So... thought this would be a great place to mention all the eBay and Auction pet peeves I have discovered I have. Sometimes it's good to vent. Feel free to add your own. In no particular order (yet): 1. Sellers who ship a razor and include that old, rusty, tetanus-laden blade still lodged in the razor from 30+ years ago. (And those sellers who think the old rusty blade might be worth something.) 2. Sellers with blurry pictures. Do you have something to hide, or are you just a lousy photographer? 3. Sellers who don't mention any details. I understand sellers may not have any info on a razor, or any skill in identifying them, and don't want to take the time to look it up or even know were to look. (However, this is not always a bad thing, for a buyer like me. In fact, I bank on that... because there seems to be a correlation. Some of the best purchases I've made have been of products that no one noticed because they *didn't* say they were Aristocrats, or triangle-slot pre-war techs.) 4. Sellers who provide wildly inaccurate info and in doing so, grossly over-value the item they are selling. Telling me you have an Aristocrat razor for sale when it is clearly a ball-end tech, for example. Or saying it is a Fatboy when it is a SS Flare Tip. Every day I look, I see someone posts a razor claiming it is a Fatboy when it is not even close. I don't care if you are not knowledgeable about what you are selling... just don't pretend to be, when you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. (Similarly, saying a razor is adjustable when it's not.) 5. Seeding your listing with keywords to get me to look under false pretenses. For example, typing "not a Fatboy" into your description. It makes it come up in search results for Fatboy, but then as soon as I see that it's not, I'm ignoring the listing. 6. Overcharging for shipping. $10 for one razor, from one state away? 7. Sellers who say "the picture is the description" and provide no other textual description. A picture may be worth 1000 words... but not if the picture isn't accurately describing a product's flaws and shortcomings. 8. Foreign sellers who are selling cheap, sub-standard knockoff products but then put "vintage" in their listing. Like "new old vintage style safety razor." Got more pet peeves? Post 'em here.
You've got a number of them already covered. Perhaps a little of both…. On the plus side, this can be a boon for buyers if it is undervalued. Buyer beware….. Here's another: Bidders who start placing bids 1 day into a seven day auction. As a seller, this is wonderful. As a potential buyer, this drives me nuts as all it accomplishes is raise the price from the original starting bid. Auction sniping is becoming more common with the advent of auction apps.
There are sniper programs specifically designed to do that. It will place a winning bid within seconds of the auction ending, and leaves you no time to outbid again. It is frustrating. I agree with the postage inflation. I usually message the seller to make sure that they take advantage of using a small flat rate box if they want to charge over $6 for shipping.
I'm pretty much done with ebay but I made it my policy to describe all items to the best of my ability (even over-describing any flaws), taking the best pics I could (which were never great) and charging exact shipping, with any shipping calculator overcharge refunded via Paypal to the penny. In terms of feedback and repeat bidders, it paid off. As a buyer, 3, 5 and 8 always ticked me off the most, and there's plenty of domestic sellers who pull #8 on all kinds of things. 2,4,6 and 7, I dealt with by just not bidding, and I got to where I assumed #1 would always happen.
I am that guy. If someone was just too cheap to initially bid high enough that's just too bad Really though the only one that bothers me is #1. Sometimes there's even hair on it too.
http://auctionsniper.com/ I'm a little surprised auction sites can't find a way to block this, since it results in lower ending prices.
I have been fortunate to collect my line-up of vintage Gillette adjustable razors (Fatboy/Slim nickel/Slim black handle long and short) as well as a '58 TV, '47 SS, and a Red Tip. I say this because I can stay away from trying to pick up a razor on the "bid-and-win" sites. However, I keep an eye out to see what is going on. My number one pet peeve is when the seller says "no rust" on say, a Slim SS. Since this razor is nickle and brass, it will not rust. Next in line is the fuzzy pictures. And not to be left out, "mint" condition. Please don't get me wrong...there are good sellers and good deals to be made...you just have to be careful. Most all of my Gillettes were obtained from TSD and TSN. I got excellent deals from a good bunch of folks who want to take care of each other. Ed
I don't think sniping is a problem. I would say that, I do snipe, but I don't always win because if someone's maximum bid is more than mine then I will lose out. The reason I do it, is because if I put my bid in ten minutes before the end and I am the highest bidder, there is a chance that someone will come along and bid more. Fair enough. But my problem is I might be tempted to increase my bid and end up paying WAY more than the limit I set myself. So I snipe due to a lack of self control. My pet peev is when the razor in the picture is nothing like the one named in the description. I get the feeling that if a seller is unsure of the indentity of the razor they are trying to sell, they just list it as a Fatboy. People charging stupid prices saw one the other day for about $650 !!!! Last peev, sometimes it feels like everyone on e bay has more money than me
Almost everything in my Den is from the Bay or Amazon. The only thing I found locally is Witch Hazel and Clubmen. I have seen folks get the bid way up 2 days into a 7 day auction bidding against each other and then sit there till the end because it is now overpriced. When this happens to something I want I'll let it go and wait for the next one. there is always another one coming down the stream. I have seen snipers get burned by having 2 of them bid a way to high bid in at the last second and have the bid double in a blink. Those are fun to watch. It is fun, but you have to be patient.
I hate the wildly inaccurate descriptions. I regularly send sellers notes, even if I'm not buying, to correct their descriptions. They are usually grateful. But check this one out: http://ebay.us/RzXbTK It's obviously NOT a red tip. Someone has "doctored" this one up.
