If you can sort out the morons/scumbags there are still a few decent people on ebay.My last purchase was from a great guy and it was an example of an ebayer going the extra mile to make the transaction a really nice experience.
I had the same with a printer, the guy wanted it for spares but only wanted to pay half of what I was asking. He then agreed the full price, I had it delivered on a pallet as it was a big thing and then he raises a dispute saying it was broken in other places etc. I can't prove it wasn't delivered damaged in transit and the haulage company were no help, so I ended up giving it to him for basically what he wanted to pay in the first place. I know he conned me me but I could never prove it. If it was that bad he should never have accepted delivery of it. Sadly eBay is full of these sorts. Maintaining 100% feedback as a seller seems almost impossible now and eBay don't really help either.
Yep Merv. Mine is on a classified ad with a best offer option. I've always done OK in the past. You get some seriously stupid offers for half what things are worth, but that comes with the territory of the anonymity of the internet. The guy assures me he's coming for the bike in a couple of weeks. If he doesn't, then the deposit goes towards re-advertising costs.
Shit as in Da-SHIT THAT CLUTCH IS DA-SHIT MAN (Taken from Oxford english dictionary) (honest ) Da-shit prounounced 'd-a' 'sh-it' Meaning cool as fuck Cool muther f@@@er
Good luck with the sale Rob.I know what you mean about stupid offers.In a moment of madness last year I put up for sale my lovely Ducati.The offers I had from some people were just stupid-I just ignored them as they were so insulting.
I would put payment and collection in 7 days with £200 dep paid up front .. Non returnable deducted from price paid on collection. Sorry if I sold a bike on eBay and they said can't pay for 3 weeks I'd tell them to F off !! You get a lot of chancers who don't have the money or in 3 weeks will say don't want it or not turn up. Then go through Paypal and get a reversal on their money you had or open a case on you or report you for not giving their money back I just sell stupid stuff but eBay is becoming buy now pay later I put payment in 3 days. All I get is " I don't get paid until 2 weeks time can I pay then?" Drives me mad . I tell him to shove it and relist it making sure you put re advertised due to time waster .
Well I have had 2 responses from my classified ad I placed yesterday for my bike,£6650 or near offer.One enquiry from an elderly collector up north - I am sending him more photos and info.Another response was an offer of £5111.This I will not even respond to as it is so ridiculous.
I get this regularly and always respond with "absolutely not" in the line somewhere and politely tell them why. I have stock phrases that I have saved and just cut and paste them. I have actually had a few people that then come back with an offer I would consider. You can filter out people on "make an offer" by putting a limit on the amount and anything under that sends an automatic reply saying it's not being entertained. It saves a lot of time and you don't then have to respond. I get the odd person that circumvents it by directly sending a message but then they get a stock reply, so either way it's no real effort. If you have ever used canned responses in Gmail then it's pretty much the same. It works for me and some people are genuine and just testing whether you are desperate to sell. They soon get shrugged off if they are not serious.
Ohh boy - reads my like recent experience . One point - I never use auctions , always used classifieds on Ebay but NEVER use the "Make Offer" option - the reason being that if you do I believe Mr Ebay takes a %age of your accepted offer....what a cheek! Classifieds of course cost a one off fee. Anyway making an offer anonymously and without viewing the bike or talking to owner seems a waste of time to me - it also seems to attract chancers and the "Ow low is yer best offer M8" crowd. Much better to ensure prospective buyers contact you easily by by leaving your mobile number - and if you want offers put "OVNO" in there anyway. ( It won't make a difference people will still make you an offer even on the best price) Ok my recent experience that reflects the stories above. Recent prospective buyer of my last bike... Left deposit and then phoned a day before collection to say his wife was not happy etc etc Some years ago buyer from IRELAND wins auction - comes over and tyrekicks and tries to get the price down...no way! In those days you could see buyers other bids ---- the guy had won FOUR auctions in London and was going round trying to get the price down on each! Obviously it only took one seller to cave in and he was happy! He didn't care that he upset at least four people - and maybe failed to show at most of them. This is why I will never use the auction format again...
Yep I get them too. If I'm interested in a large purchase on eBay (Bike, car) then I just call the seller anyway and have a conversation. In this day and age, it seems most people are incapable of doing this.
If someone does actually phone it is a lot easier to tell whether they are genuine or not. I reckon a lot of these less than genuine "punters" are concerned that they will be filtered out by the feel you might have for them. It's easy to mess people about by email\message because it's so impersonal and there is no real "connection" there. That's why so many people try scams, they think it's fairly victimless and they don't have to then face up to it or any real consequences. Look at all the scam mail that you can receive, challenge any one of them for ID and they will either disappear or send you some photoshopped rubbish that's easily spotted. They have no conscience at all, possibly an indictment of today's society.
I have to agree with the personal contact view.All serious enquirers have either left telephone numbers or have rung me directly.All have ended with a very good sale or purchase.You can soon tell by talking to someone,whether you are talking to a decent guy/wast of time.
I have another rule of thumb that seems to be true. "The first person to contact / make an offer you will be a timewaster" Maybe not 100% true for everybody but it has been in my experience of selling cars and bikes (privately I'm not a trader) on Ebay over the last ten years. Now I only used the Classified format things have got a lot better, Worst mistake was to use the Buy It Now button - also known as the Tyrekickers friend - Great for getting rid of all the other people that are genuinely interested (ie the competition) and having the poor sucker (sorry seller) to yourself... Add a few time wasting tactics like leaving it ages to contact seller after sale and arranging to pick up vehicle in a few weeks time and you have a seller so anxious to shift it he'll probably take £2000 off the price if you tell him the tyres are the wrong colour black. Also as said before an offer is worth 0% of nuffin if the buyer has not viewed the bike - so why invite them. Best option is to say (if you want to ) that you will accept a very near offer when they come to view this gets rid of the shysters because they won't view unless you accept their laughable offer). There are too many shyster "amateur dealers" out there who want to you to name your lowest price ( NEVER do that get them to say what they are offering - they won't of course:redface: ) Of course they want to pay £2000 for your 1098s that you are advertising for £8000 so that THEY can put it back on Ebay... for £8500! Having said that I would always use Ebay because of it's far greater spread, and because of it's greater spread it attracts more dross....
