I can also tell a tale of woe. buying on ebay beware.Snip
but I would only buy on ebay again if I could afford to lose the cash without worrying about it.
E-bay has come up here before so apologies if I'm repeating myself. E-bay is a very well run market place, but one that can be abused by clever fraudsters. I say clever because 9 times out of 10 people getting scammed only have themselves to blame (1ds's for �1000 etc.). I think in David's instance the blame is a very much that of a dedicated and cunning fraudster, and his painful lesson is one one can learn from and I'm sure we all commiserate with his bad luck. However, when buying anything big look into an escrow service (escrow.com). They hold the cash until you receive the item and only release funds to the seller when you are satisfied. They are completely neutral and have no bias to the seller or buyer, they only concern themselves with ensuring that the former gets what they asked for and the latter the agreed sum. If anyone selling you a big bit of kit won't use one then walk away.
I have to stand up and hand in my three day chip, as I'm a bit of an e-bay-a-holic and so far I have had one item badly described (I could have returned it and got a refund but it was only a tenner so it ended up in the bin), a BP-511 which went the way of the pear after its 50th or so re-charge (lost �6 which is �50 less than the canon item in the first place) and a palm top sync cable that doesn't work (still awaiting the outcome of that one). On the other have bought and sold everything from vintage Hardy fishing gear (one rod sent to Japan went for almost �500 which I had in my bank in 48 hours and the buyer had his rod in a week or so) to a mint and boxed 1n which I picked up for �400 and the buyer delivered. I buy a lot of work related stuff on e-bay such as memory cards, batteries, etc. and find that with a little bit of sniffing around its pretty easy to find a supplier who will provide a VAT receipt for the items as well. I even sold my last car, a Nissan 300zx on e-bay and got top dollar for it.
If you are sensible you have more chance of being mugged than you do of being seriously ripped off on E-bay, though Davids experience is a new one on me and I'll be keeping them peeled for anything similair.
Calvers
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