So sick of lame people on eBay

[RBT]

how hard is it to add a bit of bubble wrap or stick a game in a padded envelope both will only cost you about £1 form the post office.

[bacteria]

I like ebay and also dislike ebay a bit.

I dislike the large charges they make listing fees, final fees, PayPal fees; although if you tend to sell things that aren't worth much to you or would sell for more on ebay, it doesn't really matter how much profit you make on them.

I love ebay however as one of the only ways to get many items no longer in the shops, like retro consoles and games; if you aren't in a rush for an item, you can get a really good price on pretty much anything. It is also good for buying new items too, like bed linen - we have a Super King bed at home, can buy linen for it about 30% of the price of shops, which is a massive difference.

Regards packaging, i've had things packaged really well, overly well in fact; and some you wonder how it arrived in good condition, like a PSone screen just in a thin bubble wrap envelope and nothing else - screen didn't scratch, which was surprising.

When packing items I sell on ebay, I use paper if sending a second hand book as they are solid, won't damage and dead cheap anyway; everything else gets wrapped in bubble wrap and then into padded mailers; or boxes with padding (especially if electronics stuff). I've not had any complaints.

I've bought and sold a total of about 1400 items in 3 years; bought a lot of consoles and games that way; only had problems with about 0.04% of these with non payers, non-shippers, item not as described.

Overall, ebay is great.

RBT - £1 is often your profit on a deal, that is why! Better to keep the padded envelopes you get from purchased on ebay and re-cycle them. People often recycle packaging on ebay, saves cost - recycling is good for everybody anyway. BTW - nice reference to Red Dwarf in your sig - my favourite television program!

[DaGamingMonkey]

I don't normally buy off ebay. When I sell I only ship priority flat rate. The boxes are pretty sturdy and some bubble rap thrown in there I know that it will arrive alright.

[RBT]

bacteria - Nice to meet a fellow Englishman and Red Dwarf fan. You are right about saving all the packaging I do a lot of buying and selling on other forums and I can not remember the last time I had to buy packaging.

[pureevil]

It is annoying when a padded envelope only costs 12p to 50p.this is one of the many problems with e-bay you can not see who you are dealing with.I could go on but basically e-bay fucking sucks alot of the time if you are buying or selling its a gamble.

[thecommontask]

One time my little brother sent me a PS1 memory card in the mail. Well, first he said he put it in the mail and after not getting it in a few days I said "What happened to it?". Apparently he never put postage on it so it showed up at his address a couple of days later. Eventually he got postage and I got it in the mail a few days after that. Except that I realized he sent me the memory card in a plain white envelope without any padding or protection. The envelope was marked up on the side and a hole was in it and no memory card was there. What I think happened was that the letter ran through the sorter at USPS and because an object was in there it tore the envelope being squeezed through the sorting rollers at the facility. I don't know when it came out but obviously my brother is an idiot and I can't trust him to send anything to me anymore. He'll just fuck it up again. If he remembers to send it that is.

[Frag Mortuus]

I know that whether I sell here or on eBay, I always lose money on shipping. You can check out my feedback on here, most people comment on how well I ship items. Padded up, taped securly, terribly hard to get into (lol ). But the items arrive pretty much unscathed.

But, I lose money every time. By the time I buy the packaging, tape, filler, and the higher cost to ship, I spend about $12 to ship a game, when I charge $2-$3.

[Limewater]

BTW - nice reference to Red Dwarf in your sig - my favourite television program!

You two see, "I am Legion: for we are many" and immediately think of Red Dwarf? Admittedly, I never saw that episode, so it might be really good, but that's a Bible quote, guys!

Mark 5:9
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

What's really awesome is that it looks like it was originally put in the sig as a Red Dwarf reference, and was then identified as such. Weird.

[deathclaw]

This is what I always do.
1.I always guarantee either the item to arrive to the buyer, or full refundment. If it's worth less, let's say, not more than 15-20 € I will post it without insurance, because the extra cost of insurance would not pay off...I mean If 1 item out of 50 gets lost, each of them is worth ~ 15 eur and the difference between item posted with insurance and without it is 2 €/item I am still profitable if I have to pay for the lost item on my own.

2.If the game is not so fragile (PS2, Gamecube, …) I will wrap it in newspaper, then fasten by some tape, then put it in a bubble wrap envelope and then put it in either another bubble wrap envelope or a special plastic envelope that is necessary if I want to post insured item. Recently I have come up with an idea to batten (don't know if it's the right word) it with cardboard from both side – and it's almost as safe, as if it was posted in a box

3.For some time, I was forced to offer free postage to the UK...Even though I live in Slovakia...So I offered free postage to whole Europe, so it did not matter, whether I had to post the item to the UK, Norway or Ukraine, I payed the same postage anyway
Now I can finally ask some money for the postage, so I usually ask 0,9 GBP to Europe and more to the other parts of the world, so I can have the cheapest postage among the same games.

4.Because of these things, I don't sell on ebay very often. I think I have sold about 20 things...because my precious perfect (100% positive) feedback is for me worth more than a few earned euros

5.And finally...the buyers don't even know, that those items are covered by insurance, that it will be packed really great...because my English is far from being perfect and if there were grammar mistakes it could make them avoid buying it....and buy a game from someone, that will send it in a paper envelope
So if somebody is willing to help me to make a general description, I will be glad

[Troglodyte]

I have had this happen so many times (I have had carts rock up cracked) but because you paid so much for postage (This guy wrapped it in a cereal box cardboard and duct tape with some stamps) its almost worthless sending it back.

Next time that happens to any of you; I'd consider purchasing the cracked or otherwise destroyed game. I use them for various projects; and have been gathering an extensive collection of damaged carts for the intent of creating prototypes.
I haven't had the time or money to purchase an EPROM burner; but I have the electronic experience necessary.

I would probably consider paying about $2 - $4 for each of the damaged carts.
However, I will not purchase damaged CD or DVD based games; for obvious reasons.

I even will consider purchasing games that are suspected of being 'dead'.
This is of course assuming that it would not benefit you in any way to
return it to the original seller.


And back to the point of this original thread; I have had this happen too many times to count on eBay. I'm not really touting GameGavel, for this reason in particular; but this has not happened there as of yet. Of course, the site does not have the extensive quantity of available auctions; but it is growing at a fairly brisk pace.