'Horror stories' over purchasing from eBay?

[Rich_aka_Wig]

I'm always sceptical about expensive merchandise over eBay. I stay away from purchasing clothing because from what I've seen a vast majority of the labels on there are identifiably fake/bootlegs.

However, with my never-ending want for an iPod, I can't help but get pulled in by the 100+ odd savings. Just curious if anyone's had or heard bad experiences with buying over eBay? Just checked one post on here about the need to return/exchange their iPod by some which is a major concern if not purchased over a shop counter or online!

Anyways, let me know if you're in the know.

Cheers.

 

[Chicane-UK]

A few simple rules should stand you in good stead..

* Look for sellers with huge amounts of positive feedback (the number in brackets after their username) - its not necessarily the best way (I am a trustworthy person but only have 15 feedbacks on my account), but probably the safest bet if you are new to eBay and are not familiar with what to look for.

* Go for deals that seem good, not 'too good to be true'. By that I mean, if you see an iPod for ?350 that is supposed to be ?400, its a good deal. If you see a Powerbook G4 for ?700 thats supposed to be double that price, then its too good to be true and probably worth avoiding.

Its pretty difficult on eBay to know who to trust. But just using a bit of common sense and sticking to the eBay rules & guidelines and you should be ok. Anything that confuses you or you are unsure of, just post and ask.. people on here are sure to help you out

 

[yinyang]

i purchased mine from a US ebay who then shipped to australia - he had excellent feedback and i made sure i sent him several emails asking questions about shipping and other details and from his replies i got a feel that he would be okay to deal with. eventually we went outside ebay because i didnt have the money in tome for the end of the auction and he was okay about that. chicane is right about looking out for deals that are just too good. also if they have been selling iPods for a while you can always email the other buyers themselves to ask if there were any issues or whether they had received the goods - i backed off from one seller that was registered in spain but selling from miami who had them really cheap, but one buyer said that he had not yet received after four weeks.

final thing, don't forget that if you purchase from overseas, customs may slug you with duty or VAT - if the seller is willing to understate the value to save you money then you may lose out if you need to claim insurance.

as for returning iPods, i spoke to apple and they said that the iPod has a worldwide warranty and that i just needed to provide proof of purchase, even if through ebay.

 

[Chelce]

Just out of curiousity, rather than buy a used iPod from ebay, have you looked at the refurb (much better than used) iPods at PowerMax? They have really good prices, that to me were pretty much the same as ebay's, plus these come with some stuff too. Just a thought.

 

[WESC_pod]

Also make sure the seller accepts PayPal and has an actual picture of the item that will be sent on the auction (not just a general product pic).

 

[Rich_aka_Wig]

What's this PowerMax thing/site? URL anyone?

How does around ?150 (about $210+ - unsure of exchange rate) sound for a second generation 10GB iPod? Obviously it all depends on the amount of activity, etc. but checking for previous iPod sales is a good idea.

Cheers everyone.