# Browsing on eBay



## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

I'm now getting really fucked off with that place and the reason being is because of the sodding greedy companies like motor factors that list their stuff on there and think that it's a great idea to put every single fucking spring they stock on there, then every single bleeding clutch, then every single fucking water pump and so on - it goes on for pages and pages. Do these stupid aresoles really think that I'm going to scroll through all those pages just to find a spring that might fit, of course I won't.

I can always just search for a specific item I guess but I quite like just searching in a general terms like Audi TT as stuff comes up that I hadn't thought of. What I feel really sorry for are the folk who have a widget they want to sell and because of the bad timing it's been posted up, it ends up smack in the middle of page 13 of 267 fucking Audi TT springs which no one will see and will probably be missed.

Why can't eBay make these inconsiderate fuckers do separate listings for these inconsiderate wankers in a different section of ebay for companies or tell them to open a shop up on there.

Utter, utter selfish bastards. :evil: :evil:

Rant over!

Graham


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## CWM3 (Mar 4, 2012)

Seconded


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## YELLOW_TT (Feb 25, 2004)

Yep there are now over 1500 pages of TT parts :evil:


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

10 years ago, eBay used to be a really good site to buy things because the majority of listings were from normal people selling one or two items. They weren't trying to make a living, so the prices were kept reasonable and there were genuine bargains (and genuinely unusual, interesting items for sale). eBay have changed all that though. They want to compete with people like Amazon, so they want big companies selling through them with 'buy it now' prices instead of auctions. They're deliberately making it less appealing to individuals selling their old stuff, because that's not the image they want.

Take the new 'basket' and 'checkout' features. They're utterly pointless because you're buying stuff from different people so although on the surface they make it look like you're making one transaction, underneath you're still making a series of separate payments directly to the individual sellers. But it gives it a veneer of being a shop instead of an auction site, and that's what eBay want.

Most eBay users these days don't even remember what it was like when it was actually a good site, so they fall for eBay's marketing and treat it like a shop. This means they happily pay shop prices for things without really thinking about what they're doing. You can't even get a bargain on the few proper auctions that are left on there any more because people are so convinced it's a proper shop they end up paying retail prices for 2nd hand stuff with no warranty. I remember back when buying 2nd hand meant buying from the classified ads in the paper - generally something 2nd hand in perfect condition was worth about half it's RRP. These days, people will advertise their 'nearly new' £100 car part for £90 and some mug will actually buy it.


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## YoungOldUn (Apr 12, 2011)

Totally agree with Spandex. A lot of the items for sale on eBay are more expensive than buying from individual websites or shops and there appears to be a lot of people with more money than sense entering the auctions. Often the end of auction price (including P&P) is more than buying the item outright from alternative sources or even from other 'buy it now' listings on eBay.


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## newt (May 12, 2002)

Never found the need to use it.


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

newt said:


> Never found the need to use it.


+1 newt, i can't stand the place


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## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

It's the 10% eBay take from every single item that sells that pi$$e$ me off. Daylight robbery, then PayPal - which they own, takes another 3.6 % 
Talk about licence to print money.
It's virtually a monopoly too.


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

mullum said:


> It's the 10% eBay take from every single item that sells that pi$$e$ me off. Daylight robbery, then PayPal - which they own, takes another 3.6 %
> Talk about licence to print money.
> It's virtually a monopoly too.


well you can understand they have to cover costs and make a profit ( it is a business) after all. however i just don't enjoy the experience tbh mullum, however there are other sites that as yet have not been corrupted by corporate greed. ( will still have scammers though) lol


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## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

You think 10% covers costs ? For a web page ?
So a blanket 10%, regardless of the amount (£1 or £1000) is covering costs ?

Don't confuse making a living (like you or I) with making a killing !


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

mullum said:


> You think 10% covers costs ? For a web page ?
> So a blanket 10%, regardless of the amount (£1 or £1000) is covering costs ?
> 
> Don't confuse making a living (like you or I) with making a killing !


i did say corporate bud, so shareholders all want their share etc etc


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## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

Awwwww I thought we were about to have another eBay related punch up ! :lol:
You me and Spandex - come oooorrrnnn !


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

too tired old and too sore tonight m8ee...........hands up i lose :lol:


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

This would be so simple to solve. Have one 'Business' only site and another for 'Private' sales, ebay could offer different rates for multiple listings if need be but that's up to them. I (and you) could then go onto the private section without the page after page after page of springs, water pumps, headlight bulbs ( :evil: ) and could browse to our hearts content. I thought I'd give it another try yesterday and gave up after page 5, absolutely total crap. The only way I will go on there now is to look for something specific and even then I would obviously check prices from other sources.

Graham


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

You tell 'em Graham let it all out...............

Out with Anger in with Lurve :wink:


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

Out with Anger in with Lurve...Out with Anger in with Lurve...Out with Anger in with Lurve. Nope, hasn't worked - Fuck'em.

Graham


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Your only solution is to be creative with your search terms :wink:


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

John-H said:


> Your only solution is to be creative with your search terms :wink:


If only... They ruined the search too, in their bid to dumb down the interface to attract 'shoppers'. When they brought in their "smart" search (which was allegedly supposed to help people find things that weren't described well, so they could pretend you were buying from a shop, not Joe Blogs down the street) they basically made it so you can't eliminate all the shite from your results no matter how hard you try.

Searching for 'audi tt brake pads'? Well eBay knows that brake pads are related to brake disks and brake pedals and numerous other parts, so why not show you those as well. Actually, some people spell 'brake' wrong, so why not include 'break pads' too. And anything else to do with 'break'. "I see you're looking for audi tt brake pads... Here's some break dancing videos you might like".

I remember before they destroyed what little faith I had left by removing the asterisk wildcard, I used to regularly see the situation where deleting the end of a word and wildcarding it (to allow for various endings, like plurals, etc) would actually create _less_ results than the non-wildcarded search. How is that even possible??


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## Pugwash69 (Jun 12, 2012)

As a business owner, I can see the attraction of selling on ebay - it has a massive number of people viewing it daily and anything you put on for sale will get seen by someone. It costs more to sell on there, but it's still profitable.
The stuff we sell online costs about 30% of the sale price in advertising, and that's on our own web site!


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

Why are people so fecking desperate to give eBay and Paypal their money?? I've been trying to buy a specific 2nd hand camera on eBay over the last few days and they generally seem to go for somewhere between £700 and £750. That's probably about £80 worth of fees the seller will be parting with, so if a seller is near me I always try to offer them a cash deal outside eBay so that I can get a better price and they can still make more than they would if they sold through eBay.

Now, I can completely understand people wanting to let auctions run if they think they'll make more money from a bidding war, but the first person I contacted said he won't sell outside eBay and won't take cash payments because otherwise "neither of us will be covered". How much more 'covered' can you be with cash and the chance to inspect the camera before paying? How did he think people bought and sold things before eBay came along?? The second guy had a £700 buy-it-now, but was just down the road from me - he just flatly refused because he "never breaks eBays rules". At that price, I would only have wanted a small discount to sweeten the deal and he'd have probably made £50 more than he did by using Paypal...

When I'm selling something expensive on eBay, I love it when people say they want to do a deal for cash. We both win.


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## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

Agree absolutely.

If anything, paypal payments are worse than cash for sellers. Not only are the fees extortionate, but a buyer can so easily open a dispute and get their money back. Fair enough when things arent as described, but its also very easy for someone to just "borrow" things - use them - break them - return them, or even claim they were never delivered. Seller loses postage costs on returns too.
I've seen some sellers stating in the description "this is a cash on collection sale ONLY - no PAYPAL payments accepted whatsoever" - cant say I blame them. Might have to try doing that myself !

Sometimes I'll even sell for less privately than I would through eBay (less than the amount AFTER fees) just to avoid giving paypal and ebay my money !


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## alexi7 (Aug 30, 2011)

And I thought it was just me... Driving me insane looking for the most basic part, then one turns up by luck. :x :x


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