Beware of bad ebay seller

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by miniman82

On the other hand, it's always smart to contact a seller if you have any reservations before making a bid. If that had happened, we wouldn't be hearing about it. Plenty of blame to go around here, but trying to get the seller to ship this thing for $15 was an exercise in futility.

Well said - I was an eBay seller from the early days (1997, when there were no shipping calculators or listing fees) and I wish to only add this observation - the playing field on eBay isn't what we all knew years ago. Distrust has crept in, profiteering by eBay has trumped the sellers, and the myriad changes just in the last year or so have made it very hard on sellers. Mind you that many sellers on eBay are casual sellers, but others, including me, used it to supplement income. To ask a seller to ship an item strictly for the actual shipping amount alone is unfair, as (good) packing ain't cheap. Sure, the seller could slap a stamp on your item and send it to you, but realistically, a decent box or boxes, along with tape, labeling and reenforcement material - they cost money. If the seller used a Pack-n-Ship place, even more, as labor now gets factored in. Bottom line - Miniman82 has it right above - contact, communicate, and agree B4UBID.

Cheers,

[jr_tech]

Several years ago, I was about to do a "buy it now" on a desirable TV item, but the shipping charges seemed to be way too cheap, so I contacted the seller to find out the details of the packing/shipping. The response that I received was very strange, and really gave me the impression that the seller had little knowledge of the item. Figuring that it was perhaps a scam listing, I did not buy the item. A few weeks later the seller was not on eBay. So it pays to communicate if something does not look right.

jr

[Kamakiri]

I believe the seller is a member here, although I can't exactly recall who he is. I do know that according to his feedback, Eric H has bought from him, and I bought 5 TVs from him, as well I noted at least 3 other VK members that have had great experiences with him.

That said, obviously you needed the chassis, and the whole point of this thread was to bash the seller over "fleecing" you over what I calculate to be $13.12?!?!

So now you're out of a chassis that you needed, gave him negative feedback, and we're going towards page 3 of something that I see is based on some principle. But principle doesn't put the chassis in your hands.

On AudioKarma, we had a rule that people weren't allowed to bash eBay sellers. Never needed it here, but I think it's time we imposed the same rule. Closing this up.