Tuesday, March 30, 2010

When I Buy on eBay...

... I have much trouble finding items due to eBay's poor search experience. If eBay would just leave the search alone and let us sort it how we want, we could find items. On a positive note, the poor search experience has opened up a huge world of bargains.

... some sellers package poorly, but most sellers package adequately.
On Thursday I received a smashed box that had soft cardboard and should not have been used. However, the books were secure in bubble wrap, and newspaper surrounded the wrapped books. While not pretty, I had no problem with the packaging.

... some sellers overcharge for postage, but I avoid those sellers unless the total cost is acceptable. Sometimes I do get burned when sellers are incapable of understanding how to send a combined invoice and how to refund the extra charges. In those cases, I do end up paying too much and can do nothing about it.

... some sellers describe their items very badly, but that is where I get bargains. Most of the time, these transactions end well due to the low cost. Sometimes I take risks and get burned, but that is my fault.

I know some of you have gotten the idea that a disproportionately high number of my eBay purchases end badly. This is simply not true.

The vast majority of my eBay purchases end well. Probably more than 90% of my purchases end well. I only mention the few scattered bad ones. If my problems seem like too many, it is because I buy a lot on eBay. Since I buy a lot, I see more problems than people who buy very little.

1 comment:

beautifulshell said...

You buy more on eBay than I do, but I have to say, over the last few months, I've had a particularly good string of sellers. Almost all have been very responsive, decent at packaging, and otherwise made the whole thing a good experience. Knock wood; I hope this continues.