Buyer Beware

many items sell on e-bay at a higher price than you can buy elsewhere (in cities).

as always, it pays to know your prices.

I notice quite a few sellers doing this now to aviod the higher final value fees, they recoupe their money with the postage etc.

Hi Ray I dont know if it is just me but the amount tnat some of them charge for there postage is bloody ridiculous I had four small drill batteries sent to WA from QLD and they charged $12 each and would not reduce the postage for more than one, it is putting you off buying from EBay pity good cheap way of buying gear that you would normaly go without . cheers Roughneck

Hi Ray, are you saying you didn't look at postage charges before you bid? Most sellers will openly list postage prices, and if they don't email them for a price. I never buy before adding up all totals to see the true cost.

I still like the $0.99 Buy now price for those Hong Kong imports....with the postage costs grossly inflated as members have mentioned previously :-)

I was thinking of listing my Kimberley Kamper for $0.99 and postage costs of $30,000 if delivered within 10km of my home.....

andrew

Glad you brought this up Ray,
This is what i do when i win the bidding on any item in ebay.....
Once the contact has been made with the seller via email, I request proof of postage costs from the seller, If they refuse to email it to me, I refuse to buy the good. Its simple and legal.
Dont think for 1 minute you are committed to buy an item if you feel you have been ripped off on postage costs. Ebay know this and although they dont have the power to override conflicts between buyer / seller, they may try to fix the problem until it becomes too hard for them, this has been proven many times in the past.

I have done this for years, ebay know me very well but never once have they made me finalise payment for being a winning bidder as they know that if they continued with legal action, it would cost them a packet each time.
The concept of ebay is great, but the company will not involve themselves if things get costly, they are there to make money and are not interested in disputes. DOnt forget, thousnads sign up every day with ebay, so on percentages, if a few were removed from trading, they are still infront.

Remmber this ...make sure you know the prices before you buy, lots of items are way overpriced on ebay compared to what you would pay in retail or wholesale if you have the contacts....laptops are a perfect example....ive been watching prices for months now, most laptops won have sold for more than what you could buy one in a shop.

Do your homework :-)
Ange

These are good gadgets that are expensive to buy in retail outlets. My local place has the rear vision type monitors for sale at $745 each so even if I payed $100 for the monitor & $100 postage I'd still be way ahead, they don't seem to understand that these monitors are available at Jacar & Smith's Dick for around $200 a single camera Swann sretup from Smiths Dick is now $249 with a claimable warranty. You have to know your prices to get a deal on Ebay

As has been said Ebay will not allow profiteering by way of postage & packing price hikes but it's up to the buyer to ask for proof of postage costs and you cannot be forced to pay insurance costs. I also agree with the dummy bidding that goes on I have actually seen goods endup at more than the buy it now price & I asked Ebay for an explanation but have you ever tried to get a sensible response from Ebay, as soon as you dispute something they quickly loose interest.

Anyone interested in Cibie Super oscar spotties, you can get 'em on ebay "buy it now" for $350.00 a pair free postage and free wiring harness.

That's an awesome price for awesome lights.

I'd have some tomorow if they fit my car!!!
The normal oscar is about all that will fit, so I'm looking at getting the oscar SC.

4X4 monthly did a test a few years back and included Cibie lights but for some really stupid reason they tested two wide angle cornering lights instead of one spot, one spread.

The Cibie website.... www.cibie.net/ shows the Oscar SC throwing more light further and wider than the super oscar, but the same actual size as the normal oscar. If our clothes dryer hadn't chit itself this week, I'd have a pair in the post right now.

Have a look at item number 4646485699 they want to charge an extra $250.00 if you go and pick it up from there warehouse yourself!! I think thats a bit cheeky.

eerfree

hi all , what do you think of this ...i sent this fella an email asking why his buy it no

w price on a CV8 Monaro was only $11000 ...this was his response

Hello there and thanks for your interest.
Firstly, I want you to know that I ended my auction early because of a buyer who assured me that he will purchase, but just bailed on me in the last minute. The price that I want to obtain is $11,000 AU(includeing shipping and insurance charges). I'm requesting a $5,000 AU REFUNDABLE deposit prior to transporting the car to your location and the remaining balance to be paid upon delivery, inspection and approval of vehicle.
The car is like new, everything is in perfect working order, low miles.Holden Monaro, CV8 model. It has always been garage kept and adult driven, never abused or raced . It is a AU model in compliance with AU emissions, clear title in hand, still registered in Australia and you will have no problem registering it onto your name. The car will be shipped via air freight from Zagreb, Croatia and it will take no more than 7 business days to arrive at your location.
This is a large purchase and I would suggest using a third party to complete this purchase as I want a smooth and safe transaction. We will use eBay Square Trade, I have completed quite a large number of successful deals using them. I have a Purchase Protection Account of US $10,000 and I assume you know what this means.
If you agree with these terms, please reply with your full name and address and I will consign the transaction at eBay asap.
Regards!

-----Original Message-----
From: borgy78@bigpond.com
Sent: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 20:25:20 +0930
To: roberssen@inbox.com
Subject:

why is this car so cheap ??? is this some sort of a gimick???
or is it stolen??

I have just done a check myself & discovered that if you specify SpeedPost for goods shipped from Hong Kong they are about half the price quoted. I got a quote for AUD$25 on an item that the ebayer wanted AUD$50 to post. The supplier has now told me that he does not use speed post because it is the Government Office...I replied & said that sorry the deal is off unless you send at the cheapest price available & I don't give a hoot whith whom you have a contract & that also I suspect some proffiteering going on here & have also reported this to Ebay, who of course refuse to become involved but did very nicely ask me not to publicise the fact.This was not an "issue" for them to resolve but a dispute bettween me and the supplier. I pointed out that such behaviour was clearly in contravention of their selling rules but that next time I sold something & charged twice what I actually paid for postage and Ebay turned a blind eye then it would be ok, is this acceptable for me to this? Ha ha ha. The response from Ebay was the standard auto reply about Ebay's discretionary powers etc...
So I have told you all & will now try & stir things up with the media, maybe knock Harold Scruby out of the show...
I have to find other things to do rather than worry about this garbage don't I?