Is Ebay getting a no go area?

[sprocket]

i am currently sending 2 forum users amiga items free of charge, and i myself have recieved items free lately....its called community spirit.

of course,...like being chair of a user's group or helping organize a vendor show or giving a 600 to a friend who has a use or sending a piece of casework to someone who has a need...

all of which I've done...

doesn't mean charity extends to the several ethernet cards, monitors, etc. I've sold over the years...to folks who were very happy with their purchase, btw.  

If someone has a need or shows themselves to have been an asset to the community they deserve that consideration.

Otherwise, getting some value back out of what I've invested in and maintained helps me to continue doing Amiga stuff too.  ...and there are quite a few who seem to want something for nothing all the time.  

If you get something for nothing do you value it?  If someone can't come up with $30 plus shipping for a 2000 or $100 for an accelerator they probably should rethink their need....they may end up just sitting on it while another Amigan might actually get some use out of it.

 

[WotTheFook]

Sprocket,

Are you really saying that auctions don't play into the hands of traders, and that people put items on Ebay seriously expecting to get £0.01p for it?

Something for nothing is only of value to the person who receives it, don't equate value to cost as they are different.

I am all for sites like Amibay, otherwise, why would Amibench have lasted 10 years? Community spirit isn't all about fanboys, you know.....

Oh and BTW, just because you haven't been ripped off on Ebay (yet), doesn't mean that you won't and Ebay isn't all it's cracked up to be if you are scammed...

WTF

[sprocket]

Are you really saying that auctions don't play into the hands of traders, and that people put items on Ebay seriously expecting to get £0.01p for it?

if an item isn't worth much except to the one person who needs that item it will sell for .01.  ..and I have had those happen as well as giving items away on boards too.

no value doesn't equal cost but I have no way to know who I'm dealing with and if they're just looking for freebies to resell, do I?  then my charity would turn into their profit.
If I'm reading someone's posts or discussing an issue with them it can become clear if they have a real interest or not.

and throwing words like "fanboy" around just because you don't agree with someone doesn't promote community spirit.
My history in Amigadom is longer than most but I'm not interested in getting into a debate.

so if a deal goes bad for me as a seller how do I lose?  I mean I only lose the sale price and shipping of the item, right?  ..and you're saying I should be giving all my extra Amiga stuff away right?

thems the breaks...

[WotTheFook]

Apologies,

No offence was intended to you with my "fanboy" comment, I was referring to the fact that some Amiga communities are very insular, almost to the point of being blind to other things happening on the scene.

I have also been around the scene for 20+ years even if I haven't been here for very long, I am committed and among my hobbies is repairing Amigas, rather than breaking them to pieces to be sold off on Ebay as spares.

It was not my intention to get into a peeing contest with you about who has been around longer or who is l33ter than who, it was just to raise the perhaps painful truth that some exploit the scene, while others don't.

Is a Recycle Bin approach such a bad idea, if the other alternative is the real trashcan?

If you want to give traders cheap hardware, then Ebay is the place to be and Doomy types will bite your arms off for it. If you want it to go to dedicated sceners then places like here and Amibay are the way ahead.

That's my view anyway....

WTF

[A6000]

It is more likely that traders buy their stock cheap on the lesser auction sites and local sales then sell dear on ebay.
There have been posts about large quantities of amiga gear being offered to members, such treasure troves must also be found by traders.

The lesser auction sites won't get more buyers until the buyers abandon ebay looking for bargains on the lesser sites, then prices will rise on the lesser sites.
One problem is the need to advertise these sites, until the last week or so, Ebay was the only site I knew, and I am certain that most ebayers know of NO ALTERNATIVE.
Just like there is no alternative to paypal, is there?

[Rob]

@DoogUK

About two weeks ago I won a set of Sieara Cosworth front discs and calipers for £70 + £10 P&P.

The package arived within a few days but unfortunately it contained the rear set instead.  I contacted the seller immediately and said what had happened.
He was in touch soon afterwards and said to send them back and he would also refund the postage costs.

On Tuesday I got and email from him saying that the correct ones had been sent out.  On Wednesday he put £20 in my paypal account and thanked me for being patient.  I recieved the discs on Thursday.

I am very happy with the outcome and it goes to show that there are some genuine people on there who care more about more than just the money.

[DoogUK]

@Rob
Firstly let me congratulate you on choice of car...gotta love a cossie!

I'm not dissing ebay wholey as an overall experience, but as much as there are good experiences it only takes one or two "bad" experiences to knock you and say never again.
Your bad transaction was blessed by the seller acting as they should and correcting.

My experiences are basicaly of people blatently lying and on a few occassions items just dont work and obviously havent worked for some time.
Personaly i have chosen to not use ebay anymore due to my bad experiences.

[WotTheFook]

All I can say to you guys is go and take a look at Amibay, what have you to lose by doing that?

At least they state on there that Traders are not allowed unless they have declared their status first, I know the Admins and Mods on there carry out checks to see if traders are trying to sneak in.

It's only been open two months, what do you expect?

WTF

[Rob]

@DoogUK

Firstly let me congratulate you on choice of car...gotta love a cossie!

The brakes are actually intended as an upgrade for my Escort MK6 to complement a planned increase in power.

[DoogUK]

@Rob...you will need a serious increase of power to complement those brakes....

My car is like my amigas, old (1990), upgraded when i can afford it, reliable as sin, extremely and effectively quick when i need it to be and an absolute pleasure to be at the controls.

[arkanoid]

WTF: first time i've heard about this AmiBay place. it's a good idea and looks pretty active. i'll be selling a load of stuff including Elbox PCI busboard, Dragon Tower, DCE BVision and DCE scan doubler soon. might throw them on AmiBay instead of evil eBay.

as for eBay, I know a lot of people have experienced nightmare scenarios but I have to say they helped me with one recent incident. I purchasd a MegaCD from some guy's eBay auction. However, he replied later saying it had "suddenly" broke and that he would no longer be selling it (the price was pretty low, so I think he just didn't want to sell at that price). He did not want to refund and made excuse after excuse for about 2 weeks as to why he couldn't refund: cold virus, grandma died, etc, the usual. :boohoo:

Anyway, I finally had enough of his games and put through a PayPal Dispute. PayPal judged the dispute in my favor and although the guy had no money (in his bank or PayPal account), PayPay covered the refund.

I'm not sure if buying through PayPal is any MORE secure than simply using a credit card. After all, you are already quite secure with payments issued using VISA cards. If you purchase from an individual/company and something goes wrong, there are a few options to get your money back, whether you use the card's Purchase Protection feature or demand a "chargeback".

So basically, if you purchase anything from a site, like AmiBay, are you really any LESS secure than if you used PayPal? Not really.

I think the idea that PayPal/eBay are a fantastically "secure" way of buying online is somewhat of an illusion, really. Plus with purchases within a tight-nit "community" like the Amiga's, honesty and TRUST are worth all of eBay's Seller Rating points. As long as everyone keeps alert and warns of any problems they experience while trading with in individual.

AmiBay could really work, I like the idea! :-)

thanks