Shopping on ebay

I regularly shop on ebay, from shops rather than individuals. Their rules and regulations are generally fair to both vendor and buyer. However there is one rule I disagree with that forces the buyer to pay for shipping when it’s not necessary. For instance, a vendor has an item for sale in my own home town - maybe on the next street. But they make it impossible, and illegal (according to ebay’s rules) to just go and pick up the item in person to save maybe 15 - 20 dollars in shipping/postage fees.
I understand why they do this, but I don’t agree with it.
:smiley: :canada:

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Price of doing business… It sucks.

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You can find Good Deals on E Bay,Just make sure You read all the Details

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Is it an eBay Canada thing, because I have seen a local pickup option on some auctions.

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I know…but that’s not the issue!
:smiley: :canada:

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Maybe on auctions, but I don’t bother with auctions any more. The particular item(s) I was referring to was regular sales.
:smiley: :canada:

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We all suffer for our art.

Some item ago I was desperate to get a resin kit of a Minerva Land Rover; I missed the auction, and it wasn’t sold but eBay - or rather the algorithms etc - would not let me contact the vendor with a view to exchanging addresses to effect a personal sale (for some reason she wasn’t minded to re-advertise it).

Hugely frustrating, but as I say, sometimes we suffer(!)

PS: I’m still minded to get - even make a Minerva given that there’s now some early short-wheelbase Land Rover kits about, though I may not have the skill.

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Ebay discourages (actually, forbids) out of ebay transactions, as any would mean loss of revenue for the company. Vendors never (AFAIK) disclose their real name, or contact info, and all communications have to go through ebay. Unless a vendor slips his personal contact info in an item he sells you. :roll_eyes:
:smiley: :canada:

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One thing you must realize is that the cost of the item is never the actual cost. Tax and shipping add a substantial bump in cost. It is like Ebay is in partnership with UPS.

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I find eBay now sells mostly old, outdated, recast, and kits that no one really wants. It’s rare to find anything good on eBay these days, but there are some treasures if one hunts for them. A lot of the eBay kits are pre-owned, not new, as the best ones have been sold long ago. The OOP super-rare resin kits cost a few hundred dollars, USD.

Many times the eBay seller is also on ETSY, and perhaps the best thing about eBay is the seller’s rating and feedback information, which I don’t buy from anyone without a 99-100% rating. I now rarely, if ever, buy on eBay. It just doesn’t have want I want anymore.

I find ETSY a much better market for buying model kits, especially 3D printed ones, that are custom, made-to-order, and if anything is broken or wrong, the seller often prints a replacement part free. ETSY sellers go out of their way to make the buyer satisfied, and if there are 3D print mistakes, often the printer accepts the responsibility for the mistake and will correct it. And you can ask the seller to scale any figure to the custom scale size that you want as long as the license holder is willing to accept that.

ETSY sellers have new 3D model kit releases whereas eBay doesn’t. Thus, 3D printing has revolutionized what modelers want instead of going to eBay and looking for long OOP resin kits that are super-hard to find.

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It’s been my number one source for AM,stuff like figures,stowage,tracks,resin,some good ebay shops.

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Chinese-manufactured kits are available at extremely low prices, and low (or free) shipping, from Chinese ebay vendors … at least to Canadian buyers! :hugs:
:smiley: :canada:

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