ebay idiots!! Bargains few and far between!
ebay idiots!! Bargains few and far between!
Author
Discussion

milfordkong

Original Poster:

1,305 posts

255 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
Hi,
I've been searching for a few things on ebay recently: a new car stereo that plays mp3s and some fitness equipment i'm after.

Anyway what I was wondering is, why do people think that just because an item is on ebay, that it is automatically a bargain? I've seen several car stereos go for extremely near (and over including their p&p) what they go for down at Halfrauds, which is probably the most expensive place you could buy car audio these days. Also a chin up bar I was looking for that you can buy from Argos for £6.95 was going on there several times for £15 +, and that's without the £4 p&p I mean what the hell is wrong with people??

The problem is probably at it's worse when it comes to dvds, it's pretty damn difficult to find a dvd on there that you can't find cheaper (and with free p&P) at play, cdwow or one of the other online retailers and yet people still lap it up and bid away!! A simple trip to a site like www.dvdpricecheck.co.uk would find them the same disc but cheaper and with free delivery.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to ever get a decent bargain on ebay (which is surely what it's there for) due to over competitive, lazy and just plain stupid bidders. With very little research people could save themselves the hassle of ebay as well as the postage fees and get what they're bidding on for much cheaper and brand new at an online store or even the high street.

Sure there's an element of fun in bidding in an auction over just buying an item, but surely that little tiny buzz can't be worth paying over the odds for an item that has none of the security offered when buying from a proper shop.

I used to love ebay, now I see it's only use being finding otherwise unobtainable or rare items (what it was originally conceived for I believe), there's no denying it's enormity and catalogue of almost everything you can think of, but it's advantages for buying everyday items are decreasing by the day.

Andy



lanciachris

3,357 posts

264 months

Friday 4th February 2005
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Yes. foruntately all i use it for is finding rare stuff

chris1roll

1,893 posts

267 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
yes...volvo 480 seatbelt arms, cost £7 inc VAT from volvo themselves. pair went on there for £35+ p&p!!

hmmmm...
/I go and buy bulk batch from volvo

Mrs BlueCerbera

2,208 posts

263 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
Yes, I agree. My brother was after an Ernie Els golf video and he'd heard that it was near enough impossible to get hold of, so he took a look on ebay. There was one on there and bidding had reached £30+.

I ordered him one online from Woolworths for £11.95 in the end.

Bizarre.

jamesc

2,820 posts

307 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
Have a look at the TVR stuff on there!

Pies

13,116 posts

279 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
Time to turn to being a sellar

gopher

5,160 posts

282 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
My brother sold a 2nd hand rather worn and battered R-C car on there a few weeks back - he said in the advert how much it would cost to get the car brand new with the radio gear (£200)

final selling price £220

Luckily I only use it to sell

Cheers

Paul

Chris Type R

8,836 posts

272 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
Pies said:
Time to turn to being a sellar


Don't sell all of your e's

cotty

41,919 posts

307 months

Friday 4th February 2005
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I was bidding on the box set of Monty Python DVD's. final selling price £20 + £5 P&P, you can get the same DVD's on www.play.com for £15.99 with free delivery.

I feel like contacting the buyer and telling them that they are stupid beyond belief

james_j

3,996 posts

278 months

Friday 4th February 2005
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I think people often get carried away with their desire to "win" a bid.

chris watton

22,547 posts

283 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
jamesc said:
Have a look at the TVR stuff on there!


LOL, I know!!! all the best stuff (Leven) seems to go at the same price as if you bought the parts brand new from the factory!!! The rest of the stuff (battery covers!!!!????!!!/photocopied 'books', key fobs etc) is plain rip off, pure and simple,, only the genuine TVR owners have the best stuff, but again, the bids get silly! I don't know about you, but I would much prefer buying a part new rather than 'saving' a few quid!

Monkey Boy 1

2,066 posts

254 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
The art of Ebay is to know what the price is NEW & stear clear of those who charge outlandish P & P.
Saw a memory stick for the PC in there, the guy wanted £10 for postage. most of them are about £1.50 to £5 P & P recorded delivery.

There's still money to be made & bargains to be had on Ebay, problem is that some people go down to their local Poundland store, but up all of the modles of cars & bikes & try & sell them at 500% mark up or more.
Saw a lotus Elise modle on there, (I bought one from Poundland for my son's collection), This guy was trying to sell it for £35.00

cotty

41,919 posts

307 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
Monkey Boy 1 said:
The art of Ebay is to know what the price is NEW & stear clear of those who charge outlandish P & P.


saw a DVD for £2 the other day and the seller wanted £17 P&P

ehasler

8,576 posts

306 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
cotty said:

Monkey Boy 1 said:
The art of Ebay is to know what the price is NEW & stear clear of those who charge outlandish P & P.



saw a DVD for £2 the other day and the seller wanted £17 P&P
That's because ebay charge seller's fees on the price of the item, but not p&p, so it will cost them less to sell something for £2 plus £17p&p than £17 plus £2p&p

big dazza

1,439 posts

259 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
Monkey Boy 1 said:


There's still money to be made & bargains to be had on Ebay, problem is that some people go down to their local Poundland store, but up all of the modles of cars & bikes & try & sell them at 500% mark up or more.



There's an idea, I'm know where I'm off to tomorrow then.

sheepy

3,164 posts

272 months

Friday 4th February 2005
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I'm looking for a replacement ECU for my Jag. Given that I can have mine rebuilt by the engineer who designed the system for Jaguar at a cost of about £100-£150, how much do you think one appeared on ebay at (starting bid)?

jessica

6,321 posts

275 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
Pies said:
Time to turn to being a sellar


erm yup

Wacky Racer

40,672 posts

270 months

Friday 4th February 2005
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I sold a secondhand black Adidas grip bag football holdall, which was in "fair" condition, bought new in 1977 for £7.99 for £65 after describing it as "retro", and had about 12 bidders...........

ebay rocks.......

victormeldrew

8,293 posts

300 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
Its handy for rare, difficult to find, out of circulation stuff, but at least 70% of the content is rubbish being punted at dummies.

I just recently lost out on a boxed and unused cylinder block for a Suzi GT750. Can't be many of those left, and not surprisingly it went a packet (£510).

What gets me is the amount of copyright material being sold off for peanuts - obviously pirated.

What I have a spare few hours I have boxes of 70s/80s bike magazine in the loft - 'undreds of 'em - and they go for a few quid. Could be a profitable afternoons work!

Badapple

2,265 posts

277 months

Friday 4th February 2005
quotequote all
There are people on the avforums who have bought dvd's form ebay & when the dvd's have arrived they are sent out straight from play247!

The seller orders them after the auction has ended & gives the high bidders address for delivery.

I think it happened to a guy with the die hard box set.
Auction ended for £40, it arrived in a play 247 packet with the customs declaration of £30...