eBay Almighty
I've been a member of eBay since Jan of '99 and have seen many changes from both a buyer's and a seller's perspective. I have a 643 feedback rating, 100% positive. I should have many, many more "points" than that, but a lot of my selling was during a period in which I could only get 1 feedback points from customers that bought several items separately. Oh, well.
I haven't "had it" with eBay quite yet, but eBay is so concerned with the purchasers of items that they have made it damn near impossible to deal with deadbeat buyers. I have a fellow right now that has been promising to pay for an item for three months (5 days is typical response time) and all I can do is attempt to get my auction fees back. Time was, I could leave someone like that negative feedback to let the rest of the 99.9% of folks trying to to decent business on the site know what they are dealing with.
I have another fellow who bought a radio and will not respond to any inquiry, eMail, telephone or in writing. These buyers need to be dinged with negative feedback.
As a seller, I need to be dinged with negative feedback when I screw up. It's only human. People are not perfect and should be corrected or admonished when they stray from the straight and narrow.
USE and check the eBay feedback system. It's no longer as relevant as it used to be, but read the feedbacks and, as stated by many others, CONTACT the parties at the other end of the transaction PRIOR to auction end if you are in doubt about anything. And I do mean anything. Expected shipment times, shipment prices, shipment method, country of origin, legality of merchandise. Ask them to hook the thing up and see if it at least lights up. If they refuse to answer the most basic of questions or perform the most basic of tests, refuse to purchase the item. No one is holding a gun to your head (or a fire to your wallet) making you buy that thing!
I guarantee my stuff on eBay "NO DOA", but no other guarantee besides that is expressed or implied. I describe the item THOROUGHLY in the auction ad and include in-focus photos. Others should do the same. Oh, and I should mention I am NOT a business. Just an individual trying to make an honest buck or two.
My favorite threatening email was from a fellow who hooked a power amp up backwards that he bought from me, destroying both his radio and the amplifier. This incident prompted the disclaimer that is at the bottom of all my auction ads:
/rant on: I do not sell defective merchandise. Not even for repair/parts purposes. I learned my lesson on this long, long, ago. I test every piece of electronics that leaves my possession BEFORE it leaves my possession. If it doesn't "work as intended", then I just don't sell it. HOWEVER, there is/this is no guarantee that the product will work for YOUR intended purpose or that it will work with or work in your equipment. This merchandise may not exactly suit your needs. RETURNS are accepted ONLY if I have grossly and negligently misrepresented the product. If I put something like "radio puts out 45 watts nominally" in an ad and your measurement equipment only "sees" 44 watts, this IS NOT reason for product return. If you hook up a radio power amplifier "backwards" and blow up both the amplifier and the radio, this is not a reason for product return. In addition, I will not assist you in fraudulent insurance claims against any shipper/carrier. I will not over-insure a product, and in any request for insurance, I will be the sole determiner of what the merchandise is worth. In plain English this means don't ask for $350 dollars worth of insurance on an item that is only worth $75 and then attempt to bilk the USPS out of $350 when the item miraculously arrives in your possession "broken". /rant off
It never ceases to amaze me what some folks will do for a few bucks.
