Your thoughts and opinions regarding ebay purchase

I don’t mean to pick on you, Bob, but you’re not the only one to note this (just the last). Sellers may no longer post negative feedback on eBay; it’s been that way for a couple of months.

Not saying folks are out of touch, but there you are…

And IMHO the tragic case of the Hardy Boys and the Missing Brass Headlamp, is not worth a negative feedback post to the seller. Maybe he’ll send you one, maybe he won’t. You may have spent $200 plus for a brass loco that’s no longer available, which came to you in pretty damn fine condition, and needs a $5 part.

Were it still NIB, and sealed, and advertised as such, but the motor was seized, would you bitch at him for that? I hope not.

Cheers!

No he gave me very positive feedback within a day as I had paid for it within hours of the purchase. One thing I do expect from sellers is correspondence and that way I know I’m not being fleeced. The price was very good, I have ordered parts as well as other parts for other locos from Bowser because of the missing part so not all was lost. Again Just wanted to get some thoughts and experiences from others regardinfg the subject.

Last loco I got had a bent pilot, which I straightened, a bent shaft, which I’ve corrected. I just didn’t leave feed back.

Fergie

I’ve had great luck with ebay transactions. Only around 40 all told.

My first ebay transaction was a rare, long out of production guitar for a significant amount of money.

The seller’s wife advised against it, as I was ‘0 feedback’, but our communications were reassuring and we were both comfortable with the whole process.

That’s the key, good communication. If the other person seems hesitant, or constantly delays, or makes excuses, and doesn’t provide asked for details, etc. then it’s time to walk away, regardless of how rare an item, or how badly you want it.

Often there are perfectly good reasons for the hestancy, like inexperience or just poor organization, but better to play safe than get burned.

Small transactions should be given a little leeway, as the seller probably has more important things going on in life than selling one small reference book, or CD, or what have you, but the big sales have to feel right. If not, then leave it be. There are a lot of crooks out there, but there are actually more honest people who just don’t know or care enough about ebay to be professional about an auction.

A professional looking auction is the first thing to look for. These folks seem to have it together, and just want to get the sale done with as little drama as possible. Email back and forth to get the feel of the seller, and if it seems decent, then go for it.

Another thing, always read the feedback. Even if it’s only one or two neutral or negs, read 'em to see what happened, no matter what all the good ones say.


Hopefully the headlight problem will get sorted, and the deal was good enough to justify the headache.

Well, If we give him the benifit of doubt, According to him it was mint. We know now i wasn’t, but I see no reason to say he purposefully misled you. Mistakes happen.

And to all of you saying Ferg should have askled for more pictures, good idea for later times. But again: DURING the sale, there was no reason to need additional pictures. It sure looked new and minty-fresh to me.

Minty fresh??? Looks heavily tarnished to me.

Mark

Minty?

Am I the only guy who didn’t know he was supposed to taste his locos? [:)]

To me, “minty” means “kind of” mint condition.

Which is about as credible as “kind of” pregnant.

It’s eBay. You take your chances.

Stuff happens and sometimes there is nothing you can do about it.

Rich

PICKY! PICKY! PICKY! As someone else has said here: the seller may not have been aware that the headlight was indeed missing and therefore to him this item was in mint condition.

You have already followed the advice I was going to give you: BUY A HEADLIGHT!