ebay Purchases

Hi All,

In my quest for a reliable single burner liquid fuel stove, I took the recommendation of ETS Forum members and went on the search for a Optimus Svea 123. Remember this thread from about a month ago on Multi-Fuel Stoves http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=123762&fpart=1 Locally I came up with nothing, so I was drawn to ebay (like a moth to a flame).

I registered and set up an account, watched for a while and then placed a bid. I had no idea that even though an item is posted for 7 days that only the last 10 seconds really counts! I missed out on a few good deals but learned from my mistakes, and now have a new stove (O.K. 4 stoves but don't tell my DW) to play with.

My experience has been that ebay is a good source for hard-to-find items but since you are bidding against the world prices can be inflated, especially when you include shipping, customs duty, taxes and service charges.

I was just wondering what other ETS Forum members experiences/opinions were of buying/selling items on ebay?

Thanks,

Mike

Ditto, brother. And it's all too easy to wind up with way more crap than you'll ever need. But sometimes you find some REALLY GOOD DEALS on stuff. And then sometimes you wind up buying mis-represented crap. Ask direct questions and don't make the mistake that I did a couple of times of seeing something that looks good, jumping in on a bid that's about to close, and then winning and reading the fine print and realizing that you've bought something that isn't quite what you thought it was. Oops. Not that you would do that, but I did once and learned a lesson.

Do your research, find out what it's worth including the add'l costs you mentioned above, and make sure you log on about 5 (3?)minutes before closing and have several windows open with bids ready to go, where all you have to do is click.

The way I do it with E-Bay is to look for what I want, figure out what the max amount I’m willing to pay for it and then bid that amount. I don’t watch the bidding, I just wait for the e-mail if I win. Sometimes the closing bid is my max amount, sometimes I get out bid. And more times then not I win well under my max amount.


This works well for me as proof I have lots of stuff here from E-Bay. More then I really need. But then again can you have too much stuff???

If I find it on ebay, I always do a thorough search on google and usually find the item cheaper someplace else. If it is a regular item and not vintage or an antique your chances of finding it cheaper someplace else are pretty good. I always keep ebay as a last resort.



-JRJ

for me ebay has be a great source of gear in the past, living in the uk it has allowed me to get gear at reasonable prices that i could not find in the uk. the dollar verses sterling rate has been good but lately the delivery charges from some ebay sellers has more than doubled for international delivery. best advice is google twice before hitting ebay and always check the feed back

I have bought a hundred or more items on ebay over the years, but rather than camping out on the computer toward the end of the auction to snipe the item, I simply register my maximum bid on esnipe and set the timer for 4 seconds prior to the auction end.

I generally enter a bid ending in $0.77 or $0.87 as most people proxy a bid ending in $.01 or $0.51, and am amazed how many times I've won an auction by less than the minimum bid increment.

Jim

Most of my gear comes from Ebay, reason being is they don't sell JACK around here, never had a bad deal. I always shop between sellers, always watching the price of the item and cost of shipping. One seller might charge less for an item and more for shipping and handeling and another might charge more for an item and less for S&H, so it pays to shop around. Another thing to take into consideration is a sellers feedback before buying, make sure their business dealings are honest.

Since we are often living in what almost qualifies as the boonies, we do a fair amount of buying on e-bay. After being frustrated by that last second bidding thing, we have pretty much settled for only looking for a "buy it now" price we are happy with, then buying. Probably not getting some things as cheap as we could by bidding, but we always seem to get them cheaper on e-bay than any other source...

that works for me too.

or i'll find the same vendor totally outside of ebay and buy direct at the same "buy it now" price. i don't like the whole 'pay pal' thing.

I started this practice several years ago after reading about Ebay bidding. I try to bid an "odd" amount when I use them. Last year it paid off when I was bidding on a leather bomber jacket made by U.S. Wings. I put a top bid of $100 on it and thought that someone would probably do a little better than that. I bid $104.63. The next highest bid was $102.50. I got the jacket.

One other thing that jacked me once: shipping prices. You'll find something for a great deal, and find a ridiculous $20 shipping charge tacked on.

Also, for anything waterproof, ask and make sure it is! My Gore-tex bivy bag isn't (yet). Waiting for my patches to come in...

I've made some great buys on EBay - and a few horrible ones too. Usually, I will look for an item, then price shop Amazon, REI, Etc., to compare prices then bid to get the best deal.

The seller who specializes in the market you are buying from may not have the best price (higher starting price, higher shipping, great descriptions).

If you can find someone who sells stuff that's all over the map - often they don't describe the item well (try misspelling key words for the item in your search). They also may not have their shipping estimates dialed in and you can get the shipping cheap too.

Do your homework and scour EBay for where the bargains might be hiding.

Good evening,

Thanks for the Ebay tips folks, I have purchase 3 items so far and the experience has been all good.

It seems like a great way to buy new/used outdoor equipment, especially when you live in an out-of-the-way location.

Mike