Reply To: old tools, a beginners lament
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Well. what’s there to say about buying on Ebay? The maxim ‘caveat emptor’, or buyer beware, would seem to be very applicable but it neeedn’t necessarily be so. Ebay could and should take a few simple measures that would clarify or remove a number of ambiguities that the shady or dishonest seller can hide behind.
1. Provide clear pics of the item/s for sale. None of this “Sorry about the pics quality. my 1837 steam phone camera doesn’t work very well”. I often think it’s part of a soft scam where some folk don’t want you to have a clear view in case you see too much. That’s solely my opinion but then I’m a cynic.
2. Items that comprise of a number of component parts must me be stripped down and laid out so that indidual pics can be shown of these separate parts.
3. The more salient parts should be clearly indicated. I.e. in the case of bladed tools, the blade edges should be clearly shown both sides.
4. Do away with Good or Very Condition etc, as some sellers have not got a grasp of the Queen’s English or else items are being sold by blind people. Mind you, some items that I have seen saying they were in good condition, even a blind person could feel the amount of crud on the tool.
5. Bring in a better system of grading quality thereby making returns a tad easier and putting a litle more responsibility on the seller.
6. If selling brand new items then the maximum price should be no more than 5 or 10% higher than the retail average. That would obviate some of these astronomical examples often seen. Not that I can possibly understand how any get sold.
As for buyers, I think the first thing is to find/follow a few auctions of the tool you are looking for and then once bidding has finished, make a note of the prices they went for and then you can form an idea of the average price and in turn determine what you are willing to pay for an equivalent item.
Once you have determined your maximum bid, stick to it. Only in exceptional circumstances go above it. Then trawl through the list of tools on offer and say pick three or four that pique your interest, bookmark them and then make a note of their close of bidding times/dates. If you’re old and dementured you’ll do what I did and forget. I remembered about an hour after close of bidding on a pair of spokeshaves and when I checked what the winning bid was, it was far less than I had been willing to offer. Tuff titty but that’s the way it sometimes goes.
The serious bidding only occurs 10 mins or so before close so I turn up 15 mins to go and put in my maximum bid if the bidding hasn’t already gone past that figure. By putting in your maximum bid, this means when the bidding has been raised by someone else, an increment, which maybe 1 or $5 or whatever, is automatically taken from your maximum bid and placed as the leading bid until such time as it is outbid by someone else. It repeats like that until either close of bidding time or your maximum bid runs dry. Remember, I am an Ebay novice and I daresay there are many forum members out there much more experienced than I and who know better.
To sum up:
Buyer make sure you determine the max you will pay and stick to it.
Also, be clear about the quality of pics on any given item and strategic parts are clearly shown. If not then move on. There will always be another day tomorrow or the next. There is no rush.
Ebay, sort your sites out. You know damn well that you have crooked sellers operating among the majority of decent sellers and it’s for you to deal with them. Sometimes the goose that lays the golden egg gets cooked.