Ebay Rant

[FSU_Paintball]

It can be annoying but all you have to do is look to your left and click "Dye" or "Smart Parts".

Not if we're trying to look at 2 or 3 different brands, but not AGD. And even if I am only looking for one thing, it's still one more step I have to take because SOME JERKOFF is breaking the ebay rules.
I hate people LIKE YOU who do that. All you do is make our lives harder by throwing in little annoyances.

[slade]

It can be annoying but all you have to do is look to your left and click "Dye" or "Smart Parts".

Ebay is all about making the most you can out of your item. Hence chicks with big b00bies can often be seen holding paintball guns.

? you mean to where it says different brands? please the list they have is:

* Angel (133)
* Autococker (363)
* Automag (40)
* Dye (70)
* JT (10)
* Smart Parts (211)
* Spyder (462)
* Tippmann (473)
* Other (895)

you can not tell me that that is by any means an exhaustive list. it doesnt even have timmys for gods sake. wheres ICD? AKA? macdev? what the hell is JT doing there?? etc. plus people often ignore the lists, because theyre so bad the majority of markers are out of category.

and you know what i usually tend to do when i search? at the end of the keywords i put "-not" but unfortunately that can block the one person who was selling what you wanted but decided to throw on a bunch of keywords.

[Aslan]

Ebay

Wow...where to start?

First off...the premise of this thread is rediculous. "Why can't I get $80 for my Pro-Carbine?" Because. Because the resale price on paintball equipment is very low.

Also, like someone else said...most of the time people wait till the last three hours to start bidding on stuff.

Now...as to all this Ebay "advice". The dude that said he nows a guy making $60,000 selling junk on ebay...HIGHLY unlikely. There's numerous "get rich quick" scams out there regarding online selling targeted at lazy people who can't hold job. They get promised that they can make thousands of dollars a day selling stuff on ebay. It doesn't work. Think about it. You're telling me there's some guy with enough stuff in his house that he can sell it for months and make $60,000 per month? Unless he's selling Civil War or World War II memorabilia or rare art or rare sports collectibles...HIGHLY unlikely! The get rich quick scams are like pyramid schemes...where they sell you junk and then you try to sell it on Ebay for more than you bought it for. But the stuff is junk...and worthless...so nobody buys it...so you end up either with a basement full of Hula lamps or a ton of bills charged by the company holding your goods that you've committed to buy. If it sounds too good to be true...2999 times out of 3000...it is.

Next...getting people to "bid up" items. Ebay will eventually catch you. I know of a couple that got caught and were banned for life from ever using Ebay. And that was for a first offense where a neighbor or family friend bid up an item by $25. Ebay takes that stuff VERY seriously.

Next...hate to agree with slade... ..but people that add "not minimag" or "not crossfire" to adds...REALLY piss me off. If I'm looking for a minimag...I don't want a "Spyder Fenix not a minimag, automag, Dye..." That's annoying and I think less of the seller for doing it.

And finally, the paypal thing. Paypal doesn't like credit cards, they like bank accounts...which is also annoying because credit cards are much easier. You can try the "bank accounts only" line...but it will just turn people off who want to use a credit card. It's easier just to get verified and pay the small fees to accept credit cards. I ignore "bank accounts only, no credit cards and pay by credit card anyway. The fee to relist the item and go through all that usually far exceeds the paypal credit card fee so the seller just pays it.

[slade]

Now...as to all this Ebay "advice". The dude that said he nows a guy making $60,000 selling junk on ebay...HIGHLY unlikely. There's numerous "get rich quick" scams out there regarding online selling targeted at lazy people who can't hold job. They get promised that they can make thousands of dollars a day selling stuff on ebay. It doesn't work. Think about it. You're telling me there's some guy with enough stuff in his house that he can sell it for months and make $60,000 per month? Unless he's selling Civil War or World War II memorabilia or rare art or rare sports collectibles...HIGHLY unlikely! The get rich quick scams are like pyramid schemes...where they sell you junk and then you try to sell it on Ebay for more than you bought it for. But the stuff is junk...and worthless...so nobody buys it...so you end up either with a basement full of Hula lamps or a ton of bills charged by the company holding your goods that you've committed to buy. If it sounds too good to be true...2999 times out of 3000...it is.

he never said anything about a "get rich quick scheme" or some company that sells him cheap trinkets that he sells on ebay. it is likely that this guy knows someone who owns a wharehouse or something that constantly sells products on ebay... and very possibly actual products people would buy instead of cheap trinkets.

Next...getting people to "bid up" items. Ebay will eventually catch you. I know of a couple that got caught and were banned for life from ever using Ebay. And that was for a first offense where a neighbor or family friend bid up an item by $25. Ebay takes that stuff VERY seriously.

how'd they get caught?

Next...hate to agree with slade...

awwww...

And finally, the paypal thing. Paypal doesn't like credit cards, they like bank accounts...which is also annoying because credit cards are much easier. You can try the "bank accounts only" line...but it will just turn people off who want to use a credit card. It's easier just to get verified and pay the small fees to accept credit cards. I ignore "bank accounts only, no credit cards and pay by credit card anyway. The fee to relist the item and go through all that usually far exceeds the paypal credit card fee so the seller just pays it.

...or they get pissed off, report that you did not pay for the item through their approved payment method, and they dont have to pay for relisting the item. and you get bad feedback. once you upgrade your account, you dont only have to pay fees for credit card payments, you have to pay fees for ALL transactions. and that can add up, its not a small fee for a $600 marker.

[Lohman446]

Now...as to all this Ebay "advice". The dude that said he nows a guy making $60,000 selling junk on ebay...HIGHLY unlikely. There's numerous "get rich quick" scams out there regarding online selling targeted at lazy people who can't hold job. They get promised that they can make thousands of dollars a day selling stuff on ebay. It doesn't work. Think about it. You're telling me there's some guy with enough stuff in his house that he can sell it for months and make $60,000 per month? Unless he's selling Civil War or World War II memorabilia or rare art or rare sports collectibles...HIGHLY unlikely! :

My buddy sells on Ebay as a power seller and rakes in $60K in sales a month!

I trust you understand the difference between making and selling. It is rather possible to sell 60K a month of stuff on e-bay, you may be making $1 on it, or a very small percentage regardless. E-bay in fact favors to some degree the sellers that can sell at sub-discount margins (we are talking profit margins under 10%) because of its relative lack of overhead.

[Aslan]

I trust you understand the difference between making and selling. It is rather possible to sell 60K a month of stuff on e-bay, you may be making $1 on it, or a very small percentage regardless. E-bay in fact favors to some degree the sellers that can sell at sub-discount margins (we are talking profit margins under 10%) because of its relative lack of overhead.

Right. It was my understanding that he's talking about a guy "making" $60,000 a month. That's just no possible. I'm not even sure if that's possible for an actual store that uses ebay as a sort of "advertising"...since they pay Ebay for this advertising everytime they list an item whether it sells or not. If he meant, "sells" $60,000 worth of stuff...well, yeah...alot of those get rich quick schemes are huge warehouses that can provide you with that much junk...and I guess if you're a decent ebayer and it's all you do...you might be able to do that volume...but not "make" $60,000...I find that highly rediculous.

[Aslan]

he never said anything about a "get rich quick scheme" or some company that sells him cheap trinkets that he sells on ebay. it is likely that this guy knows someone who owns a wharehouse or something that constantly sells products on ebay... and very possibly actual products people would buy instead of cheap trinkets.

Still doubtful...Lohman is right...it's a matter of "selling" vs "making".

how'd they get caught?

I believe Ebay monitors this using a combination of a few methods. They can look at histories of not only who has bid on your items...but whether they are the same person or it looks like a new user. I know they also have the ability to track IP addresses because I heard of a guy that would bid up his items at work but list them at home. However, not only did it raise suspicion that the same guy was bidding up things...a user from the same location as the seller...but even when the guy changed to different user IDs...it was the same IP address...and that's how he eventually got caught. I'm not sure, but most likey theres a program that they are running that has alert levels when any number of these types of events occur...it wouldn't be a very complex program...just monitoring user IDs, locations, and IP addresses.

...or they get pissed off, report that you did not pay for the item through their approved payment method, and they dont have to pay for relisting the item. and you get bad feedback. once you upgrade your account, you dont only have to pay fees for credit card payments, you have to pay fees for ALL transactions. and that can add up, its not a small fee for a $600 marker.

I'm a verified member. I don't pay fees if I'm the seller and the buyer uses a bank account. That's why some sellers request "verified" paypal accounts (accounts tied to bank accounts). My point is paypal is a two-way street. If I'm going to sell something and I don't want to pay 1 cent per dollar...I would just require check or money order. If I want the convenience of Paypal...I pay the penny...just like stores pay transaction fees when you or I use credit cards...at the end of the day, it's your choice whether you want the convenience.

If I pay $600 to a guy for a marker, and he cries that I jipped him out of $6...that's pretty lame...I'd probably just apologize and send him $6...but I think that's pretty lame.

[Lohman446]

Its illegal in many states to add a fee when paying with a credit card. It is legal though to give a cash / check discount.

[Aslan]

Its illegal in many states to add a fee when paying with a credit card. It is legal though to give a cash / check discount.

Very true. But a business can choose not to accept credit cards if they don't want to pay the transaction fees. They know that not accepting credit cards costs them business, so they pay the fees.