First ebay purchase! Seller: (bobbiefaye1234) met my requirement for purchase and delivered op time as promised. Didn't really trust online shopping, Mr if i cant touch it i aint buying it. ebay left a good taste in my mouth. Taking it slowly, but definitely will be back! Great prices.

This review was modified by its author, ensabrenoir, on 2/6/10 12:32 PM.

I want to first say.. I don't write reviews unless I have problems.. I've never had a problem with companies like newegg.com or amazon every really.. they do it awesomely :) (newegg my few times before.. better than expected :))  
 
Okay so.. this is the 2nd time I've ever had a problem with ebay.. it's still ongoing but based on the reviews here already I'm guessing I'm screwed :(  
 
I bought a buy it now item with a microsoft cashback 20% offer.. from a seller with 400 positive feedbacks (100%)  
 
In any attempt to talk about this with ebay I have been thwarted.. they don't care, aren't listening to me in person at all..  
 
Just now I finally sent a message that was limited to a 1000 characters (not enough :( )  
 
After the cashback sale was over.. the seller reported on Monday that he didn't have the laptop in question in stock.. the order had been cancelled on him.. bought it on a Saturday..  
 
I said that wasn't good enough.. I had clicked a buy it now with NO REFUND? yet he gets to tell me he doesn't have my product.. and how about your money back?  
 
I just don't get this?? What kind of fair system is it.. that you click buy it now can't do anything have committed? But anytime the seller wants out they can just say hey.. "my shipment didn't come in sorry!"  
 
Anyway, I have already received refund what I'm not happy about is the sale is over cause it's too late and I can't get the same laptop from a different seller for the same money!!  
 
What doubly pisses me off :) is that he definitely sold many laptops.. not just one to me.. so he's doing this to a lot of people after all I read about this deal on the internet.. and that there's no way to give this guy negative FEEDBACK because this just cleans everything up..  
 
That's the story I sent to ebay.. and based on my reviews here I don't think they'll change their tune at all I will file a complaint with the BBB too and update when I can..

Ebaying greatly depends on the seller. So make sure to check his feedback and the validity of the item on display. Made a couple of purchases which so far have been smooth running. Great place to buy items otherwise not possible.

Don't ever buy "new" camera equipment off of Ebay. I guarantee you that if you do, the seller will be a lazy scumbag who sells grey market crap or even worse(??), presents themselves as an authorized dealer but in actuality places items up for auction that they don't even have in stock! Ebay customer service is the worst on this planet. I tried chatting with customer service, but they absolutely didn't get what I was talking about. It was absolutely pointless trying to communicate with someone who was clearly from another country and didn't know what the hell I was talking about. I tried the email route too, got modified canned responses, none of which reflected the seriousness of the issues presented. Now my money is tied up and I have to wait to get my refunds...if I get them at all. Ebay and PayPal are absolutely horrible. Filing a dispute on PayPal now leads you directly back to Ebay where nothing gets done. Try emailing PayPal...joke. They never, ever respond. For cheap crap like blu rays or books, fine. But for anything related to electronics or camera equipment, beware. Everything on Ebay is grey market junk that will fall apart shortly after purchase, with NO U.S. warranty whatsoever. Ebay knows this too but they say nothing because they want their precious fees. This also leads to bias on the part of Ebay not taking any action towards bad sellers who sell grey market junk and take their sweet time shipping. Ebay...what a nightmare!!!

I like ebay. the price is usually the lowest. I bought a Canon camera and I get cash back from bing.com. I am waiting for cyber monday sale since last year, i got 20% off from live.com (which is now bing.com) The camera I bought was 500D and the price was about $1100 with 3 bags, 5 lenses, tripod and more. this is way cheaper than costco.com

There is virtually no customer support. There contact section gives no contacts and if there is a section there is no contacts listed. I had to go through Paypal Customer Service to get in touch with Ebay Customer Service. There is also a massive problem with illegal counterfeit products. Ebay does not take an active role in patrolling there site and removing infringing items. There report item section on listing is mostly for show. Ebay has made very easy for sellers to sell illegal items and hide them among aunthentic items. Avoid any seller that is located in China as most counterfeits are coming from China.

elink has not sent me the correct product and they also said that I would have to pay for the shipping in order for them to send us the correct battery. This really annoying and I've opened a case on ebay but they still haven't sent me anything back. I have told them I want them to send me the correct battery first, then I'll send the wrong one back, but they sent me an email that said that they want me to send back the battery (and pay for shipping) then they'll send me the new one.

Diabolical! I hate eBay so much, the sellers on eBay are either just rip-off merchants or plain thieving scmasters. Avoid at all costs!

one thing I hate on ebay is their policy for not removing unfair negative feedback left by buyers.  
I sold a coin to a buyer. then the buyer said she received the envelope and the coin fell out of the envelope so she got an empty envelope.  
she threatened me that she will report me if I didn't give her a full refund. I gave her refund and then she asked for a positive feedback. I left positive feedback and then she started sending insulting emails to me.  
I reported her to the trust and safety and after that she left me a negative.  
I am pretty sure she got the coin, her money back, a positive feedback and left me withour a coin, without my money and a negative feedback.  
I asked ebay to remove the negative and they said I was right but they couldn't remove the negative.  
 
3 months later, I checked her feedback and I only see sellers complaining about her even while giving her positive feedback.  
I wonder what trust and safety means for ebay.  
they only care to the fees and nothing more.

Ebay certainly have the best prices of any online store.

When buying/selling at ebay, you have to be aware of the type of item you're attempting to transact. The problem with buying on ebay is that individual sellers have to overcome ebay fees, paypal fees, and shipping fees. This means you are almost most assuredly going to be paying equal to or more than buying from a major store. If an item is problematic, you don't have the reputation of a major store to bank upon to deal with the issue. You'll likely have to pay for shipping both ways. If you have a problem with the transaction, you have to go through the ebay resolution center which can take up to 60 days to clear up your issue (their number).  
 
It simply makes little sense to buy from ebay unless the item you are looking for is: old, difficult to find, or unique. Making ebay your default megastore of choice is a poor decision. You're much better off using a price comparison site like Google shopping, pricegrabber, bizrate, etc. to find a competitive price and deal directly with a store.  
 
If you must use ebay, be sure to check Bing.com for cashback (search for your item there and look amongst the advertisements). You'll often find 8% back, and occasionally ebay will run promotions that raise cashback above 20%. THEN, it is worth shopping there.

Ordered 2 sets of scales from a seller, despite a late arrival and one broken paypal refunded me after the seller refused. Go ebay..

My husband and myself ordered a sony xplode car stereo. My husband connected it to the car right away and has been working perfectly. He loves the background. You see soccer players and cars racing. It was excatly like how they described it. We love it.The Stereo arrived really quickly. So far we haven't had any problems with it. I would reccomend this seller.

what a scam! i purchased three items more than 4 weeks ago and the seller still has not sent it. ebay has done nothing to issue refund or to get the items. never using ebay again.

eBay was once the place I would go when I needed to buy or sell ANYthing. Their new policies have caused me to change my habits, however, as they have run off many good sellers and caused those who remain to charge more due to increased fees.  
 
It is still a good place to find online merchants, but I find that most (like the company I work for) offer lower prices on their independent websites. That makes sense, since the cost of a sale is around 15% to 20% lower on a private site. Direct websites can also allow a variety of payment options not allowed on eBay, like money orders and Google Checkout.  
 
I check eBay for prices, then do a Google search based on the the eBay user I.D.s of the sellers who look most appealing. More and more of them have their own sites now as a result of eBay's oppressive tactics. So what if I can't leave feedback? It's over-rated now that they have made it so incredibly lopsided.  
 
In short, I'll still buy there when it is in my best interest, but that is less and less often these days. My employer still sells there, but eBay's percentage of our total online sales numbers has been shrinking since mid-2009. We'll stay there at some level (less listings than in "the old days"), but their practices have caused what was once our strongest site of commitment to turn into one with which we now have a very adversarial relationship. It's a shame, but what is ~ is.