RandomStranger wrote on 2022-04-30, 21:37:

Also, there is a kind of seller, not just on ebay who goes for quantity over quality. Selling a lot of crap listed as tested and […]
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[FMC]Ravage wrote on 2022-04-30, 20:15:

ebay sellers range anywhere from amazing to complete garbage.

Also, there is a kind of seller, not just on ebay who goes for quantity over quality. Selling a lot of crap listed as tested and working where tested and working means it probably posted when when it was turned on once. That's how I got my heavily artifacting Radeon 9700 Pro from a 98% positive seller. When I complained the seller said that I should just disconnect the fan on the card. Yes, those cards are famous for loving their fans being disconnected. I'd assume the guy was selling a lot of baked GPUs as well. As long as it works for a couple of days after it arrives he secures a positive feedback.

What untested means more than half the time is tested and faulty. I assume if it's an seller with hundreds of active listings and several thousands of feedbacks in a very specific area then he is then he is probably acting in bad faith and lies about the item conditions or proper testing.

But maybe I'm just too distrustful.

I wouldn't say distrustful but rather jaded by previous experience, its different than just simply not trusting every seller.

I sold a graphics card that was tested thoroughly and working. Buyer changed his mind, and sait was was spiking so he got a refund. I tested it and found it was still OK. I then relisted it for a lower price, declaring it as faulty, and in the description said the previous buyer had found faults, which I described how the original buyer had described it, adding that I couldn't replicate the faults. The new buyer tested it and found nothing wrong with it. So I lost £100 over a dishonest buyer. It's not just sellers who can be a**holes.

if an item is listed using the 'used' condition category (or new, open box etc...) on ebay the buyer is absolutely guaranteed a fully working product no matter what else is stated in the auction. ebay policies supercede and mandate this. no dishonesty is required on the part of the buyer to get a full refund including original and return shipping costs.

it is a common mistake by sellers to list items as used instead of not working or for parts which is way more appropriate. i have complete confidence in getting full satisfaction when purchasing 'used' items, although more likely than not, based on my lowball bid, i still want the item even if it turns out to be broken in some way. sometimes i will hint about getting a small discount and typically get some token amount, but not always and i still keep the item.

stanwebber wrote on 2022-05-01, 02:11:

if an item is listed using the 'used' condition category (or new, open box etc...) on ebay the buyer is absolutely guaranteed a fully working product no matter what else is stated in the auction. ebay policies supercede and mandate this. no dishonesty is required on the part of the buyer to get a full refund including original and return shipping costs.

As an Ebay member since 2003 that is not totally true and is also part of the reason the prices are so high (plus the fact Ebay charges the 12.9%+ fee on the part plus most shipping too which is absurd) .
If labeled as Used and No Returns and has complete description including AS-IS and/or For Parts then there is no buyer recourse unless the item shipped is not the exact item as described....unless they changed it in the last year.

added: the real truth is that some sellers and some buyers have ruined ebay as other above have mentioned. Have friends that had buyers rob parts off items then claim they were shipped incomplete or swap parts out.
Those buyers are worse then the bad sellers IMHO because they cause the honest sellers to have to raise their prices to cover the few retard buyers that do that type of thing....rant over
I remember one who etched initials into each board of a system he sold and when buyer had it returned on inspection many parts were swapped out, took ebay a few months but banned the buyer.

I sold a laptop that was correctly listed as "for parts" with gratuitous "as-is" and detailed photos which showed various parts missing. The buyer immediately opened a case upon receipt because "it didn't work" and "missing memory".

I ended up winning the case, but I think I had to submit an appeal.

ebay defines used as:

Used: An item that has been used previously. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended. This item may be a floor model or store return that has been used. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.

this appears in the terms of EVERY ebay auction listing fully visible to the buyer and can't be edited by the seller. 'fully operational and functions as intended' is the guarantee.

When it comes to people who raise price when you ask a question you could also use it against them by asking question about things that you are not interested in and making them raise price which would make them much less likely to be able to sell it.

Horun wrote on 2022-05-01, 02:42:

As an Ebay member since 2003 that is not totally true and is also part of the reason the prices are so high (plus the fact Ebay […]
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stanwebber wrote on 2022-05-01, 02:11:

if an item is listed using the 'used' condition category (or new, open box etc...) on ebay the buyer is absolutely guaranteed a fully working product no matter what else is stated in the auction. ebay policies supercede and mandate this. no dishonesty is required on the part of the buyer to get a full refund including original and return shipping costs.

As an Ebay member since 2003 that is not totally true and is also part of the reason the prices are so high (plus the fact Ebay charges the 12.9%+ fee on the part plus most shipping too which is absurd) .
If labeled as Used and No Returns and has complete description including AS-IS and/or For Parts then there is no buyer recourse unless the item shipped is not the exact item as described....unless they changed it in the last year.

added: the real truth is that some sellers and some buyers have ruined ebay as other above have mentioned. Have friends that had buyers rob parts off items then claim they were shipped incomplete or swap parts out.
Those buyers are worse then the bad sellers IMHO because they cause the honest sellers to have to raise their prices to cover the few retard buyers that do that type of thing....rant over
I remember one who etched initials into each board of a system he sold and when buyer had it returned on inspection many parts were swapped out, took ebay a few months but banned the buyer.

There are unfortunately individuals who have no qualms doing anything they feel that they can get away with, regardless of it being illegal, unethical, hurtful to others or in any way "wrong". These individuals help make the world a crappier place for everyone (including themselves) in the long run and are often oblivious to that reality . The only way to combat this, IMHO, is to consistently call them out on this behaviour using all ethical (and legal) methods possible (and reasonably feasible). While this may not always be successful or useful in a given victim's case, every step taken to make it less profitable/harder/unpleasant for scammers to scam is of benefit to society and may help prevent someone else from being victimized .

Taking this a step further, IMHO, if one of us personally knows someone who behaves in such an asocial and callous way, respectfully pointing out the negative aspects of such behaviour may help prevent it to a point by acting on the "feeling that they can get away with". Again IMHO, tacit acceptance of someone's bad deeds/behaviour is not that far removed from complicity. To be clear, I am not advocating for a society where informers/stool pigeons with a "holier than thou attitude" become self-appointed guardians of righteousness, but only for an environment where people try to respectfully "do the right thing" without turning a blind eye to abusers (and their victims) . For example, IMHO, witnessing an acquaintance (or having him confess to) stealing from/defrauding/disrespecting others, is not something one should be comfortable simply ignoring and compartmentalizing as that validates the behaviour . Every random/faceless victim is someone's friend or relative and the next victim could well someone one personally knows and cares about.

Sorry for the preachiness . I really felt I needed to share my thoughts on this .

As a wise person once said ,"Be excellent to each other."

Horun wrote on 2022-05-01, 02:42:

As an Ebay member since 2003 that is not totally true and is also part of the reason the prices are so high (plus the fact Ebay charges the 12.9%+ fee on the part plus most shipping too which is absurd) .
If labeled as Used and No Returns and has complete description including AS-IS and/or For Parts then there is no buyer recourse unless the item shipped is not the exact item as described....unless they changed it in the last year.

Have also been an eBay member for almost 2 decades. 10 years ago, you would've been right.
However, in the past 5 years or so, since eBay adopted very strict rules, my experience has been that the seller can write ANYTHING he wants in the description (untested, no refunds, no returns, etc)... it still won't help him one bit.

If the item is being sold as "Used", which per the eBay rules has to be "fully operational and functioning as intended", then anything that the seller writes in the description will be null. Opening a Not as described case (and always making sure that you mention the fact the item was sold as used, just in case the guy at eBay support is blind) will result in a very quick refund.
Bottom line, I've never lost a case as a buyer... ever (even for very expensive items that were sold as used and having big red notes in the description where the seller was saying how the buyer is responsible and that no refunds will ever be accepted). 😁

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-04-30, 00:48:

I sent an offer on an item and the seller made a counter offer. Then I asked some follow-up questions about the firmware version, etc., and explained that I'm looking for a specific model. He checked for me (very kind) and I confirmed that this is what I was looking for. Then he made a new offer that was higher than the last.

I wasn't aware sellers could submit a higher counter-offer before the other expired. Can buyers do the same in reverse? Or has the offer expired already at the time?

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-04-30, 02:18:

There is an auction up that I submitted an offer for and the seller countered with an amount MORE than the starting price!

For auctions it kinda makes sense to submit an offer higher than the starting price. A reasonable seller would put the starting price to be the absolute lowest they are willing to sell for. Offering more than that is a gamble - you secure the item now at a price which is known, without waiting for the end of an auction, and risking someone snatching it away / driving the price up.

Typically the starting price is less than the item's market value. If it isn't - well, you are dealing with an unreasonable seller, and should probably look elsewhere.

Ok, I'll also add one of the stories about (_)(_)hole eBay sellers, the funny one.

I have found one vintage laptop on sale from some eBay seller abroad. It was an auction and I've won it being the only bidder. The starting price was already high but it was ok for me. Since I live in other country and there was no mention that he is not shipping abroad I've sent him a total request asking to add a shipping method to my country. The seller without even replying me cancelled my order. I've sent him a message asking him to complete my order since I have additional shipping address in his country too, but instead of doing it he offered me to participate in a new auction for this same laptop. Also he added a notice that he is not shipping abroad.

In the end he sold it for exactly the same price but to other guy who also was the only bidder. Funny, ain't it? 😂

Personally I had very few bad experiences on eBay.
My first and therefore most shocking one was when I bought a Voodoo 2 12mb, the picture was low quality, but the auction price didn't end that high, something like €30.
When I got the card I noticed that it had bent chip legs and one was fully missing.
I wrote to the seller, since he sold it as working (while it wasn't even detected from OS), asking for proof the card was working, I got nothing other than the seller making fun of me and then ignoring my request for a refund (with giving the item back).
I opened a dispute (at the time I didn't know how it was working and due to my ocd I need to do things right, very stressful), in the end eBay refunded me, then since the seller didn't cooperate eBay also said I could keep the card. Some days after the seller claimed to have it back, then I showed him the ebay message where I could keep it, in the end the seller left me a positive feedback stating I damaged the card.

As a seller I always test the stuff I sell, if there is any visual damage I put the pictures of it, once I unlucky I did a mistake, I sold a 775 lga microatx board with incompatible ddr2 sticks (rated too low) the card was booting fine the first time but then it complained about the rams, the buyer sent it back and I issued a full refund.

bloodem wrote on 2022-05-01, 06:15:

If the item is being sold as "Used", which per the eBay rules has to be "fully operational and functioning as intended", then anything that the seller writes in the description will be null.

exactly, the seller PICKS the item condition category and has to live with those ebay contract terms because they supercede any and all terms from the seller. (just like your creditcard's merchant agreement supercedes all ebay policies because ebay agreed to them when accepting the card.)

bottom line, for an "untested" electronics item that is sold as 'for parts or not working' the buyer is put at risk if it's broken. when sold as 'used' the seller is putting themselves at risk because, no matter what else they say, they have already made a representation that the item is fully operational and functioning as intended.

the days of selling on ebay as a hobby are long gone. they treat every seller as a stone cold business. in that vein business is risky...turning a profit the first few years is iffy and taking more than a 100% loss is not uncommon.

Thanks ! Yes have not sold anything on Ebay since about 2017 and they did change the Listing Categories descriptions.

cause I mentioned it in the other thread... lately I have sellers constantly cancel auctions or sales on me, today it happened again, at least like once a week 🙁
if I'm bidding on your auction, that means I'm interested in it, if you wanna sell it to someone else why wouldn't you contact other interested people (like the one actually bidding on your auction) first?

I've had this issue a couple of times recently. "Item was damaged" or they can't find it or something.

I asked to still buy the damaged item but they wouldn't even respond. I guess they don't want my money or...

yeah, they never respond, but of course they want money, they got messaged an offer that's "too good to be true" in private and they won't have to pay ebay's fees and not have hassles in case anything goes wrong, so they'd rather just sell it outside of ebay.

then don't put it there in the first place please 😒

imi wrote on 2022-05-03, 01:57:

yeah, they never respond, but of course they want money, they got messaged an offer that's "too good to be true" in private and they won't have to pay ebay's fees and not have hassles in case anything goes wrong, so they'd rather just sell it outside of ebay.

then don't put it there in the first place please 😒

Yeah, that is until the seller learns that people who make "too good to be true" offers outside of Ebay probably have a reason for doing so that may not play out to the seller's advantage , to put it mildly . People who put greed above common courtesy and ethics deserve the karmic blowback, IMHO .

that doesn't help me though, I still lose out of even having a chance of getting it.

Scammers probably mostly want to monetise too though and have a quick sale so as not to draw attention for too long, so may list the item a month or two later at lower BIN.