Can a Grandma Share some eBay Love ?

Dear eBay Queen;

Do you buy a lot of stuff on eBay? I would imagine you sell a lot, but do you buy a lot? I’ve seen the T.V. commercials, and I have friends that have been getting great deals on hard to find toys and gifts on eBay for Christmas. Do you think this Grandma can get a little shopping done without leaving her home?

I’ve registered as a buyer, what else should I do? Any tips?

Grandma to Many


Dear Grandma;
I do buy lots of stuff on eBay. I have been known to check eBay before buying an item in a store. I love the variety of unusual and hard to find items you find on eBay. I also enjoy the mystery and fun of bidding.

Here are a few buying tips:
1. Read the descriptions and review the photos. Sellers post descriptions about their products. They also use photos to illustrate the condition of the items they sell. Carefully read the terms to avoid unpleasant surprises like extra taxes, higher shipping costs, or a broken product.
2. Check out the sellers feedback before you buy. Negatives are ok, and can happen to the best seller. Read their feedback over to make sure your trading partner is a good one. If they have several negatives because they did not ship out the item, I would consider bidding on another item.
3. It’s good you’ve registered as a buyer. Do you have a PayPal account? https://www.paypal.com For me, PayPal is the only way to pay. I like the safety, speed and convenience of paying with PayPal. The money can come out of your PayPal account, credit card or checking account. PayPal offers buyer and seller protection, and they are a safe way to pay fast.
4. Remember your bid is binding. If you are looking for a Lego RC Car, and you find 5 of them, don’t bid on all of them, unless you want ALL of them. If you win all the auctions you bid on you are obligated to pay for them.

Good luck finding your grandchildren the perfect Christmas gift. I hope you find a few things for yourself too.

Dear eBay Queen;

My mothers reads your article every week, and told me I should write you and ask your opinion about this eBay problem I have. I only sell a few things a month. So I’m not really a big time eBay seller. I sold a vintage Nintendo game console about three weeks ago. The buyer never contacted me or paid. I filed a non-paying bidder alert on him.

He emailed me to let me know he had sent a money order. I have not received any checks or money orders from anyone in the last month. I asked him for a receipt, and he said he did not have one. What should I do? Do I give him the benefit of the doubt? Should I send it anyway? I checked out his feedback, and he has 25 positives and 2 negatives for not paying. This really isn’t the kind of person I want buying from me. What can I do to prevent this from happening again?

Johnny J.


Dear Johnny;

You have been very patient with this buyer. Waiting 4 weeks is a long time. You could block this bidder from buying from you again, http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/biddermanagement.html and you could set your buyer preferences so they exclude buyers that do not meet your requirements. This is an easy way to eliminate the riffraff from bidding on your auctions.

If this were my transaction, I would ask the buyer for a receipt for the money order again. If he doesn’t produce the receipt, and does not pay for the game console, I would follow through with the non-paying bidder process. If he produces the receipt, ask him to contact the money order company and to see if it had been cashed, and ask the name of the bank it was cashed on. That way you can see if it was your bank.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 280176616086 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page) Here’s a Christmas Classic! Have you ever wondered what an old book would sell for? Check this out. 1879 Santa Claus or The Night Before Christmas Book SOLD $2026.01 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110190385285