Ebay Is Overrated

Okay, it’s official. I am not buying or selling on Ebay anymore because the people are so fuckin annoying. Problem being that when I buy something, I 90% of the time get something either faulty or not what I expected it to be or when someone buys from me, they think I am some type of store or something where I can just ship it out as soon as they buy it.

I sold my printer dock to one lady on Ebay and she sends me this email less than a week later that she is going to file a lawsuit against me because she has not gotten her printer yet. Jesus fucking Christ. It has not even been a week yet so I explained to her that it takes days for the money to transfer from PayPal to my bank account so I can ship out her printer so I am just waiting to hear what rant she has next. The thing is that she is not the first and I always put on my auctions that it takes 7-10 days to ship simply because I know about that 4-5 day wait period PayPal takes to transfer money. People on Ebay are bullshit and so is Ebay all together. I swear this is the last fucking time I am dealing with them. And besides, you can’t get anything cheap on there anymore like you used to because Ebay sellers bring down the price but then jack up the shipping and handling so it does end up costing you the same price in the store where you could get it instantly.

For instance I bought my friend two pairs of tires for his RC monster truck which on Ebay was selling for $24.95 a piece and shipping was $9.95 but when the shipping was added it came out to $59.89. My friend told me that they sell them at the Hobbytown uptown for $59.99 … I mean fuck … what the hell did I save?! I saved $1 but now I have to wait 4-14 days for shipping. I mean really. I could have swallowed the $1 and had them for him for Christmas had I known they were that amount at Hobbytown. And the time when I bought a fishnet shirt, I washed it once and it shrunk and got a big hole in it. And the time I bought some nylon arm warmers and they had a run in them straight out the bag. And the time I bought leather motorcycle gloves and the seam busted wide open. Then I bought some replacements and they sent me one black one and one black and brown one with obvious misstitching.

The big one is the cello I purchased from Ebay and within 3 months a defect showed in the workmanship in it. When I bought it, the seller bragged about a ONE YEAR WARRANTY but when I contacted her about it, she never responded to any of my emails. She did respond once and said that I would have to pay for shipping to and back from their shop in California or somewhere like that. Do you know how big a cello is? A cello is huge so you can imagine the amount of shipping would be 3,000 miles across the country from Virginia to California and back and second the cello was not worth anything, so I threw my hands up on it. So much for a grand ONE YEAR WARRANTY. Of course Ebay threw their hands up about it too because they don’t honor things like that. As long as the seller ships it, they are done with it. So I was shitted out of $180 I paid for the cello. So I turned right around and sold the cello back on Ebay miraculously for the same amount even after I said in the auction that it was defective. They did not seem to care.

Also the time I bought some fine tuners for my cello from Ebay which turned out to be pieces of shit. The sob story on that was I put them on my cello and while putting them on, I noticed one was defective. The threads were not even so it would not screw on. Once I realized this, I tried to screw it off and the top came off the tuner. That was the end of that story. Over a few months of having them up there, now the tuners for the A and D string don’t even work. [eyeroll] Yeah … all hail Ebay. I contacted the seller about it and she claims that I never bought them from her. Bullshit. So she never sent me any replacements. Double bullshit.

Or the time I bought the Danelectro distortion pedals with the pedalboard but for some reason, one stomp box does not want to work.

And the time I bought this computer case I am using now and the metal on it is so flimsy it’s ridiculous. It even looks cheap – it did not look cheap in the auction though. I only got it because it was black to go with my Dell monitor and because it was see-through on the side and had cool lights that lit up on the front.

Let me tell you the time I bought a data cable for my cell phone because I wanted to avoid paying $40 to Radio Shack for it. The seller outright said it was designed for the Sanyo 5500/VM4500 phone and also came with software. But when I got it, not only was it NOT compatible with my phone but they also gave me a copy of “bootleg” software; it was a CD with a homemade label on the top. Jesus Christ. And even to this day, these same motherfuckers are STILL selling the same auction only this time to make up for their fuck up, they give you TWO free items BUT the damn data cable won’t work with your phone. They said they don’t give returns or refunds so I bitched and threatened to chargeback on my credit card if they did not, they eventually refunded me. And also eventually I wound up going to Radio Shack and paid $40 for the data cable which I was trying to avoid doing.

Not to mention the telescope I bought from Ebay to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower but when I pulled it out the box, not only were the lenses missing but the tripod was snapped in two. And worst of all, even worse than being assed out on my money, I missed the Perseids. Or the Avon plates I bought for a gift for my Mom … only for them to get lost in the mail so I never got them or my money back.

Or the sellers who jack up the shipping and handling and sell the item for cheap … but when the shit hits the fan and you need to return it, they say that they will return the product price … BUT NOT THE SHIPPING! I mean for real people.

After sitting down and remembering all the things I have bought from Ebay, I have come to realize that I have not saved anything. Everything I have bought from there has ended up in one of two ways, in the trash can or recycled back on Ebay in hopes of getting all or some of my money back for a product I was dissatisfied with. Out of about 30 some things I have bought on Ebay over these last two years, I can say that only 3 items I have been completely satisfied with; my rosewood cello pegs, my Boss TU-80 Metronome and tailpiece and endpin for my cello. That’s it. None of the other 27 things lasted; there was some problem with them. Seems like Ebay is the pimp house for refurbished products or a festoon for selling faulty products at almost retail prices. In actuality, when I think about it, I no longer have any of the things I bought on Ebay because they have seen the trashcan eventually.

I think my rant about Ebay is pretty legitimate. The way prices are falling in stores now, you can get the same stuff for cheaper or similar price anyway. I checked Ebay for a Playstation and an XBox and can you believe that there are actually fools on there who are bidding $200 on the mutherfuckers!!! It’s only $150 in the store for it. Just unbelievable. And there will be like 20 or so bids on it like it’s the hottest thing going on.

I have been dealing with Ebay for about 2 years now and at first it was the way to go. If you are looking for something that is hard to find and willing to pay any price to get it, Ebay is the way to go, but for common things you can get from the store, its best to stick with the store. But now Ebay has just gotten sloppy; it’s not like it used to be at all. Nowadays in my honest opinion, Ebay is just over-rated. I said it before but this time I mean it. I am DONE with Ebay.