eBay Arbitrage

Why go after him? At the time a buyer decides to make a purchase, the value judgement in his mind says "this is a good deal". Has that changed at the completion of the purchase?
The complaint appears to be that the buyer finds he could have done better. TOUGH. It happens to all of us. Try buying a piece of electronics from anywhere and not finding a better deal shortly afterwards. Moores Law.
 
Why go after him? At the time a buyer decides to make a purchase, the value judgement in his mind says "this is a good deal". Has that changed at the completion of the purchase?
The complaint appears to be that the buyer finds he could have done better. TOUGH. It happens to all of us. Try buying a piece of electronics from anywhere and not finding a better deal shortly afterwards. Moores Law.
I tend to agree. What is criminal or immoral about buying something and selling it for a profit, as long as the seller isn’t preying on others’ misfortune?

And why is Mr. Snugglehead upset? Every time the ebay seller sells one of his products on ebay, he buys one from Snugglehead. Seems self defeating to “punish” the ebayer, as Mr. Snugglehead puts it.

Tom
 
Oh, I wouldn't "go after" the guy, I'm annoyed at myself more than anything.

The article does point out a problem for Mr Snugglehead- returns. The end-buyer figures out what is going on, returns the item for a refund (presumably buying another at the original Amazon price), and the return leads to a several more on-costs.
 
I have bought stuff off of ebay and had it shipped from various warehouses to me as well as from Amazon. But each time it was a better deal so it doesn't bother me. I not only look at the price but the time to ship. I hate the ones that start out shipping through UPS but then it gets 1 or 2 states away and goes to USPS and sits there for a 2 - 4 days.
 
I bought something recently off of eBay. I figured since the seller was up north, it would take about 4 to 5 days to arrive. Low and behold, it shower up the next day from an Amazon warehouse up the road from me. Even the label was Amazon with my address on it! Still got it cheaper off of eBay instead of Amazon!
 
Why go after him? At the time a buyer decides to make a purchase, the value judgement in his mind says "this is a good deal". Has that changed at the completion of the purchase?
The complaint appears to be that the buyer finds he could have done better. TOUGH. It happens to all of us. Try buying a piece of electronics from anywhere and not finding a better deal shortly afterwards. Moores Law.
I totally agree, if the buyer thought it was a good price, received the item as advertised, in the time promised, then what is the problem?
 
I miss the ebay of 15 or more years ago. when you could find a used item from a small seller for a deal. I used to list a few items also. Now days those items are hard to find as ebay controls the search and lists the top sellers stuff at the top and it can go on for pages and pages.
I haven't listed anything for about a year. Last I did it was hard to find it and it got very few views as I imagine it was hard for anyone to find it.
 
Searching on ebay is an art. One of our members here is the best I have seen. He can ferret out stuff in a matter of minutes. I am getting better at it.

I personally still buy on ebay but like you all, I have learned to be cautious. I do not buy from anyone with a low number of reviews or less than a 99.5% positive rating. Likely for this reason, sellers' ratings have evidently become more dear to them than in past years and they generally try to protect them. Just this week I had a bait and switch happen to me by a seller sending me an arbor that was different than the photos. I challenged him and he cut the price in half and sent me a refund immediately. He had extremely high ratings and was not wanting a negative mark. BTW, I also always pay using Paypal since it does offer protection as well.

Regarding price - yes, you have to do your due diligence. It is amazing how often I end up buying from Amazon for new items. It is sometimes quite surprising what they have to offer. I use the same principles with them and typically only buy items which include Prime shipping which is an indicator of a more trustworthy transaction. Same principle of "due diligence' is required on Amazon now. You cannot assume that it is the lowest or a good price because they have it listed.
 
Good thread! The 'old' E-bay was, IMO, more fun than the current E-bay...

Are there alternates to E-bay... that are large enough to be reputable, yet small enough to not be full of the issues noted in this thread?
 
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