RE: Ebay Questions

["Henrik Hasager" <hhasager@domain.elided>]

Hi Don,

I have done quite a few transactions on eBay over the past 5 years or
so. I have been disappointed once or twice. 99 out of 100 dealers on
eBay are as honest as the day is long. It is a guy like you or me, who
just happens to have an old radio (or whatever) lying around. 

The key is to ask questions of the seller about the product, the
shipping, the payment. If something is unclear, get it cleared before
you bid. Send the seller any number of emails asking what you don't
understand or what doesn't seem clear to you. If he doesn't reply to you
in a timely manner with a satisfying answer, don't bid on this item, but
move on to the next one. There will always be another item of the same
kind. What you need is patience, which is not always easy, and sometimes
you get caught in the bidding fever. Keep up good communication with the
other part.

Use eBay's search facilities, to have all the, for you, interesting
items shown on the screen, then go through them. Put them on a watch
list, after a short period of time, you should have a pretty good idea
of the value of any particular item. Make up your mind of how much an
item is worth you, bid that amount and don't go above it. I used to do a
lot of bidding on Snap On tools, I sat with my catalog and pricelist and
compared prices, I bid 1/2 the catalog price, If I didn't get it at that
price, too bad, get the next one. I have seen multiple auctions for
brand new stuff, you can get from the Snap On truck, go for twice the
price. Good for the seller. 

Check the feedback of a seller, it will tell you a lot of his honesty.
Don't be alarmed by a few negatives, most of them are due to
misunderstandings. 

If you have more questions, please ask

Henrik


-----Original Message-----

Greetings all,

I'm thinking about bidding on some audio equiptment either on ebay, or
on another auction website( audiogon). I'm really apprehensive about
putting out large sums of money to a private seller, without knowing of
any recourse. Are there any ways to insure that I get the material sent
to me , and that it's in good shape? I've thought about COD, paying with
a credit card through Paypal( does fraud protection work here?)
B.S. suggests paying with a postal money order making it a federal issue
if they skip town. 

Any proven suggestions?

Thanks ,

Don Coulter
86 & 74 Spiders 
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