Selling on ebay is a scam

stinger haut · Oct 24, 2006

Hi,
This may sound stupid, but my poor wife's first selling experience this past weekend was a nightmare on ebay. I won't go into to any details, but I will say that ebay doesn't give a @#$%^ about what buyers do to you. It seems like they just want money from you, no matter what.
I also noticed that there are some @#$%^ members who looking at their feedback, have been #$%^$ other ebayers for a long time. Ebay doesn't care about that either or they would of kicked them off a long time ago.
Both my wife and I have bought from ebay with little trouble.
So selling on ebay for us is just one lousy scam. I personally wouldn't do it, even if the buyers paid me.
Stinger Haut

GuntherHess · Oct 24, 2006

I guess I have been lucky. Been selling for years, have over 700 feedback, and have never really had a serious problem with ebay or buyers. There have been times that I have refunded customer's money when I thought they were in the wrong but it has worked out for the better in the greater scheme of things I believe.
Ebay certainly charges to much in fees but I havent found a way around that other then selling on my own web site.

stinger haut · Oct 24, 2006

Hey GuntherHess,
I am glad to hear that you have had more good auctions than bad. I think most people do have more good dealings with ebay than not.
However, we have lowered our stanards for what is acceptable as far as being ripped off by someone.
Ebay wouldn't be so successful, if it didn't work for the majority of people who buy, sell and the few who rip-off people.
Times change and this is the new way of buying and selling bottles in mass. Its the age of the internet.
Back in the days before ebay, bottle shows, bottle magazines and some antique magazines were the main way of selling bottles in mass. Yes, even then you could be ripped off on a bottle deal. However, back then there was much more recourse for both seller and especially the buyer if something went wrong. But those days seem to be slowly slipping away for the time being.
My understanding is that the person who started ebay wanted to sell his wife's Pez collection and came up with a way to do it through the internet. Maybe, some bottle collector out there can come up with a better way for us to sell and buy bottles. If someone did, they may become very wealthy.
A stung Stinger

richf · Oct 26, 2006

Stinger has a decent idea there! An auction site specifically for bottles would probably be an asset to the hobby.
As for eBay, I've been selling for years and have over 6,000 unique feedbacks, with a total of over 10,000. My philosophy is that I won't let one or two bad apples spoil the bunch.
Rich

stinger haut · Oct 27, 2006

The idea of a reputable and good website where bottles could be bought and sold in a honest and fair manner isn't an easy task.
Condition, color, etc, those things that are so subjective would be hard to police between seller and buyer. I think that one would be the hardest to try and control. I don't think you really could on line.
However, repeated rip-offs, not responding to emails (ever), hiding behind some fake I. D name/s, non payments, etc.could be policed and enforced. I think that is the biggest problem with some online auction sites.
The old auction houses like Heckler, GlassWorks, etc. are able to pretty much monitor and control their buyers and sellers. However, their format is different than something like ebay.
The idea seems simple, but its not. But come on fellow collectors, we're not incapable of creating something better than what we have settled for. Are we just too lazy? Probably not, sites like ebay are already there and the good outwieghs the bad in using them. However, it could be better for the majority of us, a lot better.
This the age of the internet, OK things change (nothing remains the same) but our basic need to have a place where you feel and can actually conduct selling and buying in a relatively safe and fair way hasn't changed.
So, I bet just about everyone agrees that nothing reamins the same. OK, then its time for a change from formats like ebay. Evolution is in order. This website PROVES that change can happen. Its a damn good one and could be and will get better, if we as collectors make it happen as we have.
In da islands we have one old saying, if no can, no can, if can then.................(fill in da blank).
Stinger

GuntherHess · Oct 27, 2006

There are already several good bottle auction sites for the more high end bottles.
Unfortuately its very expensive to put together a good functioning auction site (thus the sticking to the high end stuff).
Maybe something like a coop site could work. I have seen a couple tried but they seem to have limited success.

baltbottles · Oct 27, 2006

It wouldn't be too hard to set up an auction site with a similar format to ebay. The only drawbacks are the cost and the fact that not enough people will use it for it to be profitable. Besided if you look at bottle sales on ebay most of the over a $100 bottles get bought by probably no more then 200-300 collectors. Where as all the lower end bottles sell to both collectors and the general public people just looking for a bottle with their name on it or for things to decorate there house or for what ever reason. The only way a site like this could ever work would be to contact all of the major ebay buyers and get the word out to every collector around the world. Even then only a fraction of them would probably be willing to give it a try because ebay is still where the market is.

Chris

bottlenutboy · Oct 27, 2006

what are those bottle auction sites i would like to check them out thanks alot and that sounds like a good idea you guys are on to something keep up the good work

stinger haut · Oct 28, 2006

OK, I get the picture about ebay.
Its about numbers, the good out weighs the bad for both sellers and buyers. Small rip offs and scams are acceptable to the majority (look at some earlier scam posting about ebay, these are still going on) but if it effects too many or the monetary value is too high, then some action will be taken by someone.
Its easy to use, profitable and so we accept its short comings. Nothing is perfect. No one puts a gun to your head and makes you use ebay, you either choose to because you want to or not. Ebay isn't some corporate monster that is going to take over the world all on its own, ebay has become what it is because people continue to want and support it.
If my wife decides to sell off some of our bottle collection on ebay, you won't hear a peep from me about it.
I retract my statement about ebay being a scam, the scammers are the small minority of both sellers and buyers who use ebay to rip people off.
Stinger

GuntherHess · Oct 28, 2006

Where as all the lower end bottles sell to both collectors and the general public people just looking for a bottle with their name on it or for things to decorate there house or for what ever reason.

That is a very good point Chris. If I have a bunch of small town phamacies they may not sell on a bottle site but I can almost always sell them on ebay because of the people buying stuff from thier town or with thier familiy name on them. For good or bad its pretty much impossible to beat the ebay for the exposure your items get.

Selling on ebay is a scam

Welcome to our Antique Bottle community

Be a part of something great, join today!

stinger haut

Well-Known Member

GuntherHess

Well-Known Member

stinger haut

Well-Known Member

richf

Well-Known Member

stinger haut

Well-Known Member

GuntherHess

Well-Known Member

baltbottles

Well-Known Member

bottlenutboy

Well-Known Member

stinger haut

Well-Known Member

GuntherHess

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Latest posts

Members online

Latest threads

Forum statistics

Share this page

Online statistics

Forum statistics