eBay Buyers Beware!

I learned the hard way. I bought a cute, very lightweight child's fleece blanket that was brand new and cost only $5.00. Great price but the shipping cost was twice as much. I ended up paying $16.49 total. This seller was sly. Instead of posting the shipping cost up front or instead of having a "calculate" button, they instruct you to contact them. Who has time for that? I just assumed it would be reasonable, certainly not twice the cost of the little blanket itself. I have been buying from eBay for a long time and never encountered something so ridiculous as this.

I bought a doll one time. A little African American doll since you can't really find black dolls in stores. Try shopping at Wal-Mart and you won't find even one. At Christmas you may find an African American Cabbage Patch doll but since my article is not about the prejudism of Wal-Mart I shall get back to EBay Bewares. The doll I won on EBay was to be a gift for my baby. Once we opened the box we were overcome with the strong, reeking smell of smoke from the baby doll. I washed her little clothes and took off the diaper but the smell was deep in her fabric.

My neighbor won a little girls kitchen. It was a small one that could be carried around. She paid a little too much for it but couldn't wait to get it since she hadn't seen one like it around the local stores. When she opened it up it had a cat urine smell and it even had sticky spots where the urine had dried. It smelled like a male cat had sprayed it. She tossed it out onto the porch to be trashed. Sure, she could have cleaned it up but it was just too gross.

A disappointing factor with eBay now is that it is heavily stocked with sellers who not only sell new items you can find at any store but at the same price if not more. EBay is no longer a true place of auction where you can find good deals but is rather more a huge market of items being sold as new. Of course, I am sure it has a lot for what you are looking for. I was in the market for a camping tent and was swarmed by new tents at a sporting good store price and tagged with a huge shipping and handling cost. I rather just go and get one at the store rather than pay a full price and pay postage. If I did find one for a good price it had 40 bids or so.

In order to protect you when shopping on eBay I offer the following suggestions:

· Always check shipping and handling cost. If the seller wants you to contact them and if you really have the time to do that, do it rather than be shocked when you go to pay and the shipping and handling is 2x as much as the item purchased.

· Most eBay sellers who offer goods from a smoke and pet free home post this fact at the bottom of their auction page. If you want your goods to come from a smoke, pet free home and its not posted, better to email them and ask or move onto the next seller.

· If you're on eBay to find a bargain, before you bid on something, check the actual cost of it. That's easy to do with Google. Google the name of the item and you will get a list of places that sell it and the actual price. Chances are, you might find your item at a wholesale place online that is not only cheaper in cost but less in shipping cost as well. You might find it new at Target for less. Sometimes buyers assume since they are bidding on eBay that they will get a good deal but this isn't always the case.

Always, Always, Always check the sellers's reputation by looking at their feedback scores. These scores are right next to their name on the far right hand side. If they are under 100% positive, simply click on the number by their name and it will show you every single comment and how many negatives they have had in the past month, 6 months and 12 months.

Buyer, do your homework, don't get burned. You're looking for a bargain, make sure you get one!