Hello Everyone. This is all new for me so please understand if errors happen. OK Ebay made a change that affects all the of us who either shop or sell. They used to have Prewar,Postwar, MPC, and LTI as catagories. NO MORE. It’s all lumped together into one called O Gauge Other. so now you have to look through all of the listings of that day to see what was posted say in Postwar. Way to time consuming for me. I don’t have that kind of time to do this everyday. My opinion is for them to go back the way it was. Yea you could look by thier way via years but in a 24 hour time frame I checked each box for the years 1900 to 1969 and only 20 items were listed. Everyone is throwing into O Gauge other. So I guess what I’m asking is for everyone to call Ebay @ 1-866-540-3229 and voice your hopefully, disapproval and we can get this switched back the way it was. My 2 cents worth. Pat
Yeah,E-Bay sucks and for them it is all about them. Glad I got what I want. Fed up with the whole thing.
Perhaps there was a glitch or I’m just not understanding. I was able to search postwar, prewar, as is etc…[dinner]
It’s further down in the margin as search options:
Categories
O Scale
Freight Cars (2,257)
Locomotives
Some one else brought this up about a month ago but I never saw a change actually happen either way thou I got tired of all there stupid rules if you were a seller you were nothing and we were the ones paying there pay checks they were all for the buy even when the buyer was ripping you off and they knew it as they knew ebay would take there side so I closed my accounts with them I can buy and sell other places I don’t need them
Doesn’t matter to me one way or the other. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, before I spend my hard-earned money on a big bucks item I want to SEE it.
Maybe I miss out on some things, but so what? In the end it’s just a toy.
[#welcome]
Seems the very mention of Ebay stirs the “opinion pot”.
Certainly contacting them is an option.
Perhaps, if it is “way to time consuming”, this venue might not be for you. There are other internet sites available.
As a test, I just searched “Postwar”. Result: 13,080 items
" " " Postwar Lionel". Result: 4,390 items
Might suggest searching a particular item ie “Postwar -------” that you may be interested in. It would narrow the field.
Anyway, all the best.
LOL, Ebay enacted those rules to instill buyer confidence. If all sellers were honest those rules would not exist.
I had a seller send me used, dirty, cruddy product that was supposed to be brand new. He offered to make a price adjustment. When I refused, and sent the item back, he tried to claim that I pulled a switcheroo. Ebay did not instantly side with me. They looked at my records, and determined it was unlikely that I was scamming the seller. Then I “won”.
As to who is paying the bills. Ebay doesn’t charge sellers to list anymore. They get fees base on sales. No buyers means no sales, and no fees for Ebay.
I’ve done quite a lot of buying, but I’ve only sold a handful of things using ebay. My feedback is over 900 now, and I’ve had very few problems as both buyer and seller. I, for one, am very glad it exists. Before ebay was available to me, I had to drive around a lot to search for stuff I collected (including trains). When that failed, my only other alternative was to search through magazine and newspaper ads. It was very hit or miss. In many cases, I felt there was NO WAY I’d ever find certain items. Ebay opened up the world for me to search through with just a few key strokes and a few mouse clicks.
It’s gotten easier for customers to make mutually beneficial and successful deals as ebay has made changes over the years. The people at ebay have made some mistakes, but I think the feedback customers have given them has helped them steadily make the whole experience better. There will always be unscrupulous buyers and sellers. To minimize bad experiences in dealing with those unsavory people, ebay has instituted various rules over the years.
Feedback is usually a very good indicator of the kind of person one may be dealing with. The lower the feedback, the bigger the chance is that one may be unhappy with the result.
It’s always a good idea to do research on what one is looking for first before bidding. One can easily check completed listings to find out what similar items sold for in the past. Knowing the condition and whether the item is complete or not by checking the descriptions and pictures, if provided, is important. Additionally, it’s essential to check to see whether there is a charge for shipping. If one is planning to buy more than just one item from a seller, it’s also important to find out what the discount would be—if any— if the items were shipped together. One shouldn’t hesitate to send the seller a message if there are any questions left unanswered.
As a seller, one can choose NO
I agree. I’ve had only one bad experience with ebay and without the site I wouldn’t have 95% of my collections not to mention all the Christmas and birthday gifts I’ve bought over the last 15 years. Change is the only constant and diversity is the only normal.
I’ve been a eBay member since 1998, with over 1,500 transactions. I’ve only been “taken” once, for $12. If for nothing else, eBay is a fabulous educational tool…what’s out there?, how common is it?, what is the average “sold” price? I think it is best NOT to get too specific catagory-wise. You will miss some “uneducated seller” bargains that way.
Here is where I’m coming from and I had pic’s to show Ebay that it was not that way but they still sided with the buyer and I ended up paying shipping both ways and getting a item returned not as sent item one was a cover hopper broke a tiny piec off I guess because he changed his mind who knows as I had no return policy but went thru ebay showed piece was missing and claimed it was not in box so must of been that way never contacted me waited the 3 days filed with out even letting me know ebay gave me the choice of paying for return shipping or letting him keep it and just return the cost well I ended out out shipping both ways and a item broke.
Had basically same thing with a engine this is all with in a year also had dead beat bidder did what they said to get my refund and it still came back with no refund issue you closed the case and I followed there direction after over an hour with them I got it back this was when I decided to close my account I had enough this is why I say we pay there salaries the buyers don’t the fee’s from the sales come out of my pocket not the buyers and they charge the comission on the shipping also and yes I know why some idiots caised that trying to get around paying the fee’s by doing buy it now $0.01 and adding shipping of the price they really wanted plus actual shipping so shipping would be like $400.00 for a train set. from across town.
I’ve been a member since early 90’s it still don’t matter how long it matters how they are treating there sellers yes they need to protect the buyers but you don’t do things to chase away sellers also when I buyer can’t leave a negative remark and you tried everything to work with them and you can’t so they look wonderful to every one else because all they have is 100% feed back thats positive and they don’t sell well gee how hard is it to keep 100% feedback can&#
While E-bay is not perfect, it has worked well for me. (@800 sales). I’ve bought and sold trains, among other items, with no problems. Aside from the sales, this venue allows me to see “what’s out there”. But, again, whether one uses E-bay or not, it is a choice.
I’m also pro-eBay, but to return to the actual subject of the thread; I agree that they have done something that has adversely affected the search results. You may not notice it so much if your favorite category routinely returns 500+ listings, but if you are searching through some more obscure listings you will notice it. I have a couple of searches I perform routinely for K-Line S Scale and S Helper items. I have noticed that under the new regime the same search parameters return a much smaller number of responses. K-Line under S-Scale used to return an average of 20 - 25 items listed. Now I am receiving 4 - 6 results per search. S Helper search results are also down in numbers. Unless the market for these items has really collapsed overnight, I can only conclude that a lot of potential listings are being skipped over for some reason. Those missed opportunities concern me both as a buyer and a seller.
I can appreciate your point of view, and am sorry to read that you were ripped off. I guess there are thieves on both sides of the Ebay world. Reminds me of what I was told by an antique dealer over forty years ago. He did some mail order sales, and always marked his stuff with invisible ink before shipment to ensure that nobody pulled a swicheroo on him.
I have sold comparitively little on Ebay. I prefer live, in person transactions where the deal is done when both parties walk away. But even then, I have ended up taking a few pieces back after the buyer took his item home and screwed it up by “servicing” it.
Most of what I have purchased on EBay have been items other than finished trains. I think I’ve been there over fifteen years. I have had a few minor problems. Nothing serious enough to make me quit.
As far as the changes go, they are transparent to me. EBay has made numerous other changes that I see as negative, but I still use the site.
For example, I wish they still had dutch auctions, and I wish they still had a tigher search engine that allowed the User to include wildcards. The search engine is so loose and sloppy that I have had to give up looking for certain items.
CW if your looking for a certain item say Boston and maine boxcar try “Boston And Maine boxcar” the " " tells it to search for that exact phrase
The double quotes don’t work. Regardless of whether I use them, I still get way too many results to sift through them.
I too am one who needs to see the item I’m buying to make an educated decission. Being top guy on the Totem Pole in an Ebay auction doesn’t exactly seem like being a winner of anything. Just my way of thinking I guess. Besides, I love the hunt at swap meet venues
Consequently, the price of shipping, a restrictive payment method, truly criminal customs fees and the difference in our dollar makes buying anything off of Ebay financial suicide. It’s a great price guide, if one wastes the time to check out completed auctions.
Bruce
Instead of the " " do an ADVANCED search and select one of the drop down choices for All words any order or Exact words etc. This should get you what you need. Its not perfect and I’ve had a couple of issues but it can’t be beat for the more obscure items. Scotie
Try THIS for a Boston & Maine Box Car search.