Things I hate about eBay

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:13 am

I hate it when I discover an item I'm really looking for is actually just the manual for that item. See:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/1530-Datasette-Unit- ... dZViewItem

I also hate it when people snipe your bid, when there is plenty more of the exact same thing they could've bid on. It doesn't bother me that they won, because I know they're paying too much...it's just the fact that we both could've got what we wanted and both got a good deal if they weren't so bent on turning it into a pissing contest.

Then I hate things that are just plain wrong:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Commodore-printer-da ... dZViewItem

Post by **Jeff-20** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:48 am

so very very wrong!

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:06 pm

Wrong yes, but not a bad price for an IEEE cable with pass-through.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:15 pm

$7 for the 1530 manual? Hahaha, someone is trying to be fun or grossly overcharge. It should be one of the most common - and useless - manuals out there, maybe worth $1 plus postage.

$6 for a short length of IEEE cable is decent though. As far as I know, the CBM 8032-SK is the only CBM/PET computer with an IEEE interface that has this connector natively. All the others use card-edge connectors, so if you need a cable from computer to drive, this cable is not for you. It would be good to daisy chain two IEEE units though.

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:28 pm

Another thing I hate: Sellers with bad attitudes. I find item number 140075391611:

I used the "Put in an offer" that used to be there, and made what I thought was a reasonable offer. He came back with a counter-offer and lowered the price only a couple of dollars. I responded that I couldn't go much higher unless he was able to provide me with a decent picture or accurate description of the actual Datasettes inside the boxes; for all I know, they could be missing the door, buttons, or who knows what after all these years. His ad doesn't even mention their condition. His reply?

Look, there was a mistake in the ad, I dont take offers on $24 items. The ad has been corrected. I also dont answer questions. Find a nother ebay seller that advertises the service that you want.

This kind of response makes me very wary in spite of his positive feedbacks.

Thank goodness for Denial members.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:20 pm

He doesn't answer questions? What kind of a thing is that to say? He's a jerk. I looked at some of his items and he is selling 64s for $125. I can't figure out how these people get away with that. Do they keep relisting them until they find a sucker? I see auctions with those kinds of prices far too often to write them off as unknowledgeable sellers. There has to be reason.

ssjlance · Post by **ssjlance** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:37 pm

eBay is awesome on a good day. But it sucks eggs when you're looking for something rare or in hifg demand (i.e. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!!, Final Fantasy VII, Earthbound, etc.).

And idiots are the bane of my existance:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Nintendo-Virtual-Bo ... dZViewItem
VB's may be uncommon, but that's just a rip-off.

Centallica · Post by **Centallica** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:38 pm

I have a extra C2N owners manual to go with the drive if you make it up here to the retro nite or if the topic is of interest at TPUG I can bring it there for you as well...of course member price...free

Brian

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:10 pm

DigitalQuirk wrote:I hate it when I discover an item I'm really looking for is actually just the manual for that item. See:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/1530-Datasette-Unit- ... dZViewItem

I also hate it when people snipe your bid, when there is plenty more of the exact same thing they could've bid on. It doesn't bother me that they won, because I know they're paying too much...it's just the fact that we both could've got what we wanted and both got a good deal if they weren't so bent on turning it into a pissing contest.

Then I hate things that are just plain wrong:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Commodore-printer-da ... dZViewItem

Well, I got a feel for this kind of thing...
When I bought the Rabbit cart recently, at the time I placed my bid, the cost was about 5$... I felt unsafe so I set my max bid to 99$

Good thing I did...it jumped to about 60$ in just the last 4 minutes...

This sniper hit a big brick wall... I REALLY wanted this one...

Post by **Jeff-20** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 1:47 am

Look, there was a mistake in the ad, I dont take offers on $24 items. The ad has been corrected. I also dont answer questions. Find a nother ebay seller that advertises the service that you want.

Want to have some fun? Edit to get rid of the link (so he won't track you here). Then we can all ask him really stupid questions about the tape drives! I mean tons of questions:

"Does it play music too?"
"Is that 8 track or beta tapes?"
"Is there something inside the box or just the box?"
"Can you lower the buy-it-now price by 50 cents?"

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:01 am

I've seen both boxed and loose 1530's go for higher and lower amounts (not considering unsold units when the seller asks too much). Just like everyone else keep saying; online auctions are like playing the roulette. Some days you may win, some days you will lose. Some days you will put all your money on double zero and grab the whole pot alone.

Swedish auction site Tradera is about to change their fees, so in particular unsold items with high starting bids will become more expensive to advertise. This move splits the sellers into two fractions; those who think it is outrageous to charge more money from items that are not selling and those who'd like Tradera to charge even more to weed out all the garbage and luck seekers who flood the auction site with overpriced items nobody wants, and keep repeating them week after week for years.

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 3:39 pm

I don't know how he could track it to here, but I edited my message and put in the item number instead; so go ahead and have some fun.

P.S.: I did send him one last message thanking him for his response and advised that I would share my experience with him with the rest of the Commodore community, so he may be expecting some "Dumb" questions because of me. Not that I care.

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:20 pm

Then there's people who charge way too much for shipping and refuse local pickups. I won't even bother to place a bid on their items, even if it's something I want, even if my winning bid would be 99 cents. I don't mind paying a little extra for packaging, but some of these people are charging three or four times the actual cost of shipping which is quite shameful. I paid less money to get a Pentax 35mm camera shipped up from the United States (excluding customs) than what this guy would charge me for a little book a mere 20 minute drive away:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Commodore-64-128-Bo ... dZViewItem

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:46 pm

Yeah, when people refuse local pick-ups you know something is up. Sellers charge super high shipping in some cases because they are trying to make money off shipping (which Ebay does not take a percentage of) rather than the item, which they sell for low (so Ebay can't take much).

Then there's stuff like this: a couple VIC cartridges with some "controllers" thrown in. In this case they look totally non-VIC related (A SNES compatible controller and an Apple II or PC controller).

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Vintage-Commodore-Vi ... dZViewItem

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:13 pm

If a person refuses local pickup and they're charging an exorbitant amount for shipping as a way to proft take (in violation of eBay's rule) then report them. I doubt eBay will do anything because they're hypocrites (they favor the person who is directly lining their pockets meaning the seller) but it can't hurt.

The best thing to do is avoid eBay completely. Unfortunately, that's a very difficult thing to do particularly if your interest runs to the obscure.

Things I hate about eBay

Things I hate about eBay

Re: Things I hate about eBay