Another warning about E-Bay

eBay themselves post quite a  few useful tips. There are other topics besides models where there are much bigger problems, such as jewelry and clothing. After all it's pretty hard to counterfeit a plastic kit in a box, not so scarves and handbags.

A big no-no in my book is when the seller will not honor returns.

GONG!

And always, Paypal is your friend.

I have bought a lot of stuff on Ebay and so far, have had problems only twice.

I won a lot of 9 models and 2 of them where partially assembled ( poorly I might add ) which wasn't listed in the description.  But for the price and the reason I bought them , for the practice, I was still pleased with the purchase.

The other problem was with a couple of battery power tools that to my surprise where in rather poor condition, but they still worked fine.

And yes GMorrisn, I wouldn't use anything but Paypal for Ebay.

True that,I have not had problems myself,but there is potential for trouble if not paying atttention.

I've have purchased several kits off of Evilbay as well and for the most part I've had pretty decent luck.  There have been a couple of times that i had to have them step in and help with a resolution and it came out in my favor.  One was a kit that was being shipped from S. Korea, said it would be here by a certain date, didnt arrive, contacted the seller who stated that it was returned to S. Korea and wanted me to pay another shipping charge.  I contacted Ebay and I had the kit within a week and no additional charges.

Being a bidding site its important to do your homework.  I've seen some kits advertised as new and when you look through the pictures you find out that they have painted a lot of the parts, very poorly I might add, and then wrapped the box in clear plastic wrap to make it look like the original box plastic.

I buy and sell kits frequently on eBay. If the kit is brand new and in it wrapping I will usually just use a picture of the box art, if opened, I will take multiple picture of the kit and box and explain in detail anything I notice. I always offer a 30 day return policy, because I know I was honest in my listing. I have however, been burned on the buying end.

I guess it all goes back to "buyer beware"

Steve

The worst experience I had was actually kind of funny. I bought an old kit from a guy, and later that day found another one from the same seller. naturally I asked for a postage discount.

No problem.

Well, he dumped all of the parts from one kit into the other box, which was ok except that they were the same color.

And it was a "smokers" stash, stunk like hell.

But it was all good once it was sorted out and washed up.

You honestly shouldn't worry too much about your purchases on eBay. They have a very clear policy about their guarantees that you get what you paid for. They enforce it quite well in my own experiences. I've only had one or two bad experiences like that but eBay has generally always resolved it fairly. I have over 800 ebay transactions.

The most difficult experiences I've had have been while selling models, both boxed and built. It's my own fault that I don't painstakingly account for every single piece if the pieces are off the sprues, and then some guys will claim that "parts are missing"--and I have no way to know if they're being truthful because I don't photograph every piece laid out on the floor. Then you have to do some kind of shipping reduction with them. Usually this happens when I sell lots, not individual models. I have learned to be more attentive though.

With built models it's been a problem where guys think that if they purchase more than one built model that I can just bundle them together and combine shipping---NOT! I package each one individually and sometimes can box them up into one package...but then that increases the size AND weight, so the savings is negligible. Some guys get so irate about that. Hey man, nothing I can do unless you want your models to arrive in 20 pieces.

This is what I mean ;

  The buyer and the seller sometimes have to pay real close attention .There was one I bought from , One Picture , But that picture along with his description sealed the deal . It was an old kit and he was very careful to describe it as patrially built ( poorly ) but salvageable .

  I wish I could show a picture of that resurrected model . One very old, original LINDBERG Chris Craft motor cruiser ( the little thirty six ( I believe )  . Built like I wanted to build it years ago ( I didn't know how then ).

    The other thing is , I never buy from anyone outside the U.S.A.

I, too, won't buy anything outside the USA on eBay.

I recently sold off about half my stash on Ebay, It was my first time selling and I was absolutely shocked how fast everything went. I nearly recovered what I had paid for it all too... guess I have you guys to thank!

I've bought a lot of stuff on Ebay over the years too and haven't had a problem yet. My impression is that by and large modelers tend to be good honest folk with only a few exceptions. Hooray for us!

Anyway I look for hobby shops selling on Ebay or individuals in America with good pictures and descriptions. I figure that it's the 21st century where high quality digital pics are insanely cheap and easy to take and you can put something like 10 pictures on ebay listings for free so anyone who posts blurry and/or too few pics has got to be hiding something. When selling, I take a pic of everything in the box laid out and then several detail pics... I tried to note every last defect though on one (a 1/35 PT boat) I missed noting that the cheesy "Story of PT-109" pamphlet was missing... didn't even think about it.

Sure enough I heard about it from the buyer! It's worth taking the extra 10 min to be thorough on your listings!

One HUGE red flag for me are blurred pictures. They are either trying to hide something or are just plain too lazy to retake the picture, specially on built models.

Something else I find annoying are sellers that state "cannot guarantee that model is complete". I recently contacted a seller who listed an old Revell 1/32 Jack as "looks to be complete". I contacted him and asked for a parts count. He replied back that some parts were missing and pulled the listing a few minutes later.

Whenever I list something on eBay, I try to be as descriptive as possible to avoid any problems and make certain that my pictures are sharp and clear.

I have only really been ripped off once when it comes to model kits.  Bought a 1/24 Burago Citroen 15CV from a guy in Canada.  When it arrives - missing the body shell.  When I put in a paypal claim, the guy claims I am trying to scam HIM.  Didn't get satisfaction on that one.  I did have a guy in the states mail me the old MPC 1/24 FW190.  His idea of international packaging was to wrap the box in brown paper.  Didn't fare too well on the journey across the Pacific. Most of the sellers I dealt with in the USA were great.

I have never had any problems buying off e-bay. I do check the persons feedback if they are a private seller. I am curious as to why you guys won't buy from outside the USA. I have bought from the states and the far east without any problem. And some of the best deals are those from Hong Kong. The kits are usually cheaper and often free postage. And I can often get items from abroad that I can't get in the UK. The only place I can get Amusing Hobbies kits is from the far east.

The one annoying incident I did have on e-bay was when I sold a job lot of football stuff, shirts, watch scarfs etc. The buyer then sold one of the shirts on for 3 times what they paid for the job lot. My own stupid fault really.

No problem overseas, except my daughter was burned on some clothing purchases of American made brands, bought from Asia. I warned her...