Ah, the joys of E-Bay.
 

I wanted to rant about something in this topic, but instead I'll turn it into a discussion, 'cause it's better that way.

E-Bay. Some love it. Some hate it. But one is sure, you can get nice things, sell your junk, and even make unexpected profits from something you thought was completely useless.

My brother in law for example found some old amplifier valves amoungst the junk that me and my partner cleared out from the shed (my dad used to play around with radios a lot in his youth). He thought they might be useful for someone, and said that it'd be a shame for them to go in the bin, so he auctioned them off on E-Bay expecting to get £5 for them.

It turned out that they were rare and very sought-after. A bidding war took place, and the price quickley rose. They were eventaully bought by someone from Wales who paid my bro in law just under £200. . .

Not bad for a peice of junk, huh? :D

Some e-bay experiances aren't so good though. For example I've been wanting to buy the English version of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath for a while now, since I have access to the German version (it belongs to my partner) and would like to play the game in English.

I don't wanna pay more then £5 or £6 including P&P to get something I already own in a different language. So I watch a few auctions of SW. There's one which is going at a low price, so I aim to go onto E-Bay in the evening when the Auction is about to end, in the hope I can snipe it. I don't bid on it when I discover it though, otherwise the price may rise.

I come back to my PC in the evening to try sniping it. No pages load or anything. It seemed my internet decided to go all la-la on me and not work anymore at a time I really needed it, and I had to wait 2 hours for the ISP to re-set. It hadn't done that in over 3 months until then. Really awesome and brillant, eh? :P

None the less, when the 'net came back, I missed out on my auction, and that copy of SW was bought by someone else for £2.50 (the price I wanted to buy it at), simply because I couldn't get online to bid on it. I keep finding other copies of SW, but they're all being sold for £8 or £10 including P&P, which is fair enough, but I already own SW in German, etc. (anyone wanna sell me a copy of SW for £5 or £6 including P&P? lol)

It's probably not the most annoying thing in the world, but still kinda crappy and enough to make me feel very bitter toward my ISP and my luck in general, even if it wasn't E-Bay's fault. But don'tcha just hate it when things like this happen anyway? :P

So what's everyone elses experiances with E-Bay like? Have you made some real profits or had a memorable bidding war? Seen any interesting items? Share your experiances. :)

Fu*king E-Bay won't leave me alone in my E-mail!!

Put them onto your Spam list or block them if you don't wanna get e-mails? Or simply log into E-Bay and change your notification settings? You can follow the links at the bottom of each e-mail they send you.

It's easy. :)

Yeah...
Ok

I used to use eBay to look up Oddworld merchandise, but I got fed up when Cullen kept outbidding me on everything. Ah well. I couldn’t afford anything on there right now. My dad has just started using it to expand his business, which is kind of nifty, except he now needs more time on the computer.

I don’t have a working Xbox right now, so I would sell you my copy of Stranger’s Wrath (hell, we go back so long I’d just give it to you :)), but it’s signed, so back off. :D

Aww, well it's the thought that counts. :) I'm touched anyway. :D

Is it signed by Lorne or Sherry? :)

both :p

As is mine

If you want to snip auctions, use Hammersnipe: http://hammersnipe.auctionstealer.com/home.cfm

It automatically places bids for you without you needing to be online.

Isn't that against their rules, though? :S

Then why does it work? eBay could have blocked them easily enough.

I use Ebay to purchase a lot of underground art/merch for the most part.

Every once in a while I will sell a 'mystery box' full of total crap. They never go for much; I think 60 dollars is probably the average.

Other than that, I'll sell home made clothes and other DIY projects. Nice way to pull in some extra scratch in a hurry.

I'm a big fan, myself.

Stupid eBay! Dx This was about a year ago but I can still see it in my head very clearly I had bidded on Abe's Exoddus for the Ps1 on eBay(cause I really wanted the game) But while I was waiting at the very last couple of minutes someone else had bidded so my sister who was at the computer chair quickly noticed it and at the last second she had made the last bid and won! Haha I was so happy that I had won the game. :dead: But when it arrived it only had disc 2 and Abe's Oddysee. What about disc 1?!? So after all of that I had to buy the game at a store. =___=
That's my eBay story.

I am a sniping son of a bitch and I love it. BID UP!
"Hate the game, not the player" Will Smith from some shity movie


____________________

E-Bay? I have Trade-Me. Go the blue Kiwi! :cheer:
Ahem.
Anyway, my Mum is a complete Trade-Me junkie, almost every week we get something in the mail for her. Even my Gorram sister go drawn in. I caved as well, Got net banking. Boo! Evil computer!

I'd say 60$ is pretty good :D I could probably survive a week or more off that money. Hmm Maybe I should start selling mystery-boxes too.

Yeah, and you can't get in trouble for it UNLESS you specify that something expensiive is in it, and they got a box full of dirt and dead bugs.

Bwhaha, that would be a good way to get extra moolah XD Hat off you ya'll.
Yeah, just say it is 'mystery' not expensive. Bah, Feds!

I love the small print in the FAQ section. The meet and greet will probably last about 5 minutes.