Online Trading

I think that the best answer for dishonest sellers is "what goes 'round, comes 'round"...


I suggest that everyone reading this forum to join BADHAM on yahoo groups. If we all ban together we can foil these foulups.

 

I won't buy anything I can't see in person before I do. Granted, I've never bought anything through E-bay, or for that matter, any piece of used equipment online. I bought an Astron RS-70A and had a 30-minute phone conversation with the seller, and the next day, he had it at my house. In return, I paid him cash. I found out about the seller on a local repeater.

Now that's ham radio trade, and it works for me.

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (n4sl @ Dec. 12 2002,13:23)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">And DON'T ship Fed-Ex Ground! It is not shipped by FedEx but a company that purchased the rights to use the name. They are slow, their tracking is terrible and you can't get a straight answer from them on the phone (because they really don't know). I've shipped three items this way with identical results each time.

73, Steve N4SL[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Actually, I've found that the service provided by FedEx Ground is about equal to that provided by UPS except that:

1) FedEx is about a day faster to the other coast
2) FedEx is about 25% less expensive to anywhere

FedEx purchased the assets (depots, trucks, and all) of RPS as a part of Caliber, which then became FedEx Ground (other parts of Caliber became other parts of the newer, bigger FedEx). Yes, it is a "separate" company, but it's owned by FedEx.

Scott N7JI

(not affiliated with UPS, FedEx, or USPS in any way)

 

ok, lots of concerns and complaints but also a bit of whining...

i sell on ebay, user name re-tek. i've been selling since 1998 and also have done a bit of buying. i've been burned but then again you can get burned at a fest just the same. you buy the rig, take it home and it doesnt work. you drove "x" number of hours to the fest so what to do? a little common sense goes a long way...

lets address some of the complaints/concerns is read on the thread..

1) prices are too high!
dont bid. plain and simple. its high because the market is bearing that price. you may not think its worth that much but obviously someone does so therefore they bid.

2) dont buy from someone until you talk on the phone with them.
this is nice but some of us lead very busy lives or hate telephones. i am a central office technician in the largest residential serving office in the state of florida. we are responsible for 180,000 telephone lines. the last thing i want to answer is another phone when i get home. i do check my email several times a day and try to do my best to answer questions, even the ones that answer themselves if people would read the item description completely.

3) dont buy unless they are willing to warranty the item.
how does the seller know what conditions the radio will be used under and what kind of knowledge the person has? as a telephone tech i still run into people that are amazed that the telephone uses electricity. how they walk and chew gum amazes me. i handle estates of silent keys as a hobby. its a great way to pay for my expensive ham radio habbit. from first hand experience, some ham shacks are full of roaches and some are fit for the front cover of qst. you never know who or where your stuff is going. thats hard to warranty so at most i do a "will not be DOA" and let it ride with a very low starting bid and let the market dictate what they want to pay.

4) a ham say that they havent plugged it in?
yep. i wont plug in tube gear unless i know it was recently in service. electrolytics need to sometimes be "reformed" if the gear has been sitting for a long time. i dont have this kind of time. i state that it hasnt been plugged in and that it will probably need new caps. what about newer stuff? i just got a case of motorola mt500 radios. aprox 30 of them. these radios sell for $5-15 used. finding a good mt500 battery is unlikely unless i buy one which is probably more than half my case of old radios. therefore they go as is. untested. its sometimes not cost effective to mess with certain items if you're moving alot of gear.

5) payment issues and shipping issues...
ups= square box, contents broken if not WELL packed. read the fine print. they are sticklers on the shipping terms and will "conditions and terms" you right out of any liability.
usps= rounded box, contents ok if decently packed, pricey on heavy things
fed-ex.. i havent shipped with them. have received items from them and they dinged the hell out of a shipping container i bought.
c.o.d.=expensive and a hassle for both parties
paypal= buyer protection offered and convenient for all
check/money order= you have traceability but getting a money order traced through the post office is like getting a turtle to run

6) paying more on ebay than new from hro or aes?
i've seen this and cant make sense of this one.. i guess we dont all do our research before buying.

73
ke4mcl

 

I use Ebay regularly and I have only been what I would call 'ripped off' once for a very small amount (under $40). I might add the following to what has been stated so far. These would apply to auctions and person-to-preson swap ads.

1) Know what you are looking at. If you aren't aware of the specs of the item in question, do your homework. A 'good deal' can go sour very quickly if you don't get what you thought you were paying for.

2) Ask for a ACTUAL picture of the item being sold. A picture is worth a thousand words. Make sure it is a usuable pic. I have seen some that look like a food stain on a sheet rather than gear for sale.

3) Know what a common sense value is for the item being offerred. I have seen people get caught up in the final moments of an auction and pay 20-50% more than the item is actually worth. I once was watching an auction and saw the winner pay more for the item than it cost brand spanking new.

4) If using an auction service, check the sellers feedback or rating. This speaks alot for the user's trustworthyness. If there is little feedback (i.e. a new user) send the user an email and 'feel' them out if you are indeed interested in the item and not sure about the seller. Use common sense when interpreting ratings. A user with a 1000 positive and 3 negatives most likely is a safe bet. On the other hand, a user with a rating of 2 and no negatives may be just as safe. A rating of 10 good and 3 bad might cause a little more research before jumoing in the swap.

5) Ask questions FIRST. If there is any doubt about any facts, ask before bidding or making an offer. Save alot of stress and headaches for both parties. Watch for buzzwords in descriptions like "NEW" or "MINT". Verify condition with photo. I have seen NEW that had seen alot of use and MINT that looked like it had been taken out of service and given a good cleaning on the outside but when inspected inside of unit there was a 1/2" of dust and grime.

6) Be an adult. If you feel that you were taken for a ride, try and work it out with the other person first WITHOUT FLAMING or name calling. Give them time to respond, which means more than 1 day. You don't know what has happened. Maybe their parent died or some other serious incident has happened which requires their full attention. If after a reasonable time, report it to the next level if their is one. That being the auction service or the advertising publication, etc. A final go would be to report it to the US Postal Service, especially if you used a USPS Money Order and transacted the trade via snail mail and received nothing. That constitutes mail fraud.

7) Consider using an online payment service. I try to use Paypal exclusively since I like their features. If not, then usually I use a USPS Money Order since it speeds up the process over using a personal check, which I will use as a last resort.


My personal rules for Ebay are:
a) Good feedback (little or no negatives)
b) Actual picture required for most items (some I use common sense on and take it a face value)
c) Usually contact seller in advance to 'talk' about the item
d) Determine my max bid and stick to it. I use BIDNAPPER auction bidding service. It really makes a difference.
e) I start the communication process immeadiately after the auction ends. This helps speed up the process of money and item transfer.
f) I post feedback as soon as I receive item and verify it is what was represented. If not, I contact seller and discuss problem. Like I said I have only had one problem unsolved, not to say that there aren't unscrupulous people trading on Ebay. Common sense and close watch on details helps me avoid them, at least so far.

Hope this helps someone who is concerned aboutonline trading and buying via the internet.

Gene KI6LO

 

I always use PayPal with my credit card. I've heard horror stories about PayPal not doing anything when someone gets scammed on ebay, but with the credit card you always have redress through your credit card company.

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">If the seller is so un-trusting, he wants my money in hand before he even thinks of shipping, I'm kinda concerned WHY he is so un-trusting - is it because he ripps folks off and expects to be repped off himself?
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Would you expect AES to send you a radio before you pay them for it? That's just the way business is usually done- pay first, and then get your item.

 

#1  Never use COD
#2  Never use COD
#3  Never use COD
etc!

 

Just wanted to let everybody know .... I listed a Uniden HR2600 10 Meter rig-unmodified!- on eBay Friday and they cancelled the auction on me- said it was illegal equipment- an amplifier no less- I notice there isn't much Ham stuff on ebay anymore. Maybe policies like this are why

Pell, N4CPG

 

maybe its your wording in the auction post?

theres tons of ham gear out there. dispute it. on items like hf mobile amps, AM modulators and radios that tend to end up in cb'ers hands its wise to add "not legal for use on cb bands, for amateur radio use only" or something to that effect. there have been some ebay police busy boddies out there lately that have been over reacting. dispute it. theres an address you can respond to on the ebay cancellation notice.

i recently sold 2 smart siren control boxes and they didnt mess with those, i put up a defective from the factory siren box and they cancelled it. apparently the catch was that the smart sirens were "guaranteed broken" and the siren box was partially working.

robert
ke4mcl

 

Ham Radio being sold on eBay is the electronic version of the Christmas Fruit Cake. A dozen radios that don't work being sent from Ham to Ham in some never ending cycle of misrepresentation.


73, Jim - kc2jca

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (ke4mcl @ Dec. 19 2002,10:52)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">4) a ham say that they havent plugged it in?
yep. i wont plug in tube gear unless i know it was recently in service. electrolytics need to sometimes be "reformed" if the gear has been sitting for a long time.

73 ke4mcl[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Absolutely!!   The exception to the rule is that the electrolytics are good!!  With the prices of new electrolytics, I never bother with the reformation process.  Even electrolytic caps that test good are replaced with new ones.  Saving a few cents on a new electrolytic cap, then having it short, can ruin a power transformer real quick!



I cringe at the number of posts on ebay that read something like "turned it on and it lights up, no smoke", referring to a radio that's 50+ years old!!



With old tube equipment of unknown history, they should NEVER be just plugged in!!  Always use a variac and monitor current draw, and bring the radio up in stages!!



73 Mark K3ZX

 

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (n4sl @ Dec. 12 2002,13:23)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">And DON'T ship Fed-Ex Ground! It is not shipped by FedEx but a company that purchased the rights to use the name. They are slow, their tracking is terrible and you can't get a straight answer from them on the phone (because they really don't know). I've shipped three items this way with identical results each time.

73, Steve N4SL[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Hi Steve,

Not to put down your bad experiences with FedEx Ground, but in fact FedEx bought the old RPS about five or so years ago, and renamed it FedEx Ground to compete with UPS (and boy, they are&#33. Sometimes, they are slow and they are hard to contact. But, sometimes so is UPS. But, RPS was the pioneer in barcode-trackable shipments, and we finally have a competitor to UPS since FedEx Ground started FedEx Home Delivery (a separate yet integral(??) part of FedEx Gound). They have had a little trouble integrating systems which makes them a little slow.

73 de AD8BC