E-Bay

[Cooldad]

'Fraid I'm new to E-Bay, and haven't even got an E-Bay ID. Nonetheless, my son Richard (CoolSon) does have an ID and recently successfully bid for some Impreza Classic white / red rear light clusters for me. In the end, they would have cost me about £180 with p&p and the costs of wiring the money to Canada where the vendor lived. That seemed a good deal.

However, he got difficult about how to get the money to him, only accepting an International Money Order (which my bank had never heard of. Is that Western Union? Dunno!). He had no PayPal facility and wouldn't give his bank details so I could transfer the money directly. In the end, he would only accept a MoneyGram. There was no way I was going to wire cash to this bloke as there would be no come back should he not have sent the stuff. So, unfortunately, I've lost out. Anyone had any experience of this? How trustworthy is E-Bay? Excuse my lack of knowledge!

[phil]

There never seems to be middle ground on this one

either it is "full of cr*p and sold by T*****rs"

or its the "best thing since sliced bread and I bagged a real bargain"

I tried it once and got so fed up with trying to sort the money out I gave up

So I think I agree with you Graham [shock Horror ]

[Cooldad]

Not so much of the "shock horror", Phil. I don't hold grudges about anything and, before THE INCIDENT, I don't think I disagreed with anyone about anything......................but then again...................there were the synthetic oil posts.

Oh, shut up, Graham

[Wild Mark]

I have been buying stuff off ebay for the last 4 years, and it can be risky if you dont know what your doing.

The first rule....buy from the UK, there might not be the same choice, but you dont have to wait weeks for delivery and you dont have to pay import duty, I bought two CK suits recently for $468 from the States, the same suits over here were £600 each!!!, it took three weeks and when the suits arrived the import tax was another £100, still a great deal, but not as good as I thought it would be. I bought a snooper last Friday, paid for it in the morning via paypal and it was delivered Sat morning, great seller.

The second rule, check out the seller, Make sure he has a high rating and check the feedback responses, if he has something like 1,500 transactions and 25 negative feedbacks, its no big deal, its a very small percentage, you've heard the saying...."you cant please all the people all the time." also read what they had to say, it might be becuase the product was great, but they had to wait a long time for delivery....might not have been the sellers fault, and you know there are a lot of idiots around.

The third thing, even if the seller has a high rating, it might be for small value items, check out what her sold or bought, the a typical way to rip people off on ebay is to buy or sell cheap items ie £1.50 over a couple of months, the thief might have 10-20 accounts going at the same time, build up there cred then put a fraudulant high value item for sale, sell it and pocket the cash...the item never existed.

The best people to deal with are high ratings, have their own web site that they list on the same page and have been operating for a while, best of all, use your gut feeling.

Hope this helps, if you need more info or advise, email me... mwild@oedigital.com

Mark

[CustomScoobyIOM]

Exactly what Wild Mark said. I bought a boost controller from Japan for £120! Then £15 for 5 day delivery. Spot on!

NEVER do Western Union Moneygram, I had that problem and got done.... A$$hole........

Any parts you want Graham let me know. I have loads of suppliers!

[Cooldad]

Phil / Mark,

Many thanks for your advice / input. I'm sort of glad I didn't go ahead with the deal, there was something odd about the whole thing, which is why I walked back on it. Forgot about the import duty aspect too, that's interesting, and something I would have overlooked in pricing the whole deal up!

Yeah, Custom Scooby, would be interested in getting some white / red rear light lenses / units for my MY99. Having gone crystal clear on the front / sides, I'd like to "de-orange" the whole car!! About 250 notes seems to be the best price. I was going to make them part of a big upgrade package on my car next year, but if I can get a good price now, that would be a touch, thanks.

[phil]

Import Duty Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

got caught on this before ordered some bargain Sti Fog light covers from Australia

Postage was not included but would be sent by DHL

I assumed [ yes I know Ass & Me ] that being very light it would not cost a great deal

My mistake I paid £35 for that and a further £28 in Import duties and it took 3 weeks to get here

Lesson learnt

[ZaN-the-Witch]

Hi Graham,

I do a lot of selling on e-bay & our Banks are a nightmare with money orders.

I must say most sellers will accept other means of payment, you must have been unlucky with that one. The big problem with e-bay is they are never interested if you have been ripped off by a seller. They are very slow to suspend sellers - but quick to suspend buyers.

Just my 2 Cents worth.

ZaN

[Wild Mark]

Phil, the moral of the story is - buy from this country, like I said there is not as much choice, but it does away with the waiting and import tax.

Deal only with a reputable selling, unless its not a high value, then its sometimes worth the risk, but always pay by PAYPAL, that way there is a paper trail if things go tit's-up.

Mark

PS 99% of the people on ebay are legit, its the 1% spoiling, what is a great forum!

[CustomScoobyIOM]

CoolDad - Mail me! jon.stokes@mea.gov.im as I can various lenses for the whole car. You don't want the Lexus ones do you? Just de-oranged!

[p.j.]

Hi custom scooby,

Hope you don't mind me jumping in here but i would be interested in some de-oranged rear lights if youve found somewhere to get them at a good price. I have an sti but the lights are not clear, i thought all sti's had clear or is that on later model's only?

PJ

[CustomScoobyIOM]

Course not!! Email me and I will get you some prices. Ta ta!