Jan 31 2008
My First Bad Experience on eBay…Tips For Watching your Back
After several years of being an avid eBay shopper, I have had my first bad experience with the online auction mall. Don’t get me wrong, I am still a very big fan of eBay, but I have learned a few lessons that I figured I would share with this online audience. (Before venting I’d like to go on record and say that eBay/Paypal/Terrible Seller were efficient at settling the disputed charges, so I will continue to shop on eBay)
Andy’s eBay Shopping Tips…
1) If it looks to good to be true, it always is. If Best Buy is selling a product for $100, and you find it on eBay for $40 bucks… something just isn’t right. That product is either going to be a counterfeit, grey market (item that ends up in non-authorized distribution networks), or broken. You are much better off forking up the extra money if you are unsure what you may be receiving.
2) If the seller is from outside the US, pay attention. Not that I’m saying all products being shipped from China are counterfeit, but many of them are. eBay tries to shut down counterfeit products, but it is impossible to rid their auctions of them all. I also want to make clear that I firmly believe some counterfeit products are fantastic. In fact I bought a counterfeit Baltimore Ravens jersey over a year ago for $30 that could pass for the $100 variety at NFL.com. The counterfeit products I recommend steering clear of are the consumer electronics. These have a high tendency to break, not be compatible with other products you might have, or will not fit the description of the product you expected to receive.
3) If a Seller goes un-registered after you buy the product, dispute charges asap. This is what has recently happened to me after I purchased a product online. I waited several weeks hoping the product would show up in my mailbox with no luck. I even emailed the seller many times to see what the deal was. After 3 weeks of no response and no package, I disputed the charges. I now know to cancel an order right away, and I suggest you do the same if this happens to you.
4) A sellers feedback is Crucial. If a seller does not have near perfect feedback, I suggest you stay away. If a seller has sold hundreds of products and only had one or two bad comments then you should be ok. If you notice negative trends in their feedback such as a misleading product or very slow shipping then be weary of the seller. You may even want to google the Sellers ID name to see if anybody has written negative comments on them in the past. This tip has steered me clear of a few shady sellers in the past.
I know as a buyer I am very lenient with my feedback. It would take a VERY negative experience to convince me to leave a negative comment. For every negative mark against a seller there is a VERY unhappy buyer somewhere that would recommend you buy from somebody else.
5) Buy from sellers that have an established track record. This generally means over 100 sales if they are an online store. Less is ok, but you should not feel as confident in the pit of your stomach if they only have a few sales on their record.
Follow these very basic tips and you will become a much smarter online shopper.
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