ebay or not to ebay?

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Posted By: scott

i've done alot of selling and buying on ebay in the past...mainly books on the revolutionary war..without a problem.but as per my previous post,i'm looking to get back in the hobby.i purchased t-cards 15 years ago on phone auctions(no ebay then)with reputable dealers again no problems.

with the advent of so many scams on ebay and doubts of authenticity(sp.)of ebay cards,would it be safer to do auctions through well known dealers?it seems even on ebay at times dealers with many positives may at times place questionable wares on auction.

with ebay people can take your $ and there's little you can do.i know there's far more good sellers then bad ,and many of you sell on ebay yourselves .for myself who donot have the experience ,advice?

as for my own collecting due to cost restraints i'll probably stick to mid and in some rarities low grade cards so its tougher to scam.

opininions on the subject.

thanks again,
scott

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Posted By: Andrew Parks

Although feedback is not a cure-all for scams - for the most part I found you can trust it. I have 437 positives and another 200 repeated positive feedbacks - so over 600 deals...I was scammed only once. It was for $18 on three Sean Casey rookie cards (back when I was insane).

Just stick with the sellers with real good feedback and you'll most likely be fine.

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Posted By: dennis

sellers on ebay are 99% wonderful. stay away from private auctions and sellers who cannot tell you if a card is real or not.if the seller expresses a lack of knowledge or authenticity of a card being real or not,its simple logic..its not real!there is no reason why, not to buy cards on ebay. prices are much lower than from dealers or auction houses/card shows.

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Posted By: Texas Ted

While there are a small number of scammers out there, with a few self imposed rules you can have a good experience on ebay. Stick to the dealers that have the good feedback. Everybody will run into a jerk and get a negative once in awhile, but I try to see what it was for and most importantly look at any response the seller gave after getting the negative. Attitude is everything. Most dealers will try to work out an issue before it reaches the need for negatives. I know I would rather have a happy returning customer than somebody getting stuck with a card they don't like.

While everybody has to start with zero feedback, watch for the folks with low feedback who are all of a sudden selling some rare card that they got from Grandpa. They obviouly don't know what they are doing or what they have so why should you be the one to take a chance on it? While you may miss the rare deal in one of a hundred chances, is it really worth the risk? If it seems to good to be true, it almost always is. I also look to see if sellers have gotten their feedback from buying or selling, what they are buying or selling (videos and CDs only?), and even the feedback of the people who have been their customers. If their feedbacks are coming from lots of folks with less than 10 feedbacks of their own, that differs from several feedback from people with 500 or more. Experienced buyers will flock to the good dealers.

Don't be afraid to ask the seller lots of questions and ask for more scans. Their willingness to work with you, their communications and candid answers will tell you a lot. I would not do this a lot for $5 cards, but if you are spending some high dollars take your time to be informed.

Find somebody you trust who has more experience, and bounce an auction off them for an opinion. Asking on the board may bring more attention to the item (translated as competing bids) than you wish, but a couple of buddies will help.

I got taken to the cleaners once on ebay for a sizable amount. But I learned a lot from it, and due to the lesson have profited greatly from the experience.

Ted
He who so shall, so shall he who!

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I've done nearly 1,000 transactions on ebay with only a handful of bad ones and only two I can think of where the seller outright stole my money (one never sent the cheap photo I purchased and was NARU's shortly thereafter, and there is that stinking crook who sold me two fake OJs). If you are really worried, transact only with regular posters here, vendors linked to this board, and nationally known dealers who use ebay. And ASK US; as you can see, we are not bashful about stating our opinions of dealers and sellers.

When you venture into uncharted waters, set a price where you are comfortable taking the risk and above that level deal only with vendors who will accept Paypal AND (critical point) pay by credit card not bank transfer. If someone is stupid enough to screw you on a deal charged that way, dispute the charge. Not only will you prevail if you were defrauded, Paypal will drop the hammer on the seller to boot. Of course, Paypal's jack-booted financial thuggery is so indiscriminate that a lot of good sellers are defrauded by unscrupulous buyers (there are some old strings on this topic so please don't hijack the thread with paypal bashes; that is not my intent in making the comment), but as a buyer that isn't your concern.