Subject:
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Re: ebay rant
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.auction
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Date:
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Fri, 27 Jul 2001 15:22:56 GMT
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Viewed:
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264 times
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In lugnet.market.auction, Lawrence Wilkes writes:
> Just wanted to moan about ebay.
>
> Too many rubbish auctions getting in the way
>
> Besides the obvious con artists, things I dont like
>
> 1. ridiculous start price. It's like setting a reserve, but without incurring a penalty if no one bids, as I understand
> it. Who they trying to kid?
They paid a higher fee to list it at that price. Honestly, the same stuff
on BrickBay is usually priced higher (that's just an observation - I
understand the dynamics of two different formats).
I must admit I often say the same thing (Who are they trying to kid?). But
it's one of those self-correcting problems inherent in the free-market system.
> 2. repeat listing. Having failed to get a response due to 1, they just simply relist the same item at the same price, ad
> infinitum. Why do they bother?
They like giving money to eBay? Either that or every now and then they
actually get the price they want. Again, it is a self-correcting problem
that may be annoying, but doesn't seem worth venting about.
> 3. Misleading descriptions. like HUGE and rare, when they are not.
Rare is a dangerous term. Many times it would be more honest to say
something is out of production, because it isn't rare at all. Huge is a
relative term. I must admit, I've seen them both misused and it bugs me. I
invariably make a lowball bid or none at all (don't reward
misrepresentations and they will go away).
> 4. useless descriptions. Like "Huge amount of bricks". Nothing else. How is anyone suppose to bid on that?
I'm usually looking for specific things and don't want a lot of junk along
with it, but these often turn out as bargains for others. I'm ambivalent on
this one.
> 5. misleading pictures. Like the same one for several different auctions.
I understand wanting to save effort, but I think they should at least note
that the picture is not of the actual parts/set and any variations from the
actual stuff being offered.
> 6. Long running auctions. Dont know what the mechanism is, havent put anything up for sale recently, but I notice
> auctions now running with an end date over a month away! And the same people will then do point 2 at the end of the
> month as well.
I don't want to tie up my money in a long auction, anyway. My attention
span barely lasts the standard week as it is. :-)
>
> It's like some folks are not lying or doing anything illegal, but just putting up hundreds of auctions over and over
> again that get no bids because it doesn't cost them anything, but they just hope there is one mug out there who falls
> for it.
eBay gets your money regardless of whether you make a sale or not. The
higher the starting bid (or reserve), the more you pay. That's why BrickBay
prices are higher - they can rot on there without it costing the seller
money (correct me if I'm wrong - I don't have a BrickBay shop).
> And ebay dont care because it just means more ads served up as you are forced to browse through the dross.
These are for the most part things eBay is depending on the buyers and
sellers to self-regulate, and I don't particularly fault them. Out and out
fraud is something else, of course.
Bruce
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: ebay rant
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| (...) <snip> (...) That is correct, eBay charges a listing fee (fixed amount based on starting bid) + a percentage of sale, whereas BrickBay only charges a 'percentage of sale' (currently 2%, but I expect it to rise to 3% shortly). A few weeks back (...) (23 years ago, 27-Jul-01, to lugnet.market.auction, lugnet.market.theory)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | ebay rant
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| Just wanted to moan about ebay. Too many rubbish auctions getting in the way Besides the obvious con artists, things I dont like 1. ridiculous start price. It's like setting a reserve, but without incurring a penalty if no one bids, as I understand (...) (23 years ago, 27-Jul-01, to lugnet.market.auction)
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