Outrageous Ebay Zip Zap Swiindles
 

$40 Mustang:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1778976666

$30+and counting Mustang:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1777967540

$70 Porsche:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1778857585

$25+and counting PT Cruiser:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1778028844

ROTFLMO!

some simple advice (take it for what it is worth):

- don't ever spend more for something on Ebay that you can buy for less at a local store, even if it means waiting...

- don't get caught up on bidding on an Ebay item unless you really want it and the item is unavailable anywhere else

- don't pay cash for any item

- always use a credit card, as you can dispute charges

- if you must pay by money order, pay using a U.S. Postal Service money order - you can then call in the Feds if you are defrauded

- pay for USPS insurance - the $1 is worth it

- always check a seller's ratings - stay away from any seller with negative ratings (OK, 1 or 2 out of 1,000 positives is probably all right)

- if you have a question, email the seller BEFORE bidding

- always, always, always carefully read the description of the item...

hope this helps...

All excellent points. here's more:

* On top of that... never ever ever ever bid on an item unless you will be there to see it close. And if you'll be there to see it close, why put your bid in 5 days before it's over? Let the fools bid early.

* Items that are "reserve not yet met" - let someone else try to bid past the reserve price. It's a psychological trick for sellers to use on unwary buyers. Just leave them alone and find an item with the reserve met or without a reserve.

* Look for shipping scammers. Anything more than $6 shipping and handling for priority mail is unreasonable in an item that weighs less than a pound like Tiny R/C Cars.

* Look at a lot of auctions for the same thing before you even think of bidding. Use "Watch this item" on ones that you think are going to be good (using the above criterea including some of lnx_authors excellent points, especially feedback of the seller and shipping cost)

* Jot down a price that you're willing to pay for the item you're looking at. you'll need it later.

* if it's still below your target price: about 1 minute before the auction ends, start bidding in small increments till you are the high bidder or till you hit your target price, whichever comes 1st. This is to test the waters.

* hit refresh till the timer says 15 seconds. Scroll to the bottom and type in your target price, hit "review bid" and then wait will there's about 5 seconds left (10 if you're on dialup) , and hit submit. I usually use a 1 minute countdown timer on my watch to help me with this.

The technique is called "Sniping", and you may have fallen victim to people who do this, and hated them, but it's simply the best way to get the best price on something. If you bid 30 minutes (or even 5 minutes) before the end, all you're going to do is incite a bid war and drive the price up. Getting your maximum bid in without time for a counter-bid is the key.

Since LOTS of people do this, it really comes down to who has a higher "target price". Don't let that affect your target price. Let the other people get hosed. There will always be more of these on fleabay.

This is the reason WHY I never buy stuff off ebay!:rolleyes:

No, this is called sniping the hard way. There are plenty of programs that will snipe automatically for you automatically. I use JBidWatcher from http://www.jbidwatcher.com (it's FREE) and have it set to bid 4 seconds before auction end. Snipes correctly every time and I don't have to be at my computer to use it.

If you're sniping by hand, you are doing it the hard way. there is also a webiste called www.esnipe.com - I used them for a long time before I found JBidWatcher and they work too. You have to pay them a really small fee though so it's not free.

Brian

it's not that hard to do it by hand, plus I use FreeBSD more than anything else. People stuck in a windows/macos world might be able to have their fun with programs.

I know people don't like to use eBay because of snipers, but the fact is that you can't get a good price on eBay without doing it or using buy it now.

BTW I've only bought 4 things on eBay. I'll agree that it's a dangerous place for buyers. It's heaven for sellers, and that's what I do there most of the time, but at least I'm fair (I don't scam people with obscene shipping or stupid products, and I am easy to deal with)

I hate ebay sellers like that and if I could meet them face to face I would punch em in the eye so hard they would be scared to sell anything on there ever again... The stupid IDIOT with the porsche for $70 takes the cake... I'd love to smash his hands soprano style, so he can't type anymore... AHHHH, I feel better now that I've gotten that off my chest.

silla

mind you, it's not the seller one should worry about - you're going to run across folks like that the rest of your life...

just may sure you don't become a BUYER like that...

chances are good that we've all bought something that we thought was a good deal, only to learn later on that the deal wasn't that great...

you'll learn about this when you start investing for retirement (do it NOW!)... the danger lurks when you combine perceived need with greed - TANSTAAFL!

[there ain't no such thing as a free lunch]

:-)

the Law of Ebay: Buy low, sell high!

the Law of Smart Ebay Buying: Don't buy if its more than you're willing to spend!

nacadoches is not to far from me you want me to take care of it......jk lol



well there will always be people dumb enough to buy it,i personally would wait right up till x-mas just like a furbby

It's not hard if you just happen to be in front of the computer at the right time. You can't snipe something by hand when you are not at the computer at the right time. Programs like JBidWatcher will do it for you whether you are at a computer or not.

JBidWatcher is written in Java and "is known to work cleanly under Linux, Windows, Solaris, and MacOSX from the same binary". So, give it a try! :)

Brian

thx for the tip on the bidwatcher. Like I said though, I'm mostly broke and I sell more than anything else. my first eBay transactions were purchases all the way back in mid-2000 (a data cable for my StarTAC fone to use it as a modem and 2 Ford Focus WRC Rally Car Diecast models - all of which I sniped) and the 4th thing I bought was a slide rule for a co-worker cuz he didn't have an eBay account and I sniped it good for him. I actually did that last week. I did teach my co-workers to snipe though. :)

I'll let my co-workers know. Somehow they all seem to have an endless supply of cash and think "oh goodness look at me I can buy like 5 used digicams and just pick the one I like most and sell the rest for more than I bought them for"

ROFL...

Oh well. All I sell on fleabay is network security software and the occasional used Ford Car Service manual CD-ROMS when I get them in from various dealerships that are disposing of them, and old hardware I don't want anymore.

I don't like being part of "epidemic" selling. I'm sure I could make a killing on eBay with zip zaps because we seem to have a LOT of the stuff coming in, and I'm in good with a lot of store managers. I could probably leverage a LOT of the kansas city zipzaps products my way and hold onto them till mid-november and unleash holy hell on eBay but that just isn't my style.

I noticed alot of bit clones and zip clones somebodies gonna be pi**ed when they get um.

I liek ebay inanity
 

Hey don't go dissing the insane people on ebay. I had bought 5 ff tuner kits and was able to sell four of them for $20, thusmaking me money and getting one for free out of the deal. Should have waiting longer though as prices may go up on ebay. haha :D

Just remember these two phrases:

Caveat emptor.

You can sell an item for as much as people are willing to pay, even if it's a ridiculous 8000 dollars for your used left sock.

The problem is not the people selling items for way more than they are worth. The problem is people who are paying for it. If there is no fraud or deception in the add and someone is willing to pay $70 for the zip, its thier own damn fault. Now, on the other hand, if the add stipulates something and you receive something different, then you have a legitimate gripe. Otherwise the old saying holds true: "A fool and his money are soon parted."

- i don't see a problem with selling a $20 item for $100 if the item is as advertised (although some people who do this consider themselves 'entreprenuers')

- i do see a problem with false and misleading subject lines on ebay such as "Zip Zap," when in fact the item is a cheap clone (not that a zz couldn't be considered a cheap clone, mind you)...

- this kind of detrius gums up searches with junk returns, and is the same kind of crapola one runs into when searching for antique or trade terms (such as "Flow Blue", etc.)

- i blame ebay for allowing this, and if i were a manufacturer with a trademarked name, i'd complain to ebay for allowing sellers to use the term to lure bidders, when in fact the item is not as advertised...