The Energon Pub

My issue right now is deciding whether to take the plunge on a Black Arcee from Japan or not. It's fairly pricey, but I just got birthday money, so that's not a concern. My real concern is whether this will end up coming to the U.S. just before the Animated line starts coming out or not. While I can afford to get it off ebay, I'd hate to get it and then find out I could have gotten it for $10 in a few months.

nilocomic wrote:My issue right now is deciding whether to take the plunge on a Black Arcee from Japan or not. It's fairly pricey, but I just got birthday money, so that's not a concern. My real concern is whether this will end up coming to the U.S. just before the Animated line starts coming out or not. While I can afford to get it off ebay, I'd hate to get it and then find out I could have gotten it for $10 in a few months.

I would wait if you can find out if it comes to the U.S. When evac first came out i went crazy to buy him on line then i went to the store a month later and he was there for 20 bucks less then what i paid for him. First find out then make your choice.

Ive noticed like others in this thread over the last little bit the scam with crooked sellers on Ebay now seems to be WAY over inflated shipping charges.

Sowndwave76 wrote:

Canned Pasta wrote:I actually found a good seller on eBay... I bought a First Strike Optimus Prime from him for the normal $19.99 price.

And of course, every now and then you get lucky and find people selling their child's old toys and don't really know what it is they have so you get it at extremely cheap prices. Sometimes I actually feel bad that the people are getting ripped off, but then I think about how I got an original Blaster (with working tape deck) for $10 and I don't feel so bad for them anymore. lol

Just curious, what was the shipping charge for that Prime figure?

IIRC, $7 and I got it in 3 days. With gas being $4 a gallon here, and the fact that none of the local stores had him, I figured it was decent.

Longarm77 wrote:

Megatron-Ron wrote:Im telling you that this is true. Ebay dosent even respond to my emails. I dont care if it is 200 bucks or 2 bucks, Its my money and i want the damm money back. What do you mean my post is shady. Why the hell would i make this up. Think what you want but i WILL get my money back. Ebay and paypal is a joke and i got screwed bottom line.
Oh yeah and one more thing, It helps when my uncle is a lawyer and will go after ebay for me. He can make it happen. If not then oh well. But its my money and i want it back.

In your defense megatron-ron I believe you. I also had the same problem with ebay. I bought something with paypal and the seller took the money and ran. I contacted ebay and they never answered my emails eather. Paypal never refunded my money and so i also scared them with a lawyer. They got scared and refunded my money with no questions asked. So people who are doubting that a lawyer would not take on a case for 200 dollars dont know what there talking about. They love going after companys that are a big name. Tell me why ebay never answered my emails and when they got a letter from a lawyers office all of a sudden i get a check in the mail from ebay, And the amount was for less then megatron-rons amount of money. I got screwed 150 dollars.

If you live in or near Santa Clara, California than taking PayPal (not eBay) to court may be an option. In your ToS you agreed to have any litagations settled in Santa Clara, CA. You'd spend more money in travel and legal expenses than the $200 is worth and ebay and PayPal know this.

I don't mean to sound like I don't believe you have been ripped off by an eBay seller. It has happened to me too. I know you are angry and venting. I understand the urge to huff and puff and rant and rage against the conglormate eBay (after all, most movies, novels and video games reinforce the message that large companies are bad guys). The truth is, though, your focus should be on the seller - not eBay. If you get ripped off responding to a classified ad, do you sue the newspaper? No.

The best you can do is go after the seller. If you have the name and address you can call in a police report in his/her hometown.

Be smart about who you buy from. Any a$$ and his pet monkey can start an ebay account. If you use PayPal, back up your payment with a credit card (Amex is the best).

Want to know more? Check out http://www.paypalsucks.com

Lapse Of Reason wrote: I understand the urge to huff and puff and rant and rage against the conglormate eBay (after all, most movies, novels and video games reinforce the message that large companies are bad guys).

I dunno, ebay provide a decent service, I like the way it's set up and I've never had any problem with them, but it kind of bothers me that they are really the only player in the market, and they also own Paypal.

It's a lot of power, and if, for some reason you don't like the way they do business, you don't really have anywhere to turn. They may not be evil or bad guys, but they're the only game in town.

Outrider2000 wrote:Ive noticed like others in this thread over the last little bit the scam with crooked sellers on Ebay now seems to be WAY over inflated shipping charges.

It's an old scam really. It's how they avoid E-Bay's "buy it now" fees. The higher the BIN the higher the fee e-bay charges. By keeping the BIN low they don't pay much in the way of e-bay fees but make up the cost of what they're selling through inflated shipping charges.

Just avoid people like that.

Burn wrote:It's an old scam really. It's how they avoid E-Bay's "buy it now" fees. The higher the BIN the higher the fee e-bay charges. By keeping the BIN low they don't pay much in the way of e-bay fees but make up the cost of what they're selling through inflated shipping charges.

Just avoid people like that.

Or report the item for excessive shipping... What I don't know is what's "reasonable" for items being shipping from outside the country. I know a lot of those charge 25 bucks and higher... Is that excessive or to be expected?

NotEnoughKibble wrote:

Burn wrote:It's an old scam really. It's how they avoid E-Bay's "buy it now" fees. The higher the BIN the higher the fee e-bay charges. By keeping the BIN low they don't pay much in the way of e-bay fees but make up the cost of what they're selling through inflated shipping charges.

Just avoid people like that.

Or report the item for excessive shipping... What I don't know is what's "reasonable" for items being shipping from outside the country. I know a lot of those charge 25 bucks and higher... Is that excessive or to be expected?

Depending how big th order it is expected to be around $30 shipping for medium-large items. Smaller items in the teens. Over paying for shipping is $40 and up...unless it's Fort Max, or something very large and heavy.

I've shipped a medium sized padded envelope to the Netherlands , from Wisconsin, weighing a couple ounces for under $1.00. I can't believe
the shipping cost from some of these sellers is truly warranted.
I don't buy from them. As stated before for the most part
it is the sellers at blame, not ebay. Ebay has recently increased their fees a considerable % though and I think they ARE overinflated.
In that respect they are overpriced.

NotEnoughKibble wrote:

Burn wrote:It's an old scam really. It's how they avoid E-Bay's "buy it now" fees. The higher the BIN the higher the fee e-bay charges. By keeping the BIN low they don't pay much in the way of e-bay fees but make up the cost of what they're selling through inflated shipping charges.

Just avoid people like that.

Or report the item for excessive shipping... What I don't know is what's "reasonable" for items being shipping from outside the country. I know a lot of those charge 25 bucks and higher... Is that excessive or to be expected?

General rule of thumb - BIN low / Shipping displayed in the auction excessive - avoid it.

It is tough buying internationally though as you don't know another country's postage rates and you're bound to come across a few people who like to add a "handling charge". Which is where they add on a few dollars for the effort of walking their arse and the box down to the post office for you. Not much you can do to avoid that unless you ask for a postage quote before the end of the auction and then maybe pop over here and ask if it's reasonable.

Burn wrote:

NotEnoughKibble wrote:

Burn wrote:It's an old scam really. It's how they avoid E-Bay's "buy it now" fees. The higher the BIN the higher the fee e-bay charges. By keeping the BIN low they don't pay much in the way of e-bay fees but make up the cost of what they're selling through inflated shipping charges.

Just avoid people like that.

Or report the item for excessive shipping... What I don't know is what's "reasonable" for items being shipping from outside the country. I know a lot of those charge 25 bucks and higher... Is that excessive or to be expected?

General rule of thumb - BIN low / Shipping displayed in the auction excessive - avoid it.

It is tough buying internationally though as you don't know another country's postage rates and you're bound to come across a few people who like to add a "handling charge". Which is where they add on a few dollars for the effort of walking their arse and the box down to the post office for you. Not much you can do to avoid that unless you ask for a postage quote before the end of the auction and then maybe pop over here and ask if it's reasonable.

Tha average eBay charge is about 10% of the auction price in total. With Paypal, the cut is about 15%. Add packaging costs too (bubble wrap and boxes are not cheap). Handling is all these things plus the time at the post office. If you want people to work for you, you gotta pay them. I support handling charges when it is around 15% of the item price.

Lapse Of Reason wrote:If something is overpriced on eBay, speak with the voice that counts - your money. Don't like the price? Don't buy it.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with an eBay seller bidding and winning something, then trying to resell it for twice as much. It sounds like a pretty sad way to make a living, but whatever. If someone likes the price they will buy it. That business is between the buyer and seller and it won't cost me a cent because if the price is too high nothing is forcing me to buy it.

I know this has been beaten to death, but I agree 100%. If you don't like the price then don't buy it. Shop somewhere else.

I too got ripped off on eBay by someone who has stolen a honest seller's account and took advantage of me.

What I don't get about the case of this guy who lost $200 is how PayPal did not cover him.

It is fairly simple. If PayPal contact the seller and the seller never responds, they close the claim in your favour.

If the seller really did run with his money, how come PayPal did not fully refund him???

I mean, all I had to do was escalate my dispute to a claim and wait for a few days. The seller didn't respond (obivously because he had his account hijacked) and PayPal refunded me fully.

What really happened to you? Did the seller respond the claim and PayPal asked you for any proof and you didn't provide it or did you lose the deadlines???

There's something strange in your case. PayPal could never close the claim in the seller's favour if he did not contacted PayPal at all in the first place.

Just food for thought.

hehe, if you want expensive, check out the $8500 Fort Max on ebay atm hehe

Daniel Gallagher wrote:I too got ripped off on eBay by someone who has stolen a honest seller's account and took advantage of me.

What I don't get about the case of this guy who lost $200 is how PayPal did not cover him.

It is fairly simple. If PayPal contact the seller and the seller never responds, they close the claim in your favour.

If the seller really did run with his money, how come PayPal did not fully refund him???

I mean, all I had to do was escalate my dispute to a claim and wait for a few days. The seller didn't respond (obivously because he had his account hijacked) and PayPal refunded me fully.

What really happened to you? Did the seller respond the claim and PayPal asked you for any proof and you didn't provide it or did you lose the deadlines???

There's something strange in your case. PayPal could never close the claim in the seller's favour if he did not contacted PayPal at all in the first place.

Just food for thought.

PayPal's and eBay's buyer protection is very deceitful. You think you are covered as a buyer, but you are not. Say PayPal decided in your favor. They then have to be able to get the money from the seller. If they can't, PayPal sends you a message that basically says we were unable to collect the money from the seller's account. We recommend contacting the seller to have them send you a refund.

In the fine print, PayPal says they will make every effort to collect money on your behalf but they do not guarantee that they can or will.

This has happened to me twice. That is why I always fund with a credit card. It is a buyer's last recourse.

Lapse Of Reason wrote:PayPal's and eBay's buyer protection is very deceitful. You think you are covered as a buyer, but you are not. Say PayPal decided in your favor. They then have to be able to get the money from the seller. If they can't, PayPal sends you a message that basically says we were unable to collect the money from the seller's account. We recommend contacting the seller to have them send you a refund.

In the fine print, PayPal says they will make every effort to collect money on your behalf but they do not guarantee that they can or will.

This has happened to me twice. That is why I always fund with a credit card. It is a buyer's last recourse.

Very good to know...thanks!

Okay, let me weigh in a bit on this subject.

Here's the thing about buying from an online auction site: items are worth ONLY what people are willing to pay for them. It doesn't matter if an item goes for $10 at Wal-Mart; if it is rare, or in demand, people will be willing to pay more.

Conversely, if no one wants an item, it doesn't matter if the retail price is $10, the most people will be willing to pay might be $3.

The reason people are putting the prices up on Transformers tends to be due to a new system. They have a setup for the people who sell in "stores " (where an item stays on "auction" for a month rather than a week), and the seller puts this icon on their auction:

Buy it now OR Best Offer.

The key is the second part of that phrase. OR Best offer. Yes, they're going to put the price up, because they hope that you will think its worth that much. If they're charging $120 for a $60 item, they hope that you'll "offer" them $90. But if someone only offers them $60, they're still doing OK.

I have sold on ebay for a decent amount of time. And let me tell ya, there are LOTS of fees involved. You have ebay fees to deal with, paypal fees to deal with, and the post office is CONSTANTLY increasing the cost of shipping.

Here are some of my words of advice:

If buying, use paypal for protection and look for sellers with high feedback. If there's a problem, don't waste your time contacting ebay, file a claim with paypal. It is up to the seller to prove that the item was delivered.

If selling, though, here's the catch. If you are a seller, you MUST, MUST, MUST use some sort of delivery confirmation OR tracking when you ship. If you can't prove that the item got there, then paypal will side with the buyer. This isn't so bad with state to state sales, but a lot of buyers will NOT want to pay for tracking on INTERNATIONAL sales. They'll say the shipping is too much, and can't you just ship it the cheap way?

The answer: no. If they're using paypal, you gotta whip out that super duper expensive shipping. As a seller, I have been scammed out of an e-hobby black Megatron ($280), a set of G2 Dinobots ($180), and a few other items. Even though I proved I had shipped it, I could not prove that it "got there," and so the money was given to the buyer.

What I recommend for buying transformers is to buy in bulk. Look for items that are "lots." Usually you will find what you're looking for cheaper than if it is being sold individual. You can then, if you like, turn around and sell the extra figures you got and make most of your money back.

Also with transformers being as popular as they are right now of course prices are going to be inflated, but if you really want a older figure then your just going to have to suck it up and buy it or hope it gets released in takara encore series of figures.

hehe, its amazing the things you can find on ebay, i had the misb fort max for $8500, now theres a misb g1 springer for $1500 lol

I've won a few things off Ebay for real cheap, it's just the overpriced shipping on them that ticks me off sometimes. :\ I stick with the 98-100% positive Feedback sellers too, to make sure I don't get ripped off as easily.

How is e-bay overpriced? I got Overlord mint and complete for $68, Sky Garry MIB for $98, and MIB Road Ceasar for $125 on e-bay.

GetterDragun wrote:How is e-bay overpriced? I got Overlord mint and complete for $68, Sky Garry MIB for $98, and MIB Road Ceasar for $125 on e-bay.

Those are INSANE prices... insanely good...

I really don't think ebay is overpriced. Everything i've bought i've paid what i thought to be a good or great price. I just bought a G1 mib and comp. Hoist for $50 and i thought that was great! Just because you may not be willing to pay what someone else is does'nt mean it's overpriced it just means you lost. And as far as a buy it now price or starting bid price if it's too much don't buy it! Wait for another one to show up on ebay they always do!

GetterDragun wrote:How is e-bay overpriced? I got Overlord mint and complete for $68, Sky Garry MIB for $98, and MIB Road Ceasar for $125 on e-bay.

You win.