Do you ebay?
Author
Discussion

JonX2C

Original Poster:

820 posts

239 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Just out of intrest wondering how many PH members buy or sell on ebay?

Its obviously still a booming market and wondered what most people look for, do cars come high up on your list or items for the kids?

camgear

6,941 posts

223 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Very, very, rarely.

Bought a bike exhaust, and some wheel tape, I think that's it.

LotusACBC

2,591 posts

313 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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I havent bought something from ebay in a very long time. usually I just pick up small things here are there when I cant find them anywhere else. I.E. Out of print books or DvD's.

Steve748

8,542 posts

213 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Over 900 f/b but a lot more transactions successfully completed both buy and sell. I look for something on fleabay first and then google it to find out if I can buy it cheaper direct

Edit
I have not sold much ever since they increased their fees which hit small sellers like me and now you are forced to accept paypal as a payment option. If I am selling I always try and encourage my buyers to pay direct to my bank either over the counter or internet banking. I put Paypal is NOT preferred as they take about £4.50 for a £100 payment. Anything expensive I buy I ask the seller if they would prefer me to pay them over the internet or cash over the counter in their bank.

Edited by Steve748 on Thursday 19th February 17:46

pokethepope

2,667 posts

217 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Used to sell copied CD's of ringtones, wallpapers etc (chavvy i know) a few years ago when i was 16 or 17. Bought the first one for £1, copied it onto blank CD/DVD's for pennies and sell on for a couple of quid a pop. Remember looking at my selling manager thing after a year of doing it, had turned over about £1500 in 12 months, not bad for putting 10-20 CD's in an envelope and popping them in the post box!

Wouldn't sell on there now, the fee's are absolutely horrendous, and the rules are skewed to rape the small sellers.

cazzer

8,883 posts

277 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Rebuilt a lot of my Plymouth using Ebay.
Not many 1958 parts available anywhere else.

Established 1984

1,237 posts

214 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Some of the things I've bought on Ebay are:

20v 4age engine, ecu & harness
lotus elise exhaust
mr2 mk3 seats
mr2 mk1 short shifter
KG archery bow
camera battery grip
camera filters
camera bag
ram
sd cards
seiko 5 watch

I'll look for anything on there and trust the seller if they've got good feedback. Not sure I'd but a car without going to see it though. I'd also be cautious of commonly faked items like rolex subs. etc.



DoubleYellow

1,288 posts

218 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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I buy and sell fairly often. Relatively low value. Once bought something for £500 with no trouble.

750turbo

6,164 posts

253 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Never EVER go on ebay after "small" beer. This has cost me a few times, buying stuff for my bike smile I keep telling myself that 4 downpipes, attached to a turbo with no internals will be really handy to have in the future! (Kawasaki 750Turbo)

On the other hand I sold 2 card aeroplanes of a new KLM airliner to a guy in Holland, admittedly only for 40p plus postage. smile

andy-xr

13,204 posts

233 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Good for car parts that owners forums sometimes take a while to turn up. Lot of dheads though

AlexKP

16,484 posts

273 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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I've bought and sold tens of thousands of pounds worth of stuff on ebay over the years - a lot of prestige watches in that figure.

Rarely had a problem, but then you develop a sixth sense if you use it over a long period. Got ripped off on an iPod a couple of years ago though.

sjg

7,670 posts

294 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Don't sell much on there any more (too many timewasters) but for small things, especially techy things like generic cables which will be churned out of a factory in the far east, it's far easier to just filter for buy-it-now, sort by price inc P&P and only be a couple of clicks away from ordering. Can't be bothered to go to the trouble of filling in address and credit card details on some random site to save a few pence. I might check Amazon in case I can get it there for a similarly hassle-free experience.

Along those lines, have bought hi-vis jackets and warning triangle (for trip to france), wiper blades, a TFT monitor arm, an HDMI cable, and watch-sized batteries in the last couple of months.

Good for more obscure stuff too - just set up your criteria, save the search and let it email you when new items come along. I quite like japanese automatic watches that never seem to get sold here, so it's easy to stick the model number in and see when they come up.

jkennyd

3,142 posts

228 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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I spend way to much time on ebay. I'm always looking for deals on computer stuff from servers down to ram. Its also a great place for cars and car parts. Its also great for watches. It has a lot of ste on it as well but you can trawl past all that no probs.

I've never had a dodgy deal in all my years with ebay but I have heard it's a nightmare for small sellars these days.

Steamer

14,170 posts

242 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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A few years back a friend and I set up a little business on ebay - totally unplanned really!

We got upto about £60K per year turn over - I would say 95% totally hassle free.

An amusing observation, the only customers that tried to scam us / kick up a fuss were those at the higher end of the income scale.

HONEYMON57ER

562 posts

239 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Started an E-BAY shop in October now doing about £3k a month.
Good for getting rid of old stock but not making a lot of money
on regular stock lines that we carry in our real shop.

Coco H

4,237 posts

266 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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Buy and sell - only cheap items. Minimise risk.


bimsb6

8,739 posts

250 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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i bought a £7k harley on ebay which was the cheapest of that model anywhere .not sold for some time but still buy stuff .

TheEnd

15,370 posts

217 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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I buy stuff on there quite often, i can think of £600-£800 transactions. All of that is carefree as i know the credit card and paypal will back me up in a problem, although i've never had to do a chargeback.

I've done far riskier stuff sending over 2k in a bank transfer to a for sale advert on a website in Germany... That is one for adrenaline junkies!

Pesty

42,655 posts

285 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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loads

spikeyhead

20,341 posts

226 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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It's rare that I buy anything on there these days, though in the past I've amassed a collection of rare White Stripes singles as well as assorted other collectibles.

I've also bought a Porsche 911 996 GT3 Mk11 without seeing it.