eBay and Paypal?

[lonesoldier]

So I recently signed up for both services when a friend alerted me toward the the many great deals to be found. I have two worries:

1) Fraud: I'll pay them and my books never arrive, or I get books that are not as advertised (poor-condition, wrong book, etc). Do I have any method of recourse?

2) Seems a little too good to be true. New condition Eberron campaign setting for $10? That sells in local stores for around 45 CAD...

Am I just worrying too much? How often do 'bad things' happen?

 

[GlassJaw]

Am I just worrying too much? How often do 'bad things' happen?

Yes.
Not very often if you buy from reputable sellers.

Just check the seller's feedback rating as well as the other things they have for sale and the volume of business they do. If they sell even a small amount, it's in everyone's best interest to not screw people.

You can usually tell the shady sellers on ebay pretty easily.

 

[Meloncov]

On Ebay, its easy to check the reputation of a seller. If its high and the person has made a fairly large number of sales, you don't have much to worry about. Even if you are cheated, Ebay gives you some protection, but I can't remember the details.

 

[Merkuri]

I buy on eBay a lot, and while bad things happen they don't happen often and are usually a product of a misunderstanding, not a scam.

1) Fraud: I'll pay them and my books never arrive, or I get books that are not as advertised (poor-condition, wrong book, etc). Do I have any method of recourse?

1) If you use PayPal you can take it up with them. They can sometimes get you your money back. If they can't help you then eBay might. Read their policies on their sites.

I've been using eBay for probably 8 years now. I've only had bad transactions three times, and all of them worked out in the end.

2) Seems a little too good to be true. New condition Eberron campaign setting for $10? That sells in local stores for around 45 CAD...

2) Auction prices often go up at the last minute. Also, watch for price gouging in the shipping cost. It's standard practice on eBay to inflate the shipping costs (which the buyer usually pays) to make a few extra bucks. Adjust your bid for the extra shipping cost.

Some tips about new buyers:

1) Don't buy from people with low amounts of feedback. As a rule, I don't buy stuff from people with a score lower than 10. If they have bad feedback, scan through the feedback for the bad ones and see who left it and why. Most of the time it's somebody who didn't read the auction and is just upset that they got an item they didn't expect.

2) Read the auctions carefully. Don't get caught by surprise by the amount of shipping (see above). Look at the pictures. Ask questions to the seller if something isn't clear. Don't bid on something unless you're comfortable with the amount of info you have about it.

3) A common practice on eBay is to wait until the last minute to bid in order to "beat the other bidders." This can lead to bidding wars, with people upping their bid once every five seconds in the last minute of the auction. I don't like to do this because I find I spend more than I want to, and there are usually plenty of other similar items to bid on. My strategy is to decide how much I want to pay for this item and bid that amount (minus shipping costs). If I get overbid I move on to the next like item. It takes longer, and you may come to a point where you realize the amount you're willing to pay is not enough to get you an item, but you won't find yourself paying $100 for a $25 item because you got caught up in a bid war.

 

[Agamon]

I have about a hundred transactions, with only one bad one. I paid and got nothing. He was lowish on the rep scale, but I was a noob, and it taught me the hard way to follow the advice given above.

3) A common practice on eBay is to wait until the last minute to bid in order to "beat the other bidders." This can lead to bidding wars, with people upping their bid once every five seconds in the last minute of the auction. I don't like to do this because I find I spend more than I want to, and there are usually plenty of other similar items to bid on. My strategy is to decide how much I want to pay for this item and bid that amount (minus shipping costs). If I get overbid I move on to the next like item. It takes longer, and you may come to a point where you realize the amount you're willing to pay is not enough to get you an item, but you won't find yourself paying $100 for a $25 item because you got caught up in a bid war.

A similar way to do this is to go the other direction and actually snipe the auction. Figure out how much you want to spend on an auction and wait until it's almost over. If the price goes over what you want to spend in the mean time, move on. eBay is huge, even if you don't get something right now, there'll be more auctions soon enough.

If, in the last minute, the price is still in your range, wait until the last 5-7 seconds before submitting your bid. If you win, great. If not, you don't have time to re-up your bid to more than you're willing to spend.

 

[Jesus_marley]

So I recently signed up for both services when a friend alerted me toward the the many great deals to be found. I have two worries:

1) Fraud: I'll pay them and my books never arrive, or I get books that are not as advertised (poor-condition, wrong book, etc). Do I have any method of recourse?

2) Seems a little too good to be true. New condition Eberron campaign setting for $10? That sells in local stores for around 45 CAD...

Am I just worrying too much? How often do 'bad things' happen?

Most transactions on Ebay are protected under the Ebay buyer protection service and/or the Paypal protection service. When checking the auctions it will state whether the item is eligible.
Ebay has come a long way since its inception to ensure that both buyers and sellers are protected from fraud.

WRT to fraud, a buyer generally has little to worry about. When fraud happens, it is mostly on the bigger ticket items. All you need to do is be alert and read the auctions carefully.

With that said, As a new Ebay user, I should warn you about the Ebay email Phishing scam. You will invariably receive emails that look legitimate and state that there is a problem with your account. there will be a link that takes you to a form to enter your account info. DO NOT DO IT! That is the source of most fraud on Ebay. People will hijack your account, list several expensive items and then leave you holding the bag. The key is to be alert and never release your info. Common sense really.

 

[trancejeremy]

I've probably had about 300 ebay transactions, mostly from the buyer's end, and maybe 3-4 bad ones. If you use paypal though, and you get ripped off, you can complain and probably get your money back.

Definitely pay close attention to shipping. Very close. Some places (ebay stores, most commonly) like to list items on ebay for very cheap, but then charge a ton of money for shipping.

 

[kenobi65]

Much good advice has been given here.

Single biggest thing is "buy from reputable sellers."

Second biggest thing is "read auctions closely."

I've both bought and sold hundreds of things on eBay. In at least 80% of the auctions I've been involved in, almost all of the bidding happens in the last few hours to few minutes. So, check the "finished auctions only" for a better feel for what the books you want are *really* going for.

 

[ssampier]

Don't be caught in the frenzy of the auctions. I know people who place a bid for an item they are only moderately interested, "I'd buy that for a dollar." They bid and got caught up in the frenzy of a bidding war, before long, that dollar was close to an hundred. All this for an item they didn't really want.

 

[Huw]

Single biggest thing is "buy from reputable sellers."

Sound advice, but consider the flip side. I've just started selling on eBay, so my priority has been to get my reputation up. I'm doing this by selling off all my cheap things first. Once I have a reputation, then I can put up the expensive stuff (and I've got quite a bit of that) and people will have the confidence to put down the high bids.

So give the new sellers (like me) a chance. But do be suspicious. Several people have sent me messages, probably just to sound me out. I'm serious about selling off most of my collection, so I'm going overboard to provide information and be helpful. So far, so good - I've nothing but positive feedback.