Ebay..is it getting worse?

[Elybazza61]

The odd gem can still be found on e-bay,I always have a look on the off chance if I'm after something.

And I have just bought a Planet X carbon cross frameset for £399 from their E-Ghey outlet.

 

[stuee147]

i use ebay a lot as im unable to get to the shops, i think the last time i didnt have anything on it way to me was at Christmas lol

iv always brought from shops and main sellers on ebay and iv had a couple of late deliveries for which iv got either the postage refunded or a few £ back. and in about 7 or so years of using ebay iv been lucky iv only had 2 items not turn up but then after contacting the seller they have sent out a replacement which i have got one even sent me a few small gifts to say sorry for my order being lost in the post. and iv (touch wood) only ever had 1 item arrive that wasn't as described and after talking to the very nice owner of the store i got a huge discount refunded and a voucher for his store. lol

so all in all if you play it safe and only go to large companies you can still get good discounts maybe not as good as a private seller but at least its a lot safer

stuee

 

[HLaB]

Think I've only bought one item from E'Bay on a 'buy it now', IIRC I bid on another item but within seconds somebody else had topped it and after a few bids (a few a stupid o'clock, etc) I realised it must be a pre programmed bid and gave up. Decided I couldn't be bothered with that and haven't been back.

 

[davdandy]

The good old days of bargain on E-Bay are sadly long gone.You may get lucky but there are far too many `Buy it now` that the bargains are nowhere to be seen.

 

[Learnincurve]

I used to make a bit of money on ebay flipping cameras from 2 am auctions and/or cameras with bad spelling into the title and on to buy it now. Having spent quite some time looking at bikes I can see what's going on.

It's basically split into five. Online retailers. LBS selling second hand buy it nows with collection only, basically using ebay as a advert and that's fine, it's very rare that any of these places offer delivery and that's not fine. Thirdly you have the people who bought a bike a few years ago and don't understand depreciation (selling to people who do not understand depreciation). Then you have people who restore and flip, at first I thought these people were getting over ambitions with pricing but people will pay for "vintage" brands in interesting colours so fair enough. Lastly it's bike thieves pretending to be one of the others.

I'm 100% certain my ebay bike came from a retired chap who restores and flips, from his shed, I know this because I did some cunning detective work by going though his feedback history, also one of the pictures had a middle aged woman next to a open man cave type shed holding said bike upright and two cups of tea. She looked quite unhappy about it.

 

[simon.r]

There's another type, which I fit into:

People who buy stuff and after a while decide it's not quite right / doesn't fit properly / fancy a change. I don't sell a lot of stuff on eBay, but some of the bits I have sold have gone cheaply. Fair enough, better a fiver in my pocket than a front mech in my garage which I'm never going to use.

 

[doog]

Try finding a garage that will give your car a full service where you supply all the parts and consumables...

(sic).

Most will. If you turn up with oil, filter, air filter etc they will fit, even main dealers with cars under warranty (as long as the parts are acceptable) . What they wont do is fit brake parts not supplied by them for obvious reasons.

 

[jessculter]

Everyone will have different opinions of where to buy.

For what it's worth, eBay has been fine, Tredz have been good for me as has Evans and wiggle has been a massive let down.

I actively look for stores that accept paypal.

 

[slowmotion]

I bought a bit of scientific equipment from HK. It turned out to be something completely different when I opened the package. The seller first suggested that I sell it on and we could split the difference. He then suggested that I send it back to HK at my expense. He then suggested that I would get a full refund if I posted five star positive feedback. I declined but got the full refund.
The goods cost £4.69 including shipping. Ebay is entirely bonkers these days.

 

[brucers]

Another problem is that a lot of sellers on Ebay expect too much for their items. Bikes are a good example, there are lots of bikes at start prices/BIN that have no chance of anyone buying at. Finding a bike bargain is now down to bad advertising on sellers part and a close eye on buyers part (but then I spose thats always sort of been the case).

 

[nickyboy]

Try finding a garage that will give your car a full service where you supply all the parts and consumables...

Local bike shops can't survive off labour only servicing, bike and clothing sales sand many can't really compete with the prices from the large online retailers.

If you want to have a local bike shop you have to bite the bullet and contribute to their profits. After all you can't get servicing and advice from online only retailers and it's a fair trek to the nearest branch of the larger retail chains (sic).

Service based business model is the way forward for the large majority of LBS. There's no way they can make enough money out of stuff you can price compare off the internet.

Its the LBS that needs to change, not expecting people to buy stuff at above-market price from them just to keep them open. Concentrate on service and repair, offer a good turnaround, charge a sensible price, don't expect people to buy their consumables from you. If they happen to sell a few innertubes that's great, but that's not where the profit is going to come from to keep them going

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Try finding a garage that will give your car a full service where you supply all the parts and consumables...

Local bike shops can't survive off labour only servicing, bike and clothing sales sand many can't really compete with the prices from the large online retailers.

If you want to have a local bike shop you have to bite the bullet and contribute to their profits. After all you can't get servicing and advice from online only retailers and it's a fair trek to the nearest branch of the larger retail chains (sic).

Nightingale Motors, Horsham. Just around the corner from me. The labour cost hourly rate increases if you bring your own parts and goes up even more if you bring the wrong parts.

The Independent SAAB Specialist in Leartherhead that works on TLH's 93 is like my LBS, "Buy it off ebay/interwebs and have it delivered here"

 

[Speicher]

Nightingale Motors, Horsham. Just around the corner from me. The labour cost hourly rate increases if you bring your own parts and goes up even more if you bring the wrong parts.

The Independent SAAB Specialist in Leartherhead that works on TLH's 93 is like my LBS, "Buy it off ebay/interwebs and have it delivered here"

Completely off topic - Which interweb site does TLH use for spare parts for her 93?

The spare parts division of Saab is in the hands of the Insolvency Office in the Swedish government, as I understand it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Completely off topic - Which interweb site does TLH use for spare parts for her 93?

The spare parts division of Saab is in the hands of the Insolvency Office in the Swedish government, as I understand it.

She delegates parts purchasing to me and I use a variety of SAAB parts people including some specialist breakers.

 

[Speicher]

She delegates parts purchasing to me and I use a variety of SAAB parts people including some specialist breakers.

The last time I needed a new part for my Saab 93 it took about two weeks to arrive. May I pm you if I need further guidance on the procurement of spare parts?