Expensive ebay purchases

[733SHiFTY]

To those who've bought expensive items thru ebay (car, motorcycle, notebook, etc.), I'm just looking for any advice you can offer, to help prevent any horror stories/ripoffs from happening to me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rudder]

make sure you use western union.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Ask millions of questions - about condition - physical and otherwise. What's exactly included, what's not. Don't trust the pictures alone. Ask them about return policy, if it doesn't match the description, etc. Asking enough questions covers your ass in the case of a discrepancy so you can go back later and say "that's bullsh!t, you said XX and XX on July 15, I have the email here".

 

[jpeyton]

Read feedback, and use their feedback to investigate similar previous transactions.

 

[SouthPaW1227]

If it's anything "vehicular", SEE IT FIRST or don't buy

If by expensive you mean like a $2,000 set of HT speakers...check feedback, get DETAILED pics, and a return policy. And PayPal all the way. If your gut doesn't like it, don't go with it.

 

[KarenMarie]

generally, if it is a high dollar purchase, i try not to buy from any seller who is not within driving/beting distance if something goes wrong. distance from seller is dependant on value of item.

 

[labgeek]

Just bought a boat so that might qualify...

ASK QUESTIONS! Talk to the seller, email and phone if he'll give it to you. He should... if he doesn't look elsewhere. One of the biggest things is getting a feel for what the seller is like. By the time the auction closed, I didn't even have to send a deposit. We went and picked it up personally the following week. I brought a cashiers check with me. Inspected it, and then handed over the money. Many won't do this, but the better sellers are willing to work with you. This one turns out was great. There was a hidden problem with it, the seller is taking care of the bill to have the shop fix it. So I don't even have to spend my time doing it. He had also said if there were any problems, or I decided I didn't like it to let him know, and he'd buy it back from me. And that was after he had the check.

 

[chowderhead]

use paypal with a Credit Card to pay. If anything goes bad, you can do a chargeback. You may lose your paypal account though.

 

[sygyzy]

Use secure payment options. Use your credit card if possible (ie through Paypal). Have the user give you his address and phone number. Talk to him/her first. Get tracking (no USPS, use UPS or Fed Ex). Have it insured.

 

[mordantmonkey]

yep. talk to the seller, ask questions. use your credit card through paypal. [though if i was selling an expensive item i'd make you use your checking account through paypal]

 

[Panthro]

Originally posted by: rudder
make sure you use western union.

Haha, yeah that worked for the Nigerians.

Seriously, if you want a secure transaction dealing with high priced items, use escrow.com. You have the ability to inspect the item you bought for a certain time period (you and seller argree on time frame) before escrow.com releases funds.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

CC through paypal.

Also. Check ratings. Don't buy from ppl with 30,000+ positive. Who cares about 99% or 98%... thats 300 or 600 ppl getting scammed out of 30,000. Too many. IF you buy from ppl wtih hundreds of positive like 100 or 200, it means they take the time to do business seriously and they're not just some warehouse that needs to send out 300 orders today and can easily screw you over at a very little loss.