Trash or Treasure (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: Fiver29

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	20/02/09 (130 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Private sellers can have some bargains

Disadvantages: Merchants are generally a rip off

I'm not an Ebay addict. I generally use it in fits and starts, but I can honestly say I've never had a problem with it (except for my stuff not selling grrr).

Basically (for anyone that doesn't know), Ebay is an online auction. It started off mainly with people selling their unwanted items on the premise that one persons trash is another man's treasure, and people could make a bit of extra cash. But as with everything else people found a way to make lots of money from it, and many of the sellers are businesses rather than individuals.

I tend to steer clear of most businesses because if you look around the web the goods are generally cheaper elsewhere, and often there are no postage fee on top of price.

However, buying from individuals can be quite lucrative. Most items from individuals are used, but shopping around means you can get items that are pretty much indistinguishable from new.

Of course Ebay is not all rosy, people often have problems with non delivery or non payment. This can usually be avoided by a good read of the feedback, in particular looking for new users that have lots of sudden feedback for items costing only one or two pound. Or reading what people have said about delivery times.

Personally I have never bought off anyone who has less than 100% feedback, because unless you are looking for a very specialised item there are hundreds of sellers selling the same or similar items.

All in all I would say it was a good idea to begin with, but has been spoilt by the traders. And the price of many new goods are so cheap now, there isn't much that Ebay can sell cheaper.

Summary: Highs and Lows