any ebay experts out there?

[Maz]

Any old scumbag can establish a good feedback record....

You said it!

 

[ColinJ]

As mentioned earlier, the trouble with PayPal is that they are pretty unaccountable for their actions - they are not a bank! PayPal have been known to freeze accounts with thousands of pounds in. Take a look at some of the horror stories at paypalsucks.com !

Aaargh - all of this has got me worried since I'm currently attempting to buy a laptop on eBay! I spotted one last week that I fancied but the seller only had feedback of 4, 3 of which transactions were purchases. I emailed him and said that I wasn't happy sending hundreds of pounds to him. My sister only lives 8 miles from him so I asked if she could pay cash and pick it up. He wouldn't agree to that so I decided not to bid. The annoying thing is that I think he was genuine, and the laptop went for £40 less than I was prepared to pay.

I'm watching another laptop auction which closes at 19:00 today and might bid on that.

Hmm, thinking of what davidwalton said about buying/selling via forums... it's a long shot but does anyone reading this happen to have a Dell D420 or D430 (or equivalent ultra-portable laptop) for sale? If so, let me know ASAP (before 17:00 today, 12th March) and I might make you an offer for it .

 

[Maz]

@colinJ...if paypal puts you off, look for an auction with cash/cheque as payment option...plus a seller with a healthy feedback count etc.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm watching another laptop auction which closes at 19:00 today and might bid on that.

Absolute bastard botheration !

With a few minutes to go, the bid on the laptop had only gone up by £10 so I decided to grab it. I typed in my offer and clicked the Place Bid button.

Huh A page popped up to remind me that I hadn't logged in, so I typed in my eBay username/password and at that exact moment my sister phoned me. I knew it was likely to be a long chat, so I powered down the PC, knowing that I'd probably win the auction, having bid £90 over the current offer .

I finished the call and went back online only to discover that the machine went to someone else for £41 under my offer - I'd forgotten to go back and bid again after logging in - aaaargh !

 

[dangerousjules]

silly billy!

 

[ColinJ]

I'm not having much luck - so here's another question for the eBay experts!

I saw yet another laptop that I liked the look of. BuyerX had offered £X pounds but I decided that I was prepared to pay £(X+20) for it. The next acceptable bid was £(X+10). I thought that I'd be clever and offer £(X+21) in case someone else had set their maximum bid to £(X+20). That didn't work - the auction went to someone else for £(X+20).

I assume that the eBay software ramped up the price £10 at a time and since my bid wasn't enough to reach the next multiple of £10, the auction went against me because my £(X+20) bid was made after the other bidder's?

If the item had been a very expensive one with a bid increment of (say) £100, a £(X+100) bid at 23:00:00 would beat a £(X+199.99) bid at 23:00:01. If that is how eBay works, it is crazy !

PS Hmm... I just had another thought. It wasn't a normal auction, it was a Buy It Now or Best Offer. I only have a feedback score of 7. Perhaps the other guy had a much more reassuring score? It would make sense to give up the extra £1 for that. I'll try offering an extra £5 next time.

 

[rich p]

Bleedin' hell Colin, why don't you go and get one on 0% finance from PC World and stop wasting your life on ebay

 

[abchandler]

I'm not having much luck - so here's another question for the eBay experts!

I saw yet another laptop that I liked the look of. BuyerX had offered £X pounds but I decided that I was prepared to pay £(X+20) for it. The next acceptable bid was £(X+10). I thought that I'd be clever and offer £(X+21) in case someone else had set their maximum bid to £(X+20). That didn't work - the auction went to someone else for £(X+20).

A standard auction would have gone to you if Buyer X had a max bid of X+20 and you offered X+21. The page after you confirm your bid should have told you whether you were the current highest bidder or not. If it was the best offer scenario, it may be up to the seller to go for someone else with a lower bid. Not sure

 

[ColinJ]

Bleedin' hell Colin, why don't you go and get one on 0% finance from PC World and stop wasting your life on ebay

I'd love to. At the moment I do feel as though I'm wasting my life away on eBay (and elsewhere) trying to save money. Unfortunately, until I actually get my fledgling online games business online I have an income of £0 and can't afford to buy new stuff! I suppose I should start thinking like a businessman and put a price on my time. If I did, I'd realise that not buying these damn laptops has already cost me hundreds of pounds .

The laptop is going to be a present from my mother so I want to keep the price as low as I can. I could buy a really cheap new laptop on my budget, but then it would be so big and heavy that I'd never take it anywhere so there wouldn't be any point in owning it. I already have a perfectly functional tower PC.

I tell you one thing - I'm looking forward to the day when I'm able to spend money again without worrying about it...

 

[Globalti]

Can you post the potential buyer's words on here? If he's Nigerian the syntax will be unmistakeable.

If he is Nigerian, avoid it like the plague. Rolex watches are exactly the kind of thing that turns them on. This escrow request stinks to high heaven.

 

[ColinJ]

Can you post the potential buyer's words on here? If he's Nigerian the syntax will be unmistakeable.

If he is Nigerian, avoid it like the plague. Rolex watches are exactly the kind of thing that turns them on. This escrow request stinks to high heaven.

That reminds me - sorry for hijacking the thread !

 

[ColinJ]

Bleedin' hell Colin, why don't you go and get one on 0% finance from PC World and stop wasting your life on ebay

Well, I've finally bought one! I was outbid on another laptop last Tuesday but then got an email from eBay saying that the auction had been declared null and void due to a fraudulent winning bid***.

I got in quick and emailed the vendor before he relisted the laptop. We agreed a private sale £10 below what I'd previously offered. He was kind enough to drive from Birmingham to deliver it to me in Coventry so I gave him the original £20 p&p to cover fuel and hassle.

The laptop was still in its original packing and had only been booted once to check that it was working. I've just been on the Dell website to check their price - I paid less than 50% of that and I've got an as-new machine in perfect condition - whoopee!

*** A guy in the USA had hijacked a UK eBayer's PayPal details in a 'Phishing' scam and was trying to pay for the laptop using that account.

 

[Trillian]

How so? Surely if it shows as cleared, then it's cleared. What changes between it showing as cleared and it going back to the sender?
Not that I would accept an international bank transfer anyway, I'm just curious.

cheques normally take a week to clear, so after a week it shows up in your account as normal

however the international banking stuff takes over 14 days to clear, during which time it can be canceled / fail to clear and the money disappears from your account again and you often get charged for it.