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We do not use e-bay now as there are so many bad buyers/sellers on there and the website is getting  a bad name

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If you dont use/like ebay we can list the item for you on our website and use paypal to pay just tell is what item you 'want listing' we will do the rest and list it here

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Ebay is no longer the site it once was

ebay.co.uk - rated by shavalah Mar 25th, 2009

Advantages:
Rare & unusual items are still there to be had, you can pick up the odd bargain

Disadvantages:
High fees, non existent customer service, to many 'Buy it now' items

Recommendable: No 

Detailed rating:

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shavalah

About me: I thought I'd give Ciao a go finally. I also write on Dooyoo as 'Buckhysen'

Member since:06.12.2007

Reviews:1

 

Review rated by 9 Ciao members on average: very helpful

When I first discovered Ebay some 12 years ago I thought it was just about the best site on the internet. You could search and find just about anything as well as sell all your old junk (Er, I mean unwanted things) for cash.

The layout of the site has never been brilliant but it's good enough to do the job, and over the years Ebay have added some nice features to help buyers and sellers. I've made literally thousands of transactions on Ebay over the years with very few problems (i.e. Items have always turned up, I've only ever had a handful of non payers). But what has always been great about Ebay is that you can make easy, successful transactions (Buying and selling) if you just take a little time to read around the site and read about the buyer or seller.

So why have I only given Ebay 2 stars?
Well quite simply the negatives far out weight the positives now on Ebay. As an avid user for many years, including having three shops at one time or another I have seen how far downhill Ebay has really fallen, particularly in the last year or so.

Firstly lets start with their customer service!
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Quite frankly it's non existent. I have had to contact Ebay probably about 12 times over the years and to be honest I feel honoured if I even receive a reply. After spending a fair amount of time chatting to other shop owners on the forums the general opinion seems to be that Ebay really don't care about their users and members. My personal experience with Ebay's customer service has been awful. They don't respond to emails, and when they do they don't answer your questions. They dismiss your worries and fears and generally really don't give a very good service at all when it comes to their customers.

Which brings me on their policies, etc.
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When I had my first Ebay shop I sold keyrings and magnets. Unlike almost every other keyring trader I used to actually design my own images, use personalised photos or get permission from the image owner to use their picture.
Yet despite this Ebay TWICE closed down my entire shop, removing all my designs, which took weeks to list, simply because a fellow keyring seller became jealous of my sales and reported me for copyright infringement.
Now I have no problem with this system if copyright has been breached, but Ebay never even contacted me or viewed the item in question, they simply assumed the seller was telling the truth and removed EVERYTHING! Much to my annoyance.

This basically meant that I had to start my shop from scratch and spend weeks re-listing all my items and contacting my customers, without a single word of apology or explanation from Ebay for more than a month... When they finally apologised after I wrote them several letters.
The sad thing is, despite telling me they had changed their policies so that they would check copyright information, a friend of mine had exactly the same problem about a year ago, Ebay closed his shop for copyright infringement, even though he was selling his own material that he had personally made.
I think it's terrible that a site as big and popular as Ebay can have such poor customer relations and policies with regards to copyright, they cannot just remove items without checking if the person reporting it is being honest.

Ebay has changed
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For many years Ebay was renown for a great website to find rare and unusual items, mostly auction items which you could bid on. Which was what made Ebay so popular in the first place. But in recent years Ebay has become a site that is swamped with brand new items and 'Buy it now' listings.
Fair enough! I have no problem with such items but this is not what Ebay was about when it first started. The idea, it seemed to me, was to build up a community of users who could log in and buy and sell their personal items as auctions, complimented by a few 'Buy it now' items.
Now it seems to have totally reversed and almost everything listed on Ebay now is brand new and/or 'Buy it now' which to me renders Ebay useless for what it is meant to be.... an auction site! And I suspect why so many members are looking elsewhere now (i.e. Amazon).

Ebay shops
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Ebay's online store was a fantastic idea. A way small businesses and regular sellers could sign up to a virtual shop, list items without paying a small fortune for the privilege.
As an example, my first Ebay shop used to cost me £6.95 a month plus 5p a month, per item (With quantities of up to 1000). whilst selling my keyrings this meant that my monthly fees were only about £12 a month. Perfect for a small business or user selling low cost items.

Recently I decided to re-start my keyring business and the easiest, quickest and cheapest choice (I thought) was to re-open my Ebay shop.
To my horror I found that Ebay fees have over tripled in the past 6 months, not to mention the fact that instead of costing me £12 a month to keep my shop running, with Ebay fees and charges it would now cost me over £120 a month (At least).

After reading the forums and chatting to a LOT of members it appears that Ebay are pricing out the low cost sellers and small businesses. Many have been forced to close their shops due to extortionate fees, this is before we even get to the paypal fees (Also owned by Ebay).
So I question how much Ebay think of their regular, loyal members if their only concern is making even more profit on the millions they already make.
It seems to me profit comes above anything else, which is a big reason why I have not visited Ebay since I discovered their price increases. And this after being a daily visitor of the site for many years.

As I said at the start of this review, Ebay does have some positives, although in all honesty these are disappearing fast.
Ebay used to be the first place I looked for cheap and/or rare items above any other online or offline store, but in recent years Ebay has changed a LOT. Yes there are still bargains to be had, but not even close to the bargains that could be had 4 or 5 years ago.

It seems to me that Ebay see profit above all else... Including their extremely loyal members. You only have to have a quick read of the forums (Especially from shop/store owners) to see what most really think of Ebay and their attitude towards members.

With so many 'Buy it now' and brand new items listed on Ebay nowadays can Ebay really class itself as the best Auction site on the net? Well probably yes, but simply because there is no other site out there to challenge them.

I personally think if a big name like Virgin and Richard Branson were to decide they wanted to take on the mantle of Ebay they would succeed. For too long now Ebay have over-charged and under-performed when it comes to their loyal customers. They have left them high and dry in some respects and have done little to prove that their customer service is just about the worst on the net.

I personally don't ever expect to use Ebay again. I think they have been too dismissive of their loyal members (which I was for several years) for far too long. Yes you can still log in and grab a bargain but they are few and far between compared to 3 or 4 years ago.

The site is now far too cluttered with brand new and 'Buy it now' items and when trying to find something it takes far too long now to weed out the fakes, the new items and the rubbish.

My verdict is there are far better sites and services out there nowadays. sites like Amazon and smaller Auction sites may not have the choice or be as big as Ebay but they do offer cheaper items with a far better customer service.
I would suggest looking around before relying on Ebay too much. It's not the fantastic site it used to be. 

 

Arms smugglers bought parts on eBay

Thursday, June 4 06:50 pm

Three arms smugglers who bought Top Gun-style military equipment on eBay to sell to  have been jailed for their "complex and lucrative conspiracy".Related photos / videos

Three arms smugglers who bought military equipment on eBay have been jailed

Mohsen Akhavan Nik, his son Mohammad Akhavan Nik and Nithish Jaitha breached UK arms embargoes by arranging deals after importing a host of military parts to the UK via the bidding website.

Their complex plot involved an attempt to supply Iran with equipment for F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, similar to those which featured in the Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Cruise, Southwark Crown Court was told.

Mohsen Nik and his son Mohammad Nik, who were granted political asylum in the UK having apparently fled from Iran in 1995, together with Jaitha, were caught after HM Revenue and Customs officers swooped on a consignment of oxygen cylinders at Heathrow Airport which were bound for Tehran.

Mohsen Nik, 49, and Mohammad Nik, 26, of Ascot, Berkshire, were jailed for five years and two years six months respectively while Jaitha, 43, of Chalgrove, Oxford, was sentenced to two years six months for conspiracy to export controlled goods.

The three sourced parts in the US through eBay to avoid export controls.

Iran's ageing jet fighters, including the F-14 Tomcat, F4 Phantoms, F5 Tigers and Cobra Attack helicopters can only be kept in service through parts purchased in the United States and then illegally shipped to Iran using fraudulent paperwork.

The items were sourced on eBay in the US and shipped to an address in Florida to avoid the need for an export licence. From there the goods were normally despatched under misleading descriptions to Iran via the UK, Romania or Hong Kong so as to overcome US export controls and obscure the final destination.

Peter Millroy, from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, said: "These men were involved in a complex and lucrative conspiracy to supply military equipment to Iran in contravention of a UK arms embargo. This is an excellent result dismantling as it does this particular supply route."

Mohsen Nik was also disqualified as a company director for seven years. A confiscation hearing has yet to be fixed.