What To Know About Ebay

Okay, from what I've heard from over the years, people can get ripped off by sellers on Ebay. Ebay is a great source of finding parts fro our blazers. For those of you who don't already know, these are some things to look for while shopping on Ebay. The list below has been gathered from all sorts of different people. So I think that it is a good idea to share the wealth of very helpful information.

1. LOOK FOR MISPELLED WORDS WITHIN THE AD.

2. BUY FROM SELLERS WHO HAVE A HIGH FEEDBACK RATING %.

3. BUY FROM SELLERS WHO HAVE A HIGH NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE LEFT FEEDBACK.

4. BUY FROM SELLERS WHO HAVE A HIGH POWER SELLER RATING.

5. DO SOME RESEARCH ON THE PRODUCT.

6. IF IT SEEMS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, THEN IT PROBABLY IS.

7. IF A PRODUCT SAYS THAT IT WILL WORK FOR MOST VEHICALS, BE CAREFUL (UNLESS IT'S PEDAL COVERS, SEAT COVERS, ETC.)
EXAMPLE: IF IT IS A UNIVERSAL ENGINE MODIFICATION, AND IT WILL FIT HONDAS, GMC'S, FORDS, ETC. THEN IT'S PROBABLY A SCAM

8. ASK THE SELLER QUESTIONS BEFORE BUYING.

9. SEE WHAT THE SELLER HAS FOR A RETURN POLICY.

10. WHETHER YOUR BUYING EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN GOOD OR BAD, LEAVE A FEEDBACK TO THE SELLER SO OTHER POEPLE WILL
KNOW WHETHER OR NOT TO BUY FROM THEM.

These are just some simple guidelines to follow that can help protect you from getting scammed. There are a lot of actual stores that sell on Ebay. I'm not saying that the list above is an absolute law to follow because there may be a good company out there that has mispelled a word or two. But the average company will make sure that their ad looks professional. Good luck and happy hunting.

good point. a lot of people really do get ripped off. another good idea is to look for brand names on a lot of things. especially electronic or precision machined parts. because big names will make sure the parts will fit and work properly before selling them.

I have only bought a few Jeep things from eBay and lots of other things not related to vehicles and I have not ever been ripped off. You are right that you have to check out your seller first.

My biggest thing when buying is:

MAKE SURE YOU GET A TRACKING NUMBER FOR YOUR PACKAGE.

It's worth the extra money to make sure that you can actually track where it is.

It's also a good idea to look for sellers that offer Escrow services. That way, you can check the product out first hand before they actually take your money. This is useful when you are buying things that are worth a lot of money.

Do you guys know of any sellers that you would trust? I am looking for fender flares, as you might have read in one of my other posts.

i have bought my clear corners from ebay and my intake and both where quick transactions but my friend got ripped on an amp, it broke within a month of his purchase, and they company he bought from would not repair it for some stupid reason even though it was under supposed warranty..

I live on ebay and can say if you can get ripped off sometimes. Make sure you always pay with Paypal. Paypal will give you your money back and help with dispute. I will never buy anything off ebay without paypal. Another thing is contact the seller before and see how he responds. Ebay is been given lots of bad rep and don't care becuase it means more stuff for me to buy lol.

I am in agreement. I always use Paypal and have received refunds because of being able to dispute stuff with them. Generally speaking, most people are honest, but there are times you run into rip-off artists. I had some guy try to rip me off when I sold him something, saying it never was mailed. Long story short, I won the dispute.

I've had more problems with selling things than buying. I keep running into people who take forever to pay, and you have to threaten to turn them into ebay to get your money.

That is why I don't ship until I have the money in my hand!

quote:

ORIGINAL: 01xtreme

1. LOOK FOR MISPELLED WORDS WITHIN THE AD.

Check this out.  click. This guy has such horrible grammer. sometimes it's ok, sometimes it's not...

"Some air intake design will be a little bit differ from the sample picture shown, but overall it will be fit. "
"2 Polish Chrome intake tube "
"We carry a lot of air intakes and cold air intakes for other type of car. Click below to see lot more applications for other car. "
And last but not least, my personal favorite:
"7. Is the insurance required ?

> It is Not required but we highly recommended !!! We will not responsible for any lost or damages to product"

I never ship an item untill the money is in my hand. If you bid on an item then you should pay for it ASAP. Not make the seller wait untill a very warm place freezes over. People need to be more responsible for thier actions.

when using paypal to purchase on ebay, use your credit card. it gives you another layer of protection against fraud. paypal is not always the best at resolving issues, so using your credit card gives you another course of action to dispute a charge if you need to.

I have some good experiences with ebay.. I fell for the "resistor mod" scam,, you know the "speedchip" thing? 10 bucks for a 5 cent thingy from radio shack...

I got a generic K&N cone intake for my Geo Tracker on there I think I paid 30 bucks for it... It didnt do a lot for powerboost (on an 80 horsepower engine, it shouldnt be expected anyway).. but it made my tracker louder.. I always liked to rev it under a bridge.. sounded like a chainsaw.. lol

I got hosed on an amplifier from ebay too,, Ive lived and learned... It wasnt so much the merchant, but I ignored the saying "you get what you pay for".

My mom just bought a 94 Geo Tracker for herself for 1500 on ebay,, the same year as mine was, but with the 16-valve engine... She seems to like it,, Ive gotten to drive it a few times.. definately fun little suckers to drive around in... Good reminder of why I used to like mine so much.. Somethings wrong with that Tracker though.. it doesnt have any torque from a stop in first gear until about 3500 rpm, then it really takes off (as much as a Tracker can), transmission is good and tight, so I think its something simple like a throttle linkage or some other thing along those lines... Nothing that cant wait to be fixed...

quote:

ORIGINAL: m00nwater

I have only bought a few Jeep things from eBay and lots of other things not related to vehicles and I have not ever been ripped off. You are right that you have to check out your seller first.

My biggest thing when buying is:

MAKE SURE YOU GET A TRACKING NUMBER FOR YOUR PACKAGE.

It's worth the extra money to make sure that you can actually track where it is.

It's also a good idea to look for sellers that offer Escrow services. That way, you can check the product out first hand before they actually take your money. This is useful when you are buying things that are worth a lot of money.

Do you guys know of any sellers that you would trust? I am looking for fender flares, as you might have read in one of my other posts.

i try and use USPS delivery for all the eBay stuff I ship ans recieve.

I can look for your flares and see what deals I can find, I am on eBay alot, bought nearly all my replacement parts off there, I havnt been burned once except by the hack ad I had a few nights ago that eBay took care of.

I am a private seller, as in I sell 2-3 items per 4-5 months maybe more if IM lucky, I cant have an "escrow" service and im not too sure of many ebayer's that have that service, unless its a store or something.

Paypal will only give you back your money if the seller has enough money in his paypal account. If he takes the money out before they lock his account, your shafted. They don't really like to get involved and thats why they keep trying to get you to use your bank account instead of a credit card. You have no protection with your bank account. If you use your credit card instead, the credit card company will yank the money from Paypal.
 Ebay is totally useless. They just send you a form letter that says basically that they just connect the buyer and the seller and don't really have anything to do with it. It's even hard to check feedback because they allow some sellers to keep their feedback 'private'. I also find that 96% is not quite high enough. Unless it's around 97% or 98% I don't bother. Too many sellers won't leave feedback until the buyer has left feedback. Some buyers won't leave negitive feedback because they know the seller can retaliate and often lie about the situation. I've pretty much given up on big ticket purchases on eBay unless the seller has rock solid feedback.
 If you have trouble with a seller, you can file a complaint with his states attorney generals office. They can do a conference hearing if you are out of state. Be forwarned that they are usually backlogged so it takes a while to get a any action. All this is from experience and not just something I heard somewhere.
 My sympathies to the honest sellers also. There are a surprising amount of jerks that go into a transaction with the intent of scamming a seller.
 Study the feedback if you are buying because that's your best protection. If a seller has a few negitive feedbacks you can usually tell if the buyer was a jerk  because their feedback will be as stupid as they are.

What about sporting event tickets? Has anyone purchased these kind of things off ebay?

Yes. I've bought Red Wings, Tigers, and Piston tickets several times. No Lions tickets though because they are a waste of money LOL.Never had a problem but I've known people who have because they neglected to follow the rules.. Same basic theory as with anything else. Many will e-mail you the pdf file to print out so you don't have to physically pick them up.

^^^Nice   I shoulda bought the saints vs bears tickets for 1300 bucks halfway thru sundays game then, section 224 right behind the goal post.  Procrastination never pays.

If you live in Canada and use Paypal watch out for the exchange scam , I bought a gold braclet for $188 US or $221 CA ( at the time of auction) 3 days later Paypal withdrew $228CA from my account. The seller gave Paypal  the wrong email address so they put $218 CA back into my account (this took 7 days to accomplish) , The seller straightened out his address problem and the deal went Through (another 7 days). Paypal withdrew $226 CA from my account. The amount of exchange seems to go in their favour every time, If you do a lot of Ebaying its best to set up a US funds account at your bank.

i use craigslist and i think it is alot better because you meet the person face-to-face and you can fin dsome good deals out there

What about low item price and high shipping prices?
EX: I just bought the black projector headlights to match my signals. The item price was $76.48 and the shipping costs $48.95.
Does the shipping realy cost that much or is it a ploy to get you to think you are getting a good deal?
I also bought the 3rd brake light cover like Davtak's and the item was $3 and the shipping was $13. AND IT CAME IN A U.S. POSTAGE ENVELOPE!!!

From what I know, sellers do that because they save on ebay fees.  If the actual cost is lower, they pay a lower fee.  So no, it doesn't cost $13 to ship something in a regular envelope, but they make more money that way.  Personally, if it's the same cumulative price (i.e. $5 cost and $1 shipping VS $2 cost and $4 shipping) I don't see a problem with it.  Ebay, on the other hand, may not be so happy because they're losing money.

 AHA HAH !! Shipping you say!!! Jezzz...i'm looking to buy this :http://cgi.ebay.ca/92-95-Blazer-S10-JIMMY-Sonoma-ZR2-4-3-CPI-V6-Air-Intake_W0QQitemZ180140914423QQihZ008QQcategoryZ38634QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

.......I am in Canada... I am hesitating(I do shipping & receiving for a living so I know) and I know for one thing that they make they're $$$ with it.The shipping cost is over the cost of the item itself men!!!

When I sell I always put my postal code so the buyers know that I do not make money on it.

quote:

ORIGINAL: 01xtreme

Okay, from what I've heard from over the years, people can get ripped off by sellers on Ebay. Ebay is a great source of finding parts fro our blazers. For those of you who don't already know, these are some things to look for while shopping on Ebay. The list below has been gathered from all sorts of different people. So I think that it is a good idea to share the wealth of very helpful information.

1. LOOK FOR MISPELLED WORDS WITHIN THE AD.

 
 ...and always, always, obey rule #1.

You can report high shipping cost to ebay. The guys that have no reserve and super high shipping cost are trying to make their money on shipping. Don't buy from them - report them!

I recently bought a PA speaker for my truck from  the ebay store WHOLESALERADIO.  I thought that they were a good store by looking at their auctions, and i went ahead and bought it but i sent them two emails, or so i thought, and didnt get anything in return. i tried emailing them again today to see what was going on and it turns out the other two went to the wrong place and my package is on its way.   so i recomend  this store for radio and electronic needs.