Ebay woes

[Barry]

I used to buy virtually everything from Amazon, apart from what I could obtain from a supermarket.

But of late I have become suspicious and hesitant: their prices are not the cheapest; postage costs are high, and worse of all if you don't explicitly state you do not want to join the Amazon Prime scheme, Amazon will assume that you do. And the only way to have your 'membership' removed is to call them on the phone! Sneaky buggers.

Shame as it was convenient for many items. So now I tend to buy from sellers who trade on eBay.

[Pigmy Pony]

We have (or rather Anita has) Amazon Prime, which for about 8 quid a month gets us a fairly crappy TV streaming service (apart from "Clarkson's Farm" which i quite like), a not-much-better music streaming service, and free delivery on stuff. Almost every day something arrives in an oversize Amazon box, and I never have any idea what these items are unless I ask, which I rarely do. It's Anita's thing.

I only ever order CDs or tools online, and always via Ebay sellers.

[Macca]

I have Prime for a fair few years now, pays for itself. Agree that they aren't the cheapest but I don't mind paying a bit extra for the convenience of not having to trek round shops or trawl the internet.

'Clarkson Farm' is worth the subscription alone. You can also watch the two episodes of 'The Professionals' that they don't show on telly.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I still use Ebay to buy things. Never sell on ebay now, I used to have a small business buying and selling stuff and used to make some money but slowly, slowly, ebay got greedier and greedier and more controlling, a lot like a dictator. This is when I started to have a love/hate relationship with ebay. I would prefer to buy just from hifi forums and TBH I have bought some great stuff and the people are in 95% of the time great to deal with, sometimes you make a friendship. But, forums are limited and you can spend years waiting for the special piece of kit you've always wanted. Ebay to some extent is a solution to this problem, but you do sometimes have to put up with a lot of shit that goes with it.

[Barry]

I have never sold on eBay, but must have bought several thousand pounds worth of gear from there. The only time there have been problems is when the items has come from abroad, and there have been delivery delays (customs, delivery in two packages, etc.).

I used to bid in the early days, but now I tend to 'buy it now', if I'm happy with the price.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I've had two "episodes" from ebay sellers. Hi-Fi emporium being one of them, I nearly recently bought a Long Dog PSU for the 401. Two weeks passed and nothing. A couple of gentle prods revealed that the item was still on loan to a customer and I'd get the PSU when the customer returned it, this was despite paying for the item straight away . Second problem occured with I bought a Miyijima MONO cart for a four figure sum, the seller remains forgotton in the mists of time. The cart has a claimed 12 month guarantee, all ok I thought until I realised it was the dealers guarantee and not miyajima . Yep, first thing goes wrong with the cart and the dealer claims no responsibility. I got lucky and to the credit of the dealers did get a full refund but that's not the point, why be so shadey in the first place?

[Barry]

I regard Hi-Fi Emporium with suspicion. I too have bought from them, and have not been satisfied with the description of the goods (it was not accurate, and the difference could not be discerned from the images), or with their attitude when you speak to them.

[Pigmy Pony]

Same here, I've never sold on Ebay. And usually 'Buy it now' - I don't care for the competitive nature of bidding, where success is dependent upon a degree of skill. I believe there is some gadget available which will give you a last-minute advantage by automatically outbidding the competition, but I can't be arsed with all that nonsense. I'll just put in my maximum amount and then leave it alone. Unsurprisingly I seldom win.

If I want something and I'm happy with the asking price I just buy it. Simple as that.

[Barry]

Further to the above - the best and most satisfying purchases have been from Members here. True, if you want something pretty rare, it is unlikely to come up for sale, but I have bought some fairly exotic stuff in the past three or four years from AoS.

[Macca]

I'd also rather buy on a forum but most recently bought a Sony digital pre-amp on eBay as there's no chance of anyone on a forum ever having one for sale. As it happened the sale was fuss free.

I don't mind bidding if I really want it, usually I wait to the last minute. The problem is I will make a 'serious' mental note to go back on the listing five minutes or so from the end time, but then it goes out my head and I only remember about two hours after the finish.

I won't bid early as it's usually a waste of time, muppets immediately outbid you and then they drop out way before the end, way before the thing reaches a realistic selling price. I mean you're not going to get a DCS with a cheeky forty quid bid, so why bother at all?