Ebay users ???

[Western]

I almost registered tonight, but had reservations giving out my details, yeah I know, paranoid. I have only on occasion looked at ebay, but thats about it. Right now though, it seems the easiest place to find an original Windows XP Operating System i can use for my old programs.


Do they slam you to death with sale mail? any other thoughts pro/con??

Thanks!!

 

[Hollow]

I've never had any problems, just make sure you use PayPal or money orders. You'll get special offers in the mail for things like free listings and stuff but they don't give out your email to anyone else... I bought my NH TT45 A, bushhog 286, disc and grader blade off there.

 

[Martian]

You can unsubscribe from all their listings. As far as being paranoid to put your info out your safer there than most other sites, eBay is pretty secure:thumbsup:

PS, if your like me you'd get a second email to send the spam to and then you can skim to see what you want in one inbox and get what you really want in the other.

 

[mostly_gas]

if you are worried about how much email from ebat , you have the ability to unsubscribe what they send you. Can't say I have gotten anymore spam from them selling email lists.

 

[Cat_Driver]

I would never use Pay PAL.
PayPal Complaints, PayPal Customer Service & eBay Suspension Complaints

Check around and see all the horror stories regarding pay pal.

I always set up throw away accounts from Gmail, Yahoo etc. I use the company's name to prove they are doing the spamming. Example. I would open an account Ebaystuff@gmail.com. Then when junk started flowing in I would just throw the account away.

 

[jmurray01]

Don't worry, eBay is very secure, and they don't send too many emails.

A lot of people say they wouldn't touch eBay with a barge pole, but I've only had one bad experience out of 429.

As for PayPal, I've never had any problems myself.

 

[irvingj]

Ditto jmurray- I use ebay a fair amount, especially for those hard-to-find parts for my old cycles....

I did get burned once--for $900!!, but I should have known better; I just didn't know all the red flags ("What red flags??") I was seeing could get me into trouble. My fault, lesson learned, although that hurt in more ways than one. No problems since, and I now have a better idea of what to watch out for.

I admit I was/am a bit nervous about a recent purchase of an almost $800 Garmin 296 aircraft GPS unit, but I think that will be OK. (No, it hasn't arrived yet, but should any day now...)

PayPal has worked well for me, no problems... and I'd rather use that than give out any bank account info or continually passing out my Visa card number. PP also offers some recourse if it turns out there's a problem.

...right now, I'm going back to the link above to read some.....

 

[Toyboy]

I used to shop ebay a lot until it became that PayPal was required for the majority of transactions. Since I always used money orders, I've pretty much got away from ebay. Never had a bad experience in over 180 transactions. You really have to pay attention to shipping costs though. You may get the deal of your life on something, but the seller has shipping costs set so high that it's not a deal anymore.

 

[Bird]

I have bought and sold smaller items (under a hundred dollars) on ebay but it's been quite awhile now. The only problem I had was with the last item I bought and paid through PayPal and then they kept asking me to pay again. Before that got settled, I swore off ebay and PayPal. I think in the end it was the seller's problem with PayPal that finally got straightened out and the item was sent.

 

[Depmandog]

I have had good luck with both EBay and Paypal. Had my account for 10 years or so. Not a big buyer, and only sold a few items. Maybe 150 transactions in total.

I have had a coupe of items that didn't get shipped (years ago). But they stepped in, investigated and I got money back.

What I like about EBay....it is so vast. If you want it, more than likely you can find it. I read the auction thoroughly - several times. Make sure they have excellent feedback (especially on expensive items). Check the shipping & handling terms and charges, return policy. Don't be afraid to ask questions (smoke free home, etc)

Having a different email address - I use this trick whenever I have to register at a site to make a one time buy, or to get a free catalogue, or whatever. My yahoo account gets a hundred junk email a day. I don't care - I never check it.

 

[rtimgray]

I been an eBayer for at least 10 years and I think I've had one bad deal - and it was a couple of controllers for an old Super Nintendo system. I've also never had any problems with PayPal. I think it's pretty cool the amount of obscure items (both cheap and expensive) that I've been able to find on eBay that otherwise I would never be able to come up with.

Nothing wrong with setting up a "dummy" email account if you're worried about it, though. I can't remember if you have to use a credit card to register if you use a gmail, yahoo, etc.

Thanks.

 

[Fixemall]

I just recently became a Power Seller on E-bay, I primarily sell chainsaws and other small items. I have only had to take back one item in several hundred transactions and that was only because the guy stole parts off of it and tried to say it was not running I now video all the saws that I sell as running and have not had any additional problems.
A good idea when selling items is to make the buyer requirements high enough that you only end up dealing with experienced individuals with good feedback, same goes for buying items...read the sellers feedback.

 

[rkeith]

Go for it! I love Ebay and have never had a problem with Ebay. My only problem was with a user but that was my fault because I didn't use delivery confirmation and they claimed that I didn't ship the product. I've done about 250 transactions through Ebay and I use PayPal for the buyer protection. :thumbsup:

 

[tallyho8]

eBay is the greatest shopping experience in the world. There is nothing that you can not find on eBay if you search correctly. If you are looking for a tin toy that you played with 60 years ago or a part for your 40 year old air conditioner, you can find it there and you can get it cheaper than when you find it in a flea market after searching flea markets for 20 years.

PayPal is just like any other credit or debit card (Visa, MasterCard, etc). There are compliments and complaints with all the different cards and if you search the internet you can find the complaints about the one that you use. The same people who have problems with PayPal have the same problems with the other credit cards too. I have made thousands of transactions with no more than a couple of minor problems.

I like the fact that when you use PayPal the seller who is a stranger who lives hundreds of miles away does not get your credit card info. I have found that eBay and PayPal have better resolutions to complaints than I have with other cards.

Nothing beats meeting the seller or buyer in person and handing over cash but in an international world where we often buy items directly from a seller in Asia I have found no safer way than using eBay and PayPal.

 

[aczlan]

On the email address, if you use Gmail, you can use myemailaddress+companyname@gmail.com. That will go to myemailaddress@gmail.com and allow you to track what that company does with your email address.
(ie: for TBN, I use myemailaddress+tbn@gmail.com, for amazon, I use myemailaddress+amazon@gmail.com).
That comes in handy when someone sends you spam (as someone recently did with the email address I used in the directory at church) as you can prove where they got the address from. I find it much more convenient than opening 50 email accounts.

On Ebay, I have made 173 purchases there and have only been burned when I didn't get ALL of my questions answered BEFORE buying (happened twice).

Aaron Z

 

[Western]

Thanks for all the information! I guess I will look into a new email, I use Yahoo now. The way I look at it, the buyer takes the risk 90% of the time on a product, since the knowledge of so many sellers may be varied or biased.

I will have to look into PayPal a little more, the only time I've used it was by accident (clicked it at checkout on another site) Didn't know what it was, but it was the only payment option, ended up calling them (PP) because the products hadn't arrived in 3 weeks (coyote snares). I was SOL since I wasn't a registered paypal customer??? and then there was some type of time limit for complaints so....

 

[Western]

On the email address, if you use Gmail, you can use myemailaddress+companyname@gmail.com. That will go to myemailaddress@gmail.com and allow you to track what that company does with your email address.
(ie: for TBN, I use myemailaddress+tbn@gmail.com, for amazon, I use myemailaddress+amazon@gmail.com).
That comes in handy when someone sends you spam (as someone recently did with the email address I used in the directory at church) as you can prove where they got the address from. I find it much more convenient than opening 50 email accounts.

Aaron Z

Aaron, good idea! thanks

 

[murphy1244]

just make sure you use PayPal ..... I have not had any problems ever...

 

[George2615]

I've been using Ebay and Paypal a few years now without problem. Just make sure your Email has a junk and / or spam filter to weed out the phishing.

 

[Pixguy]

I get very little junk mail, but a few things to remember.

1. Check feedback on seller.
2. Check off pay by CC when going through paypal instead of auto. check withdrawal. Gives you CC dispute protection as well.
3. Remember #1.

I've bought over 400 items and have never been burned. I did have one shipping problem with an item out of Canada, but Paypal reversed the charges and fixed it.

Good luck and enjoy!