Is our ratio of sellers much higher than buyers?

[BuyerOfStuff]

But people buy from sites they know and have used, and will often pay a little extra for that familiarity and the (largely false!) feeling of security it gives them.

But,"the other site" (TOS) does give buyers a safer buying experience. TOS has addressed the problem of tit for tat feedback, and also if goods are SNAD or don't arrive, the buyer has a good chance of recovering his/her money. As far as I can see, ebid doesn't offer nearly so much buyer security, and hence I'm not encouraged to bid unless there's an outstanding bargain. Except, that when I look for the products I want on ebid, I can't find any.

Using myself as an example, it's not a case that I don't know that ebid is here, nor that I'm particularly biased towards the familiar. It's that ebid isn't sufficiently buyer friendly.

[baconsdozen]

So nobody has ever been scammed on ebay?.

[arms87]

So nobody has ever been scammed on ebay?.

I have somebody trying to scam me over a dvd I sold them, they claim I sent a similar one to what they bought, but not the one they wanted.
I didn't have a similar one to send by mistake!

[Juliebabe25]

I have somebody trying to scam me over a dvd I sold them, they claim I sent a similar one to what they bought, but not the one they wanted.
I didn't have a similar one to send by mistake!

What site was that on ?

[Juliebabe25]

But,"the other site" (TOS) does give buyers a safer buying experience. TOS has addressed the problem of tit for tat feedback, and also if goods are SNAD or don't arrive, the buyer has a good chance of recovering his/her money. As far as I can see, ebid doesn't offer nearly so much buyer security, and hence I'm not encouraged to bid unless there's an outstanding bargain. Except, that when I look for the products I want on ebid, I can't find any.

Using myself as an example, it's not a case that I don't know that ebid is here, nor that I'm particularly biased towards the familiar. It's that ebid isn't sufficiently buyer friendly.

That is good feedback to get (for all us sellers and for Gazza)

But
All online buying has a slight element of risk.
Checking on the sellers feedback and About me page is always a good idea
Paying by paypal gives your some protection.
(The ebay TOS set up is one of the major objections of most sellers these days)

I do agree that ebid is a bit short on many categories, but more sellers are coming.

[BuyerOfStuff]

That is good feedback to get (for all us sellers and fro Gazza)

But
All online buying has a slight element of risk.
Checking on the sellers feedback and About me page is always a good idea
Paying by paypal gives your some protection.
(The ebay TOS set up is one of the major objections of most sellers these days)

I do agree that ebid is a bit short on many categories, but more sellers are coming.

All online buying has an element of risk. But, some online buying arenas are riskier than others. I've been aware of ebid for some years, and have occasionally poked around in the listings, but never really found anything I wanted at a competitive price. I'm generally a sort of a "road less travelled" kind of person, so "the alternative" holds some attraction for me.

But, I run into the problem that it appears to me that ebid is ess buyer friendly than another site.

You mention the positive feedback. But, if threats of tit for tat feedback are still possible here, then I'm concerned that even very high positive feedback could be misleading. As an experiment, I searched on "site:uk.ebid.net proof postage no responsibility". I found quite a few auctions where the sellers state: "Proof of posting will be obtained, but no responsibility will be taken for items lost or damaged in the post". On another site, these statements can be safely ignored by buyers, as in an "item not received" case, proof of delivery has to be supplied, not proof of posting. On ebid, I could pay by paypal. What happens in case of INR then? This PoP will be obtained but no responsibility thing is often a clear indication of a bad seller who shirks his/her responsibilities. But all of the sellers with this phrase that I looked at had 100% feedback. I find that difficult to believe.

I've looked hard for something I could buy on ebid, but it's really difficult. I finally found this: http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/earl-den...5-38686859.htm, which is a book I'd like to read, and it's cheaper than "the other site", amazon, or abebooks. But, on the listing it says:

Buyer can choose shipping method and insurance where required. A certificate of posting is always obtained as proof of posting but the buyer can request recorded or registered delivery (if available to a specific country).

This is seriously worrying, as it suggests to me that if I bought the book and it was INR, even if that's unlikely as my local postal service is very reliable, that the seller would be unlikely to refund. So, even in this rare case where I can get the product cheaper than abebooks, I find myself discouraged from using ebid.

Even if paypal gives me some protection, could a seller (not talking about the seller in the previous auction) neg me if I didn't receive the item and I claimed?

Advice anyone?

Edit: This listing is interesting in that it refuses paypal because of INR. I guess that this implies that paypal does give strong INR protection on ebid, but possibly crooked buyers are taking advantage of it. http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/sterling...n-26440919.htm

[Juliebabe25]

I think you have too much of an ebay mind set

Here on ebid, the owners deal with bad sellers very effectively and so do we the members.

We don't want ebay type "Buyer Protection? here. (thta has porved to be a big reverse scam on ebay as you shoudl know)

If a seller does not accept Paypal it may be because they do not like Paypal for many reasons.
Many people do not like Paypal. (I do)

[BuyerOfStuff]

I think you have too much of an ebay mind set

Here on ebid, the owners deal with bad sellers very effectively and so do we the members.

We don't want ebay type "Buyer Protection? here. (that has proved to be a big reverse scam on ebay as you shoudl know)

If a seller does not accept Paypal it may be because they do not like Paypal for many reasons.
Many people do not like Paypal. (I do)

As a buyer I want some form of buyer protection.Not necessarily like the buyer protection on ebay. But something fairly robust.

Ebay perhaps puts a lot of power in the hands of the buyer. But, as someone who only buys, that's what's best for me. And since I'm honest, I don't misuse that power. There is no way I'd ever do anything like claim INR when an item had turned up.

As a buyer, I'm going to make my own decisions about where to shop based on what is best for me. Does ebid have sufficiently robust buyer protection for it to ever build enough buyers to take off? While there are many examples of sellers preferring ebid's policies and environment, are there enough buyers who choose to shop here? Without enough buyers, ebid won't take off no matter how many sellers move here.

Can you give me an example of how the owners have dealt with bad buyers and sellers very effectively?

[MPS16]

As a buyer I want some form of buyer protection.

Pay by PayPal

[BuyerOfStuff]

Pay by PayPal

How much protection does paypal provide for buyers on ebid? I've searched, and found some comments that paypal provides as much protection on ebid as on the other site. Other postings say that paying by paypal on ebid only covers you for item not received. I've tried searching through ebid and paypal facts, but couldn't find the terms and conditions for paypal payments on ebid. I found negative feedback on this page: http://uk.ebid.net/perl/normal.cgi?m...ed&cid=6106189 , albeit from January 2010, stating that the seller (paraphrased) "knows that nothing can be done about not as described".

Also, I would like to see examples where rogue buyers and sellers have been efficiently dealt with. Where can I see an example of such?