Advice on ebay

[marthinus]

Hey everyone. I am quite skeptical on buying anything on ebay, but I see myself going that route in the future with purchasing of knives. However. I have a few questions.

1) Are the feedback on a dealer reliable?
2) When purchasing what should one watch out for?
3) Is it safe to say that the longer the dealer has been there the more likely he is to offer a good product?
4) Living outside of the USA what is the best way to ship it to South Africa? (US priority mail etc, there are a lot of options and do not know what is the best. I do not mind paying more for insurance as long as it arrives safely)

 

[jill jackson]

Feedback is a very good indicator of a person's reliability and honestly.
You can see it on the item page as well as read it in detail, by clicking on details.
You should watch out for poor pictures, poor feedback and poorly worded and misspelled text.
Long term sellers often have a large bank of reliable feedback, newer ones will not, but the newer can be just as good.
I know a lot of sellers won't ship outside the USA if that's where they are located. EBay had some policy changes on this earlier in the year. I'm not sure how that stands at present. Probably if the seller will ship to your country they will know the best method, through experience.

 

[orca8589]

1) Are the feedback on a dealer reliable?
2) When purchasing what should one watch out for?
3) Is it safe to say that the longer the dealer has been there the more likely he is to offer a good product?
4) Living outside of the USA what is the best way to ship it to South Africa? (US priority mail etc, there are a lot of options and do not know what is the best. I do not mind paying more for insurance as long as it arrives safely)

Here's my $0.02; I don't buy much on ebay, but this is what I look for. Some folks here will have a lot more experience - some here even sell on ebay. I just had a conversation with a dad in my Scout pack, he was buying camping gear. Here's some of what I told him, with edits, of course:

1.) dealer feedback reliable?
So far, for the few I buy from, it is. I look for sellers with a lot of transactions, and at least 99% good. I also make sure the seller has a good return policy. I don't buy anything that is 'non-returnable'.
2.) what to watch out for? Well, first of all, nothing replaces good ol' research. Being a member here is a good start. If you're knowledgeable about what you're bidding on, you can decide if the seller seems credible or not. Another thing: if something doesn't seem right, don't buy. Whatever you're looking at will probably come back up again sooner or later. You can always email the seller with questions, too.
TITLES: I don't even look at auctions that have things like '!!!!!!!!!!!' and 'L@@K!!!!!' in the title; the seller is working too hard to get attention.
PHOTOS: I only buy what's in the photo; ie: the knife pictured is what is being sold. No stock (mfr.) photos. Look for clear photos, not blurry ones. Look for a lot of shots from different angles, and good clear shots of blemishes & other physical issues.
STORIES: I know enough about knives that I can [most of the time] tell when a story is goofy. Something else I've started to see is that usually, the longer the description attached to an auction, the deeper the bull droppin's. See if the description matches up the photos. I also don't bother with anything that has a lot of typos in the description. If the seller can't be bothered to use spellcheck, I won't bother looking at his stuff.
3.) safe to say that the longer the dealer has been there the more likely he is to offer a good product?
NO. Like I said earlier, I look for a lot of seller transactions with good feedback, but I've seen some really strange and odd feedbacks for some sellers, almost like they've got someone schilling for them.
4.) Shipping?
Can't comment on that one. Someone else here would know - we've got members from all over the world. Lastly, be aware of customs where you are. I've heard of customs in the UK taking forks out of packages because they were 'deadly weapons'.

Hope this helps. I certainly don't intend for this to answer everything, but hopefully it'll save you a little (or a lot) of trouble.

thx - cpr

 

[dericdesmond]

I buy here, my local knife shop, and a decent amount of blades on ebay. Many have horror stories of ebay, heck, I have a few, but I also have MANY good ones that make up for it and some. Like many, I too see flaws in their system but still cant agree with what to me seems like an unfair amount of hate around here towards em. Not sure about you but I can take a half mile walk in any direction and pretty much be guaranteed to run into at least 1 A-hole.

When looking for something rare or discontinued it is a wonderful venue since it has such a huge market.

When newer models come out everyone is trying to make a quick buck so you can certainly find good deals if your patient.

As the other users have mentioned, researching feedback is always a plus. If someone has a poor negative to positive rating than obviously the seller has issues.

If a seller has many positives and a few negs than always look into the negs before automatically assuming the seller is a turd. I occasionally sell on ebay and do everything in my power to make the buyer happy, write honest descriptions, offer returns, take awesome pics etc etc and still sometimes the buyer, typically a newer user, will leave a seller unjust negative feedback.

Many people out there somehow get dealer cost when they have no dealer storefront. They then play undercut war since they have no overhead which can help you get good deals. Hurts the people who do it the right way but its unavoidable so what can ya do?

Good deals to be found on ebay of all kinds. #1 pointer IMO, ALWAYS read the entire description.

If you or anyone else is ever skeptical about a particular seller or auction than please feel free to hit me up and Ill provide any re-assurance/help that I can.

CHEERS!!!!!!!!

 

[Liveitloud]

My 2 cents. I have bought knives for 3 years on Ebay. Probably bought over 100 knives. Only had 3 bad deals. One was made right by the seller and one was a rip off ad ( I was refunded through paypal)that I should have never bid on. The other one the seller refused to make right on.

On this very site I have bought probably 5 knives. 2 deals were great and 3 were not so great. You can find a not so good deal anywhere. I think that there are probably a fair amount of scammers on Ebay but I usually stick to reputable sellers, sellers with a long account history, sellers with a lot of good feedback.

These have served me well in my time on Ebay. Another good rule of thumb is if it looks too good to be true, there's probably a reason for it. You will get a lot of opinions on Ebay. There are people that refuse to deal with them for whatever their reason might be.

I would say for my part that my buying success on Ebay is at about 99% and I am very happy with the items that I have got and the very limited amount of problems I have experienced.

 

[Psychopomp]

I've posted this before, but here's my rules for having a successful transaction on ebay.

1: NEVER buy or bid on anything that doesn't have a picture.

1b: NEVER buy anything that has a stock photo. If the seller can't be bothered to provide you with a picture of the item you will be receiving, then you shouldn't waste your time.

1c: NEVER bid on an item if the photo isn't clear. If the picture is blurry ask for a clearer one. Sometimes the photographer just sucks, but sometimes a blur here and there can cover up a lot of edge or tip damage.

2: NEVER bid (or buy) on an auction that has more about the legality and terms of the auction than it does item description. For example, never buy when the description reads "a knife. with a blade," and the terms of the deal are sixteen pages long.

3: NEVER bid on an item when the seller can't be bothered to use proper grammar. eBay is a legally binding contract, if the idiot seller types with lots of !!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!1!11! and L@@K!!!!! and "teh" don't waste your time no matter what the item is.

Chances are, if the seller passes these three rules, they're going to have good feedback. So paying attention to more subtle things is more important than number of feedbacks. They could be a new seller with only two sells, why should they be avoided?

It's like people on trading forums who insist that the new members send first. It's silly. Pay more attention to what's written (or not written) than feedback and you'll do just fine.

EDIT TO ADD:

I've never had a bad deal on ebay going back to 1999 and I have 100% positive feedback as a buyer, and I've never left anything but positive for the seller.

 

[dericdesmond]

I've posted this before, but here's my rules for having a successful transaction on ebay.

1: NEVER
1b: NEVER

1c: NEVER

2: NEVER

3: NEVER

Good pointers, but Not always IMO.

Once this dude listed a Spyderco at an open auction for ten bucks. He had apx 15 positive feedbacks, no pics, very minimal info. He said it was barely used and had a 4 inch blade. No Spydie that big retails under $150. I bid, won for $20, and got a deal people would poop over. I have also dealt with many sellers that were more concerned with quality cutlery than their English, more awesome deals.

 

[Liveitloud]

Good pointers, but Not always IMO.

Once this dude listed a Spyderco at an open auction for ten bucks. He had apx 15 positive feedbacks, no pics, very minimal info. He said it was barely used and had a 4 inch blade. No Spydie that big retails under $150. I bid, won for $20, and got a deal people would poop over. I have also dealt with many sellers that were more concerned with quality cutlery than their English, more awesome deals.

I hear you Deric. One of the best deals I got on a Spyderco was on an ad without a pic. It had a one sentence description and the guy has about 15 feedback points. I grabbed a blackhawk for 36 bucks. It was in used but really good shape. I don't normally bid on that type of auction though.

 

[fireballxl5]

I've bought quite a lot from ebay but only 2 knives.
I had one serious problem which is documented here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=657645

Thankfully paypal buyer protection worked in my favour and I was refunded the full amount. I didn't check before, but I will be checking the good the bad and the ugly in future before Im make paypal payments.

Stuff I always do:
1) check with the buyer if they will ship to your location - some buyers won't ship "foreign" (i.e. outside the USA) but don't state that in their listing - presumably they're not aware of the rest of the world exists until someone wins their listing. Also many buyers only list US shipping but are more than happy to ship internationally - again I suspect they hadn't really considered the non domestic possibility. So its worthwhile checking either way.
2) I make it clear that I expect and am happy to pay additional shipping and insurance. I'm not sure why but some buyers have been outraged that I would request to have them ship overseas - but then were really happy to do so once made it clear I expected and was happy to pay extra shipping.
3) I always ask them if they are willing to ship using the shipping method I prefer and if they will get insurance. I'll still buy if they use a different shipping method, but I won't if they won't do insurance - I've no idea why some people won't buy insurance, even after i make it clear that I'll pay for it. However if it is a high value item then whatever shipping they use, I want tracking.
4) The legally binding contract business on ebay seems to be one way - in favour of the seller in my experience. I've won items for really low prices, then the seller has reneged and claimed a listing error, in one case after asking very specific questions that clearly identified the item so I don't see how it could be a mis-listing. Ebay did nothing when I appealed. I don't know why sellers don't use a reserve if they really have a minimum price in mind, but it really annoys me.
5) Depending on what you are buying I don't mind if the seller uses a stock photo. If they are basically a retailer and sell lots of that item I think a stock photo is OK. But then again say your buying a custom or semi custom/botique blade, then I'd expect several good photos, especially covering any mars, scratches etc.
6) Read the listing, bidding and shipping section of the listing very carefully. For example I've been looking at cameras lately and Nikon sell bodies with lense kits, that come with Nikon lenses. Other retailer sell the bodies with lense kits too, but not nikon lense kits. If you did not read the listing carefully you might not work that out.

I think feedback is useful, but don't begrudge a seller one or two bad feedbacks out of hundreds or thousands. Some buyers have very unreasonable demands and will give bad feedback for virtually no reason. I usually read the comments too as these can give an indication about whether poor feedback is justified or not.

As for shipping, I'm in Australia and I have always been happy with the US post office services (USPS) Express Mail International. This includes insurance up to $100 and online tracking. For me this was a happy medium between good delivery time and reasonable pricing.

I live in a medium sized state capital (Adelaide) and it usually takes 4-6 days to get from the US to my doorstep or office. That usually costs $30-60 for a big knife/small sword.
Usually the longest part of that trip is from where the package lands in Australia (usually Sydney or Melbourne) to my delivery address. The Express Mail International includes online tracking and insurance up to $100 with additional insurance available for around $1.50-$2 for each additional $100 of coverage.

I.e. USPS seems to be very efficient.
For general USPS info on international shipping:
http://www.usps.com/international/sendpackages.htm

Some of the products refer to country groups to work out which postage rate applies to you. You can find your country's groups and weight limits here:
http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/immpg.htm

USPS Postage calculator:
http://ircalc.usps.gov/

USPS international mailing manual:
http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/welcome.htm

The USPS international mailing manual has per country info, info about rates, delivery times for each type of mailservice etc etc. Pretty much everything you need to know, if you can be bothered going through it.

I've not had to use it but I always get insurance with my shipping.
I figure that for a couple of bucks, it is money well spent when you are buying hundreds of dollars of good.
I also strongly suspect that having a trackable package might reduce the incidence of lost packages. I always make sure I get a a tracked package and have not lost anything. I have friends who have saved a dollar or two and tracking and their packages have not turned up. It might be simple co-incidence, but it gives me some piece of mind.

 

[Osteomeatl]

I have purchased over a hundred items on Ebay. Many have been knives. Had only two issues (not knives) and the sellers went above and beyond on both transactions. I am amazed at how well ebay works. In my opinion this is the best option in purchasing knives as long as there are complete rip off scam businesses out there that go unregulated (like the Bladeshop).