Do some ebayers annoy you guys as collectors?

ballsquid · Post by **ballsquid** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:12 pm

I dont know if anyone saw the recent auction for the powermaster japenese engine set on ebay.co.uk recently. But they finally sold for nearly £135. This is a fair price for the set so I have no problem with this. Did anyone else notice that the auction suddenly shot up from £20 to £117 in the final day as well as ALL the sellers auctions. The other auctions were stuff like targetmaster hotrod, double dealer, hardhead; each one rising to £117 at the exact same time. This seemed strange to me and so I looked at the bid history and every auction has recently been bid upon by the same two users, one of which had been created in the final day and had only ever placed a bid with the engine seller.
Another time I have won auctions at a very cheap price then been told by the sellers that the item has been damaged and was now unavailible for they had lost peices etc just to fins the item back on ebay from the same seller a few weeks later at a higher price.
Has anyone else had problems with ebay sellers with similiar behaviour? It would be good if there was a list of sellers somewhere that were repeat offenders of stuff like this so all transformer fans could see who they should be wary of in the future.
what are people opnion on this?

thanks

Savannahtron · Post by **Savannahtron** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:22 pm

Well, I was recently watching an auction on a complete G1 Thrust with box for a buy it now for $45. I could have snagged it up using the Buy it Now, but I got busy and had to get off of the computer. I didn't check it until the next day when the price shot up to $76.

Some knucklehead bid over the buy it now price and jacked up the price by $31, which makes the buyer happy, but honestly was a complete idiotic thing to do.

A lot of auctions have sudden jumps at the very end. Sniping occurs within the last few seconds of an auction where you can either win or lose something very quickly.

The ones that irk me on eBay are the ones that dump everything into the G1 category, when it is not even remotely G1 or even G1 related (such as a reissue), thinking that it will generate a better chance to sell because there are usually more G1 auctions.

I have an account over at ioffer.com but I have been looking for a solid alternative for my Transformers other than eBay...but not much luck. I'd love to get a site off the ground as nothing but a Bot trader which could be a centralized place for Transformers fans to sell and buy Transformers and other collectibles. Kind of like niche for actions figures, comic books and any other nerd gear.

ballsquid · Post by **ballsquid** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:36 pm

sniping is annoying sometimes but its part of ebaying. The thing that irritates me, espeicially with the powermaster engine auction, is that it seems quite obvious that the seller had made a few accounts on the last day and bid on his own auctions to big up the price. I have noticed that some users will even place a sniping bid on their own auctions at the last second with a ridisolus amount to make sure that you go to your highest bid, then send you a second chance offer. What i am suggesting is kind of like an ebay blacklist. if lots of collectors see that a certain ebay member is practicing badly and trying to rip us off they can put their user ID forward to be added to the blacklist. If that user is nominated say 10 or 20 times by different people, that user will be added to a public blacklist to tell other collectors to avoid that user. Their can even be a list of trusted sellers. that way, if somebody wants to buy a very expensive item such as grand/fortress maximus, they can check the trusted sellers list before bidding. I realise that ebay has a feedback system in place that is meant to do this very thing, but it seems that this system is not very accurate. Sometimes the fear that a user will leave you bad feedback out of spite if it is left for them means that alot of the cases such as above do not get noted. On the reverse I have seen users with bad feeback with comments such as "the item didnt come with a box" when the auction can state that it didnt. Does anyone think this idea may show any merit?

Savannahtron · Post by **Savannahtron** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:11 am

http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/se ... ction.html

Straight from eBay's website:

Sellers aren't able to leave negative or neutral Feedback for buyers. That means sellers need other tools that will protect them against unfair treatment from buyers and bring those buyers to eBay's attention.

Here are some ways sellers and eBay are working together to protect sellers' reputations and promote a fair marketplace:

* Sellers can add buyer requirements to their listings to prevent unwanted bidders
You can block buyers with too many policy violations, unpaid items, or who aren't registered with PayPal. This can help you dramatically reduce your number of unpaid items. To access this tool, go to My eBay > Account > Site Preferences > Buyer requirements.

* Sellers can require buyers to pay right away
If you use Buy It Now, you can require buyers to pay you immediately using PayPal.

* Sellers have an easy way to report problems with buyers
Sellers can use the seller reporting hub to report an unpaid item, Feedback extortion, or any other problem with a buyer. eBay investigates all reports and will remove any negative or neutral Feedback that's in violation of eBay policy.

* We provide enhanced Feedback protection for unpaid items
In addition to removing Feedback left by buyers who don't respond to an unpaid item report, we also remove negative and neutral Feedback when there is a response but it's clear that the buyer didn't intend to complete the transaction (for example, if they bought the item elsewhere or had a family emergency).

* We proactively look for Feedback abuse and take action against it
For example, eBay investigates buyers who leave positive Feedback but low Detailed Seller Ratings.

* We remove Feedback from suspended buyers
Buyers who are suspended for Unpaid Items or other policy violations aren't allowed to leave negative or neutral Feedback. We remove all neutral or negative Feedback left by suspended buyers so it won't negatively affect sellers' reputations.

* We educate buyers
For example, if there are problems with a purchase, we ask the buyer to contact the seller directly to try to work things out before leaving Feedback.

Sir Auros · Post by **Sir Auros** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:26 am

I rarely use ebay anymore because it's turned to such shit, but last Fall I bought a copy of Mega Man 2 for under the buy it now price, and it got "lost" in the mail. The seller quickly refunded my money, but I'm sure it was never sent since he didn't get as much as he wanted for it.

ballsquid · Post by **ballsquid** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:36 am

I agree, ebays rules are far too easy to work around. I bet there are lots of people on here who have had the "lost in the post" thing happen. In my experience, alot of times I have had am item "lost in the post" and a refund, the same item is relisted by the same seller a few weeks later.
There a re rules on ebay saying this is not allowed but it still happens, same as bidding on your own auction is not allowed but it is diffuclt to prove.

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:30 am

I personally haven't had any real problems with eBay, outside of one person who failed to pay for a Sega Genesis in one of my auctions. Even though I attempted multiple times to contact the buyer via email, there was no response. I filed it with eBay and they credited my final value fee. Overall I've been quite pleased with it, but I also realize people snipe and are sometimes shady about items. Basically I use it as a way to sell my old collectibles that I don't want anymore.

RID Scourge · Post by **RID Scourge** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:32 am

What annoyed me were sellers who would demand payment within three days (I would pay right away with paypal so it aint no thang), but they'd sit on the packages for weeks before sending it.

Happened way too often so I stopped buying on ebay. Once sent an email to a seller and then I got it three days later--postmarked the day I sent the email. :\

I understand that folks are busy, but if you demand payment within three days shouldn't you hold yourself to the same timeframe when shipping them? Something comes up, I understand. Just send me an email to let me know there's a delay, but some of these folks take three weeks to ship. No excuse at that point.

You can't send the items? Don't sell them. I don't because I can't. Otherwise I'd get rid of a ton of stuff . . .

ballsquid · Post by **ballsquid** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 2:38 am

My worst ever experience on ebay was when I won an auction for a transformer and paid, then i got a refund and an email saying that someone had emailed them and offered more money than i had won the auction for and so they were selling it to them instead.
That really annoyed me if im honest.
Overall, ebay is a great place to find transformers, i'm 41 short of having every G1 transformer and 99% were bought on ebay. If it wasnt for people "loosing things in the mail" or "i can't find the item to post" i would be missing 3. Sounds like I may just be incredbly unlucky with my experiences tho but I do with there was a list of timewasters or known con-men that i could refer to before I bid on an item.

skywarp408 · Post by **skywarp408** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 3:00 am

Got a few bad stories, but mostly good ones on Ebay. I've bought hundreds of G1 figures, most at the last minute like everyone else. It's really the only way I can win anything anymore. Got screwed on a couple items.

Savannahtron · Post by **Savannahtron** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:27 am

ballsquid wrote:My worst ever experience on ebay was when I won an auction for a transformer and paid, then i got a refund and an email saying that someone had emailed them and offered more money than i had won the auction for and so they were selling it to them instead.
That really annoyed me if im honest.
Overall, ebay is a great place to find transformers, i'm 41 short of having every G1 transformer and 99% were bought on ebay. If it wasnt for people "loosing things in the mail" or "i can't find the item to post" i would be missing 3. Sounds like I may just be incredbly unlucky with my experiences tho but I do with there was a list of timewasters or known con-men that i could refer to before I bid on an item.

Which 41?

RID Scourge · Post by **RID Scourge** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:11 pm

ballsquid wrote:My worst ever experience on ebay was when I won an auction for a transformer and paid, then i got a refund and an email saying that someone had emailed them and offered more money than i had won the auction for and so they were selling it to them instead.
That really annoyed me if im honest.

That's a violation of eBay policy. You should forward it to ebay.

ballsquid · Post by **ballsquid** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:49 pm

I did report it. They replied with, unfortunatly ebay cannot force a user to sell you an item if they choose not to. In this case (userID) has not broken ebay rules and we can not intervene on your behalf.
As far as I am concerned this kind of thing is definatly agaisnt ebay rules and even when i found a page in their help section which i though backed me up, they still refused to do a single thing. The item by the way was a complete Iquanus pretender, an item i have won 3 times now from different sellers and yet still do not have.
On a different occasion I bought a set of the autobot and decepticon clones and the postage was a massive £20 for the two. The auction stated that the reason that it was this high was that they would be sent by a personal courier to ensure that the item were not damaged. When they arrived by royal mail second class unrecorded and badly packaged with a total price of £2.50, i complained yet was told by ebay that the auctions description was irrelevant in this case as the seller had stated "other courier" as the postage method and royalmail 2nd class was considered a "courier" by ebay.
I cant help but think that the rules of ebay are just a list to make us feel safe yet are nothign more. They never seem to stick to their own rules and the only people i have ever known to be suspended from ebay are people who dont pay ebay their fees.

ballsquid · Post by **ballsquid** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:58 pm

Savannahtron wrote:Which 41?

heres what im missing

1. Bumblejumper (red)
2. cliffjumper (red)
3. frenzy
4. rumble
5. downshift
6. drill dasher
7. f1 dasher
8. barrage
9. ransack
10. venom
11. hotspot
12. groove
13. catilla
14. grandslam
15. bugly
16. carnivac
17. finback
18. iquanus
19. bigshot
20. doubledealer
21. flak
22. hothouse
23. longtooth
24. pincher
25. sidetrack
26. airwave
27. blackjack
28. bludgeon
29. detour
30. greasepit
31. hyperdrive
32. octopunch
33. strangehold
34. thunderwing.
35. bumblebee (red)
36. Bumblejumper (yellow)

I have managed to track down the others on ebay know so I am just 36 short now.

RID Scourge · Post by **RID Scourge** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 5:58 pm

Yeah. Sounds like they only said it wasn't a violation of policy because they didn't want to be bothered with it. You know if you had won the auction but decided not to pay then ebay would come down on you like a hammer.

borg72 · Post by **borg72** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:28 pm

being the relative of a prolific ebayer, I can attest that ebay will only get involved with any dispute if there have been allegations of abusive behaviour by one or more parties; simply breaking ebays policies is not enough for them to want to get involved, it seems.

Even then, getting hold of anyone is quite difficult, although said relative, after having several serious incidences of abusive emails, now seems to have a hotline to ebay customer support.

In my experience Transformers has always been an area subject to sniping (or at least late bidding) - it simply seems to be that most people who are watching transformers are looking at the 'time ending soonest' list.

S_Windell · Post by **S_Windell** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:41 pm

Savannahtron wrote:Well, I was recently watching an auction on a complete G1 Thrust with box for a buy it now for $45. I could have snagged it up using the Buy it Now, but I got busy and had to get off of the computer. I didn't check it until the next day when the price shot up to $76.

Some knucklehead bid over the buy it now price and jacked up the price by $31, which makes the buyer happy, but honestly was a complete idiotic thing to do.

If you ask me, the knucklehead got what he or she deserved. The "buy it now" price is $45 and they say "no, I'd rather pay more!"? WTF! And did you mean this made the seller happy?

The "buy it now" thing is pretty funny at times, actually, particularly for Transformers. When I was shopping around for a G1 Brawl a few months back, there were several just sitting there at "buy it now" prices with no buyers. But then one would go up with auction, without the "buy it now" option, and tend to go for noticeably more! I'm like, "okay, you guys fight over Brawl at the last minute and maybe end up 'winning' him for fifty bucks" knowing there's a few in similar condition that's been posted for weeks with a "buy it now" price that's considerably less.

The ones that irk me on eBay are the ones that dump everything into the G1 category, when it is not even remotely G1 or even G1 related (such as a reissue), thinking that it will generate a better chance to sell because there are usually more G1 auctions.

That's exactly what I came into this thread to mention! I think they throw the "G1" into those to help generate search hits. (You've always had to be a little more specific than just typing in "transformers," but these days it's particularly bad with the ridiculous amount of movie stuff being sold.) Either that or the seller is a bit ignorant. I don't think anyone would do this to "fool" the buyer. Even a casual TF collector should know better than to think Energon Hotshot is "G1."

RID Scourge wrote:What annoyed me were sellers who would demand payment within three days (I would pay right away with paypal so it aint no thang), but they'd sit on the packages for weeks before sending it.

I understand that folks are busy, but if you demand payment within three days shouldn't you hold yourself to the same timeframe when shipping them? Something comes up, I understand. Just send me an email to let me know there's a delay, but some of these folks take three weeks to ship. No excuse at that point.

Yeah, I freakin' hate that!

borg72 · Post by **borg72** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:22 pm

depending on how savvy a user is (or isn't), people often tend not to look at buy-it-now options. in fact, depending on when you are talking about, and the country site you are using, buy-it-nows dont always show on search results, especially if they're in a 'proffesional' ebay store, unless there are no other/not many results to show in a regular search.

I've more or less stopped using ebay for anything but bigger things anyway, preffering (for now) Etsy.com for hand-made crafty things, and bonanzle.com for permanant listings (as the fees only apply to items that sell)

anyone have any other good online store listings sites?

S_Windell · Post by **S_Windell** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 5:53 pm

Yeah...I'm also looking for an alternative to eBay, so thanks for any heads up, previous and future.

For what it's worth, most things I look for G1-wise generally show up with "buy it now" listings. So I wasn't aware that others may not be finding them as easily.

Though my opinion still stands on this- bidding UP a "buy it now" item is ridiculous in most cases. The only logical reason I can see for doing this is if you're needing to wait for payday or something to purchase the item and are afraid of it being sold before then.

ballsquid · Post by **ballsquid** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:07 pm

it seems the paying more than the buy it now price is just to get stuff cheaper.
Quite often you will find a decent item for a reasonable buy it now or you can bid at 99p. As soon as the first bid is placed the buy it now dissapears. Alot of the time I have seen auctions Im interested in with a question posted at the bottom asking for a buy it now price with a reply saying it did start with one but its gone now.
Should be a way for an auction to go on with the buy it now price staying. That way everyone gets a chance.