More on E-bay Trucks

[rboltz]

Watching many military trucks on e-bay in the last few months resulted in another observation. Many trucks are "sold" only to re-appear in a few days or weeks from the same seller. No explanation. I have to wonder if these are scams or the buyers defaulted. I have had a few buyers default on small items but it seems in the military truck market it is over 50% re-listing rate.

[glenn]

I have noticed that too. Wonder why.

[kevin]

Being someone who has sold roughly a hundred items ranging from small parts to a couple cars and jeeps. From the sellers point of view a lot of buyers when it comes to big ticket items bid on things they do not have the money to purchase.
I have also bid and then after seeing what the item actually looked like have had the seller reduce the price or have cancelled my bid.

Be very aware of re-listed items as they are not likely to be what they say they are both in words and pictures.
Or the seller had to re list due to buyers not actually having the money to actually buy the item. These kinds of re-lists you can get pretty cheap sometimes as the seller starts getting frustrated and wants to get rid the item.

With that said I soon will be selling a vehicle there. No it is not my M715 it is now the best MPG vehicle I have with 4 wheels!

[Don Cavey]

I would bet that the buyer defaulted either because he/she was bidding while consuming adult beverage and had buyer's remorse. Or, when he/she saw that they were getting, they felt it wasn't quite what they expected...

[randyscycle]

One thing I've seen and even been asked to participate in (and no I won't, nor have I ever) is being a shill. That means in auction terms driving up bids for a friend or whoever is running the auction to try to get the selling price up higher. This can backfire though, because the seller can end up with the shill outbidding the actual bidders, then being stuck with the item in question.

There are also the fine folks who will list an item with no reserve, and let it bid until near the end of the auction, then when they don't get the price they want, they will end the auction and try again later to avoid the final value fees, etc.

I signed up on e-bay back in '99 and I've watched things change over the years. Its a funny little world on e-bay these days.

[fishtail]

One thing I've seen and even been asked to participate in (and no I won't, nor have I ever) is being a shill. That means in auction terms driving up bids for a friend or whoever is running the auction to try to get the selling price up higher. This can backfire though, because the seller can end up with the shill outbidding the actual bidders, then being stuck with the item in question.

There are also the fine folks who will list an item with no reserve, and let it bid until near the end of the auction, then when they don't get the price they want, they will end the auction and try again later to avoid the final value fees, etc.

I signed up on e-bay back in '99 and I've watched things change over the years. Its a funny little world on e-bay these days.

True, true, my friend. Also, buy it on craigslist, sell on ebay, and vice versus.

I've been on ebay since 1998. I've bought and sold alot of railroadiana over the years, but never got scammed. But if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Watch for sellers with very low feedback and watch for buyers who say they'll send you the money before the auction ends.

Scott

[militarypotts]

I use e-bay sparingly, and craigslist not at all. All my purchases are rather small items. I'm no expert when it comes to internet buying or selling. It appears you have to be careful and well versed when doing so.

[randyscycle]

Mostly as Fishtail stated, I find a little common sense and careful reading will save you any troubles. I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually had any real problems, and that after probably thousands of transactions both personal and business.

[moose3d]

I bought my M725 off ebay this past fall. Guy tried to sell it but when it came to get paid, he kept getting burned by scammers not paying. Nice guy too bad there are @$$holes out there make a career out of doing that to honest sellers and buyers.

[randygar]

Overall I've had quite good luck with ebay. Some problems, mostly with buying - some 24v drills that never showed up, a jumpstarter that was obviously smashed before being packed, getting a couple used parts that were described as new, a chinese clone of a when I bought a real one, a couple li-ion batteries that arrived over-discharged, and the like. I've sold a thousand items or so, and only maybe five of them had any problems, all of which were buyers never paying.

Ebay recently made it so sellers can not leave buyers negative feedback. No matter whether the buyer is a total ass, whether the buyer pays or not, whether the buyer files false claims or not, whether they make illegal/unfair demands or not, or however else a buyer can try to screw a seller over, the seller is only able to leave positive feedback. This has caused a massive increase in buyer flakery, as there's now no mechanism to hold buyers accountable for their actions. Go ebay!

--Randy