I have found, since I started buying and selling on Ebay in 2002 that about one in 30 people using Ebay, are less then honorable. This has ranged from complete rip-offs of my money (twice) to a buyer not taking my suggestion of insuring the item while shipping and then thinking I should take the item back, because it was damaged in transit. Pay attention to their feed back record! Know that if the seller/buyer's transactions are a low number, there certainly is more risk in dealing with them. I have found that about 1 in 20 have very poor customer relations, they are slow to give feed back, ship the item, pay for the item, etc. I have 189 transactions there; but, have slowed down quite a bit in the past year and now that it's required that Ebayers use only Pay-Pal, I am even less interested. Then, for some stupid reason, Ebay has just decided sellers can no longer leave bad feed back for buyers! How are you to weed out the crooks who are buyers out there! Lately, I've only bought stuff, when the seller will agree to allowing me to pay with a money order.

Why would you want to pay by MO. If the sale goes sour, try getting your money back. Takes weeks. At least with paypal you have an option of dispute resolution. I have had to use it once and they almost immediately refunded my money.

Simply put, I don't like Pay Pal! I don't like them having access to my checking/savings account. I don't want to set-up a special checking/savings account just for doing business with Pay Pal. This is my choice! I've lived without Pay Pal my whole life and am not convinced I need their services, now!

Enough said

I've been buying stuff through ebay for about 4 years...and about 95% of the time, it's been great. You have to be wary of course, and about the only times I've had difficulties is when I bought something on an impulse w/o asking questions, and/or checking their feedback ratings.

I used to pay strictly by Money Order, but after 2 of them got lost somewhere along the line, I decided to open a checking/debit card account for the sole purpose of opening a Pay Pal account. I like Pay Pal through my debit card because it's an instant transfer (sellers love that and always comment on my quick payment ) and you have at least some protection if necessary. I only keep a little $ that account (typically less than 20.00 ) until I buy something, then I make a cash deposit to cover my purchase. From auction end to the completion of payment can take less than an hour.

One more thing is... a lot more places now are accepting Pay Pal (I don't have a regular credit card...don't believe in 'em...but that's another story ) so it's not just an ebay thing.

funny thing my wife's nephew and other family members scoff at e-bay but who do they come to when they want to buy or sell an item? you guessed it. will you list my truck? will you bid on a gasket set for me? Then they have the nerve to say e-bay is a ripoff.

if i buy off e-bay i buy new radio equipment and so forth fom the shops in china and so on, there prices are cheap but it is quite good quality most of the time, make sure you buy new stuff from ebay shops as they offer a return service.
as for buying engines and aircraft second hand, if your looking at an aircraft on e-bay and its fairly close to where you are ask them if it is possible to see it in person and to have a look round it, if it is a genuine sale with no problems or faults to hide they will be only too pleased to let you visit it and check it out, as for engines it may sound daft but send them a message asking if you can see and hear the engine running and if they replyt yes and offer you to go through you know it should be a good engine and not a faulty one, so which you reply il take ya word for it, its the fact that the person selling is willing to show you it working is what is important, as anyone selling an engine on there thats faulty or plays up and dosnt run correctly will most likely say no i havent got time sorry.
there are all sorts of tips and tricks to do and use to find out infomation about the item your bidding on by just interigating them without them knowing,

Every time I've use E Bay I've had some sort of problem. I sold something, the last and final attempt to make any sense of Ebay, and it took me over a month go get paid. The guy kept saying that he sent the money.. never got it. Then, after taking it to arbitration, he finally paid. He said the check he sent me was written several weeks ago but he just forgot to send it.. yet it was dated two days before I got it. Then I got a bad rating from him for being agnostic.

Nope. Sorry. Ebay is a rip off and there is no control and no conscience with any of it. If I need it that bad, I'll buy it retail and get the guarantee and at least a better than even chance of getting what I want.

CGr.

I have used E-bay a lot and (knock on wood) I have always had smooth transactions. I have 100% feedback on more than 500 transactions. I do not buy used electronics ie., RX, TX and etc. I use PayPal for the possibility that something may go wrong and they can help. When I first started E-bay I had a problem and went to conflict resolution and PayPal paid me for the item. Only time in 500+.

Pay Pal costs the seller money to use. You are O.K.ing Pay-Pal having access to what ever account you provide them. The sensible method to use Pay-Pal is to start a dedicated account for them and only keep money in there to cover what ever the current transaction needs. This dedicated account cost you money to maintain.

My choice; I don't want to use Pay-Pal, it's my choice to make. I haven't sold anything on Ebay since they have required a Pay-Pal account. Lately, I've only bought from people I've delt with before and who will take a Money Order. I'm not alone in my opinions on Pay-Pal and Ebay has lost many customers because of there stupidity over this.

Ebay is a huge corporation, problems are next to (if not) impossible to remedy as there is very little infrastructure to deal with it and what exists is extremely inadequate. A human voice that deals with the public within the company, may not even exist!

Sorry you have had bad experiences with E-bayI on the other hand have not. I find if I need to know something from E-bay I do talk to a live person. I guess it is just different strokes for different folks. Try getting your money back on a MO when the buyer says he did not receive it. Tell me how long it takes. No recourse on MO's

I am going to start a poll

Where have I said I have had bad experiences with Ebay? Yes, I have been ripped off and I have found a percentage of people are not honorable! Almost all the other people who have used the service to any extent, will have also bumped into dishoneorable people; or, outright theives! If you have had the number of transactions you say you have and haven't been ripped off, you are extremely lucky, almost un-believably lucky!

iv had problems in the past with both ebay and paypal, and both times iphoned i spoke to the english side of it and on both ocasions was mis treated and they spoke very rudely and talk about messing around one of the calls took alittle over an hour,
however i turtned the tables and made 2 long distance phone calls to the american side of it and on both ocasions the problems where sorted within 5 minutes of me explaining my issues and questions, they also where very very nice to me and put the english contacts toatly to shame, now me being english i am quite disgusted with our reps that i phoned at the start, and somthing else i was happy about was they explained the soultions fully and covered both sequrity side of things and how to prevent fraud and acount theft, i found them very out going to making sure i was happy too with the decisions, all i have to say is il use paypal again but the english rep side of it in the future can go %%$%#, if you have any problems or any querys or are slightly worried you only need to phone them and they are more than obliged to take time in explaing to you the procedures, 1st class support in my opinion. paypal and ebay are trying to create seller protection and also buyer protection so if we do have to refund someone we will also get our selling fees and item fees back if we can prove postage by a reciept of posting or tracking number, so 5they are trying to make it safe for both sides

Out of the 400+ transactions I've had problems 3 times.
One was when the guy took a month and a half to send the package...after numerous e-mails and a couple phone calls, I finally found out it was a somewhat irresponsable teenager, and he finally sent the package, after I talked with his dad! (that was some slot car stuff )

One deal, I just plain got stiffed on...the seller just disappeared. She was selling bundled "lots" of old Air Classics magazines...(she stiffed about 6 buyers at that same time )

3rd time was when a drop shipper promised product when it wasn't in stock...after waiting almost 2 months, and after he said he never received payment (I had my cancelled check in my hand while I was talking to him on the phone ) he refunded my money.

I also buy stuff occasionally here on RCU...but after a M.O. got lost in the mail, I decided to open a seperate checking account just for Pay Pal use.
Knock on wood, no problems to speak of since.
BTW, it takes 60 days to get your money back from the USPS if they lose your M.O.

My thoughts on internet transactions error towards the cautious. Just last night, the news program 60 Minutes described a dangerous new Virus that's sole purpose is finding checking account numbers and stealing money from them. Yes, I have anti-virus and firewalls protection. Still, I think it's just a matter of time before I will be robbed by some of these jerks out there! So, I try to minimize my exposure.

I was ripped of by one of my own family members! I don't find it hard to believe strangers are also interested in taking from me what ever they can!

While I've had good luck with ebay so far, we keep a dedicated bank account (with only a few hundered dollars) for paypal and other times when we need to allow a buisness to draw funds from our account, as opposed to us providing the funds to them. I also choose to change the Paypal payment option to a credit card, for additional protection, when I buy higher priced items.

Jack

the only times I have had a problem with ebay was when I bought a model from a guy in canada and canada post squashed the package surprisingly the model survives but the .049 engine was a loss the guy never returned my enquiries about any insurance that was suposedly paid for,stilll have the kit.

and a model that was sold by a seller that didn't know what he had the description was for a new in box kit and all I got was a set of plans and some scrap balsa, he gave me a full refund and even after I told him I would send him the box back at my expense, he said just keep it I gave him a ++ feedback, otherwise my transactions have been smooth and hassle free.

as for pay pal, there is no required extra information you need to provide to them for transactions, that you would need to give for a ordinary credit card,or checking account from a bank.
I prefer to use it for the buyer protection and the ability to pay quickly which most of the sellers apreciated from the feedback I have recieved,I have also used the service here on RCU to sell some items without any trouble what so ever.

I know some people don't trust any financial institutions and still stuff there matresses with cash but so far PP has worked out for my selling and buying activities.

Just for fun I watching a used Futaba 6exa complete radio system, started at $50.00 two days latter it was at $127.00 still 5 days left, that’s crazy! the new 6exp is only $151.00. That’s a deal?

that is crazy I got one for 99$ last year on ebay,it works perfect.

here's another example guy bought a giant Top Flight P-51 305$+40$ shipping could have gotten it for 215$ from tower with there discounts [X(] its called being caught up in the moment and not comparison shopping

well a few weeks back i secured a good deal, came accross an irvine 61 in box with instructions used but very very clean indeed, and i hit the buy it now price of 25 GBP meanwhile i watched a few other to see if i got a good deal and allot without the box was fetching around 50 to 60 GBP the one i got had only been on around an hour and in that time it only had 9 views so i think i was lucky when i was a kid i used to dream of being able to get one as back then i couldnt afford one, now im 22 still strugling with this hobby but saw that and picked it sraight up, the only thing alittle bad about the engine was that the exhaust has had new holes drilled in to try keep it together, but i guess i could pick one up at some point

I have been lucky with buying small parts, some current and some things not really distributed anymore, on ebay. The nice thing is you can find people to ship small packages for $2-3.00 when most of the 'big guys' will not ship for less than $5 or $10 on small orders.

As said above, ask questions, look at pics, use respected merchants. I've found a few that always have something small I need for a fair price and very little shipping.