is ebay a rip?

[gogorobo]

okay i'm posting this because i don't know if this has happened to anyone else but i've had enough.

When i started getting stuff on ebay i thought "cool i was lookin for this and i got it for three bucks cheaper than at the dirt mall" but after one too many bad transactions i really don't think that i'll be using ebay again.

For me the problem was paying for items and then either getting something that i didn't bid on or not getting anything at all and the worst part is that when i would communicate with the sellers they would tell me to either send it back with more money so that they could ship it back or that they where sorry for the confusion and to send the wrong item back with more money to reship the right one.

Now i don't know about about others but i gotta say that payin over six dollars for a figure and then having to pay another six so that they could fix their mistake is just to much for me . And believe me i wouldn't be complaining unless this has happened more then once, so for me i'm done with ebay and will be sticking to the dirt mall at least there i can see what i'm payin for ant can haggle over the price :(

[Outrider]

Like anything, it depends on the people you deal with. eBay has allowed me to have stuff I never would have owned any other way, but I've been ripped off too. Once I find sellers I trust, I tend to stick with them. Do you homework and read people's feedback before making a purchase, that's what it's there for.

[Sonneilon]

Yup, you really gotta consult w/ fellow Joe fans to know just who the good guys are and who the bad are. Honestly, I really don't order from anybody that doesn't have good ratings and that I can't easily trust. That dude in China/Singapore. ONLY because many others ordered thru him, I did. Sure, I've taken chances with a few others and it's been good. I've only had 1 really bad transaction. Bastardo.

Personally, I conduct my Ebay transactions as a business transactions. That means, if I screw up on an order, I take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for it. I ask them to ship it back, I reimburse them and ship them out on my own expense. However, I do try to pimp another item to help offset the shipping. ;) I've made many mistakes and have refunded or done partial refunds to make things right.

TG on the other hand has met some real punks who'll punk him any way they can. I disagree with that whole mentality. Sometimes, it's safer to get good with the Joeboards you chill on and do sales and trades there.

[lehsreh]

[COLOR=Red]like they both said. but even the worse sellers arent as high priced as the other joe sites there.[/COLOR]

[Fantom]

As has been previously stated, you have to read the feedback before placing your bid. I have had a few issues but have been able to favorably resolve them by going through the proper channels. eBay has their tools to resolve conflicts between sellers and buyers and they do tend to work. Especially if you stick to using PayPal. I won 2 auctions from some dude calling himself 'Kinglear 001' or some such thing (I came to start calling him 'King Queer') who never shipped out my items. He only responded to me once when I inquired about my items and I was told that they were returned to him and he would re-ship. He never did, nor did he refund my money when I requested it and would not even respond to my inquiries. I used the PayPal resolution center to file a claim and it took a month, but I was fully refunded.

[Flint]

I've never been able to buy anything on ebay cause I just can't seem to win a bid!!! :o

[Blowtorch]

The worst ebay problem I ever had was when I did a buy it now option from a seller. His feedback was 99% and I checked it his neg were 6 months or older. So I thought good and made the purchase. Four days later he got nailed with 17 negatives in a row, so I started keeping a close eye on him. After a month never got my items, emails and phones calls weren't returned. This was back in December it's now July/August still no items.