Buying Tools from eBay

wf9 · Post by **wf9** » Tue May 22, 2007 2:20 pm

what is everyones experience of buying tools from ebay? what do you look for? what is it like to return something thats broken?

There seems to be some unbelievable prices on there but having been stung on other items from eBay im not too sure.

mg1prg · Post by **mg1prg** » Tue May 22, 2007 2:45 pm

it varies really.. depends who you're buying off. You get some independent people selling on there who have the odd tool they come across they want to sell on, but you also have full on ebay shops selling quite big ranges at good prices - they're pretty much as good as your online retailers. So obviously they want to give good service etc as it's a business at the end of the day.. give them a go I reckon! Let me know how you get on, i'd be interested to see...

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Tue May 22, 2007 3:18 pm

just make shure the seller is based in Britain and is selling brittish spec

imports may attract import duty supply may be incompatible 60hz compared with 50hz here ect

guarantees may not be valid

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Tue May 22, 2007 3:33 pm

I have about 7 dewalt 18 volt batteries and two of those came from the USA, just recently two of my batteries are goosed and it turns out that they are both the USA ones

There are some bargains on ebay, but there are also some rip off merchants and so you have to be careful.

Generally if the seller has lots of good feedback then you will probably be safe

I don't like the sellers that participate in feedback blackmail though where they e-mail you and ask you to leave feedback first

If I buy something then the seller gets paid first and he should leave feedback first. If I sell something I would leave feedback first as I have been paid first- that is the way it should be!

I used to sell on ebay and had over 1200 positives and no neutrals or negatives and everytime I left the feedback first!

stevemastic · Post by **stevemastic** » Tue May 22, 2007 5:28 pm

I only buy hand tools & sundries no problems there. As others have said beware of long distance sellers with power products

wf9 · Post by **wf9** » Wed May 23, 2007 11:09 am

cheers fellas.

I found this one seller who seems to be ok, cheap and local to me too, they promise next day delivery.

[spam link removed by admin

what do you think

:

mg1prg · Post by **mg1prg** » Wed May 23, 2007 11:23 am

Looks alright - based in the UK from what I can see and enough positive feedback.. should try that phone number on their shop page first I reckon - if you speak to someone in this country and they seem normal enough, go for it!

gentoo_ · Post by **gentoo_** » Thu May 24, 2007 5:47 am

I've only bought 6 tools so far off ebay and haven't been ripped off on any of them.
If you're going to be spening a lot then it's best to only buy items that have PayPal buyers protection. It should say that you're protected for upto £500 next to their paypal logo in the box with their ebay ID.

That way if the seller doesn't send the item or it's lost in the post you're guarenteed to get your money back.

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:07 am

gentoo_ wrote:I've only bought 6 tools so far off ebay and haven't been ripped off on any of them.
If you're going to be spening a lot then it's best to only buy items that have PayPal buyers protection. It should say that you're protected for upto £500 next to their paypal logo in the box with their ebay ID.

That way if the seller doesn't send the item or it's lost in the post you're guarenteed to get your money back.

You have to be very careful if you think that paypal protects you!

I was once involved in a transaction and bought something for £250 and paid through paypal, the item did not arrive and eventually I contacted paypal. The guy had taken the money out of his account and had spent it!

Paypal refunded me 76 pence as this was left in his account and they said that it was all that they could recover under the circumstances!

Another time I bought a CD full of dewalt schemetic diagrams, in the listing it showed a genuine dewalt CD. I received a counterfeit copy and when I complained to the guy he said tough sh*t!

Neither paypal or my credit card company would do anything because he had listed it as dewalt tools backup cd, although it showed the genuine article in the listing!. I did not realise that a backup cd was a counterfeit cd or I would not have paid £15 for it!

wf9 · Post by **wf9** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:42 am

Well folks...... I bought a cheap Makita Maktec MTO64SK for a mate of mine as a housewarming gift from them yesterday and it arrived this morning.....perfect condition and for under 40 quid including postage i certainy cant complain.... well reccomend!!!

spam link removed by admin

gentoo_ · Post by **gentoo_** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:45 am

ultimatehandyman wrote:
You have to be very careful if you think that paypal protects you!

I was once involved in a transaction and bought something for £250 and paid through paypal, the item did not arrive and eventually I contacted paypal. The guy had taken the money out of his account and had spent it!

Paypal refunded me 76 pence as this was left in his account and they said that it was all that they could recover under the circumstances!

That's why I said to only to buy items that has paypal buyers protection. You only got 76p back because your seller didn't have that on the listing so you only got what was left in his account at the time you raised your claim into a dispute.
If it is protced and there's no money in their account then Paypal refund you out of their money and put the sellers account in debt. If they don't pay up they send the debt collectors round.

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Thu May 24, 2007 10:56 am

gentoo_ wrote:
ultimatehandyman wrote:
You have to be very careful if you think that paypal protects you!

I was once involved in a transaction and bought something for £250 and paid through paypal, the item did not arrive and eventually I contacted paypal. The guy had taken the money out of his account and had spent it!

Paypal refunded me 76 pence as this was left in his account and they said that it was all that they could recover under the circumstances!

That's why I said to only to buy items that has paypal buyers protection. You only got 76p back because your seller didn't have that on the listing so you only got what was left in his account at the time you raised your claim into a dispute.
If it is protced and there's no money in their account then Paypal refund you out of their money and put the sellers account in debt. If they don't pay up they send the debt collectors round.

I get you now

But I still wouldn't trust paypal they will do anything to keep the money for themselves

I bought many of my power tools from ebay- a dewalt 5 kit and bosch multidrill etc.

At one point I was paying over £200 per month to ebay in selling fees and then I just thought that I was working hard to pay ebay and paypal and so packed it all in. Some of the power sellers must be paying thousands of pounds per month in fees

wf9 · Post by **wf9** » Thu May 24, 2007 11:04 am

from what i can make out in general eBay is only good if you want to get rid of something or you have supplies of things at small costs. That is the only way to make money.

I think a lot of companies use it just to boost turnover.

marksson · Post by **marksson** » Thu May 24, 2007 8:28 pm

I purchase just about everything online these days and have done for a few years, including tools on ebay.
I have called companies advertising tools or equipment on ebay to see if they will do a deal on quantity etc.
I think that you just have to see ebay and the like as another shop! and treat it as such.
Still need to shop around with the physical shops though as they can just occasionaly be cheaper or quicker.

Forget paypal protection on its own.
Paypal will push you to pay through your bank account, whereas the best protection that you can get is paying by CREDIT CARD (not debit card, even if it's got the visa logo).

mg1prg · Post by **mg1prg** » Fri May 25, 2007 7:33 am

that's spot on - credit card is always gonna be the best way to pay when you're unsure as you've got so much more protection from fraud etc. In terms of ebay though, you can never go wrong by looking further into their feedback scores.. if they've got 100's of positive feedback saying about great service and delivery, you know they're gonna be fine