Anything wrong with buying on eBay?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Omamder5
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Omamder5

Omamder5

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You Hae Dis?
I'm thinking of buying a PS3 this fall, and since I don't want to spend upwards of 300 dollars just for the system, I'm considering buying off of eBay.

Has anyone encountered any problems with top sellers that are recommended 95-99% of the time? I've seen a new 120GB Slim for around $230, and I'm wondering whether I should get it or not.

Anybody with some cautionary advice or tips?

Thanks.
 
Read the feedback left for the seller. If they're 99% and have sold quite a few items, they should generally have very good feedback. It's not very often one of these sellers ends up screwing people on purpose.

Plus, I believe if you pay through PayPal, they have options & settings for you if you feel you've been cheated. Not 100% sure.
 
McLaren
Read the feedback left for the seller. If they're 99% and have sold quite a few items, they should generally have very good feedback. It's not very often one of these sellers ends up screwing people on purpose.
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This is probably one of the best pieces of advice. I've only had one problem with a "Power Seller" and it was USPS's fault not theirs(They had a tracking number and they still lost the package:dunce:), they gave me a refund and all was good.

Plus, I believe if you pay through PayPal, they have options & settings for you if you feel you've been cheated. Not 100% sure.
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There is a process that you have to go through and if the seller doesn't resolve the issue in a certain amount of time you get a refund automatically.

Adding onto this, make sure you read the product description as they will normally give you a good idea of what condition the item is in. One more thing since you are talking about electronics, I would only buy from someone in your country, shipping will be less and it's easier to deal with.
 
Allright, I guess it's settled then. I'll look into buying it off of there, and saving myself some 70 bucks.

Speaking of saving, why is it cheaper? Do they order them in bulk and sell them off rapidly to make a profit or something? Still don't understand why people would buy it in the store, really. Why spend 70 more dollars?
 
Make sure to figure in the shipping cost. There have been plenty of times that I've payed more for an item because the shipping ultimately made it cheaper.
 
Omamder5
Speaking of saving, why is it cheaper? Do they order them in bulk and sell them off rapidly to make a profit or something?
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It depends, sometimes it's the "buy bulk" thing, sometimes they get a good deal at a store(closing sale, clearance of older models, sale in general). I can't say for sure though, that's just my theory.

Still don't understand why people would buy it in the store, really. Why spend 70 more dollars?
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Overall there is less risk buying from a store as there are more laws protecting the customer incase the product is faulty.
 
That's a shame. Turns out the cheapest one on there is about 260, plus 30 dollars in shipping. However, it includes an apparently '$35' HDMI cable (needed on anyway), and if you pay for 'express shipping,' you get 1 year warranty. Still a couple bucks cheaper than buying all this in store, plus tax.

Wait, this has 5% tax on it too...
 
I got my HDMI for 5 bucks.. and it works like a 100 dollar cable. Shipped from Hong Kong. Secondly, I wouldn't trust buying expensive electronics off ebay unless you are SURE that it will work or you can repair it. For example my Sansa E250 broke the other day, paid $17 for a E270 (6GB instead of my old 2GB) which was in mint condition, but the firmware was corrupted. Since I know how to fix them and am a member on the Sansa forums, I fixed it.
 
I usually try to buy something that is stateside. I got my bumper from Ebay and it came in one peice.
 
My parent have had an eBay account since 2001 and we have never had a problem buying off bulk sellers or people with lots of feedback. Just try and avoid the people with little or bad feedback.
 
Omamder5
Allright, I guess it's settled then. I'll look into buying it off of there, and saving myself some 70 bucks.

Speaking of saving, why is it cheaper? Do they order them in bulk and sell them off rapidly to make a profit or something? Still don't understand why people would buy it in the store, really. Why spend 70 more dollars?
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Depends on the seller. Is this person selling the PS3 only have one or does he have multiple listings?
 
The one for $260 has disappeared; I guess the seller only had one at the time. That was the best deal I could find, and I'm finding used ones for more than retail!

Might as well buy it in store, and periodically check eBay to see if a nice deal springs up.

Thanks for all the help, guys.
 
Omamder5
That's a shame. Turns out the cheapest one on there is about 260, plus 30 dollars in shipping. However, it includes an apparently '$35' HDMI cable (needed on anyway), and if you pay for 'express shipping,' you get 1 year warranty. Still a couple bucks cheaper than buying all this in store, plus tax.

Wait, this has 5% tax on it too...
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HDMI cables cost $4.
 
Yeah, I noticed that, as FoolKiller had kindly pointed out the website. I will probably be buying several HDMI cables from that site.
 
I have bought many thinks from ebay (including a go kart) and have never had anyproblems. Just buy from a reputable ebay seller and ussually everything will be fine. Just make sure if the have lots of good reviews they are not all from the same person :)
If you are in any doubt try to get a phone number off them and speak to them directly before buying. If you do all this and everything on this page then you shouldn't have problems.
 
I can sell you my PS3 if you don't mind fixing it. It doesn't have the YLOD, but it has the flashing red light of "Sorry, don't feel like starting up for some reason." I'll throw in a free copy of Madden that's stuck in the disk drive, and of course it won't come with the HDD. Much cheaper than $300 though.
 
Omamder5
The one for $260 has disappeared; I guess the seller only had one at the time. That was the best deal I could find, and I'm finding used ones for more than retail!

Might as well buy it in store, and periodically check eBay to see if a nice deal springs up.

Thanks for all the help, guys.
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Welcome to EBay. :D

If something popular has just come out, EBay is the last place you'll want to check. A lot of people buy stuff in bulk from the stores & will sell to suckers who can't wait a month at the least for a product.
 
I buy stuff off of eBay all the time and have only had one problem. Paypal took care of it for me, although it took forever.
 
Omnis
I can sell you my PS3 if you don't mind fixing it. It doesn't have the YLOD, but it has the flashing red light of "Sorry, don't feel like starting up for some reason." I'll throw in a free copy of Madden that's stuck in the disk drive, and of course it won't come with the HDD. Much cheaper than $300 though.
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I wish I was a hardware geek, but I really have zero experience with anyof that kind of stuff. Thanks for the offer, but I'd probably make it worse trying to fix it, with instructions.

Guess I'll be lookin' to Walmart pretty soon...I have a 10% discount there, so that pretty much takes the tax off, and the whole set, including an HKS controller and GT5, will run me about $400. Great...:indiff:

I probably will buy something off of eBay eventually, so thanks so much for all the great tips.

PS: Don't you guys ever think that the perfectly punctuated, stated, and to-the-point reviews, with top rating, on anything, are done by macros, people from the company/site, etc, or people who get paid?
 
Omamder5
I probably will buy something off of eBay eventually, so thanks so much for all the great tips.
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It's a great place to buy CD's, movies and games(as well as some other things like model cars).👍

PS: Don't you guys ever think that the perfectly punctuated, stated, and to-the-point reviews, with top rating, on anything, are done by macros, people from the company/site, etc, or people who get paid?
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In order to leave feedback you have to purchase something from the seller so it's highly unlikely. At least that's what I think you are referring to.
 
Justin
In order to leave feedback you have to purchase something from the seller so it's highly unlikely. At least that's what I think you are referring to.
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Maybe not on eBay, but other places, where you can simply review whatever you want, has plenty of these generic comments. I'm sure, with some sort of agreement, the seller could schedule fake 'purchases' in order for the 'buyer' to write good reviews...but this is small talk.

I know I've said this, but thanks again.
 
I'd actually recommend going on craigslist instead of eBay. That way, you can ask them to let you use it in person, you can personally inspect it onsite and know of any defects that aren't up to your standards. Plus, you don't have to pay for shipping or taxes AND don't have to wait for it to arrive. Ebay is always a last resort for me.

Jerome
 
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Jump_Ace
I'd actually recommend going on craigslist instead of eBay.
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I've had a couple of good transactions through craigslist, too.

Omamder5 - Your location says British Columbia so I checked out the Vancouver cl (No idea if you're anywhere near there or not - I just picked it) and this is one of the first ones to come up. Doesn't appear to be a bad deal.
 
Thank you for the effort. I totally forgot about craigslist; I should definitely check that out as well. While I'm nowhere near Vancouver, I can probably find one near enough to where I live.

Keep in mind that I won't be buying a PS3 until GT5 comes out; I want to be sure that I'll enjoy it, and that it isn't missing features that I feel are important.

I'll have a look on Amazon as well, maybe they have some good deals.
 

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