renowned" artists have stolen our photographs to do paintings and sell at a great profit.
Big Brother is watching!!! You have been warned LOL. What we achieve is a drop in the ocean as the Chinese sweat shops have 100 artists copying one picture at a time and they can churn out one or two a day each, the artist gets paid about $1 per painting. Search it out on the net you will be amazed at what you find.
This will all be the demise of E-Bay.
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03/07/2007 08:26:51 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by joynim:
Originally posted by kiwinick:
//www.trademe.co.nz still good to deal on there are some very good photogrphy traders there had a lot of good deals |
Agreed trademe great place to buy. I have brought alot over the years and never had any trouble. Never brought photography stuff though...recommend any good sellers? |
I have bought accesories from john chalmers in auckland, he is an absolutely great trader, has heaps of different stuff, lots not advertised.
I tend to contact him first if I'm buying his buy now prices are reasonable to say the least
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03/07/2007 08:39:16 PM · #18 |
No only is ebay becoming so commercialized, the fees they charge to sell stuff now is outrageous. Then they make more profit by the paypal fee they charge to get your money to you.
The thing that gets me the most is what people are willing to pay for items on ebay. Somethings can be had much cheaper by going to Amazon or some other reputable online merchant. Why "take a chance" on someone you've never heard of and pay more for the product you want?
With all of that said, I still look for good deals and occasionally sell something, but I find I use eBay less and less and I wonder if everyone else is using them less and less. |
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03/07/2007 08:47:20 PM · #19 |
Originally posted by jahoward:
No only is ebay becoming so commercialized, the fees they charge to sell stuff now is outrageous. Then they make more profit by the paypal fee they charge to get your money to you. |
I love it when people list something like a CD for $.99, and then claim shipping charges of $15. Apparently, this is the standard M.O. for getting around the percentage based listing fees, but people forget about shipping costs when considering their maximum bid.
Originally posted by jahoward:
The thing that gets me the most is what people are willing to pay for items on ebay. Somethings can be had much cheaper by going to Amazon or some other reputable online merchant. Why "take a chance" on someone you've never heard of and pay more for the product you want? |
Also true. The Holgas on eBay are outrageously priced, say $25 or more plus $8-$10 shipping, and I got mine on Amazon for $17 plus shipping that wasn't jacked up. And the film I was after? For most of it I could buy it new from B&H at the same price. And then I found it at a local pro camera shop even though the entire internet was apparently sold out.
Message edited by author 2007-03-07 20:47:32.
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03/07/2007 08:49:56 PM · #20 |
Originally posted by formerlee:
I bought a 2Gb SD Sandisk Ultra II from eBay and it is an original. Perhaps I found the only honest dealer??
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How do you know it's the real deal? Many counterfeit cards look very similar to the real thing on the outside, but internally, they are cheap, slow imitations. |
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03/07/2007 10:02:14 PM · #21 |
Technically, it's not Ebay's responsibility to govern what people sell. Oddly enough, they won't allow the sale of firearms, but they will allow the sale of counterfeit products.
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03/07/2007 10:22:59 PM · #22 |
| I never buy anything over 20 dollars. Not because im afraid i'll get screwed, but because im so poor! lol. But i understand the whole jacked up shipping thing. A month ago, i bought an inflatable chair. I won the item for .01 cents, but shipping was 14.99! And just a few days ago, i won an inflatable table. Item won for .99 cents, and shipping was 5.01 (alot more reasonable). I've bought a few things but have never gotten (major) problems. But just like 2 minutes ago, i was looking for CR-V3 battery chargers, and guess what popped up? HONG KONG! really coincedental! But sometimes i really do find great things at great prices. |
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03/07/2007 11:23:05 PM · #23 |
I had a bad experience with ebay and paypal, too... last year. I was totally scammed out of $240 (I paid for the item, and did not receive said item), and neither ebay nor paypal would help because it was a "virtual" item and not a "physical" item (it was a gift certificate code to amazon.com). I even went to the police, and they said they couldn't help me because the amount wasn't enough to be worth their time.
Ebay even "cancelled" the auction after I had already paid because they recognized it was a scam... and by them cancelling the auction, I couldn't even leave negative feedback because at that point, the auction never even existed to them. Paypal didn't help either... ebay said the seller was from China, but his paypal name was Christopher Debban. Now, when I look at that transaction record on paypal, his name is changed to Joshua Douectte (yes, spelled like that). Craziness. Did he legally change his name? I wouldn't know how to change my name on paypal... anyway. That's my vent. What did I learn? Things that look too good to be true usually are. Be patient and do your research. Read the terms of service, even if you signed up for said service 3 years prior, because they expect you to remember all the details. I cut waaaay back on my transactions with both sites. |
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03/08/2007 12:20:39 AM · #24 |
I agree...
I joined ebay back when it was smaller...when you could just log in and leave your friends feedback and they could leave it for you without transaction ID's and so on heh...
Anyway, I won't even post anything up there anymore because I feel like anything I'd post would get lost in the commercial aspects of things. I mean if I have a 2 GB SD card for sale, it gets put in a page with like 5,000 other 2 GB SD cards with buy it now options and all that crazy stuff.
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03/08/2007 01:19:36 AM · #25 |
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
Originally posted by formerlee:
I bought a 2Gb SD Sandisk Ultra II from eBay and it is an original. Perhaps I found the only honest dealer??
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How do you know it's the real deal? Many counterfeit cards look very similar to the real thing on the outside, but internally, they are cheap, slow imitations. |
I actually bought an imitation Sandisk SD card on ebay. I only smelt a rat when it wouldn't eject from my camera properly, so I suspected that the form factor was wrong. I searched on something like 'fake sandisk SD cards' in Google and came upon pages of information. Among that information was the presence (or lack of) of the holographic tag and the 'notch' at the top of the card. When presented with proof that the card supplied was fake, the seller immediately refunded, which, to my mind, confirmed that he already knew he was selling fakes.
I recently bought a 'Transcend' SD card from a supplier (outside of ebay) who I thought was legitimate. This is advertised as a high speed card, yet the card is, in fact, slower than a Sandisk Extreme II (half as fast, in fact). The only feedback I've got from this particular retailer is that they're looking into it and that I should email them when they're not so busy. That was four weeks ago. It sounds like not only ebay are permitting the sale of fake memory cards. I've since stopped using that retailer and, if they don't bother to respond in the next seven days, I shall be making their name known, so that others won't be caught like this.
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