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View Full Version : We dump on CL, but what about eBay?



Wade Lippman
10-29-2018, 10:45 AM
I want to buy a Ego snowblower. I checked eBay and they are 15% more expensive there than at HD. What the heck? Is anyone really stupid enough to pay more at eBay? If not, why do they bother posting?

Alan Caro
10-29-2018, 11:17 AM
Wade Lippman,

I buy and sell some computer stuff on eBah and there is some constant evidence of insanity:

Here's an eBahh auction for an Intel i7-7820X processor:



- Which is for a new one for only $1,092.57

=and here is the same item today new in the box at Newegg;

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117794&cm_re=i7-7820x-_-19-117-794-_-Product

= $500.

I think there are some people that just assume Ebahhh always has lower prices. There are those who think that every piece of old junk they have is a precious antique. And there are an equal number of people that will just try anything on:


That company lists hundreds of these things at a time and never appears to sell any. That system does have some good stuff in it, but a new $5000 HP workstation would out perform it easily. I have a Quadro P2000 that cost new $430 and that has less memory but is faster in 3D than the K6000 that still cost $900-1000 used.


If something doesn't sell, it can be relisted for less until it does sell.

Life is non-stop buyer beware,..

Alan Caro

Bill Orbine
10-29-2018, 11:51 AM
Price differences works both ways on eBay. Some stuff are more pricey on eBay and vice versa. A lot of stuff may be more pricey on eBay because free shipping included and people are comparing against cost of item but not considering the cost of shipping or burning gas plus wear/tear on their cars driving 20 miles to the store that has the item cheaper on eBay

Mike Henderson
10-29-2018, 1:14 PM
As far as I'm concerned, eBay is a gone goose. eBay seems to be trying to be the same as Amazon Marketplace and encouraging sellers to list new things, with free shipping. You see ridiculous prices on Amazon Marketplace, also, but Amazon sorts the items by price so the lowest price appears first. And Amazon really stands behind the products. In many situations, they'll take the product back, even if the seller wouldn't. I assume they just charge the seller for the refund money they gave you, and they'll charge the seller to ship the refunded product back to the seller.

They have a lot of power over the MarketPlace sellers.

On the Amazon Marketplace, what you see is a list of the exact product you were looking at, sorted by price from low to high, not a long list of stuff that's "close" to what you're searching for, and usually sorted by time, not price.

Also, on Amazon, I can use camelcamelcamel.com and get an alert when a MarketPlace seller puts up an item I want at a price I'm willing to pay.

Mike

Brian Nguyen
10-29-2018, 1:47 PM
Going to sound harsh here, but $50 or $100 or even $1000 isn't that big of a deal to some people. Like.. if I have enough in the bank and I want a snowblower and just happens to be on eBay, I wouldn't care about HD having the thing on sale for $150 less than eBay. It's similar to buying a bottle of water, you can just fill up an empty bottle but buying a new one at the convenience store isn't a big deal because it's only $1.50. Yet you've never give it a second thought--same for those who buy stuff for higher prices than you can drum up by spending time shopping around. Obviously, there are buyers out there otherwise these sellers wouldn't list the items and the convenient store wouldn't stock $1.50 water.

Wade Lippman
10-29-2018, 4:19 PM
Going to sound harsh here, but $50 or $100 or even $1000 isn't that big of a deal to some people. Like.. if I have enough in the bank and I want a snowblower and just happens to be on eBay, I wouldn't care about HD having the thing on sale for $150 less than eBay. It's similar to buying a bottle of water, you can just fill up an empty bottle but buying a new one at the convenience store isn't a big deal because it's only $1.50. Yet you've never give it a second thought--same for those who buy stuff for higher prices than you can drum up by spending time shopping around. Obviously, there are buyers out there otherwise these sellers wouldn't list the items and the convenient store wouldn't stock $1.50 water.

Sure, some people are too busy and too wealthy to bother comparison shopping; but do those people use snowblowers or shop ebay?

Regarding refunds on ebay....
I sold some computer memory on ebay for $15. Since memory can be fickle, I said that the buyer was responsible for documenting that it worked his computer before buying, as there were no refunds. Guy bought and it didn't work in his computer. He called it defective and ebay gave his a refund when I refused. Fortunately I had no money in my Paypal account or they would have deducted the refund from it. Needless to say, I no longer have a Paypal or ebay account. It wasn't so much the refund as having to pay for shipping both ways (and then probably getting back an empty box because the memory was in his computer)

Dave Lehnert
10-29-2018, 4:37 PM
I want to buy a Ego snowblower. I checked eBay and they are 15% more expensive there than at HD. What the heck? Is anyone really stupid enough to pay more at eBay? If not, why do they bother posting?



A lot of stores will not ship to Alaska. So people buy items at the local brick and mortar, Post for sale on Ebay and make a profit.

Bruce Page
10-29-2018, 5:06 PM
Folks, Links to eBay or any other auction site are prohibited, you may post the item number and a description if you like but do not provide an active link.

Thanks

Tom M King
10-29-2018, 5:20 PM
A buy what is probably a lot from both places, but always price check. Sometimes getting something from Amazon is cheaper, but a quick search on the auction site finds better a good percentage of the time. I'm used to checking CL before my eyes are open good in the morning, and it's my number one source for large tools.

Brian Henderson
10-29-2018, 7:02 PM
Sure, some people are too busy and too wealthy to bother comparison shopping; but do those people use snowblowers or shop ebay?

Regarding refunds on ebay....
I sold some computer memory on ebay for $15. Since memory can be fickle, I said that the buyer was responsible for documenting that it worked his computer before buying, as there were no refunds. Guy bought and it didn't work in his computer. He called it defective and ebay gave his a refund when I refused. Fortunately I had no money in my Paypal account or they would have deducted the refund from it. Needless to say, I no longer have a Paypal or ebay account. It wasn't so much the refund as having to pay for shipping both ways (and then probably getting back an empty box because the memory was in his computer)

I can sympathize. Maybe 15 years ago or so, I sold something on eBay, the guy got it, signed for the delivery, then reported to Paypal that he never received it. Even though I had signature verification, they still pulled the money right out of my account and gave it back to him. I closed my account and haven't had one since.

Curt Harms
10-31-2018, 8:32 AM
I can sympathize. Maybe 15 years ago or so, I sold something on eBay, the guy got it, signed for the delivery, then reported to Paypal that he never received it. Even though I had signature verification, they still pulled the money right out of my account and gave it back to him. I closed my account and haven't had one since.

I've bought and sold a few things on Ebay and have a Paypal account but the Paypal account is not linked to any bank account. I figure using a credit card I have a better chance in a dispute, dunno if that right or not.

Tony Zona
10-31-2018, 10:15 AM
Ok, so my search ability is way off today: How do you get to Amazon Marketplace?

:confused:

Brian Henderson
10-31-2018, 2:27 PM
I've bought and sold a few things on Ebay and have a Paypal account but the Paypal account is not linked to any bank account. I figure using a credit card I have a better chance in a dispute, dunno if that right or not.

This was a very long time ago, you had to manually go in and transfer all money from your Paypal account to your bank account otherwise it just sat there. They took it before I could take it out. Otherwise, I would have told them to pound sand.

Mike Henderson
10-31-2018, 3:01 PM
Ok, so my search ability is way off today: How do you get to Amazon Marketplace?

:confused:

I don't know if there's a place called "Amazon Marketplace". When you go to an item in Amazon you may see a note on that page that says "Used and New from $xxx". If you click on that, you'll go to a page where people are selling the same thing. That's called "Amazon Marketplace". If you buy from one of those sellers, Amazon gets a cut from the seller.

Mike

Tony Zona
10-31-2018, 5:28 PM
Thanks, Mike.

;)

Lee DeRaud
11-01-2018, 1:33 AM
Like.. if I have enough in the bank and I want a snowblower and just happens to be on eBay, I wouldn't care about HD having the thing on sale for $150 less than eBay.Even if it's on HD's website with free shipping? All things considered, I'd rather deal with HD's website than Ebay even if the price is the same.

(As it happens, the second-biggest HD in the country is exactly one mile from my house. When I was redoing my bathrooms, I ordered the toilets online for store pickup...saved me having to pull the buggers off the shelf and schlep them halfway across the store to the registers.)

Lee DeRaud
11-01-2018, 1:38 AM
I don't know if there's a place called "Amazon Marketplace". When you go to an item in Amazon you may see a note on that page that says "Used and New from $xxx". If you click on that, you'll go to a page where people are selling the same thing. That's called "Amazon Marketplace". If you buy from one of those sellers, Amazon gets a cut from the seller.More to the point, the return policy/procedure is the same as "real" Amazon. The only difference I've noted is that the items are typically shipping from West Nowhere, Idaho, rather than the Amazon warehouse 50 miles away.

Larry Frank
11-01-2018, 7:27 AM
EBay, CL, Amazon, HD...are all the same. You have to check and compare prices. If you don't you will pay to much. We had to buy a new washer at Lowe's and while the guy was figuring the price I pulled up the price from another website and he met the price.

EBay also has a lot of good stuff. I got a Bluetooth amplifier for a low price. I buy lots of things there for stuff that is difficult to get other places but also search for lower prices. If you pay too much for an item, there is only one person to blame.

Tony Zona
11-01-2018, 9:57 AM
Amazon or their merchants, or both, are pretty fast and loose with my trust on prices.

I bought a brand of iron tablets because I could not find non-blister pack iron locally. Wonderful.

They were seventeen bucks for two or three order cycles, then crept to nearly $21. I looked on Amazon for another vendor, and there it was for $17, but a different brand with the same ingredients.

The next time I was ready to buy, that second brand was now $21. And the original brand was $17. That about 24 percent manipulation.

You have to watch Amazon and their sellers every step.

You don’t think Jeff Bezos is worth a brazillion dollars because he’s handsome, do you?

Mike Henderson
11-01-2018, 11:59 AM
More to the point, the return policy/procedure is the same as "real" Amazon.

This is perhaps the major reason I buy from Amazon. In twenty years or so in using Amazon, I've had a couple of problems with a product purchased from Amazon. Every time, Amazon stepped up and took care of the problem.

One time, I got a note that my shipment was delivered to my front door but when I got home, the package was gone. I searched the front of homes on parallel streets with the same house number and nothing. Eventually, I reported the lost package to Amazon. They immediately shipped me a replacement. And this was for a product that was almost $400. This was an Amazon product, not a MarketPlace shipper.

Another time, they shipped me a product that was close to what I ordered but not exactly what I ordered. They offered to have me return it or they would give me a 20% discount. For various reasons, I took the discount. But their approach was extremely fair. This was for a Marketplace shipper.

I trust Amazon to be fair in taking care of problems with shipments.

Mike

Doug Garson
11-01-2018, 3:49 PM
Amazon or their merchants, or both, are pretty fast and loose with my trust on prices.

I bought a brand of iron tablets because I could not find non-blister pack iron locally. Wonderful.

They were seventeen bucks for two or three order cycles, then crept to nearly $21. I looked on Amazon for another vendor, and there it was for $17, but a different brand with the same ingredients.

The next time I was ready to buy, that second brand was now $21. And the original brand was $17. That about 24 percent manipulation.

You have to watch Amazon and their sellers every step.

You don’t think Jeff Bezos is worth a brazillion dollars because he’s handsome, do you?

I have heard, and no one has disputed, that Amazon has a pricing algorithm that adjusts prices based on how well an item sells. So if the brand you were buying was a best seller the price would be adjusted up to maximize profit until sales dropped off then the price would be reduced. Sounds like that was what was happening in your case. Nothing sinister just consumer capitalism at work. Yes you have to watch Amazon and their sellers. That said my experience with Amazon matches Mike's. Any time i have had a problem with something from Amazon or their sellers they have stepped up and made it right to my satisfaction. I don't think they guarantee the lowest price. I also agree with Larry, I've used Lowe's price match guarantee a couple of times just by showing a better price to the clerk on my phone. If it's a bricks and mortar store advertising a better price they even beat it by 10%. Many other stores have a similar policy you just need to use it to your advantage. If you want the best price you need to put the effort in to get it.

Jim Becker
11-01-2018, 3:56 PM
For Amazon, they do indeed adjust prices; sometimes up for something popular, but I've also seen things in my "wish list" suddenly become attractive financially when they have been on that list for a bit. For that reason, I'm not hesitant at all with sticking things on my wish list while I'm researching this and that and occasionally it pays offer nicely. Sometimes it pays off even better than nicely!

I'm not clear if they are doing this for Marketplace sellers, however, but it does apply for sure to things sold and shipped by Amazon directly.

Wade Lippman
11-17-2018, 2:22 PM
Somewhat similar...
I got my 2019 Medicare yesterday. The insurance agent told me that she pushes a particular Supplemental G plan because it is the cheapest, and all companies plans are exactly the same; so nothing matters but price. But some of her customers insist on more expensive companies. She is bewildered why they do that.

Tom M King
11-20-2018, 3:55 PM
One good thing about ebay is the availability of cheap carbs, and replacement parts for small equipment. I needed a new carb today for a two man auger that we probably haven't used in 15 years. A Tecumsah parts place had it for $89 plus ridiculous shipping. I ordered one off ebay for 25 bucks that included replacement hoses, primer, and a few other parts with free shipping.

Simon MacGowen
11-20-2018, 7:50 PM
Call me an eBay poster boy (or man, given my old age).

I have shopped or sold on eBay for 18 years plus, and have always been happy. Like shopping anywhere else (Amazon, online sites or local vendors), you need to do your homework. You don't get a plumber or an electrician hired without first asking or checking, do you?

Same thing with eBay. If you know what you do, you will get great deals there, and their Paypal protection is among the best. By using Paypal, my credit info. is protected when I deal with strangers, better than dealing with gas stations, one of which stole my info. to buy plane tickets and smokes!

Camera accessories, woodworking consumables, etc. Hard to beat the free shipping deals...esp. since I don't have Amazon Prime.

Simon

Simon MacGowen
11-20-2018, 7:53 PM
Folks, Links to eBay or any other auction site are prohibited, you may post the item number and a description if you like but do not provide an active link.

Thanks

Thanks for the reminder, which also reminds me how archaic the rule is.

Simon

Jim Becker
11-21-2018, 8:39 AM
Thanks for the reminder, which also reminds me how archaic the rule is.

Simon
There is a very good and concrete reason for the prohibition of links to auctions and other online selling resources...to allow them would pretty much make the forum get inundated with posts merely to sell stuff elsewhere, including a huge influx of folks posting merely for profit. We don't permit commercial sales posting for the same reason. That's not what SMC is about. Non of the forums that I help moderate permit this; it's not just Sawmill Creek.

Jim
Forum Moderator

Jim Koepke
11-21-2018, 10:38 AM
Thanks for the reminder, which also reminds me how archaic the rule is.

Simon

There are simple ways to work with the rules. If one wants to lead people to an ebay auction just put the item number in the post. It is a simple endeavor.

jtk

Simon MacGowen
11-21-2018, 11:46 AM
There is a very good and concrete reason for the prohibition of links to auctions and other online selling resources...to allow them would pretty much make the forum get inundated with posts merely to sell stuff elsewhere, including a huge influx of folks posting merely for profit. We don't permit commercial sales posting for the same reason. That's not what SMC is about. Non of the forums that I help moderate permit this; it's not just Sawmill Creek.

Jim
Forum Moderator

One prominent woodworking forum allows ebay, amazon and whatnot links to be posted directly without restrictions. That site has never been inundated with sales posts. People there always share great Amazon deals or other time-sensitive vendor links...as a public service. You click and get done...instead of: go to Amazon, enter product name or whatever #, find or select a supplier (if there is more than one), blah blah blah. Oh well, only to find that that is not something you want or need to buy! That's why unless it's a direct link, I never bother to waste time.

It is fine to me if you want to ban any sharing of sales, auctions, online selling resources, etc. But you are not actually banning them because you still allow people to access the resources just not through their direct links. As Jim suggested, you use the ebay # to get around it, for example. You are not banning anything... you are just creating inconvenience. That is why I call that rule archaic.

Simon

Lee DeRaud
11-21-2018, 12:31 PM
There is a very good and concrete reason for the prohibition of links to auctions and other online selling resources...to allow them would pretty much make the forum get inundated with posts merely to sell stuff elsewhere, including a huge influx of folks posting merely for profit.My question is, is moderating that explicit kind of activity really any harder than playing whack-a-mole with Ebay links?

Bruce Page
11-21-2018, 12:38 PM
Simon, links to Amazon and most other websites have always been allowed. Links to auctions are not allowed for the reasons that Jim explained.
Before this rule came to be we had a number of people joining just to sell items and product.

From the Terms of Service:

3. External Linking
Links to other websites are allowed in posts. In fact, they are encouraged. However, links for the sole purpose of marketing, generating traffic to a site, or any other commercial advertisement deemed to solicit commercial benefit are not allowed. Links to other public or private forums are not allowed. Links should be submitted as references, for the sole purpose of generating or supporting discussions on SawMill Creek.

Dave Lehnert
11-21-2018, 12:47 PM
One prominent woodworking forum allows ebay, amazon and whatnot links to be posted directly without restrictions. That site has never been inundated with sales posts. People there always share great Amazon deals or other time-sensitive vendor links...as a public service. You click and get done...instead of: go to Amazon, enter product name or whatever #, find or select a supplier (if there is more than one), blah blah blah. Oh well, only to find that that is not something you want or need to buy! That's why unless it's a direct link, I never bother to waste time.

It is fine to me if you want to ban any sharing of sales, auctions, online selling resources, etc. But you are not actually banning them because you still allow people to access the resources just not through their direct links. As Jim suggested, you use the ebay # to get around it, for example. You are not banning anything... you are just creating inconvenience. That is why I call that rule archaic.

Simon



If you become a Contributor for $6 a year to Sawmillcreek. There is a Deals and Discount forum you can access.
BTW just sent in my $$$$ yesterday.

Simon MacGowen
11-21-2018, 1:04 PM
If you become a Contributor for $6 a year to Sawmillcreek. There is a Deals and Discount forum you can access.
BTW just sent in my $$$$ yesterday.

The woodworking site I mentioned that allows direct links is free to join.

Simon

Simon MacGowen
11-21-2018, 1:07 PM
So the rule does allow eBay links posted if they are from Buy It Now sellers including Home Depot, etc. which have fixed prices for their products like Amazon?

Simon

Bill Dufour
11-21-2018, 2:30 PM
Posting links to auction sites makes the post useless in a month or two. Part of the idea of this site is to become a searchable library of woodworking knowledge. Some information from five years ago is still useful today and will remain useful for 100 years or more. Links to auctions not much use after the auction is over. Also those links go dead after a short time.
This is also the reason for my oft posted rants when folks use a meaningless title which is not searchable. Example might be "help, wood related" will never be found by someone looking for info on adjusting a planer. Or they post a model number with no indication of what it might be. If I am looking for instructions on adjusting a planer a wealth of info may be under "123xyz help needed" but I would never find it.
I am amazed some folks here know sears tools by model number.
Bill d

Lee DeRaud
11-21-2018, 3:07 PM
Posting links to auction sites makes the post useless in a month or two. Part of the idea of this site is to become a searchable library of woodworking knowledge. Some information from five years ago is still useful today and will remain useful for 100 years or more. Links to auctions not much use after the auction is over. Also those links go dead after a short time.And you think that's not true of other (allowed) retail links? I suspect that Newegg link in post#2 will be defunct before this threads fizzles out.

Simon MacGowen
11-21-2018, 3:18 PM
Posting links to auction sites makes the post useless in a month or two. Part of the idea of this site is to become a searchable library of woodworking knowledge. Some information from five years ago is still useful today and will remain useful for 100 years or more. Links to auctions not much use after the auction is over. Also those links go dead after a short time.

Bill d

Bill,

I make no bones about rules per se. When forum rules are there, we all have a choice: to go by the rules which I do where I go, or move to a forum whose rules are acceptable to follow. My point is about rules that may serve good purposes in the old days but have become irrelevant. The other site i mentioned has a Classified section (also free) and I don't see any flooding of ads there.

Back to yours, many amazon, online vendor or product links are useless too after a lapse of time. If the intention is to improve the search capability, search keys rather than clickable links matter. For example, Lumberjocks can be searched by poster, search key, title, etc. You don't even need to be logged on to search its massive database - Google will do it for you.

Simon