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paulz
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2024 22:06
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I’m an EBay user from way back, still do most times, as new as well as used stuff is available. It seems now though that Amazon has taken over by many, maybe most. Why, which do you prefer?
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 07:52 - Edited by: gcrank1
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Far as I know Amazon only has primarily new stuff and no messing about with the bidding. If there is used product it is discounted and maybe some few times offers may be made (seems I did that once and it was accepted).
Amazon and with Prime for free shipping (so it does 'pay off' for us) has been our go-to for quite some time now.
Ebay items with the Buy It now are my pref if shopping there. I do a search for whatever, find the offerings and price spread and if one has a BIN consider if it seems fair. If so, a quick click and good to go.
I am not fond of bidding, seems often the craziness sets in and goes higher than stuff is worth (to me, so Ive wasted that time messing about).
They both serve a purpose for me so I keep them, beats chasing all over the country for the oddball stuff I think I need.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 08:05
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Ditto what gcrank said to a T for me.
Most of my shopping is amazon, but do use ebay for used stuff and also better price on new stuff.
Its for the convenience, I get home from work, something I need, find it, order it, at my house before weekend, then no running around looking for something. I am a prime member and also a verified ebay member. I have sold on ebay too.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 08:21
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Most of amazon stuff is free returns.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 08:41
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Yeah that!
Ive had a couple Amazon products that I had issues with that I could fix rather than return and by communicating with them got a satisfactory adjustment to the pricing to make up for my futzin.
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ICC
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 08:51 - Edited by: ICC
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Amazon is the single most used seller we use. First purchases when all they were books, 1998. eBay is used occasionally, but much less. I also have about 10 other online sellers I use at least a couple times a year to every month or so.
Living in a rural area that has had USPS, UPS & FedEx service for decades we have a long history of mail order purchasing. Online is more convenient that snail mail or telephone.
Amazon does have good customer service and deliver quickly, but so do some other vendors we use for some special categories such as food, special tools, electronics parts. Some things when an item could be bought on Amazon but also on an independent site I opt for the independent if price is sam we or close. Bexos doesn't need all my business. But we do buy enough at Amazon to make Prime worthwhile.
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paulz
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 09:03 - Edited by: paulz
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Thanks guys. I should clarify that I’m talking about buying new stuff, with buy it now. eBay in the beginning was bidding on used things, but for the carb I bought yesterday there were many buy it now new ones available.
Guess it’s time to switch over. I probably have an Amazon account (or the wife does). What is Prime?
With EBay it goes to my PayPal or credit card, and arrives in the mailbox. Does the Amazon stuff come in those blue vans running around? Land on the doorstep?
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 09:48
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Always lived rural so like ICC I've been using Amazon since it was just books. I too try to find independent online sellers but often Bezos gets a cut. I do often look up the Amazon seller's website, if they have one and find it sometimes cheaper with good shipping options direct.
Ebay, primarily for used and or unique items. Just bought some lantern mantles for an old (if 70's is old!) discontinued gas lantern. Only place I could find them.
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KelVarnsen
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 10:27 - Edited by: KelVarnsen
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I used to use eBay but I'm in Canada and they changed their shipping policies a number of years ago. Now almost any item I look at has shipping that is more than the cost of the item. It's pretty much unusable.
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spencerin
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 13:25 - Edited by: spencerin
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Amazon is better in almost every way. I do occasionally find an item new on eBay for less, which I will buy, but that's the exception to the rule.....
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KinAlberta
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 13:48 - Edited by: KinAlberta
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Quoting: KelVarnsen Now almost any item I look at has shipping that is more than the cost of the item. It's pretty much unusable.
Agree. I try to avoid buying anything off eBay.
Sometimes truly insane shipping charges though most of the time just outrageous. Moreover, I’ll see the same product at a lower asking price but commensurately higher shipping charge.
Some things I’ve put on my watchlist have triggered a small discount offer but never very much so even then I don’t buy.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 18:10
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Quoting: paulz What is Prime?
$139 a year , I think. You get free 2 day shipping on almost everything. Plus other benefits I don't use. Amazon also allows you to share your Prime with others. You should read up on how the sharing with others works. My son signed up for Prime when it first came along years ago. $79 then. At that time he was able to share the free shipping portion of Prime with me, my wife, my brother and his sister. Only gets the music and the free access to some books and other Prime benefits. But the rest of us have had our shipping free for a long time. All of us at different addresses. That may have changed but as we have made no changes to anything I think we may be grandfathered in. Not sure how todays sharing works but I think there are differences today.
You can try Prime free for 30 days and cancel. Monthly or annual plans.
The items that are not eligible for free Prime shipping are marked with how much shipping is. I have not run into charges very often.
No minimum purchase needed for the free Prime shipping.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 18:58
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Sorta related.... I have found some sellers with independent web sites give you a free shipping code if you leave something in the shopping basket for several hours.
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darz5150
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2024 23:40
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Quoting: ICC Sorta related.... I have found some sellers with independent web sites give you a free shipping code if you leave something in the shopping basket for several hours
Good point. I have also found if you put things on your wish list, or take them out of the cart and put them on the wish list or save for later, the price can drop.
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darz5150
Member
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2024 00:03
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Another thing that's included with Prime is the music,TV shows and movies that you can watch or download.
We only have Internet on our phones, and don't have unlimited data.
I am not a big TV/movie watcher. But my wife is.
With prime. Whenever you go to Wally World or the Dr. Appt. Or even most bars or gas stations with free wifi. You can download anything you want for free, then use it later. You can go to Walmart, hook up on their wifi, use their app to find out where they moved the thing your looking for that's not in the same place as last time you were there 2 weeks ago, and download 4 movies, while you are checking yourself out. And if you have to wait for human interaction because you are buying alcohol or you can't get the bananas to scan. You have time to download another movie or two. Lol.
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razmichael
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2024 08:19
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It's been a long time since I have even looked at ebay! Amazon prime is not cheap if you don't actually take advantage of all the benefits or don't purchase many items so it takes a bit of a cost benefit analysis to decide if adding in the Prime.
There is another feature of prime that many do not know about - you can store an unlimited number of photos and, if desired, link your phone to use this as a backup (I think there is a 5gb limit on videos).
One thing I wish Amazon offered when shopping was a "I don't need these immediately so ship as one package when all available" button - I hate getting a delivery three days in a row for items that are not all ready to ship at the same time. I realize this is much easier said than done given their shipping process.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2024 08:49
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Quoting: razmichael One thing I wish Amazon offered when shopping was a "I don't need these immediately so ship as one package when all available" button - I hate getting a delivery three days in a row for items that are not all ready to ship at the same time.
What about the Amazon Day option when selecting shipping options? Is selected, they try to consolidate orders to be delivered that day. You can choose and change the day. Might not be available on all items. Plus there is no guarantee the items all come from the same fulfillment center. But they try and they usually give a digital credit of a dollar-fifty on such shipments.
Also handy can be the subscribe and save option. I've been using that for many years. Easy to add and remove items and adjust shipping dates and frequency. Extra discount on sub-n-save orders.
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paulz
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2024 09:33
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Whew, lot to take in for this old curmudgeon. Thanks for all the info. Well turns out the wife does have an Amazon account, saw the 30 day free prime offer. Should I get it? At our city house, only half hour away, there’s a Costco, CVS, Ace hardware. I do a fair amount of shopping there. On EBay I buy smaller stuff, that ATV carb, battery powered doo dads for the cabin life. My wife though reads fiction books on her iPad constantly, think she gets those online through Amazon. She watches tv through the WiFi via Sling. I do too for news and movies. Maybe prime would help with that.
Lots to think about.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2024 09:59 - Edited by: gcrank1
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Est. your 'cost of use' and shipping per year to see if the Amazon Prime membership 'pays off'.
For us it certainly does, and the usually 2 day (which sometimes is even next day) has been great.
I often do an online check of pricing of an item so if/when I hit the local stores I can tell if Id be paying too much.
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KinAlberta
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# Posted: 20 Apr 2024 13:46
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For some items I’ll look at amazon .ca .com & .co.uk plus search eBay.
As I said, I hate using eBay:
My last purchase was last month from an all-star seller with zero neutral or negative reviews! That was RED FLAG #1. It was a domestic pkg being shipped by Canada Post with zero shipping charges. (RED FLAG #2) It took weeks to get it as stated but was shipped immediately. Curiously, in the interim I suddenly started receiving fake Canada Post messages saying my package was delayed in the warehouse and they needed additional information. I can’t prove anything but seemed like too much of a coincidence; so possibly a seller trying to steal personal information or hack into accounts.
I’ll also search the amazon warehouse for used/returned items.
For example, out of the UK I just bought a “throw over gate latch” for a double gate because they are very common there but rare here. (Hated even buying one but realistically would never get around to making one.)
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Ptomaine
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# Posted: 22 Apr 2024 11:22
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I have found myself using amazon far less often. The prices seem to be less sweet than they used to be. I am using ebay for some odd/niche items. Most recently some European skull hangers.
most of my purchases have been with Walmart+. If you pay attention, they occasionally have a 50% off deal ($49 a year). Like Prime, you have no minimum for free shipping. You get a few extras with it; the only thing I really use is free Paramount+. The main reason I use it as I am retired from Walmart Logistics, and I still get a 10% discount on Walmart merchandise.
When your cabin is 20 miles out of a town with only a small grocery store, a Dollar General, and a Kwik Trip. Online purchases pay for any subscription just in saved gasoline before you even consider small town prices.
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Whiskerbiscuit
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# Posted: 22 Apr 2024 16:59
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Both eBay and Amazon are worse than they were 5 years ago. If you search for anything on Amazon, you will get a completely different list of "top" items depending on whether or not you have an ad-blocker that hides the "promoted" items, which are not necessarily any better quality or even cheaper than the similar items a few pages down, from the sellers who didn't pay the extra fees to be "promoted".
I don't trust any of the ratings on Amazon, there's a reason why they all have 4.5 or higher stars, as soon as a company gets too many low reviews, they just change the brand name from WIHSLLGH to WISSLGOH and relist the product. Lots of times I've read through the customer reviews for a product and the reviews are all for something completely different, somehow they are allowed to just swap out the photo and title to a different item.
But that's the world we participate in...for most of us, sometimes the giants like Amazon are the only practical choice. I like to buy local when I can but for some items I just can't afford or am not willing to pay 4x the cost for the exact same thing purchased in my town - especially when it's made overseas anyways.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 27 Apr 2024 15:16
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I’ve been doing eBay part time for 3 years.
Here are some facts:
1) Free shipping is not free. The price of shipping is rolled into the price.
2) I’m a top seller with 100% positive feedback.
100% positive feedback is not a red flag. 100% feedback is very important to eBay sellers. We are held to a high standard. All it takes is one rude buyer to leave unwarranted negative feedback to ruin all my hard work being honest describing, measuring and photographing every single angle of a product I’m selling. Most everything I sell is pre-owned Vintage or antique and imperfect in some way.
3) Sellers are not hacking into your account or selling your information.
4) We don’t control the postal service. We don’t control the numerous hikes each year in postal costs or how long it takes for you to receive your packages. Most of us take packages into the post office ( high volume sellers do this every day) and scan each one to obtain a receipt to prove we sent your packages. I track all packages to insure they are moving through the postal service.
5) Most of us are small businesses. A lot of us are older selling to supplement our social security.
6) We are not Amazon. We do not receive the huge shipping discounts because we are not shipping billions of packages a year.
7) We pay fees to eBay that equal approximately 20% because we don’t just pay fees on the cost of the item we are selling. eBay changes us fees on the total amount of the sale. The item, taxes and shipping are all rolled into one price. So if you live far away and the shipping is higher and/ or you live in a state that has high sales tax I pay more fees.
8) I’m going to lose my top seller status this summer because I’m going to spend more than 90 days away from my eBay store.
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 27 Apr 2024 15:22
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Adding that there are plenty of buyers whom are scammers trying to receive free items.
They will lie that is why I CMA with each and every listing I sell.
I know the steps to take legally if I encounter a scammer.
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