Good/Bad experiences on eBay ?

[Shaw520]

I just won an auction on eBay Motors for a 2000' Chev Suburban. The truck looks great, and I got a decent deal. It's just a bit disturbing mailing a bankers check for $18,500 to someone I dont know, for a truck, I hav'nt even heard or driven!!
Can you guys relate any good or bad experiences doing this?
They're shipping it up from Texas to Upstate NY.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

I've had good experiences with e-bay but every dealing is a risk. I wouldn't do big ticket items. Especially not an automobile that you've never seen. What if something is majorly wrong with it, If you get screwed what can you do? You never know what your gonna get till it arrives so I wouldn't bid on anything that I wasn't willing to accept the fact that I might get taken for my money. The only thing you can do to minimize your risk is to bid only on those sellers with an established history and no negative feedback. Hopefully your purchase turns out good.

 

[Shaw520]

Yes it is a risk, but I have done my homework on the seller, he has 129 sales with all praise feedbacks, and zero negatives. He is a dealer in FW Texas. Also this vehicle qualified for a clean CAR-FAX record and they will warranty up to $5000. if there is a problem. I also questioned the bank where I got the loan, and they said THEY will file lawsuite in the event there is somethind=g detrementally wrong with the vehicle, (it is in there best interest also). So hopefully all bases are covered.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Sounds like all the bases are covered and you'll have a good clean buy. E-bay is a pretty good thing, if there's anything you could ever possibly want you'll find it there. I do most of my card collecting hobby through there. I could never have hoped to get the special cards to my collection without e-bay. Sometimes it's a bad thing 'cause I'm constantly finding something else that I'm wanting and just have to have.

 

[yarbonwick]

Ewww, Up state New York = rust. Be sure to check that real good. I've sold vehicles through the net before but I used a third pary escrow, Iescrow to be exact.

 

[yarbonwick]

Oh nevermind, you're the one in New York.....sorry:(

 

[Shaw520]

All my vehicles are bought in Texas, this is just the first one over the internet.

Originally posted by Shaw520

They're shipping it up from Texas to Upstate NY.

 

[yzeater]

Shaw, I recently sold a trumpet on ebay. It was a good trumpet and I had used it for 4 years, but then got out of band. The final bid was $230, and I don't think it was worth that much, so I kind of feel like I'm ripping the buyer off. So far it's all going smooth. Good luck

 

[NDRO]

I've been buying and selling on eBay (as Paper) for about 4 years. I've never been bit once. I get most of my riding apparel there and lots of spare parts.

When selling, I'm always a bit nervous about people with low feedback, but we were all there at one time. I've never done a big ticket item, other than several guns, back when that was still on eBay.

Sounds like you have everything taken care of to cover your butt. Now to just get your new vehicle.;)

 

[BRush]

Like yarbonwick says, consider using one of the online auction escrow services to protect yourself on those big ticket items.

 

[Camstyn]

I got bit once buying a top of the line Clarion car-audio deck and 12-disk changer. I got a great deal but it took a lot of harrassing phone calls, a lot of lousy excuses/lies and nearly 6 months to get the 'well-used' product, which was advertised as 'brand new'. By the time I had finally gotten it, I had bought the components elsewhere growing tired of waiting for these to ever show up.

 

[BunduBasher]

Most of the time I have had good luck, got burned once or twice, and use escrow for major ticket items, with escrow at least you get the item before approving the funds for release, only thing is, if you don't like the item or there is something wrong, you pay to ship it back, small price to pay for getting your money back though !

 

[CanadianRidr]

Shaw when you get it can you let us know how it is?:D

 

[jski]

I have to agree about the feedback to a certain extent. For example about 6 months ago my brother bought a 97 KTM 50 for $650.00 that was advertised as perfect. Well bike was far less then perfect and seller never shipped paperwork as promised. I told my brother not to buy this because the guy had sold 10+ bikes over 3 months and even though he did not have negative feedback most of the feedback was from users with 0 feedback. Well to make a long story short my brother left him negative feedback and then he turned around and left my brother the same even though my brother wire transferred the money the day he won the auction saying he tried to back out. I now have the bike in pieces, no serial numbers on the bike, no paperwork, lots of JB weld holding it together, wrote a letter to ebay with a copy of the ad and pics, talked to NY state DMV and attorneys office net result the guy was suspended from ebay for 2 weeks and is selling junk again and has burned other people as well. Don't get me wrong I have bought other items on ebay and had good experiences but I think that ebay is looking after its own interests and putting the consumer last when it comes to protecting you from fraud. So I would carefully evaluate feedback before buying any big ticket item.

 

[Shaw520]

jski, thanks for the honesty, this is what people need to hear when making big ticket purchases online, There is still a risk factor.
Hopefully, I've done my homework on the guy, and it'll be a sweet deal. Truck should be delivered in 6 days, I will post they outcome.

 

[mx547]

i have bought and sold many items on ebay, including several cars and bikes. all my purchases have been satisfactory but i have run across a few dead-beat bidders on some of my auctions.

 

[smb_racing]

I've had several dealings on E-bay, so far all of them have been great with no problems, but I could easily see how there could be some shady dealing going on. The internet is a scary place ;)

 

[CR80R]

I was thinkin bout postin somthin like this too cuz i'm getti a electric guitar aff there and was wonderin what you wuld rate ebay 5 high 1low

 

[BunduBasher]

CR80R, use iEscrow or ebay's escrow services, make your payment to them, the seller will then ship you the guitar, if it never arrives you get your money back, if it does get to you and it is not up to scratch, return the item registered and insured mail. This way you do not lose your money. If the guitar is what you expect, instruct the escrow service to make payment. The most you can lose is the cost of returning the item.

5 good and 1 bad is not a good ratio to work with, I had a new seller sell me a n64 system with a number of games, used escrow and everything worked out well, and the seller went on to build a good record.

Rather be cautious and make the seller work for their money, if they are serious and honest, they will do what you ask to make a good deal happen. If the seller is full of crap, or wants to jerk you around, and will not use an escrow service, then cancel the deal and walk away. Better safe than sorry. !

 

[Shaw520]

Update

Truck was delivered one day late, but truck is in awesome cond as described, everything is just as described and IMO slightly nicer! Bank called us a couple days ago, wondering why they still had'nt cashed the check yet, so we called the dealer that sold us the truck and he said, 'legally he cant cash the check untill the paper work is finalized through DMV'.
So I must concede, that this particular dealer is a straight shooter, and we got a great deal!
But, anyone considering an e-bay transaction should heed the warning stated above in this post

 

[CanadianRidr]

that's good news:)

 

[kingriz1]

FEEDBACK!
FEEDBACK!
FEEDBACK!

Read the damn feedback. Humans are creatures of Habit!!

If 98% of it is good then you have a good person.

I have 423 positives and 6 negatives.

One of the negatives was for refunding someones money because we had a flood and there was some water damage to the item. I do the right thing and they still complain.

Anyway for those of you who buy on Ebay try to leave feedback every time. You are the system that protects buyers.

And remember feedback can be shady too! Try to do business with people who have a lot of good feedback. 10 is not enough!

Sincerely,

Riz