The Energon Pub

I've recently done some shopping on Ebay and Yahoo Auctions and was wondering about your view on the following:

1. If you see a deal that seems really good, and you try e-mailing the seller, and get zero reply from him, would you still take the risk and just go ahead and bid? I recently saw an MP-04 that looked like a bargain, messaged the seller to confirm if it was MISB as opposed to just MIB, and had no reply. Another had an exorbitant shipping to Singapore price, even though he claimed he's in Singapore, and I wrote to ask if there was a mistake there. No reply.

2. Of late I've also seen this BS clause, where a seller will write that he isn't responsible for late delivery, lost packages, etc. He however does not have an insurance option. My question is, how do I know the rotten SOB posted the item at all? I could have paid him, he claiming he's sent my toy to me, and 6 weeks later with zero arrival, just say that it was probably lost in the mail. Not his responsibility. Would anyone still buy from a seller with a clause like that? And any steps can be taken to safeguard yourself?

Thanks!

pay with paypal only. That is the safegaurd you are looking for.

I once bought an armada scavenger from a guy for about $35 shipped, he was happy to answer my questions while the item was still on the market, but after I won it he disappeared. Couldnt get him through email, his ebay telephone number was incorrect.

In comes paypal, I opened a dispute, he didnt respond, I escalated it to a claim, paypal investigated and removed the $35 from his account and put it back in mine.

To answer the other part of your question, bidding on items when the seller wont answer your questions is a bad idea.
A good seller knows that answering questions about their items brings more bids so someone who isnt responding might rip you off.

Be aware that you have to file the dispute within two months of winning the item, any longer and paypal wont do anything.

I usually check out the seller's feedback before I bid on an item. I have always paid with a moneyorder. It has always worked out fine for me so far.

Cant help ya with Yahoo auctions but can on ebay

1. If they don't get back to you within a few days, look for another seller. But this was a holiday for us in the US, so maybe the seller is on vacation. BUT, check their feedback and mutual withdrawls. That's key.

2. Check to see how they will ship it. I try to find a dealer who mandatorily offers tracking. If not, im not too worried about regular postal mail, they've done just fine.

You live in Singapore? I assume your shipping charges are outrageous as it is, so id recommend finding someone who will offer tracking for the shipments.

some seller are tools about answering questions! i myself answer as soon as i get them! and i agree, pay with paypal, its a safe way to go!

eBay is based on trust. If something smells rotten, don't take the bait. If you found the deal today, chances are good another deal will come along from a more responsive seller you feel good about.

I recommend saving a search for an item you are looking for on eBay. You can have eBay notify you each time a new auction for that item pops up. I scored a lot of figs that way.

Well here's the end to that...

I forgot about the feedback so I went to have a look at the guy at Yahoo auctions. There were many negatives. My problem with that was that many people giving the negatives had negative feedback as well, so I clicked on their profiles.

All these names seemed randomly generated, some of their past feedback from sellers were accusations like "Not real buyer". so I thought some must be fake and there was something highly fishy going on.

I decided not to get it on a hunch, and the other bidder got it at what seemed like a cheap price. The very next day feedback from this winner said "Seller is from China! Winning bid was SGD$113, but invoiced for SGD$173"

From now on, I'm going to let 2 things be my guide:

1. If no communication from seller or Q&A not answered, don't!

2. If negative feedback is qualified from perceptably real buyers, don't!

Thanks to everyone who replied!

If the seller's from singapore why not ask for a COD? That's the only way I do my ebay transactions here in Malaysia..

schizophrenica wrote:If the seller's from singapore why not ask for a COD? That's the only way I do my ebay transactions here in Malaysia..

The problem is that this guy had ZERO replies to any of my queries at all. Here is his page, if you're interested:

http://auctions.yahoo.com/questions/245 ... =245151928

Looks promising right? Very cheap for MP-04, right? Well, why is delivery to Singapore $60? Ridiculous shipping right? So I ask him that, and there is no reply. I ask in the question and answer section, and apparently seller can delete these questions because a few days later the question I asked will be gone. Click on Questions and Answers and do you see any questions, much less answers?

The only other way to reach someone on Yahoo seems to be using IM, well good luck with that because even honest sellers have not in the past answered any questions through that medium.

So this is a guy who can't be contacted at all.

As an aside, and rather interesting, look at the feedback. He has negative comments from people like Smileboy1976 and fdshgjlk, but when you click on their feedback, you find many accusations of "not real buyer"! So there's an interweaving interconnecting network of feedbacks that are all from dodgy individuals, so who's to believe what?

Apparently he has had a few times when the auction was closed, and then immediately the next few days the item became listed again. Suspicious? Read the latest from Sadako0007, who won the last time, and you understand why.

Very suspicious.. His feedback looks pretty bad too.. I definitely wouldn't buy from him at all..