My 1st Ebay experience was my worst. I'm glad it didn't deter me

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

I was very late to the Ebay game. I am still just a buyer. I had a very specific shopping list of some art pieces (prints) that I was in the market for and realized that I should be looking at Ebay on a regular basis. Last year I made my first bay purchase of a signed, limited edition print I had been looking for.

I saw it, there were a few bids, but I knew I wanted that particular print and it had a Buy It Now and I did. I have always thought that the seller was pissed that he had a buy it now, because the bidding was getting close to the Buy It Now price and possibly would have surpassed it. Who knows.

Anyway, all was fine until I got the invoice for shipping and the seller added $185.00 (!!!!!) to ship the print. I was flabbergasted and emailed that to the seller who then said he would send it USPS instead of UPS and the cost was miraculously reduced to around a fourth of the original.

When the print was delivered, I heard an ominous rattle in the box. I opened the box to find that the seller had BARELY wrapped the print, and the box was filled with glass shards. The print looked like someone took a sledge hammer to the framing glass. I believe to this day that the seller did it. The print survived with minimal damage. I kept it. I made a few ineffectual emails to the seller and then said, fine - just forget it when he seemed like he was becoming an even larger jerk. I think I gave him neutral feedback.

Every single other instance has been a real pleasure - everything as represented, everything shipped promptly, everyone in contact, a couple of very minor disappointments, not worth speaking of or returning. But that first time was a doozey!

[sufrommich]

1. You sould have given negative feedback.There was nothing

"neutral" about it. Packaging and honest shipping prices are important to buyers and sellers. He's a jerk and I would have made it clear to future buyers. Sorry your first experience was so bad.

[grasswire]

2. I don't bid if I don't know the shipping cost in advance.

Too many sellers try to soak the buyer.

[Vinca]

3. Several years ago I bought a cup and saucer set from a guy in Arizona.

When he sent me the invoice, he was charging $50.00 for shipping which was absolutely ludicrous. I went round and round and round with the guy until he finally realized he had made a computation error. Another time I bought a Foreman grill - supposedly new - from a woman. Like your print, it arrived rattling around the box. She hadn't even bothered to put bubble wrap around it. It was broken, but to her credit she refunded my money before I could even mention the insurance. She knew she had screwed up. Fortunately, problems are few and far between.

[sandnsea]

4. I'm still trying to collect on a broken shipment

I thought the post office was just slooooow. Turns out they closed the file in September because the seller never sent the insurance receipt. So I emailed her yesterday and told her to scan it and email it, and nope, she didn't do it today like she said she would. So I don't know what is going to happen. That is the only really bad experience I've had in at least ten years of doing Ebay. I've gotten some great items too, most specifically the replacements for some items that had belonged to my mother and burned in a housefire. I usually just buy from individuals and avoid the ones who look like they resell from some import house or other.

[suninvited]

5. The buy it now price disappears whenever a bid is made

that is the only reason I will ever bid early on an ebay item. So the buy it now price goes away.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

6. Ok, I guess my memory of the transaction is imperfect.

I really thought I swooped in and got it Buy It Now, but perhaps not. I am still certain that he thought he should have gotten more than he did and tried to stick it to me with the shipping costs.