eBay Rant...

[BigBassin144]

Over the last couple of years through good timing, patience, and some amount of luck, I've gotten some great deals on tackle on eBay including over 50% retail for a gently used reel and about 48% off retail for another NIB reel. (those who frequent the chat know which two reels I'm referring to ).

But over the past year or so, eBay has become dominated by retailers selling stuff at retail price... It's ridiculous. There's more stuff on sale on eBay for retail prices (or more!) than there are good auctions. Good deals are getting few and far between.

Which leads to me to my complaint about the "Make Offer" button... I've had this happen multiple times. Say a rod retails for $200. The Buy It Now is $200 (plus 20-30 for shipping on a rod!) with a Make Offer option. So, of course, I make a low-ball, laughable offer, expecting the seller to come back with a decent compromise I'd be happy with. 99% of the time, I've gotten a counteroffer of $5 less than the BIN price. (yes, 5 whole dollars off retail). Not enough enough to cover shipping. I just want to ask them why I'd buy it for more than retail with shipping when TW will send it to me for retail with FREE shipping?!

The second item on tonight's Rant Menu is: Why do people bid with 6 days left on the auction. There's about a .0000000001% chance you're going to win the auction, so why in the world bid it up so damn early?! I don't know about you guys, but if something has a starting bid of $50, I don't look at it go, "Hmm... 50 dollars would be a great deal! I think I'll bid on it now with 6 days left and hope I win it!"

And finally, blurry pictures SUCK!!! If you're going to take blurry pictures, please don't tell me I can see the small boat rash in the pics... because I can't! I don't see anything but a blurry blob... I'm sorry, but nowadays, people should know how to use a camera, especially if they're selling stuff. I'm not expecting professional quality photos, but a nice sharp picture isn't that hard. Especially since the camera focuses for you!

I can somewhat understand people not knowing how to take close up pictures since most camera's won't focus close up on their normal settings. But there's always google and a little thing called an OWNER'S MANUAL.



Ok, I'm done with my rant know. Comments? Signatures for a petition to ban retail sales from eBay?! (Like that would EVER happen)...

BB