Frustrations with ebay

[Airborne]

I’m not that familiar with bidding on ebay and really don’t know the ropes that well, but several times over the last few weeks I placed bids on a couple of pipes and several problems occurred that really irritated me. (1) Many sellers apparently don’t ship to Canada and there was no way to contact them to explain that I’d pay for any extra costs. There was a Contact the Seller thingy where you could check a box with a question but none related to my question and there were no other options. Is not being able to contact the seller SOP? (2) When I placed a bid on a pipe, another buyer had something set that automatically out bid me. How are you able to place a legitimate bid when within seconds, you’re automatically out bid? I tried it three times and each time that happened.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I buy and sell on eBay a lot.

I don't ship outside the US. It isn't about cost, it's the problem with difficulty with shipping, and then if there's a problem, returns. I've had customs hold incoming and outgoing goods frequently. I've had UPS, FedEx and USPS change their opinions about what paperwork should and should not be included and made me fix it numerous times. I then, get the blame, bad feedback, 1,000 messages about it, and have to deal with it.

It's a hassle.

Provided you can log on to eBay, you can contact a seller. There's a "Contact Member" option under their feedback if you click on their name, and then "Contact Seller" option from their auction page. It's easiest to "watch" an item and then use the pull down menu from your "My Ebay," adjacent to the item you just listed as watched, "More actions." A "Contact Seller" option will be there. Click that. Fill in the "Other" option when it arises, hit "Continue." Your form for contacting the member should be right there for you.

I wouldn't expect them to bend their "No Canada" rules, though, but you can try. I don't, and won't.

Bidding-assist software and "jockeys" plague auctions, there's not much you can do about it but have vigilance and patience. Be quick on the draw, throw the maximum amount you're willing to spend on the item and call it good, find "Buy It Now" options you can tolerate the price listed, or find auctions people aren't watching at 1AM. :lol: It's all part of the experience, and yeah, it's lame.

Good luck. 8)

 

[Airborne]

I buy and sell on eBay a lot.

I don't ship outside the US. It isn't about cost, it's the problem with difficulty with shipping, and then if there's a problem, returns. I've had customs hold incoming and outgoing goods frequently. I've had UPS, FedEx and USPS change their opinions about what paperwork should and should not be included and made me fix it numerous times. I then, get the blame, bad feedback, 1,000 messages about it, and have to deal with it.

It's a hassle.

Provided you can log on to eBay, you can contact a seller. There's a "Contact Member" option under their feedback if you click on their name, and then "Contact Seller" option from their auction page. It's easiest to "watch" an item and then use the pull down menu from your "My Ebay," adjacent to the item you just listed as watched, "More actions." A "Contact Seller" option will be there. Click that. Fill in the "Other" option when it arises, hit "Continue." Your form for contacting the member should be right there for you.

I wouldn't expect them to bend their "No Canada" rules, though, but you can try. I don't, and won't.

Bidding-assist software and "jockeys" plague auctions, there's not much you can do about it but have vigilance and patience. Be quick on the draw, throw the maximum amount you're willing to spend on the item and call it good, find "Buy It Now" options you can tolerate the price listed, or find auctions people aren't watching at 1AM. :lol: It's all part of the experience, and yeah, it's lame.

Good luck. 8)

Thanks, Kyle, that's good to know. I don't do much buying on ebay so it's not a big problem. But I did want a chance at those two pipes and it was a bit frustrating trying to circumnavigate the website without a good compass.

Merci beaucoup encore!

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I don't know how a Quebecois would specifically say "No sweat!" But...

No sweat! :lol:

Just be patient, and don't get your hopes up on a particular pipe. Tons of them appear on eBay at a time. Tons. As always, cash is king over there. 8)

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

When you bid on eBay what you are actually doing is putting in the highest price you will pay. Say you bid $80.00 but the item's current bid is $60.00. eBay will only increment your bid to let's say $61.00, but if someone else has put in a high bid of $90.00, your $61.00 will register momentarily but then the higher bid will prevail and the current bid will go to $81.00 and you will be outbid.

What I do when I bid is not to watch the bidding until the final 5 minutes. It's who get in the highest bid at the very last moment that wins. I have two screens going at the final minute. One has the top price that I will pay entered but not actuated, the other I use to refresh constantly to know what the final bid is. I keep refreshing the latter, and in the final seconds outbid the current bid. You enter your bid at the last second as you don't want anyone to know what they must bid to outbid you.

I've won several times doing this. But many others do the same, and some have what I've heard termed as "sniping" software. If you're up against that I doubt you have a chance. It matters very much who you're up against and what price they are willing to pay.

 

[mgtarheel]

John, I had alot of problems too when I first starting using it but after some time I figured it out. As far as contacting the seller the first thing to do is to find the "ask a question" section. Click that and the next section will have a list of subjects to click. Click "other" and it should lead you to a section where you can send an email to the seller. The auto bid section is what is outbidding you on some of your items. If you click on the number of bids you will see all of the bids except the auto bids, you can uncover those and see them as well. So if the bid on an item is 150, more that likely that person might have his max bid set higher to 180 maybe. So if you go in and bid 160 his max bid kicks in and outbids you. I hope I made myself clear. I usually look for items where the auction is going to end at a time that I can be on the computer watching. I make a decision as to the max amount that I want to bid for that item and I submit my bid in the last 5 seconds. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose, but more often I win. I also take into consideration that most people on the average will only set their max bid approx. 30 dollars more than the current bid.






"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." Steve Jobs

 

[Harlock999]

When I placed a bid on a pipe, another buyer had something set that automatically out bid me. How are you able to place a legitimate bid when within seconds, you’re automatically out bid? I tried it three times and each time that happened.

It's an evil conspiracy! :lol!:

In actuality, the bidding mechanism is quite fast, and will notify you within seconds if yours is not the winning bid. Which is good for you, because it gives you the opportunity to place another higher bid, if you're fast enough.

 

[Airborne]

Thanks, folks! With your combined effort, I have a better idea of how the system works.

Kyle: No French equivalent to No Sweat. It's just "de rien."