[ForSale-Swap] Re: PayPal

[A10382]

A very BIG difference is that at in-person auction, there is usually a 
pre-auction examination time period to see and touch the item.  Farm 
machinery and other vehicles are usually started and run for the potential 
buyers so that they can see that the hay bailer will bail and the truck will 
truck....

An e-Auction is generally an out-of-sight auction - unless you live or work 
close enough tot he buyer to go see the item before bidding.  You really do 
need to have trust in the seller ( or the auctioneer's ability to rectify 
problems fairly).  Feedback scores helps, but with the recent spate of 
account hijackings, there's no guarantee that a seller with a high score 
(IMHO, more than 99.5% !) is really the seller.

Both of the major e-Auction sites do a fair job of weeding out sellers who 
shill their own auctions with dummy bids, but it's not foolproof.  Like 
every other enforcement venue, as the enforcer get smarter the cretin get 
more devious.

eBay in particular relies heavily on some AI (Artificial intelligence) 
applications to patrol their listings.  It's certainly not foolproof, but 
the only way to realistically glance at the millions of new items added 
daily.  Some devious sellers have learned, by experience, how to dodge the 
computerized listing scanners by cleverly re-wording their listings.  When 
they starts pulling listing for illegal items, the sellers started saying 
'more channels' or -extra powerful' instead of 'modified'.  And, some items 
enforced by the FCC have little or no actual enforcement outside the US. 
eBay and Yahoo are quick to point out they are an international company and 
not just limited to US laws and regs.

For those of you who have tried to email comments or questions to eBay, look 
closely at the responses.  They are in large part a computerized response (a 
mix of boilerplate) based on content in your question.. It's too frustrating 
to try and tell a computer that it is not really answering your question or 
giving you any meaningful info.
---
I've really tried to limit buying to hamfests (where you can always see and 
fiddle with the item) .. I bring a 7AH 12V battery and an assortment of 
cables if I'm looking for a specific radio as well as a long wire antenna 
and a headset.

For the most part, I've limited my on-line e-auction buying to relatively 
low cost items that are otherwise not available and avoid things that can 
still bought new in the retail marketplace.  I don't think I would ever buy 
a $600+ used rig (boatanchor or solid-state) without first seeing and 
testing it.. so I limit those sort of purchases to items that are within and 
hour or 2 from me.  The only exception might be a seller on this list who 
I've successfully dealt with in the past...

What truly amazes me are the buyers who bid (for a used & unseen item) more 
the current retail price for something that can still be purchased NEW at 
retail.   This tells me the buyer has not taken the time to research the 
item.
Checking the closed auctions will tell you what these items are really 
selling for (and not selling for if the buyer starts with a sale price 
that's too high).  I resisted buying a radio a few years ago - the first one 
of it's model that I'd seen on line in over a year - and instead found it 
shortly after on a retailer's used radio sheet.  The retailer offered a 30 
day inspection & return if I wasn't happy - the on-line auction seller did 
not.

I've also avoided sellers whose written terms and conditions are longer than 
last year's Medicare Prescription Drug Act !  I'm looking for an individual 
seller (and a ham), at a good & fair price, with reasonable shipping costs, 
without having to hire an attorney to read the 2000 word 'contract' terms 
that some sellers embed in their listing !
====
73, Frank

._._.

----- Original Message ----- 
 Sunday, April 15, 2007 4:35 PM
Subject: Re: [ForSale-Swap] Re: PayPal

>> I don't see what all the fuss is about.  It's an
>> _AUCTION_.  I go to a fair
>> amount of surplus auctions and the occasional estate
>> or farm auction around
>> here.  The auctioneers tell you at least 47 times
>> that all items are
>> purchased "as is, where is", and all sales are
>> final.