[byteseller]

Had posted an Lombard PowerBook for sale here, SpyMac and PowerBook Central for a week with no results. I would have much rather sell it here (or the other forums) then going to the "evil" eBay. But, the nearly 25% difference between the best offer I received here vs the amount paid on eBay after less than 24 hours (even after fees) was too much for my weak constitution.

This does however bring up an interesting question....

How much less would you honestly be willing to accept to sell or how much less do you expect to pay on SpyMac relative to eBay?

I for one would have rather sold the PB to someone here How do you feel about this issue?

[icruise]

If you sell to someone in the forums, you really have little recourse if something goes wrong. eBay, while far from perfect, at least has feedback and other measures for keeping track of buyers and sellers, etc. Plus, you have a MUCH bigger audience, which can lead to better prices for your item

If you are selling on ebay, you are in a position of relative power. It is considerably harder to get ripped off as a seller (assuming you are moderately careful -- don't accept personal checks, and check buyers' feedbacks, etc etc) than if you are a buyer. As a buyer, you basically have to trust that the seller will send you the item, and that it is what you what you wanted. As a seller, the main things you have worry about are whether the buyer sends a legitimate form of payment, and whether they will be satisfied with your product.

[mikellanes]

Personally I like using ebay, I have been a buyer/seller for over 3 years and have 600+ transactions, I have been stuck 1 time for around $20 and ebay and paypal helped me get that back.

I think ebay has a bad rap because all the bad deals are reported so widley, noone talks about the millions of good transactions per day.

Also, I accept many forms of payment, including check, if you accept a check wait for it to clear before shipping, very simple.

I never accept western union or any other "fishy" types of payment.

I also pay a bit more on ebay sometimes (not sure about the 25% your quoting) because I can see if the seller has at least a few hundered satisfied customers and 99% (or higher) approval raiting.

I recently ordered a cell phone battery for $10 more then I found online, but many of the online companys didn't even list a phone number! the auction I brought from had number address and all types of info (as well as 100% positive feedback for many items)


I think it comes down to a few things...

Check feedback and make sure they are selling a variety of things to get this feedback, not just $.01 stickers to get a good raiting.

Use a reputable escrow service if its an expensive item

don't accept payment other than paypal/check/US postal money order

wait for payment to clear (even paypal if its an expensive item, it can take up to 5 days to get to your bank)

damn that was a rant, tired, nite!

[joe]

Originally posted by mikellanes:
Check feedback and make sure they are selling a variety of things to get this feedback, not just $.01 stickers to get a good raiting.

This can be tough to do if the seller hasn't had any recent auctions. Actually, I'm an eBay fan and agree with just about everything you wrote. But how hard can it be to add one more field to the FEEDBACK rating that shows the final price???........joe

[Liquidity X]

I sell stuff here i am not trying to make $$ off of. Ebay is full of suckers! but if its mac and i want tit to go toa good home i sell it here. and i only buy from kids who have been on he boads for a bit, and I always show my ebay feedbak if they wanan see some reference.