Someone selling on Ebay under the name ohkwarisales is offering a Classic
Miniatures Montezuma Post Office kit for $37.00. It lists on Walthers
site for $34.00.
OK, we all know vendors on Ebay sometimes jack up the price. But this
seller has had 693 feedbacks on sales and they're 100% positive! I have
to wonder at the gullibility of our species from time to time :-).
On 5/2/2009 9:34 PM Larry Blanchard spake thus:
I have to wonder about the scamability of eBay, and I'm not just talking
about sellers there either. They (eBay) seem to have rigged things
pretty well to practically guarantee deceptively-good feedback reports
from schnooks and scam artists like these guys.
They have changed for the better. Used to be a buyer left honest feedback
and the seller retaliated by leaving a negative for the buyer. That's how
the scam artistes got lots of positives. I never could understand how e-bay
could let that go on for so long. Now a seller cannot do that. What they
will do, however, is leave positive feedback and a Nasty Note. Now if e-bay
could get it through their thick skulls that the ONLY way a buyer can
possibly be in the wrong is Non-payment.
Or, as in one case I know of, the buyer can demand to be given various
things that were *not* included in the auction. In this case he wanted
to be given the drive cable, all the mounting hardware, and the dash
panel for the motorcycle tachometer he'd won on the grounds that "it's
useless without them". The fact that those parts never come with the
tach unless you're buying an entirely new already-assembled motorcycle
didn't bother him. (This would be the same thing as winning an HO
locomotive on eBay and demanding that an entire train be included free
along with the engine.)
When the seller quite properly refused his demand, the buyer raised
seven kinds of hell until eBay looked into it and eventually threw the
*buyer* off of eBay.
Since then, the disappointed buyer has conducted a year-long Usenet
hate campaign against the seller, accusing him of everything from
theft to racism. And when non-involved posters ridicule said buyer for
his idiocy he claims it's proof of a world-wide conspiracy against him
that's led by the seller.
In short; yes, there are scam artists auctioning things on eBay.
But there are plenty of dishonest buyers as well.
And a few fruitcakes who simply shouldn't be out there running around
loose without a keeper.
~Pete
Basically, if you don't know what you're buying, you have no reason to
complain.
--
Bob May
rmay at nethere.com
http: slash /nav.to slash bobmay
http: slash /bobmay dot astronomy.net
On 5/3/2009 4:03 PM Bob May spake thus:
Bullshit. Even those who are ignorant can be cheated or defrauded.
So Bob, still obstinately not doing any quoting? Or do you just not know
how?
So you agree with Bob then. Good one.
Why do you care? Why make an issue of a non issue? If you don't
understand his comments, just ignore them. Simple.
Let me know how that works out for you, David. Get back to me in your
next life. You know. The one where you act like a grownup.
--
Ray
When I first got on Ebay, I overbid a few items in the heat of the
chase.
Now, I'm pretty good, damn good about alot of things and when someone
askes me to find something for them I make sure to do some research
into the item and then ask their top price.
Biggest problem I have now is that about every six months I have to
cancel a bid and redo it because I hit "comma" instead of the period.
One guy laughed and said he deliver the sousaphone personally and take
me to Ruth's Chris if I kept the bid at $60,000.00
By the way, we have a local hobby shop that preys on the novice. The
owner doesn't price anything and depending on how you're dressed and
what kid of car you pulled up in he might quote you 100% over list.
Needless to say, no serious hobbiest shops there but once. But he
makes a killing on pinewood derby kids and people who bring in
priceless stuff that was their grandfathers and he tells them it's a
piece of junk OLD lionel but he'll give them $5 for it for parts then
sells it for several thousand.
What a prick.
It's the "Flea Market/Swap Meet" effect. The marks just "naturally
assume" that if it's on Ebay, then it MUST be a bargain. PTBarnums
slogan is as true today as it ever was.
David, if it ticks you off then it must not be that bad. i can understand
your complaint to some degree as if you don't remember yesterday, you've got
other problems. I don't quote because the quoting system means that I've
got to do some sorting of the post in order to get my message in a place
where it can be read immediately upon looking at the post rather than seeing
it at the end and in some posts, that is way down the screen several pages
down. And don't tell me not to update/upgrade my reader or get another one.
I don't get viruses because my system isn't the latest and greatest version
thus it doesn't recognize the viruses and they never get into my system.
That makes me happy!
--
Bob May
rmay at nethere.com
http: slash /nav.to slash bobmay
http: slash /bobmay dot astronomy.net
Almost all readers of any type allow you to highlight the section you
are replying to by selecting it using your mouse. That way you can
avoid the entire post being redone while making it clear which section
you were answering. There's no need to upgrade your reader. You're
using Outlook Express 5 and it already supports that feature. If you
decide to refuse to learn how to do that, it's down to you and not
David that you decide not to quote parts of a post.
It's not just a matter of memory, Bob, but if you are addressing a
specific item in one message of around 30 per day that come through
this group then you will suffer the unfortunate fate of having people
ignore your ever so important replies because of your adamant refusal
to selectively quote a previous message. If you care, that is. But
that begs the question: Why post here at all if you didn't care?
--
Ray
Well, Bob, I like to see the comments immediately _following_ the post,
or the part of the post, that you're commenting on.
And, no, I don't recall what you were commenting on - I read dozens of
messages a day, you see. Trying to figure out what you are talking about
is is a hassle, so kindly quote the bit(s) you're replying to. Indicate
where you've snipped the post, like this:
[...]
wolf k.
I won't say that it's "right," but I can see where someone may happen onto a
model railroad item for sale not knowing much about model railroading at
all. Suppose that you just vacationed in Montezuma and did an Ebay search
on that word. Lo and behold... there is a scale model kit of the post
office there! So you add it to your collection. You could have easily done
so w/o even knowing about Walthers.
I have a relative whose family worked for the "old" Wheeling & Lake Erie.
When I gave her an Atlas W&LE caboose, she had no idea where such things
could come from. So I don't know why someone would start out that way, but
I can see where people could pay for something not knowing what it was worth
elsewhere...
The opposite can be the same as well... I once picked up an assembled
LifeLike McDonald's restaurant kit for under $50 from a seller who obviously
didn't know that it was probably worth twice that much. It was sold in the
McDonald collectibles and not the model railroad stuff. Maybe that was
unethical on my part... but if he was asking that, he probably paid less for
it somewhere in the first place.
dlm
On 5/5/2009 11:09 AM Dan Merkel spake thus:
Good insight there. Sometimes those in a hobby forget that there are
actually people out there who not only don't know every little detail of
the hobby, but couldn't care less.
So how much is something worth? In the end, it's worth whatever someone
will pay for it. Nobody's forcing eBay buyers to bid on anything at
gunpoint.
I know what IE5 can do and I'm not happy with doing it that way.
--
Bob May
rmay at nethere.com
http: slash /nav.to slash bobmay
http: slash /bobmay dot astronomy.net
Then we've come full circle. It really IS your choice. You don't even
have to change newsreaders but you are willingly choosing to reply to
messages in a manner that makes it impossible for the casual reader to
understand your post.
Well done. Don't whine about being slammed for it. Your choice.
--
Ray
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