Ebay

Ebay is of course the largest auction site today on the internet. The fact that it has a large advertising budget allows it to draw more sellers and buyers than alternative sites. That is a big positive.

The big negatives? Sellers are treated like they are all scam sellers unless they are a major seller with thousands of listings and thousands of feedback. The low DSR scores and negative feedback for these sellers are ignored because the sales and fees paid are more than the small store owner or seller would pay. Ebay does not give the smaller seller time to learn the ropes and improve service prior to forcing them out. The also put them in direct completion with major stores

People actually do not understand the DSR system. Most buyers feel that if they get the item as described that is normal and 3 must represent normal, if the items was shipped and the buyer received the tracking # again normal communication and another 3. If the item was shipped as agreed to, another normal 3 if you offer free shipping that rates an automatic 5. The actual DSR rating system is 1 not acceptable at all, 2 really really bad, 3 really bad, 4 ok, and 5 normal. Ebay expects nothing less and actually should show terrible, bad, not good, ok and normal instead of the stars buyers would then understand what Ebay wants.

Customer support is non-existent, I speak English, most of the service reps do not. When you do finally get in touch with a representative, you could get 6 different answers from 6 different people, the representatives are not knowledgeable at all, most of the time, they do not understand the question so cannot provide an answer.

I would avoid this site.....

Time to toss out GREEDY FEEBAY and PAYHELL along with George Bush!! It's time for a change for the better, and STOP feeding the Nasty Greed of FEEBAY and PAYHELL. I will be starting a revolutionary auction site this spring, one that will put all others to shame. I am doing all the leagal Trademarks and Patents as we speak.

I can not stand this site.  It overcharges for selling, will not let sellers leave correct feedback, I just wish all sellers would unite and go to another site.  If there are no sellers there, the buyers will follow.  Why don't people just pick another site not one or two because that would not work, all ebay sellers need to leave and go to another site togather.

Was four but headed for three and two star territory with the removal of the ability to leave negative commentary in some instances.  The wussification of America continues.

I've been a fairly happy seller on ebay for over 6 years. I am currently outraged over a few of their newest changes. As a seller, I can no longer leave HONEST feedback unless the transaction is flawless. If the bidder doesn't pay, I need to warn other sellers and that is no longer possible. Their newest scam is to no longer allow sellers to accept anything other than Paypal (WHICH EBAY OWNS). So if checks and money orders are no longer accepted I will have to figure out some other way to sell most things that I currently use ebay for. They get more and more out of us with each change while saying it will make for a better BUYING environment. GREAT!!!!!!!!! HOW ABOUT THE SELLERS????? THAT'S WHERE YOU MAKE YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good sales, but customer service and policies suck

They keep getting worse and worse!

Closed my store on there. They raised their fees TOO HIGH! How can anyone make a profit?

EBAY used to be the 'King of auction sites' but their laissez faire attitude encourages a nasty selling and buying environment right now. Customer service is literally non-existent, their fees are very high considering the amount time it takes to rectify any fraudulent situation. They have no effective way to deal with non-paying bidders andin an economic downturn this is a very real disincentive. They are completely corporate at this point with lots of big box and junk sellers and very few of the eclectic honest ones left.

The king of auction sites, in my opinion Ebay has no competitors.hard to or impossible items to find elsewhere , can be found here.Great bargains and  security for buyers and sellers is top notch.  Highly recommended

Ive had some wonderful bargains on Ebay.You are always advised to check reviews on the seller though.

The good aspects of it? Well, I've been able to buy items that are absolutely impossible to get elsewhere, from obscure CD's, to out-of-print DVD's and books, to one-of-a-kind historical material, to autographed photos, oftentimes sold by the stars themselves (Henry Hill of "Goodfellas" fame is currently selling his paintings on ebay; I haven't been tempted to buy in this particular instance). I exchanged e-mails with William Shatner (I'm not absolutely positive, but I'm pretty sure it was THE William Shatner) over artwork he was selling; became friends with Jean Darling, one of the last surviving members of the Our Gang film-series, as a result of autographed pictures that she was selling of herself from her home in Ireland; and was finally able to buy that Max and Katy Kissoon CD I had been hunting down for 25 years (the song "Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep" brought me back to my childhood; the rest of the CD was truly awful). Sooner or later, everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, seems to show up on ebay. The bad aspects of it? Along with quality items, a lot of crap gets sold on ebay. For the most part, my transactions have been positive, but there are sleazy crooks operating on the website, and I have been ripped off. Ebay claims they have policies in place to guard against this, but the few times I did get ripped off (thankfully for not an enormous amount of money), they weren't of much help. As VirileVagabond notes...Caveat Emptor, or let the buyer beware. Too, if you aren't careful or savvy, you can end up paying a ton of money for items of marginal worth. The whole process of bidding, and out-bidding, can become an addiction, like gambling. Also, my experiences with Paypal were extremely frustrating. Overall, I like ebay, but, as I said....buyer beware.

I got that ridiculous Jedi costume of mine from three different sellers on Ebay. The stuff was exactly what it was supposed to be and it all got to me fast. My Halloween party was fantastic and my costume was enjoyed by all thanks to Ebay.

ROUND TWO: I got more stuff I'm getting to upgrade the fool thing. So far so good but I got a couple auctions to win...

Being still relatively new to eBay, my experience is a bit limited (and only as a buyer). The site has some nice features (that are probably also on the competitors), like saved searches, a watch list, and the integration with PayPal. For the most part my experiences have all been good to great; however, I did have one seller ship an item that wasn't as advertised. The site does have a resolution process (a nice touch) that was resolved in my favor, but I was instructed to return the item at my expense prior to a refund (which makes no sense to me). Not only that, the seller threatened to close the account to prohibit my refund. When informed of this, neither eBay or PayPal seemed to take any interest. All this, and I think the seller had a good rating. The bottom line is that it's still a buyer beware world on eBay.

I tried to work with them for about 6 months and did nothing but lose a lot of money. I'm checking out alternatives.

eBay has everything you can imagine, and there is a large audiance if you are trying to sell something. Their huge downfall, though, is the fees they charge. It is almost not worth selling anything for less than $50.

Well, if you are looking for something, this is the place to visit. If you watch the ratings, you shouldn't get stung.

they are horrible!!!!!!!!! beware

In 6 years, and about 500 transactions (both selling and buying) I've never had a problem. Maybe it's because I am honest when selling and careful when buying. I enjoy it.

I have been a member for years and they used to be good. I think they have just gotten too large to care anymore.