Jump to content

Getting the best off eBay and HC Classifieds


allan grossman

Recommended Posts

  • Members

1. Always keep all copies of email exchange - from the first ebay bid confrimation notice to the last email when you inform the seller that you have received the package. Keep those copies for another couple of weeks after the transaction is completed, in case the product gone defective after a short while.

 

2. If you're buying a combo amp or a cab, always ask if the speakers had been driven hard or been replaced. Wouldn't hurt to ask what other gears were used in conjuction with the amp or the cab.

 

3. If you're buying a used tube amp or preamp, ask how old the tubes are and their brand.

 

4. When buying a used fretless bass, always ask for the condtion of the fingerboard, or even some close up photos at various location of the fretboard to inspect for any wear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Originally posted by willsellout

Vote your maximum amount in the beginning. Don't get in a bidding war. If someone wants it more than you and is willing to pay more than you, let them have it. Otherwise you will get in a bidding war and end up paying way too much for something.


Dan

 

 

I agree, but with some modification.

You probably don't want to bid your maximum amount when the auction just started and you're the first or second bidder. Because there's always someone who'll come in later and bid a few more bucks then yours. Then you may get yourself into a bidding war again.

 

I think you should bid your maximum at any point after the auction have only 1-2 days left. Just a suggestion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It's like you're winning an auction, and at the last possible seconds before it ends, someone outbid you by a few bucks, or whatever the minimal incremental amount the auction was set to be. So you lost the auction, sometimes could even be only by a difference of a few cents!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Sniping programs post your maximum bid amount within a few seconds of the end of the auction. They'll basically guarantee that you get the item as long as you're willing to pay more than the other people. If on the other hand you don't bid high enough, you won't have time to re-bid after it's placed.

 

Be careful going higher than you usually would when sniping; I've seen two sniped bids hit at the same time, and neither person was willing to bid that amount; they bid a ridiculously high amount thinking no one else would get that high. Kinda funny.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

also, you should email the seller before bidding on anything. Ask him a few questions about the gear, the shipping, etc. just to sound him out.

 

Judge him on his response, if he sounds unprofessional and apathetic, he probably is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

what I do.

 

1)know the max amount you can/will spend

2) bid it with about 10 seconds to go. More than likely you'll win. may get for a fair bit cheaper than your max bid - but may not - so make sure it's a realistically affordable bid

3)I NEVER bid early. this just needlessly bumps up the price and lets others know there's competition for an item.

 

The drawback with bidding this late is if you don't have good computer access, you often miss out on great things. But just as good will come up again more often than not. It's no bust if you miss out on a "must have" item. Often it can be a good thing as you have a bit of a rush of blood etc. and weren't hinking entirely rationally. :)

 

lastly - think outside the box. I've won a couple of auctions by contacting the seller and I didn't bid at all. In one case there was no bidder, in the other there were heaps, but reserve wasn't met (JUST, as it turned out). Don't be afraid to contact someone if you miss an auction and really want an item. If you offer a bit more than the highest bidder and the seller has very little feedback - he may well sell to you, even though there was a legit high bidder. He won't care about the resulting negative feedback from the buyer, as he can just start a new moniker. Note I've never done this last thing. It could work - I don't see why it wouldn't, but I've never been i that situation.

 

Good luck!

 

"franticbid" :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I agree with willsellout- whether you want to bid early or wait until the last minute, be sure you've decided on a maximum amount you're willing to pay. Always know that before you bid.

 

Ask the seller questions. If you're going to be buying something that's gonna cost a few hundred bucks or more, you have every right to ask as many questions as you like. You can tell a lot about a seller by how (and sometimes if) they respond.

 

Look for hidden damage. If the pics don't show something and the seller skirts around the issue when you ask, chances are something's awry.

 

Joe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Originally posted by Voss451

Yeah, ALWAYS check the feedback first. If they only have one or 2, it could be dicey..

 

 

but also remember...everyone has to start somewhere. if nobody bought or sold to eBay-ers with low feedback numbers, where would we all be?

 

my personal philosophy is to take into account both quantity and quality of feedback...but that's just me and what do i know???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • Members

I just saw this on Bassgear, and I thought it wouldn't hurt to give everyone selling a gear a friendly reminder about this.

 

FOR SALE: HEY MICHEAL JOE,WE'RE ON TO YOU!!!

Posted: : 01/11/2003

Category: Basses

Condition: Brand New

Age: Months

Asking Price: $

 

The following is an email I recieved from 'Micheal Joe":

"Thanks for the reply,i will take the offer and i will like to let you know i will be aoying in a cashier's check as soon as possible but i will need your full name and address with phone number so that i can foward it to my client in the states to issue you a check of $5000.

I know the money is more,but i will want you to do me a favour by sending the remaining balance via western union for i will need it to pay my international shipping agent who will come and pick it up as soon as payment is made.

You do not have to worry about the shipping,my shipping agent will come for it including the papper work.

I will be waiting for your reply.

Regards Micheal"

 

To which I replied:"Great,I need your shipping address .But I need you to pay with Paypal.You can do that right?"

 

And he replied:"I am sorry cause my client has already written out the cashier's check and he waits for your address which i will have to foward to him so as to send the cashier's check to you."

 

WATCH OUT!!!,HEY MICHEAL JOE,WE'RE ON TO YOU!!!

 

 

FULL NAME: Xxxxx Xxxxxxx

PHONE:

CITY, STATE: xxxxxxx,xx.

EMAIL: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.com

 

For those of you aren't familiar with this, it's an interpretation of the 419 scam that's being going on. If you want to learn more, do a Google search on "Nigeria, "Scam" and "419".

 

Also, don't forget the deal with credit card purchases from Indonesia. This is another scam that's being used a lot on Ebay, where people buy stuff from you using a stolen credit card. Recently, as well, there have been a number of auctions on Ebay selling goods that were simply a photo that the seller had ripped off from another site, and then created an auction based on that photo!

 

I don't want to say that everything coming from these countries is dodgy, but I want to remind you all to be careful in dealing with anyone on the internet - the majority are okay, but there's always some scumbag willing to spoil the party for their own profit.

 

I'm going to sticky this for a day or so, just to let people see it, then I'll move it over to FAQ.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

bassausie, I get these at my place of work all the time:

 

DR.FRANK.F.BAMAWO

FOREIGN LIAISON OFFICE

NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION (NNPC)

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS.

 

URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL.

Dear sir,

I am an accountant with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and, also a member of the Contract Review committee. Presently, I'm on a special diplomatic duty in the Nigeria foreign office in Amsterdam,the Netherlands. A contract for the construction and laying of oil pipelines network from Warri-Port-Harcourt-Kaduna.has been awarded to a local firm and, this contract was over invoiced to the tune of Nine Million,Six Hundred Thousand United State Dollars (US$9. 6Million).

 

The over invoicing was a deal by my committee to benefit from the project, and now the local contractor have been fully paid but, the over invoiced amount is still floating in one of the offshore banks of Central Bank of Nigeria in Canada .We now desire to transfer this money which is presently in a suspense account of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) into any overseas account which we expect you to provide for us, if you are capable and able.

For providing, the account where we shall remit the money,you will be entitled to 20% of the money,70% will be for myself and my partners,the remaining 10% will be set aside to settle all expenses incurred by both parties.

I would require the following;

1.Bank name and Address

2.Name of Beneficiary

3 Company Name and Address

4. Account Number.

5. Confidential Telephone and Fax number of Beneficiary.

 

The above information would be used to make formal applications to the appropriate government parastatals such as the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a matter of procedure for the release of the money and onward transfer to the nominated account you would provide. In as much as , we are doing a deal, we would like to comply with all laid down procedures for transfer and contract of this nature. It does not matter whether or not your company did this contract or not. The assumption is that your company was awarded the major contract and subcontracted it out to the local company. We have strong and reliable connections and contacts at the Apex Bank and the Federal Ministry of Finance All we need is a trust worthy foreign partner to assist us in this mutual/beneficial deal.

 

Therefore, when the business is successfully concluded,we shall through our same connections withdraw all documents used from all the concerned Government Ministries for 100%security.We are civil servants and we do not want this opportunity to miss us, as opportunity loss can never be regained

Please contact me immediately through my above telephone or e-mail address,whether or not you are interested in this deal. If you are not,it will enable me scout for another foreign partner to carry out this deal.But where you are interested, send the required document aforementioned herein without delay,as time is of great essence in this deal.

I await your anticipated co-operation and response.

Best Regards

DR.FRANK BAMAWO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That's interesting. There were two news stories at the radio station I work at regarding that same thing. Someone from Africa would contact a buyer and offer to pay more than what the seller was asking. They'd then send a cashier's check for the amount... but it was always be caught at the bank 'cause it was forged. One sale was for a motorcycle and the other was for some other big ticket item.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I watched a whole special on those scams on TLC, it was very interesting. They send millions of emails and official looking letters to the US, hoping someone will take the bait. Victims have lost thousands and sometimes millions in this scam. Nowadays, the snail mail version is rare because the post office is trained to chuck them away, but the email version runs rampant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I've bought and sold a bunch of stuff on Ebay. I never sell to anyone outside the USA and after being ripped off by a Brazilian living in Canada will never buy anything out of the USA either.

 

The Brazilian was the brother of a well known Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and was selling duped videos of BJJ matches and BJJ instruction tapes. He didn't bother to mention that they were dupes. He "honored" many of his auctions and send the tapes people had won, then one week put up about 50 auctions, collected everyone's money and didn't send a thing. I contacted winners from his other auctions after he failed to send my tapes and found almost 40 other people who never received theirs either. We all filed complaints with Ebay and filled out the complaint form online with the FBI. Even though I had the names, addresses, phone numbers and auction info from everyone else, when I called the FBI to follow up I was essentially told that it really wasn't worth the time, money and effort for them to pursue a case against soemone out of the country. Excuse me??

 

I only accept verified paypal addresses, Cashier's Check or US Postal Money Orders. It's a damn shame that honest people are forced to be dicks to potential bidders because of cons and rippoff artists and our legal systems unwillingness to do anything about them- except for the high profile cases.

 

I just sold my motorcycle on Ebay. Bidder had verified Paypal accout which he used to send a deposit. He'll meet me with the balance in cash Tuesday and you can bet I'll be looking at it closely!

 

Ok, my rant has ended.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • Members

I've seen a few auctions lately that say that you're paying for the seller's fee, and if you use paypal, you have to pay extra for that transfer fee as well, like in:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3006194673&category=20390

 

Can anyone remember what the rules are? I can't seem to find them anywhere. I'm just curious if it's allowed, or if these people are just being pricks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

You can't pass PayPal or eBay fees to the buyer - it's against eBay rules.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-list.html

 

"Payment Surcharges

Sellers may not charge eBay buyers an additional fee for their use of ordinary forms of payment, including acceptance of checks, money orders, electronic transfers or credit cards. Such costs should be built into the price of the item -- this policy reduces the potential for confusion among bidders about the true cost of an item. Further, some forms of payment surcharges, such as credit card surcharges, are forbidden under the laws of many states, including California.

 

Can a seller add a surcharge to the final price of an eBay item? Yes, in three instances.

 

Sellers may charge reasonable shipping and handling fee to the final price of their item, providing that this fee is disclosed up front in the listing. A shipping and handling fee can cover the seller's reasonable costs for mailing, packaging and handling the item. Shipping and handling fees cannot be listed as a percentage of the final sale price.

 

Sellers may pass along the costs associated with using a third party escrow service, if the buyer chooses to use an escrow service.

 

Sellers may choose to accept payment in a different currency than the currency listed on eBay. If the buyer chooses to take advantage of this optional payment method, the seller may pass along to the buyer any costs associated with the currency exchange, provided that the costs are disclosed and agreed to in advance by the buyer.

 

Please note that some types of payment surcharges are permitted on some of eBay's international sites."

 

It's also against PayPal rules.

 

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/policy_payments-outside

 

"No Surcharges. Under Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express regulations and the laws of several states, including California, merchants may not charge a fee to the buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called a "surcharge"). You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as payment. This restriction does not prevent you from imposing a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words, the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment methods). Nor does this restriction apply to Pound-denominated transactions by sellers residing in the United Kingdom listing items for sale on a UK-based website."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • Members

I get about 2 or 3 requests a month from people asking me to help them track down someone who has ripped them off on a transaction on eBay, HC, Bassgear, etc. I'm more than happy to help out, but the one thing I have noticed is that a lot of people don't protect themselves as much as they could. Here's a little checklist to go through that I posted over on the Dudepit that can help you guys avoid a lot of grief when doing a deal with someone you don't know.

 

In the future, I hope everyone here checks out people before they do business with them. A lot of you guys here buy and sell a lot of gear, and if you know the person...great. But if not make sure you get a home phone# a work phone # a cell phone# home address etc. check out the info too. Call the person. If you think they gave you a cell# as a home or work # - check it out here:

www.fonefinder.net/

 

It will tell you if it's a land line or a cell and what city it goes to.

 

Reverse the phone#s and addresses they gave you to see where they go. Argali is really good for this. You can also reverse the address.

 

Just go to www.argali.com and download their program.

 

If you think the address is a mail drop you can check that out as well at http://www.finaid.com/scholarships/maildropsearch.phtml

 

If you want to find out who owns the address they give you to send payment to you can also go to

http://www.netronline.com/public_records.htm

 

Select the state and county of the address. A lot of them have online databases, but you can call the tax assessor as well and find out who owns that property.

 

These are just a few of the free online resouces you can use to protect yourself and verify the information the seller gives you is accurate.

 

Ask for references from other people they have done business with. If I'm shelling out $100 for an effect pedal or $3000 for a bass, I want to know if the person is honest or not,

 

Make sure the info they give you checks out before you give up any of your hard earned cash. An honest seller won't be offended in the least when you ask them for this info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...