Do you "eBay"?

I've only bought something on eBay once.. some laser pointers.

My cousin, on the other hand, bought a Compaq 24 port 10/100 switch for around $150. Very kuel!

Our goal is to fill it up at one of his LAN parties. The most we've done is 10 ports. It's soo disappointing when half of the invatation list doesn't show up...

I'm not too keen of eBay. A lot of the handed-down stuff doesn't interest me. Perhaps since I don't usually have money floating around to spend on neat things, nor my own credit card, I'd just assume save up and buy whatever it is new.

I have before - about a year ago. It's good for stuff that you can't find anywhere else - really obscure and unique things. I bought a CD that's no longer being produced for example (Rock N Roll High School soundtrack). Sometimes I can't beleive the junk that people try to sell on there though.

I made some money out of it last year.

I just bought a bunch of neat things,
polished them up a bit
and resold them for at least twice the money.

Items with pictures just sell much better ....

Otherwise I think most of the items are totally overpriced.

When I was looking for a webcam last year,
the cheapest on on eBay was around $30, I got two of them in a local shop for $20.
Some people just want to be stupid.

just my $.02

anti

I have used it quite a bit. If you are pretty saavy and don't get caught up in the auction frenzy you can make money. I worked for a company that used ebay quite a bit. We would most of the time get more for an item on ebay than what we sold it for on our website.

To be a successful buyer, you have to be patient. I have seen the same items close hours apart and one going for double the other one. So if you determine what you are willing to pay for an item beforehand and just wait it out, you can usually get a deal. Oh, and don't be like the rest of the idiots. There is no way that I will ever bid on an auction until about 5min before it is scheduled to end. A lot of other people do this too, so make sure you stick to your set price limit. Even if you miss out and are not the winning bidder, you can sometimes contact the seller and he will sell to you at the final auction price. Contrary to popular belief there is some really good stuff on ebay.

That's the best way to use it, if you can. I have a fair amount of time at school where I can surf the web (we have computers in some of our lecture halls) so I usually will surf around eBay and some times TWF Of course I pay attention to the professors at all times!

I've gotten some really cool deals over the years. I've bought a fair amount of DVD's and VHS tapes, computer parts, military surplus, electronics, etc. I usually add anything I'm interested in to my watch list and then watch bidding on the item. Once it goes over my "set price" I delete it from the watch list. If the item is still a good deal I'll usually bid right before the auction closes. I've gotten some DVD's for ridiculous prices this way.

eBay is great for items you can't buy locally. For example I was able to get some Simpson episodes that are only available on tape in Asia through eBay. Tons of fun!

I confess, I'm an Ebay addict.

But I can buy new things on Ebay, and together with our poor exchange rate (40c in the US $) + shipping can still get it cheaper than here (we also have 12.5% tax)

A friend of mine in NZ, teamed up with a friend of his in USA and they make a living on Ebay, the guy in NZ buys the stuff, has the stuff sent to his friend, his friend tidies it (if needed), then they repost it on ebay making money on each item.

but as they others have said, you can get some real junk on there.

I only buy things under $10 US, I take a chance each time I buy but its a risk that can pay off.

Good luck to all that venture that way.

Been selling some stuff from my E-tail site on Ebay but have cut back. They got waaaaaaaay to expensive to sell on, very strictive as to how you can conduct business, and the prices listed for most of the items I sell are just too low for it to be break even much less profitable, especially when the listing fees are factored in.

I just use e-bay once in a while when I want something cheap. I am thinking of buying some DVD's on there.

You have to know your stuff for eBay to work to your advantage. I only buy discontinued DVD's (right now I'm trying to pick up the Marx Brothers collection which is no longer in production for some reason) or bid on DVD's at the last minute. I don't see the point of spending $7 on a used or new DVD + $5 on shipping when you can go to the store and buy it for $12-16. It just doesn't pay off when you add the amount of time it takes to win a bid.

I've seen people spend $20 on a DVD + shipping, when I paid $11.95 for it at a retail or on-line store. I've also gotten some super good deals on DVD's on eBay. It's always a different story!

Hi, I'd LOVE to use ebay, but I can't.

paypal rejected me cause i took too long to respond to the signup thingy, and so they banned my only credit card, and I don't have a checkings account, so I can't use Billpoint.

Most of the stuff I buy on Ebay has been OK but I totally agree that you have to be careful. I've often seen people paying new prices for used stuff.

I've used e-bay a few times and have bought alot of vinyl LP's off of it. The Clash - London Calling and Combat Rock, Ramones, Screeching Weasel and a Rare Sex Pistols LP. E-bay is the best place if you're looking for rare stuff.

Cheers
PUNKK

Cool. I know a bunch of die hard LP fans that use eBay religiously. One of them spent $2600 on it last month LOL

It's fun if you ever have a little extra time on your hands. I bought some Bianchi AccuMold duty gear last night. Got about $160 worth of accessories for about $65.00. All brand new.

(p.s. just bought my new Sony notebook - decided on a cheaper smaller SR33 model).

I see a lot of star trek dvds being sold on ebay. Is there a web site that sells them at wholesale? I would like to get into this.

Thanks

I have bought a few things...all t-shirts of bands i like...deftones = 3.49(GBP), metallica = 4.99 (US), etc...brand new

I have sold stuff too: CDs, computers, software, monitors, mice...

Its a good little junk outlet

a m8 of mine bought a the flash bible from ebay and it took ages to get to him in South Africa.. anywayz what are the costs involved with selling and buying on ebay..?

are there ppl that seriously make a living from ebay? IN$ANE!

what about buying more expensive items... like laptops or turntables?

I've been doing a lot more on there since this thread was originally started. I've had mostly good expereinces, although one seller tried to grossly overcharge me for shipping (I mean, triple the actual shipping cost!). It's sometimes a hassle being in Canada. The default "ship to" option on ebay.com is "Will ship to United States only". In reality most people don't have a problem shipping to other countries but for some reason they don't bother to change that setting. I'm always having to e-mail sellers asking if they'll ship to me. And, like I said, some of them like to overcharge you for it.

As a seller, it can be really interesting to see what things sell for. I've had things get a lot more than I expected and a lot less than I expected.

ebays fee page - http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

[self promotion] Anyone interested in helping test an auction site - My project[/end self promotion]

I've never used ebay, though I did go on over to the site to check it out. Matter of fact I dont think I've ever bought anything used, always sorta bothered me not knowing where it had been and all.

It's a shame you feel you have to do that. More that eBay doesn't take care to address these issues.

Of course the only negative feedback we rec'd was from a seller in the US who was promising "new in the box" and shipping opened, BROKEN items out of country. When contacted, the buyers would have to pay shipping twice to have the item fixed (though he apparently refunded people who lived closer) and when called on it, gives negative feedback to the buyers. My husband chose not to pour money into the problem and fixed it himself, but left negative feedback, only to get ranting on our account from the seller.

Other buyers have contacted my husband and there is a group of people bringing the issue to eBay to deal with the false negative feedback from this seller.

Good thing we don't let that taint who we buy from!

Nice conversation here,

here is a good web site for people who sell on ebay, wholesalers, dropshippers, etc..

http://www.ezgoo.com

Hope it wouldnt seem like self promoting

For us downunder to buy on Ebay, the seller has to declare whats in the package for customs. Some sellers will do the "happy birthday" package thing (no duty fees on presents) but a lot wont.
Another problem we have is time, by sea it can take 6-8 weeks to get here, then customs can keep it longer or loose it. Some sellers are feedback hungry and the wait is to long for them. By airmail it only takes 2-3 days, but it can costs 3 times as much and in most cases costs more than the actual item.

What I used to do is buy heaps of stuff on ebay, have them sent to a friend in USA and they would send it all to me in a few big boxes, worked really well until 3 out of 6 boxs disappeared in transit (no insurance - insurance was worth more than the items) which has put me off doing that.

I've never used eBay, but the delivery time and shipping charges on a US$10 book on Amazon left me paying over 300% that price. It's put me off buying on Amazon, and I've had to become severely discerning with overseas online purchases.

I won't shop on Amazon any longer. It's cheaper to get it at Target or Wal-Mart. We had a lot of headaches around the holidays!

I won't ship anywhere but the USA. I have run into problems with people, customs, etc. Just not worth my time. I do get a lot of people asking for me to make an exception for "this one auction"...but nope. Nothing against anyone in other countries, but, it's less stress to make it just USA for me. Just my opinion.

[talking to myself] Mental note to self, take Southern Gal off my xmas card list [/end talking to myself]

[start answering myself] But you don't have a xmas card list[/end answering myself]

... then sanity kicks in
muhahahaha

The only thing I've bought on ebay was a tippmann 98. My parents aren't really into to buying used stuff

you can buy new stuff on there, infact there are a lot of dealers on there