I had a pleasant Ebay experience

Ah, got it. Those seemed like a really great idea for potentially-sensitive items, certainly including bullion; now that eBay has increased anonymity in bid histories and buyer feedback, they don't seem as compelling.

 

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After winning just over 6100 eBay auctions in 14-1/2 years, I would say less than 10 have had any problems. I have had thousands of hours of enjoyment in the process.

 

What are you basing this on?

 

Early on, I fully agreed with jeffB. It was a great idea, and it helped others save $$, and it WAS greatly appreciated. BUT, the more ebay didn't want honest members trying to save unknowing members from throwing their money away (hence, netting ebay less $$ in FVF), they really made sure that NOONE could advise a buyer they got ripped off by an unscrupulous seller. This 'privacy' thing is nothing more than a corporate 'mask', telling the potential do-gooders to 'leave our bottom line alone'. My next listing, which WAS going to be listed on ebay, is going to Great Collections....maybe not a larger audience, numbers-wise, but those registered with GC have a better grasp on numismatic items than the average ebayer with 10 feedbacks (and 8 of those are for loofahs, crayons, some useless stuff...then they think they know about coins (LOLOL). I bought a number of bullion coins last week, and no less than 10 bids, on 10 seperate items, were from bidders that had 75% or higher bidding activity with the same seller. Ebay has a lot of looking to do, but I was told if a bidder has more than 40% bidding activity in a month, WITHOUT winning an item, they consider that more than likely shill bidding, and do take it seriously (I then inquired as to how we can report fakes, and have those listings looked at, now that our REAL reporting page has been rendered useless....THAT was met with silence, but......c'est la vie. I've already received 3 $50 'bucks' for my troubles with sellers shilling their items (more than I would have saved without the shills). And they are ready to clamp down.....so they say. But, if you ARE going to shill, don't use an account that has 80% bidding activity on your own items.

For anyone that has bought from them in the past, I'd be looking for D.B.S.Coins to be taking a forced vacation in the near future....ebay is all over them, just too many shills with incredibly high % of bidding on their own items (found 2 shill accounts, with 40-50 bids, no wins, but with 100% bidding activity. Ebay is getting TOTALLY out of control, and if Joe Q. Public did this sort of thing, JQP would be in front of a judge by now.

 

When PayPal departs eBay, eBay's going to have to change its tune FAST. They sold their cash cow, and I predict other auction websites will nibble away at their biz, with better terms, lower fees, and consumer-friendly attitudes.

I think they'll remain the biggest, but with shocking changes imposed upon them by the marketplace. They've already stripped John Donahoe of his executive authority, and not a minute too soon...