eBay Rant...

[BigBassin144]

Over the last couple of years through good timing, patience, and some amount of luck, I've gotten some great deals on tackle on eBay including over 50% retail for a gently used reel and about 48% off retail for another NIB reel. (those who frequent the chat know which two reels I'm referring to ).

But over the past year or so, eBay has become dominated by retailers selling stuff at retail price... It's ridiculous. There's more stuff on sale on eBay for retail prices (or more!) than there are good auctions. Good deals are getting few and far between.

Which leads to me to my complaint about the "Make Offer" button... I've had this happen multiple times. Say a rod retails for $200. The Buy It Now is $200 (plus 20-30 for shipping on a rod!) with a Make Offer option. So, of course, I make a low-ball, laughable offer, expecting the seller to come back with a decent compromise I'd be happy with. 99% of the time, I've gotten a counteroffer of $5 less than the BIN price. (yes, 5 whole dollars off retail). Not enough enough to cover shipping. I just want to ask them why I'd buy it for more than retail with shipping when TW will send it to me for retail with FREE shipping?!

The second item on tonight's Rant Menu is: Why do people bid with 6 days left on the auction. There's about a .0000000001% chance you're going to win the auction, so why in the world bid it up so damn early?! I don't know about you guys, but if something has a starting bid of $50, I don't look at it go, "Hmm... 50 dollars would be a great deal! I think I'll bid on it now with 6 days left and hope I win it!"

And finally, blurry pictures SUCK!!! If you're going to take blurry pictures, please don't tell me I can see the small boat rash in the pics... because I can't! I don't see anything but a blurry blob... I'm sorry, but nowadays, people should know how to use a camera, especially if they're selling stuff. I'm not expecting professional quality photos, but a nice sharp picture isn't that hard. Especially since the camera focuses for you!

I can somewhat understand people not knowing how to take close up pictures since most camera's won't focus close up on their normal settings. But there's always google and a little thing called an OWNER'S MANUAL.



Ok, I'm done with my rant know. Comments? Signatures for a petition to ban retail sales from eBay?! (Like that would EVER happen)...

BB

[bamabassman]

sorry i sent you some blurry pics ant. i'll try to do better, lol. for real man. this is why i don't buy stuff online....well that and lisa won't let me. lol. says i make us broke in a week.

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

sorry i sent you some blurry pics ant. i'll try to do better, lol. for real man. this is why i don't buy stuff online....well that and lisa won't let me. lol. says i make us broke in a week.

haha John, it's cool. in fact, I wish certain pics you've sent me WERE blurry so I didn't have those images in my head!!

BB

[bamabassman]

LOL, YOU SHOULD SEE WAHT MALLEN JUST SENT ME THROUGH MY EMAIL. TALK ABOUT NASTY!!!

most everything i send out comes to me from someone else........HERE. lol. ain'tgonna tell who all it is though. but i send them stuff too so it evens out. hahaha!!

[Jrob78]

Tell us how you really feel!

Ebay can be frustrating, I've had some problems too. I'll take the bad with good though, I've gotten some really great deals on stuff!

[Vegasspider]

Man I do agree with you. There is really no good outlet on the web in my opinion. eBay is just like you said. Retailers selling and others selling cheap import crap etc. etc. The bidders are clueless when bidding just like you said. It’s funny that you mentioned it here. I have been avoiding eBay due to the above reasons no value what so ever and paypal is a total joke. But I was looking at an item yesterday, I just signed on the check it out and someone has it run up past what you can down to the local BP without freight and buy the same thing for less with return privileges! It’s a shame. I have bought everything from a truck to senko rings… The other end of the spectrum is Craigslist. I do find some really good deals on it, but I will never ever try to sell something on it again. You talk about something that brings out the crazies! Craigslist. I do gotta share a quick story about CL. I bought from a mad very recent Xwife 4 brand new GLoomis rods, 4 stradics, 80 misc top brand name cranks for $400 cash. She was so happy but not more than me. The receipt from BP was still in the bag at over $2,000.00. You see what got him in the X status really quick; he was spotted by the wife’s sister buying camo nighties for a pretty little thing that was not he wife!

But for real eBay is not what it used to be. Shame used to be a real treat and talk about full time Monkey disease, in it’s hay day eBay got all of my money.

[bassboogieman]

I buy from ebay - occasionally. I look for "BUY IT NOW" for merchandise NIB or NEW WITH TAGS. I don't buy used off ebay. I have gotten some good deals, but you need to know what you want otherwise go elsewhere. Last thing I purchased was a Pelican Case for my Humminbirds - thanks for the suggestion NFE. I did as I said above - NEW, and BUY IT NOW. I only saved about $30.00 vs. retail, but that was enough for me.

I got burned on some Lucky Craft lures from JAPAN about 18 months ago and since then, NOTHING used from ebay - PICTURES LIE, no guarantees what you see in the picture is what you'll get.

What I hate are the buyers that wait until the last 30 seconds of an auction that steal an item I've been the high bidder on for a solid week. So it's BIN only for me.

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by bassboogieman

What I hate are the buyers that wait until the last 30 seconds of an auction that steal an item I've been the high bidder on for a solid week.

Boogie....what am I going to do with you? NEVER bid on an item before the last second. All it does is serve to run the price up higher for the seller. Wait until 10 seconds left, bid what you are willing to pay, and take your chances. It's the only way to go.

[MallenManson]

Yep. I snipe anything I buy on Ebay, in the last few seconds

[MIbasser]

I guess why rant about it? I don't think ebay is all about giving people deals on products. Yes, some products are cheaper, some are the same price. Some people get burned and some don't. Not everybody out there knows were and when people have sales and what retail is on some products.

[Captmikestarrett]

I dislike it too. The worst is the shills who drive the price up. Then after the bid the seller emails an offer..

Hiding the bidders identity was a mistake.

Capt Mike

[pro reel]

I have and continue to buy lots of items from ebay. I use the heck out of paypal and they have saved me twice now when the item I got was not what was described. Both times the seller refused to refund my money until paypal forced them to. I never put a bid in early unless I won't be able to check it at the close time. I put in a max bid of what i would consider a good deal and slip it in with just a few seconds left. sometimes I get it and sometimes I don't. It makes no sense to me at all to put small bids in early when you know that will cause others to bump it up. I also think it's stupid that so many retailers list the buy it now price higher than actual retail, but I also have done the buy it now several times where i got the item at considerable discount from retail.

[nofearengineer]

I like ebay a lot, obviously, but like BB144, I miss the days before it became largely a retailer storefront.

Having to sort through 90% of retail ads to get to the deals is irritating. And I love the "make an offer" ads where they will only cut $5 off of a $300 item. Why waste my time? Just make it a flat out sale price only.

[rrw4258]

I buy a few fishing items from ebay from time to time... for example...

There was a Quantum Superlite 7' MH rod that ended around noon today... nobody bid on it, so i put in the minimum bid of $80, and don't you know it in the last 3 minutes somebody eles slipped in a bid... when it was all done I ended up paying $123.49 plus shipping for it... oh well it is still a deal over what retail was...

Ryan

[Tavery5]

I just use the provided tools to filter the results of my search to meet my specs. It's not hard to create a filtered search that removes 90% of what you don't want to see.

[nova385]

I'm with you guys ebay has turned for the worst. I used to flip older cars, ebay was one of the best places to get hard to find part. But now the prices of the cars and parts make not worth doing anymore. Humm... sold my car (71 z28) got a bass boat and started fishing.