Excuse me if this has been done before - couldn't find it on a search.

Ebay purchases, or sales.

What is your overall feeling? Get what you paid for? Get stiffed on a buy? Products as advertised?

I've bought & sold things, and for the most parts evrything went as plan. Not all, but close.

Bought things that looked OK, but were trash when I got them. OK, the chances you take based on crappy photos. Rare, but it has happened.

What's the general consensus?

There has been alot of eBay bashing, but I think it's a great source of products. I've learned not to get into bidding wars, and the products I've won have been exactly as advertised. On items I'm selling, I am honest about quality and realistic about what I want to get.

T.C.

I got royaly fucked on a car purchase in 2000. Slight rust on the fenders my ass. Car was barely holding together.

But the next car I bought was a ITB race car and I got it and the trailer for $3000 raced it a year then sold it for the same amount.



Whoever bid $400 in the 10k rpm 911 tach a couple of days ago. Dam YOU!!!

Maybe I am just unlucky but the only thing I have won on Evilbay that was

as it was advertised was my console. The rest was crap or not the part shown.

Any problem I've had has been fixed better than I expected. Recently a lady sent me the wrong item, I sent it back, and she refunded ALL of the shipping charges, both ways, and sent a new one for free.
I read the ads really carefully and only buy from people with 98% or better ratings, and I don't buy from Florida. I've always had a problem with Florida people not shipping very soon after the auction ends.

I've done at least 500 ebay transactions (both selling and buying). I haven't been ripped off a single time. I've had a small handful of slight disappointments. Over the long run though I've saved tens thousands of dollars by buying stuff on ebay.

You also have to use some judgement when buying on ebay. I won't buy from a low feedback seller and I look at seller feedback closely. I tend to buy stuff that I know can be successfully shipped without damage. One has to use common sense and stay away from items where the disappointment factor is high. I wouldn't buy a car sight unseen and thus I wouldn't buy one on ebay either unless I could see it or drive it ahead of time. Same with an engine - I wouldn't buy a used engine I didn't see run and get leakdown/compression tests done on (unless I was paying core prices).

Only once, I bought an MPS that was a POS. Notified the seller that he was selling nothing but junk.

with much of the above. I do read the ads and feedback very carefully. I think I've saved a lot of money and have had almost all good experiences.

There are scams though. If you feel leery about an auctin for any reason, your instincts are probably right. I also have had good luck buying everything with Amex. I got stiffed on 2 separate transactions on small items and just called them(paypal doesn't like when you do this for some reason, by the way, not that I'm particularly concerned with hurting their feelings). Amex told me not to pay that part of the bill and they would take care of it...and they did. Charges for items were reversed on my next bill both times.

The biggest item I've bought is probably around $400 total...which is certainly not just pocket change for me but wouldn't keep me from feeding my family if I got hosed. I don't think I'd buy a car without seeing it first, although I look all the time.

You are the one who replaced the headlight motors on your car to get a better "tiger stripe" right? And your opening post is saying you have been disappointed with the cosmetic appearance of a couple items you bought on ebay.

I've gotten a several things on ebay. Practically stole a couple of items. Paid to much for a few. So far, knock on wood, all my purchase have went well. My wife was getting me something (Cant remember what) for the 14 last year for Christmas. When the price got "too high" she asked me what I thought. I told her I'd prefer a brand new one from Pelican at half the price.

I think deals are getting harder to come by. E-bay requires due dilligence. Buying 914 parts it seems like alot of Sellers actually have no clue what they have really got. Some told them it was off a 914, Im not sure what year I think it was a 73.

Out of my hundreds of transactions and my 4 or 5 ebay disappointments, three actually involved 914 parts. One was a center console that was advertised as being in good condition and while it didn't have any seem splits it had at least 10 small cigarette burns. That was a total turn off to me. The pictures looked good because you can't seem small imperfections in black vinyl in a small digital pic. The other was some fuel injection parts that were pretty cheap and turned out to be rusty pieces of shit that weren't worth the shipping cost. The last was a 914 engine grill that got bent in shipping because the seller put it in a long skinny box. So less than $100 in problems and I've saved tens of thousands of dollars.

Here's an example of a huge savings. I installed a new wireless lan at work this summer. It's an all proxim wlan with enterprise class hardware. The access points normally costs $500/each. I bought 20 on ebay for an average price of $150/each. I also found $500 POE switches for $50. I saved my employer $8,000 alone just on that project and I got the 8000 Skymiles or my trouble. I'm going to buy a Dell rack mount server this week. It will be $2K less than Dell sells the same thing for - warranty included.

In general you'll do better with commodity items on ebay where condition isn't much of an issue. I've mostly stopped buying 914 parts on ebay unless they are new because of the condition issues.

I have had about 400 transactions and only been disappointed 3 times. Like they say buyer beware!

Got stiffed by a doctor from California who sold me some Western rims with alot of curb rash. He posted them as excellent. Other than that, its been cool. Some things, ya have to be able to touch and look at in person.

I went to see a 914 last fall that was on ebay. Needless to say, I didn't get it. The test drive proved to be the biggest cloud of smoke I have ever seen.

for a long time i had no problems with ebay.now it seems i am either getting crap,no parts or like today, door panel minus the pull and storage box. tho they were all listed in the sale.
i think ebay's becoming a haven for poor sales!

Thanks guys & gals. I find your comments very interesting. Most of the stuff I've gotten through Ebay (almost all of it actually) from 914 people has been as advertised. Yeah, some of it was less-than-wholesome, but the prices were right & I love trying to restore bits & pieces. Never bought anything higher than $50, because I can afford to lose that if it turns out to be trash.

I've also "stolen" some parts because timing was right & there just wasn't any interest - I love those days!

My question was just one of general interest. No bitches or complaints. Though, except in a really rare instance, I'd NEVER bid on a complete car (maybe a parts car).

I get a continual kick out of Ebay. Constantly amazed at the number of people who advertise 914 stuff, yet have absolutely no idea. These seem to be the guys with the most absurd opening bids. Also the guys who get no bids by the end of the auction & put it right back for auction. Questioned many of them - most cannot respond, or won't because they know they are scammers.

All in all - good entetainment & sometimes a bargain, or just something you need, regardless of bargain.

I really prefer the "Buy Now" prices.

I've only made about 30 transactions, most buying, a few selling. Lots of good stuff out there and lots of junk.

Lots of merchandise out there looks like a good price only to have the shipping be the real moneymaker. Example: my daughter buys a new cell phone for $80 when going rate is $200. Shipping and insurance was $60 for a total of $140. Better than the MSRP of $200 but misleading at $80. Oh yeah, it was a new phone destined for Turkey as the instructions and words on the phone were in Turkish and the ac plug was European style with a US adapter included.

The best deal I got was for the 5-lug suspension that I picked up on Long Island, NY. Guy listed it as "pick-up only" so I knew that would cut the potential market down. I waited til 1 minute to make my first bid. I bid a max price of $750 to cover for anyone else sniping like I was doing. I was the only bidder for $450.

I get real nervous when the price I owe someone exceeds $100. For the $450 suspension, I picked up the parts and paid the guy in cash.

Spoke

I have been an Evilbayer since Dec 99. I am coming up on close to 1000 tranactions with 100 % feedback. I too must agree that some buys are just okay but in most cases everything is on the up and up. The bargins have seemed to disappeared but they still show up from time to time.

What Ebay has done for us buying and selling parts is keep the cost down. In the past you could only read the ad in a magazine and hope that the parts were still there when you called. With Ebay everything is right before you.

for a very long time i had ver good luck with my purchases. starting withthis 914 it seems to have gotten worse.
the 'teener' wasn't discribed as properly as it could have been given the condition. not sure if i was misled,or the PO just didn't know his product.
since then, i have been stiffed by a person in California for a engine cover tray,poor delivery for intake boots (here in florida),and the last ,bought a right door panel and pull/pocket assembly. i got the door panel only no pull and pocket pieces.the seeler isn't anwering emails so i guess i'll be contesting this sale !

personally i am getting disillusioned about ebay sales.

robin

I bought my nearly perfect 914 on ebay. Bought my 911 E motor and carbs on ebay. Wheels and more. I have been fortunate as I have always seemed to get more than I paid for.

Me too. All of my transactions have been great, and I have bought a 914 off ebay (though I went to see it since it was a high $$ item). I also got a great deal on some real SSI HE's which are nearly perfect (and I paid less than 1/3 what I see them advertised for around here).

I've had some good deals on ebay, but also some (5) rip offs, when I put in the claim forms for a refund, ebay/paypal screwed them up. I even called them on the phone twice, 45 minute hold on a toll call each time, they still couldn't get my email right. So I canceled all my ebay/paypal accounts.

I'm thinking about opening a new account with ebay, but I refuse to deal with those paypal jerks. I also refuse to deal with any seller who doesn't offer shipping insurance, 2 of the ripoffs, lost in mail? Or was it ever shipped. The 2 worst sellers were Part Werks of Chicago, filed BBB report on them and some other jerk who I later found out was tossed off the 914club website, real low scumbag, not Stromberg, This guys out of Texas, Paul something, iirc.

It's definitly a buyer beware type of deal, I've recently seen a couple of news reports on thieves using ebay to fence stolen property. Just what I need a, "recieving stolen property", charge.

Good Luck but be careful, I certainly will be.

Later, Don

Latest deal. $500 retail 12 port power over ethernet switch for $45 shipped.