People who use eBay to buy reef stuff, I got a ? for you
- Thread starter Reefscap
- Start date
I have gotten lots of stuff off of Ebay.
I have only had one problem and it was with an Aquatic store located in Florida,He sold Me JBJ power compact retrofit,which was defective and then refused to take care of it,But then again JBJ also made it impossible to get anything replaced so i was stuck with it.
Just make sure when you buy on Ebay that you get a Receipt in case you have problems some will say you can use the Ebay invoice but that is not a receipt.
Everything else i have gotten on Ebay was in perfect condition and as advertised.
I have only had one problem and it was with an Aquatic store located in Florida,He sold Me JBJ power compact retrofit,which was defective and then refused to take care of it,But then again JBJ also made it impossible to get anything replaced so i was stuck with it.
Just make sure when you buy on Ebay that you get a Receipt in case you have problems some will say you can use the Ebay invoice but that is not a receipt.
Everything else i have gotten on Ebay was in perfect condition and as advertised.
Like anything, there is good and bad. We occasionally use Ebay to sell off product we will no longer be carrying.
Questionable things I have seen there include:
<ul type="square">[*]Average chunk of live rock seling as "Rare coralline rock". It was maybe 2 lbs and went for over $50.[*]Dyed corals[*]Goniopora sold as "hardy"[*]Bleached corals sold as "rare albino"[*]Aiptasia sold as "anemone rock"[*]etc...
[/list]
And of course, the general complaint that Ebay prohibits the sale of live animals, but does not consider live corals to be such.
A reasonable amount of reefkeeping knowledge and a liberal dash of "buyer beware" and you will be fine.
Questionable things I have seen there include:
<ul type="square">[*]Average chunk of live rock seling as "Rare coralline rock". It was maybe 2 lbs and went for over $50.[*]Dyed corals[*]Goniopora sold as "hardy"[*]Bleached corals sold as "rare albino"[*]Aiptasia sold as "anemone rock"[*]etc...
[/list]
And of course, the general complaint that Ebay prohibits the sale of live animals, but does not consider live corals to be such.
A reasonable amount of reefkeeping knowledge and a liberal dash of "buyer beware" and you will be fine.
HAHAH thanks Warren that helps alot.
I chose not to take my hood apart and remove the JBJ retrofit and ship everything back to JBJ as they suggested,of course they also suggested i borrow some lights from a friend until mine got returned to me.(everyone i know has an extra set of PC lights laying around).
I chose to give them some free word of mouth and finger advertising instead.
I chose not to take my hood apart and remove the JBJ retrofit and ship everything back to JBJ as they suggested,of course they also suggested i borrow some lights from a friend until mine got returned to me.(everyone i know has an extra set of PC lights laying around).
I chose to give them some free word of mouth and finger advertising instead.
I've only made half a dozen purchases from E-Bay, but all have worked out nicely. I know people who have gotten ripped off, but it hasn't happened to me, so far, in any case. I'm sure it will eventually, but I'm just hoping it will end up being something little.
Here's a pretty good thread about a scam that a bunch of people on RC got suckered into:
Something fishy on E-bay
Here's some lessons learned:
Lessons learned:
1) If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is.
2) Don't use PayPal for any purchases you cannot afford to lose.
3) Don't use a Visa/Mastercard debit card unless you want to tie that money up for a couple of months with a dispute.
4) Don't depend on any affected party to do anything quickly
Ty
Something fishy on E-bay
Here's some lessons learned:
Lessons learned:
1) If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is.
2) Don't use PayPal for any purchases you cannot afford to lose.
3) Don't use a Visa/Mastercard debit card unless you want to tie that money up for a couple of months with a dispute.
4) Don't depend on any affected party to do anything quickly
Ty
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by tyoberg:
Here's a pretty good thread about a scam that a bunch of people on RC got suckered into:
Something fishy on E-bay
<hr></blockquote>
Thanks for bringing back this pain for me.
I actually got off lucky and was only out $60 for a couple of bulbs unlike others would were out hundreds.
Other than this instance, all of my other reef related ebay transactions (drygoods) have gone very smoothly. Just be wary of those truly unbelievable deals, I know I am now.
I think the biggest "scam" you may run into is what is termed as shill bidding. This is where a buyer will list his item at a extremely low price (so they want have to pay as big of a percent to Ebay) and then use another account to bid on the item to make sure they recieve their minimum desired price. This is a practice that against the terms of Ebay, but awfully hard to prevent.
[ March 18, 2002: Message edited by: SKBok ]</p>
Here's a pretty good thread about a scam that a bunch of people on RC got suckered into:
Something fishy on E-bay
<hr></blockquote>
Thanks for bringing back this pain for me.
Other than this instance, all of my other reef related ebay transactions (drygoods) have gone very smoothly. Just be wary of those truly unbelievable deals, I know I am now.
I think the biggest "scam" you may run into is what is termed as shill bidding. This is where a buyer will list his item at a extremely low price (so they want have to pay as big of a percent to Ebay) and then use another account to bid on the item to make sure they recieve their minimum desired price. This is a practice that against the terms of Ebay, but awfully hard to prevent.
[ March 18, 2002: Message edited by: SKBok ]</p>
You can get ok deals on EBay if you know what you are looking for. Some people have no idea what stuff is worth, and pay way to much for it. Ex. I have seen used fluval filters going for over 50.00??? If you check a sellers feedback, and they have obviously sold lots of items to lots of satisfied customers, chances are you will get a good product. If a seller has lots of oddball stuff listed, like a garage sale beware, also watch out for the "to good to be true" auctions. If some has a dutch auctions for 100 10K MH bulbs for 25.00 each, they are scamming someone.
Just watch you who buy from, you aren't going to get stuff for 1/10 of what it is really worth. Don't pay by money order, since they is no tracking mechanism, don't send payments to PO boxes.
hope that helps.
Just watch you who buy from, you aren't going to get stuff for 1/10 of what it is really worth. Don't pay by money order, since they is no tracking mechanism, don't send payments to PO boxes.
hope that helps.
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