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Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at eBay

nytimes.com

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Re: Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at eBay

#31

Post by yaegers »

steven2012 wrote: post #21

I use eBay frequently. I have only bought things, but I want to sell things, however I'm terrified of getting scammed. And eBay does nothing to ameliorate those fears. I got as close as taking pictures, writing a description, and stopped at the last step before putting my item for sale. Everything I've read suggests that it's simply not worth it to try to sell things because you have no protection from scammers. As a…

Same here. Although it's been a very long time since I bought on eBay as well.

Now that I make some serious money, I'd rather buy from Amazon. Not the marketplace either. Just plain old Amazon. Where I know I am dealing with a company should problems come up and not some kid in their parents basement.

As far as selling goes, I come to know that all the buyer has to do is complain to eBay they never got the goods. How do they proof that? As far as I know they don't. They just write a colorful mail to eBay claiming nothing arrived and they sent the money via paypal and just as easy, the payment gets reversed.

Re: Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at eBay

#32

Post by cm2187 »

DrScump wrote: post #28
cm2187 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree with all of your points plus the UI is massively inconsistent, not just in term of format, but different pages will give you different message count or items sold count, or one page will tell you you received a message and the message page will show nothing, it looks like something quickly hacked together in php in the old days. And I am not even talking about consistency between browser and iOS UI in term of i…

...revealing everyone’s max bid limit, then cancelling the bid It's deliberate and common. This is why I, as most sellers, do only fixed-price listings anymore.

That makes sense but in my case the auction is also a price discovery thing. In the end I sold for about twice what I thought I could get from these items.

Re: Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at eBay

#33

Post by orbitingpluto »

steven2012 wrote: post #21

I use eBay frequently. I have only bought things, but I want to sell things, however I'm terrified of getting scammed. And eBay does nothing to ameliorate those fears. I got as close as taking pictures, writing a description, and stopped at the last step before putting my item for sale. Everything I've read suggests that it's simply not worth it to try to sell things because you have no protection from scammers. As a…

In the last two years, I've found that about 1 in 4 of my purchases from China will never arrive. Obtaining refunds is an easy process but frustrating. Many of the sellers will have rankings that make them seem trustworthy only to disappear completely. And we can also lay blame on the western hemisphere. Canada and USA postal systems bear the brunt of the costs of "free" delivery. They will give these packages low priority. Packages will languish for months and when items finally arrive, it can be difficult to arrange payment with the seller after a refund.

Re: Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at eBay

#34

Post by bitL »

steven2012 wrote: post #21

I use eBay frequently. I have only bought things, but I want to sell things, however I'm terrified of getting scammed. And eBay does nothing to ameliorate those fears. I got as close as taking pictures, writing a description, and stopped at the last step before putting my item for sale. Everything I've read suggests that it's simply not worth it to try to sell things because you have no protection from scammers. As a…

I've sold quite a few older "premium" things (>$1000) over eBay and didn't have any issues so far. Things I did no longer need like older computers, GPUs, drones, cameras, synths etc. I however always took photos of the package in the final stages of wrapping up, showing what exactly I shipped (together with serial numbers if available), including when it was ready for shipping in case anything scam-like arose. Maybe the price level guaranteed nobody wanted to commit that much money for scam?

Re: Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at eBay

#35

Post by DrScump »

Jaruzel wrote: post #29
steven2012 wrote: post #21

I use eBay frequently. I have only bought things, but I want to sell things, however I'm terrified of getting scammed. And eBay does nothing to ameliorate those fears. I got as close as taking pictures, writing a description, and stopped at the last step before putting my item for sale. Everything I've read suggests that it's simply not worth it to try to sell things because you have no protection from scammers. As a…

This is anecdotal, because it's only my experience from being a long time eBay user (buying and selling). 1 Buying on ebay is nice and safe because eBay protects the buyer and will almost always rule in the buyers favour. 2. Selling on eBay is fraught with problems: The Seller is not protected from scams at all. It's easy for a buyer to buy something, and they can flag to eBay that their account was compromised. Beca…

  Because eBay own PayPal
Not anymore.

Re: Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at eBay

#36

Post by DrScump »

cm2187 wrote: post #32
DrScump wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...revealing everyone’s max bid limit, then cancelling the bid It's deliberate and common. This is why I, as most sellers, do only fixed-price listings anymore.

That makes sense but in my case the auction is also a price discovery thing. In the end I sold for about twice what I thought I could get from these items.

You can list for a high-end price and use the "best offer" feature to capture lower offers.

Re: Want to Understand What Ails the Modern Internet? Look at eBay

#38

Post by DrScump »

thisisit wrote: post #3
6nf wrote: post #2

I think I missed the point because I don't understand what this article is trying to say exactly.

The article is a meandering and muddles it point but here's the paragraph where the actual point is made: In 2001, an eBay user might have given an eBay seller a low rating for an unsatisfactory packaging job; in 2018, an Uber driver might be dinged if a rider doesn’t like his personality or choice of music. Facebook recently began ranking publishers by trustworthiness, based on feedback from users. Upon discovering…

  The article is a meandering and muddles
I agree... so I was surprised to read at the bottom: "John Herrman is a technology reporter for The Times."
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