Buying and Selling on eBay

[Raisondetre]

I do prefer BINs, though you get better prices sniping (sometimes). Even with sniping I generally don't chase bids, so I don't tend to fall prey to shills. I dislike it when some sellers make all their sales private, so I don't actually have an idea of what to bid for the maximum.

[dkan 168]

Much as I love BINs, when I do bid at auction, I snipe exclusively. And I usually win. As I did last week.

I realize however that even a sniper can be shilled, if there were at least 2 other bidders and one of them was the shill, raising the price.

I lost a bid to someone a couple of days ago, who wanted the grey pearl diamond ring more than I do, and placed a higher maximum absent bid than I was willing to spend on this item. I did chase the bid this time, however, stopped once I was outbid after I placed my final offer, nevermind Luckily, I did not have to stay up very late for this one

Another hard-hitting truth I have learnt when I tried to sell my diamond pieces on eBay: Diamonds are expensive to buy from new, and worth no more than 20% of what you have paid if you try and sell them as secondhand pieces if you are lucky.

Better to buy diamonds from reputable vendors with a trade-up policy. Quality matters the older one gets This I have learnt from a diamond forum that does not like their members talk too much about pearls for whatever reason(s)

DK

[GemGeek]

Most people don't realize that they will never be able to sell their jewelry for the price they paid, even twenty years later, unless they sell to friends or family.

Oh, I agree on that other forum!

[Pearl Dreams]

I wonder what they have against pearls, anyway?

They have a colored stones forum, why not a pearls forum? Odd.

[dkan 168]

Has anyone here bought semi-mount ring setting for pearls from Lord of Gem Rings?

I have read good feedback about this eBay seller. Allegedly the workshop where the rings are made is based in China, and the quality of the diamonds and workmanship of the rings are good value for money.

They have a few semi-mounts for pearls, from 8mm to 10mm:

eBay Seller: Lord of Gem Rings

I was tempted, however, I already have 2 pearl rings, one Tahitian and one South Seas, and can't justify having another pearl ring!

DK

[dkan 168]

Most people don't realize that they will never be able to sell their jewelry for the price they paid, even twenty years later, unless they sell to friends or family.

Oh, I agree on that other forum!

True and true!

DK

[dkan 168]

I wonder what they have against pearls, anyway?

They have a colored stones forum, why not a pearls forum? Odd.

Very odd indeed, and I would love to know the reasons behind their decision

DK

[Heidi]

Pearl Police strike!

I saw this listing for "Freshadama" pearls and have sent the seller a question letting them know that I know that this is a brand name from pearlparadise.com & asking for the appraisal and box that comes with that brand. We shall see what the response is. Did anyone else see this?

LINK

[pattye]

Way to go Heidi! Listing is no longer active. I will be surprised if you get a reply at all---------unbelievable price they were asking, too!

[pattye]

Well e-bay is a good marketing online shop where you can purchase any thing you want like the jewelery product or any else. e-bay is reliable and you can trust on them it saves the time also and very secure online marketing.

Ebay is made up of many individual sellers, some of whom are trustworthy, and some not. Especially when it comes to pearls, there is a good deal of misrepresentation and fraud, unfortunately.

[KarinK]

Well e-bay is a good marketing online shop where you can purchase any thing you want like the jewelery product or any else. e-bay is reliable and you can trust on them it saves the time also and very secure online marketing.

I'm sorry but I don't agree. You have to be very careful when buying on eBay and never spend more than you can afford to lose unless you know the seller. Always check feedback on toolhaus.net (much more accurate than the profiles as it shows all complaints with all details, old ones too). Learn how eBay and Paypal can or cannot help you, learn the deadlines for complaints, know as much as possible about your area of purchase, and be critical. THEN you can get good deals on eBay - sometimes :-)

- Karin

[Ramona]

I hate shopping in physical stores and, as a consequence, I do almost all my shopping on ebay (with the exception of grocery shopping of course). I shop practically all my clothes and shoes there, as well as high end designer furniture or general household items. What I cannot get on ebay directly, I try to at least purchase cheaper by buying gift cards or discount coupons. All in all, I rarely regret buying anything and I have had no really negative experience with sellers so far. But I mostly buy from good sellers (100% rating) and I know the designers and products I go after and stay disciplined (no bidding wars). The products I buy are also generally considered more on the expensive side and Ebay allows me to save a huge amount of money. I generally get clothes for 1/3 (new) to 1/10 the price (used) in the shop, my furniture (new) is generally half price or less and gift cards typically result in a 20% discount. However, I have to say that I buy very few pearls on ebay, as pearls are something I need to get in person or from an online seller with a good return policy. The ones I do occasionally buy are all on the cheaper side. They are from a seller a lot here use and I find the quality is ok for the price, but rarely surprises me.

[Caitlin]

This thread is so old!

I like eBay and use it a lot.

I have bought most of my clothes from eBay for a couple of years. Tops, especially. I ask for Women's tops, med and large, then ask for beads, sequins, and I will get hundreds of choices. I love it. I also look at all the gray clothes, which are hard to find. I found a vintage replacement for the Dingo boots I had 35 years ago. It was Buy it Now and way less then half the cost of new Dingos. I got a used iPad 1 for under $100 after the ipad 2's came out. I got it from an electronics store with a guarantee.

I snipe auctions and set my maximum price when I snipe, so I win or not, no bidding wars. In fact, I do not like to make a visible bid because others will compete. I like to bid on items with no bids, but have occasionally sniped when there is one bidder. When I am looking for something, I often put several examples on my "watch" list when I am hunting, then I go back and cull the ones I like less, when compared. I track many items on my watch list- sometimes for months. Sometimes they go on sale and sometimes they relist at a lower price. I track stuff I want, but also unusual or interesting pearls to see what they sell for. These are the items that get relisted for months- like the quahog pearls.

I found a copy of the $190 pearl book for about $160, but I found another non-ebay site that has it for $135. I buy Ioderal, a high dose iodine supplement, on eBay and have for years. I often buy strands of faceted beads or gemstones, or abalone shell beads on eBay. I got some LED lights from China, free postage. I figured is it doesn't work, $3.18 is no big loss. So far, all those free postage cheapies from China have been fine. I got some storage bags you can suck the air out of for 1/3 of the store prices and they work fine, too. And my favorite reading glasses are on eBay,so I can buy the same style and color for years, and have.

I do look at ratings and if there are any red ones in the last year, I read them. Some bad ratings are far worse than others, I only worry if people say the item is not as described, if there was an undisclosed flaw, or seller lied about the product. Anyway, not all bad ratings are that bad.

I like to window shop on eBay and put items I like on my watch list, even if there is less than a 50% chance I might buy it. Sometimes the attraction just wears off and I remove it from my watch list.... There is one search I saved and get daily bulletins on. It is for the pattern of the silverware my dh inherited from his mom. We have too many dinner knives and not enough salad forks, so I track to watch for great deals and also to see what I can sell the extra knives for. I recently got 6 teaspoons for about $24.00 each- a great bargain for this pattern and brand. on the other hand, there seems to be a surplus of dinner knives and they sell for less than any of the other types, the going price is under $33.00, because the ones for 33- never sell. ..

If you aren't tired of reading this so far, My dh sometimes sells rare posters from the 60's SF and some items he inherited, on eBay. It is simply the best place for his posters to be seen or googled- all other equivalent poster selling establishments take a (much) bigger cut. Selling some of My MiL's art chatchtkies, is easy to do from home- the auction houses already having high graded the best stuff... the rest gets put up on eBay one or two items at a time to supplement the retirement wages.

I like eBay.

[KarinK]

I love eBay too. Where else could I find hand-embroidered cardigans from the 60'ties? Certainly not in Denmark

- Karin

[Caitlin]

It is like shopping in a flea market or rummage store, except it has better return policies. You need to know what you want and know what you are buying, and only deviate under exceptional circumstances. It takes carefulness and self control. That's why I put most things on my 'watch list' before buying. I have bought stuff before -and then found a better deal- when I do not filter it through that list first and keep looking.

Also, I usually sort by most expensive +shipping first. By the time I get to my price range, I have a clear idea of the range of price and quality.