eBay buyers

[Mark Barton]

Yes as a buyer you buy a cine item trusting the seller to provide an honest description. If there is a fault then you expect the seller to action restitution etc. Iso I sell a projector, which upon arrival has developed a fault(???) Now if it was mw s the buyer I would politely inform the seller. Yet it seems that you sometimes get demands from the buyer, refund me now!! etc etc. In one case I was extremely polite, signing off with best wishes and my name, offering multitudes of appeasement and not once was the buyer grateful, terse emails etc etc. It made me want to do nothing for him. Its such a shame that civility has left the stage. As such when I sell items on Ebay I dread it (I have a 100% positive with 3600 feedbacks) Ebay is a buyers market where they can demand more than is expected yet 'protected' by eBay and PayPal. No idea why Im posting this but it just grinds my gears when people cannot be civil. stay safe all.

[Maurice Leakey]

Mark
I have been an eBay member for 13 years. Mainly I buy, very seldom sell. However, it does seem that eBay has changed a lot since I joined. Time and time again we hear that is is a buyers' market, any problem and eBay will tend to stand in favour of the buyer. The poor seller has to take it all.


Maurice

[Tom Dennis]

Whist I am not an eBay user my youngest son is. What Mark is saying mirrors completely his experierences.
He has used eBay for many years and has seen the deteriation in customer attitude.Everything from blatant fraud to spurious "faulty" claims.
He suspects some buyers are using machines to view/transfer then raise a "faulty" claim.
But on eBay initially the buyer is right.Seems to be, old fashioned courtsey has gone in all forms of life!!!

However Mark NIL DESPERANDUM etc.

Regards Tom.

[Bill Phelps]

I used to sell on eBay but only buy now. I agree that it is tough being a seller. You know the old saying....the customer is always right....the thing I understand about projectors being as old as they are they can develop “flaws” at any given moment. So if one is sold working then that should be enough. It helps to be able to tinker around with them when the issues do arrive. That should not be held against the seller.

[Alan Rik]

I have had pretty decent dealings with the items I’ve sold through EBay. I only had one projector return and sadly it was from a member here who said the ST-180 did not thread properly and the speed was not proper. Prior to shipping I shot video of the machine seconds before I placed it in the box and sealed it. When I got it back I saw ‘his’ non trimmed leader jammed in the machine. Apparently his leader broke in it and he forgot to take it out. I then tried it over a dozen times with different leaders and no problem. I never outed him out here but he left this forum shortly after. Only return.

[Evan Samaras]

I have had good and poor experiences with e-bay. The same holds true outside of e-bay though I have been moving away from e-bay more and more lately. As they try to compete with Amazon's customer service their fees have raised and they have indeed been leaning towards buyer protection, which is nice for us as buyers! It's probably why many of us still buy, and sell less on e-bay.

[Greg May]

I am mainly a buyer on eBay with the occasional sale here or there. Luckily I have never had a horrible experience from a seller. Most of the time, I like to purchase on forums regardless. I get tired of auction snipes and shill bidding etc. At least on the forums you know the price right out of the gate, and it is better for the seller as well, to avoid the fees.

[Lee Mannering]

Maurice you are a true film collector.

Things have changed a great deal in the UK with the film collecting scene. A growing number now have dedicated web sites to sell items and also list them on fleabay at the same time, this is the way if things. Occasionally we buy something of interest but I tend to buy mainly brand new prints having saved up for them as i did as a boy.
Have purchased some nice films direct from the usa and on here, a couple of collections without any problems whatsoever.

Speaking for myself here only. Every now and again the phone goes offering a private collection which is a nice surprise but usually due to a bereavement a tough one. That's followed by a dealers be round to value the collection and says it's not really worth anything as it's all digital now. Terrible.

The upside of ebay is at least anyone dealing with an estate can get a rough idea what things might be worth and get a reasonable sum for a family or loved one.

I've happily purchased full collections for my own home use then pass on what's not of interest or I already have paying a fair per 200ft price. I think the best professional traders back in the day used to use the per 200ft price guide as well over here.

[Melvin England]

Mark - To go back to your original comment. Unfortunately, you seem to have landed yourself with a "bad egg" in that instance, who was probably a completely obnoxious person in real life anyway.
As a seller, I can understand sometimes why buyers initial approach with a grievance can be very curt. The problem is that a lot of sellers can behave like , as buyers can, a complete......what word shall I use?..... ah yes........ a complete rectum. Often, the buyer has to take this curt attitude in the first instance until they know what they are dealing with until they receive a reply and then can judge the sellers manner and attitude. I have received the odd curt response but, like yourself, am always polite and I find that subsequent correspondence can be civil. A prime example of this was once when I was selling one of those now lamented Lilliput Lane cottages. The buyer replied, guns blazing, that there was a chip on the top of it on the chimney stack that I had never declared and demanded their money back. As I was able to point out to them, the "damaged" chimney stack was part of the design, by sending a photograph of it back to them, AND referring them to the Lilliput Lane handbook of photo's and descriptions. Let's just say that the response was...in two words...humble pie. And they kept the item. As I say, you got a "bad egg" that time.

On the reverse side, my rectum of a seller flogged me a 4x 400' copy of The Dirty Dozen with the description including "good colour." If you had seen it, you would have remarked "Where?" I drew it to their attention, expecting some apology or small refund, but was met by "What the hell did you expect for the price you paid for it ?" As it was an auction item, I suppose that if I had paid a very high amount for it, then the colour WOULD have been good!.........wouldn't it?

Mark, it is swings and roundabouts. Yes, I think the sea is getting a little rocky sometimes these days, and the argument that Ebay favours the buyer is very credible.

However,

Just remember the main reason why you sell goods on Ebay.

......to make money!



FOR YOU !!!!!

[Lee Mannering]

Or to put it another way
To get a return for the goods you offer for purchase which have been honestly and truthfully described to the best of your knowledge.
Tiz a minefield if we are honest but sometimes the story ends happily.

A few Brits will be thinking the same as me right now. When the film fairs return in a optimistic 2021 normal will return, but right now it's a free for all on fleabay and some are making the most of it for the wrong reasons at least to my eyes.

I agree with you Mark. Demands on sellers is beyond normal particularly in difficult times with understanding being a bit thin shall we say. The good news is that in 2021 brand new film releases are being planned so we can shortcut the films that have done the rounds 40 times, going pink having scratches and worse. The more we support new releases the more choice we will see as history has already dictated with 8mm in the past.

[Osi Osgood]

My recent issues with eBay is eBay itself, changing the settings on your auctions without telling you. Case in point. I nearly never do international sales, but here, something just sold, to a buyer in Puerto Rico? It'll cost more to ship than the bloody item sold for! I'm just about done with eBay as a seller, I tell you.