Electronics and eBay

I've wanted a playstation 3 for a while. I've seen them in places like V-Stock and gamestop but the prices are still hovering around 200 dollars, which is...difficult, to say the least, considering that's more than a car payment.

Then I remembered that eBay was a thing that existed.

This is a topic that might well have belonged in General Chat, but I have questions about purchasing electronics on eBay specifically. What should I look out for? Is there any way to make sure I'm looking at a seller I can trust? What should make me feel "good" about a listing? I'm seeing things like [PS3 and two controllers, barely used, from a good smoke free home]. That feels trustworthy to me, and photos are provided, but I have zero experience with sites like this...

Can anyone share their tips and experience?

I've purchased several handheld systems on ebay.

If a seller has ALL positive feedback and ratings, I wouldn't worry about it. If they have any "The item wasn't what I expected" then run away.

I think you can trust ebay 99% of the time. And if you feel like the item was misrepresented, you can take it up with ebay's customer service.

I've bought a lot of video game stuff on ebay and mostly it just really comes down to using common sense. BUT - I have been ripped off several times, even from sellers that have 100% positive ratings (just recently one decided to not ship my item and I had to file a claim against them). A good thing to check for is the seller's return policy. If they say they'll allow returns (usually they allow 14 days) then chances are they're not trying to rip you off and if something goes wrong they'll let you return it and you get your money back.

Buying consoles used is always a bit of a gamble no matter where you get it from, but chances are you'll be fine. I've bought an NES, a Dreamcast, and an N64 from Ebay (the latter from Amazon) and they all worked perfectly (although the dust lid on the NES was missing without any indication from the seller that it would be, even in the photos).

EDIT: Ebay is usually pretty good about helping you out if you get screwed over. They're very strict on sellers (almost as much as Amazon) so if it comes down to having to file a claim, I wouldn't worry too much.

Yeah, eBay does literally nothing to protect sellers from buyers opening cases to get their way, even for less-than-honest reasons. So you should be fine.

Source: I answer all emails and field all cases and return for an eBay seller. People will scream and cry "scam" at the drop of a goddamn hat.

Examples:

Buyer: My package hasn't arrived yet, and it's been 7 whole days!
Me: According to your tracking number, the package may have been lost by USPS, as it hasn't moved or been scanned in a while. Please wait while we sort it out with the post office.
Buyer: YOU'RE RUNNING A SCAM I DEMAND MY MONEY BACK AND IF THE PACKAGE ENDS UP ARRIVING WELL TOO BAD
eBay: Refund the buyer's order.

or

Buyer: You have a Buy 3 Get 1 listing on eBay. I purchased three items that weren't even in that listing, but I still want a free item.
Me: I'm sorry, but you have to purchase from the Buy 3 Get 1 listing in order to qualify for the free item.
Buyer: THIS IS A SCAM THE FREE ITEM WAS A HOOK THAT LURED ME IN TO BUYING MORE I DONT CARE IF IM TOO STUPID TO FOLLOW CLEARLY WRITTEN DIRECTIONS I WANT A FREE ITEM ANYWAY
eBay: Give the buyer the free item.

Well alright. I just...yeah. It'd be nice to get a PS3 for 100~ bucks, getting it from someone who just wants a little more than the used game shop is offering em.

I have 120 feedback points on ebay and all are from buying only, lol. Out of all of those, I've only had 1 bad experience, and it was from some stupid college kid MF. He sold a used calculator on ebay and said it was tested and 100% working, but with scratches on the exterior. I got it and the screen faded from left to right and faded more with the more stuff was drawn on the screen. I could tell he never intended to sell a legit item because I returned it and he played the whole "oh it got lost, i haven't gotten it blah blah".
Other than that I've bought games/consoles/laptops/instruments on ebay and only had the 1 bad experience. Just makes sure to buy from someone that has a lot of feedback to be safe, and make sure they are positive feedback. If there rating is 500+ and still 99.9% then they are good sellers.

Next time get a tracking number when you return it. Confirm that delivery.

...Alright. I think I can be comfortable with this. Thanks, guys. It's just weird after having to learn not to trust well, anything, on the internet, to learn that I *can* trust certain things.

Yeah, eBay does literally nothing to protect sellers from buyers opening cases to get their way, even for less-than-honest reasons. So you should be fine.

Source: I answer all emails and field all cases and return for an eBay seller. People will scream and cry "scam" at the drop of a goddamn hat.

Examples:

Buyer: My package hasn't arrived yet, and it's been 7 whole days!
Me: According to your tracking number, the package may have been lost by USPS, as it hasn't moved or been scanned in a while. Please wait while we sort it out with the post office.
Buyer: YOU'RE RUNNING A SCAM I DEMAND MY MONEY BACK AND IF THE PACKAGE ENDS UP ARRIVING WELL TOO BAD
eBay: Refund the buyer's order.

This happened to me when I sold an extra Wii and controllers and games for $100 but the stuff ended up getting delivered in the end. The buyer contacted me in all caps every time:

Buyer: IT'S BEEN A WEEK AND I DON'T HAVE MY STUFF
Me: I checked the tracking number and it hasn't been scanned in a few days. I'll check with USPS and find out what happened and get back to you.
Buyer: NO IT'S NOT COMING JUST GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK
Me: Well if the package got lost I'll definitely give a refund but I want to check with USPS first.
*Buyer files claim*
Buyer: IT'S BEEN TOO LONG AND YOU'RE TRYING TO STEAL MY MONEY GIVE ME A REFUND
*I contact USPS and they tell me they'll look into it and let me know what happens, I wait but time runs out before they get back to me*
Ebay: Refund the buyer's order.
USPS: Hey we found the package! It got sent to the wrong post office, the package is on its way meow!
Buyer: HAHA I GOT THE WII FOR FREE FUCK YOU (exact quote)
*I tell Ebay this*
Ebay: Decisions are final.

Of course, that's a pretty unusual scenario and if it wasn't $100 lost I probably wouldn't really care since these things will happen sometimes.

Good lord. What an asshole. On the one hand, yay, eBay is totally on my side should anything ever go down.

On the other... yikes. Sorry HOTS.

As it turns out... I have some things I want to *sell* on ebay, now.

I have two SNES games, Earthbound and a cartridge for Hagane.

Earthbound is worth 120~ish.

Hagane...is worth like five hundred fucking dollars.

Can...can someone tell me how to not fuck this up. I am literally holding the means of getting my boyfriend down here and into my arms in a box behind me on the bed.

God dammit, I would buy EarthBound from you if I had the money.

That would make things pretty easy for you; I'm not going to fuck you over.

Maybe if it's still on the market in a few weeks I'll have the cash, but don't hold out for me.

According to the research I've done, it will take me weeks of buying and selling useless items to build up enough reputation before anyone worthwhile will even CONSIDER looking at me as a seller.

That said, I think Earthbound isn't going anywhere. If 120 sounds fair to you Ryan it's yours. It's in good condition, I was very nice to it. : ) It's just the cart though. I wasn't lucky enough to get anything else with it.

EDIT: I was glancing at Amazon last night and people are selling cartridges with partially torn labels for $189.00 . That's... ludicrous, to me. It's a great game, but it's not like there are only two copies in circulation. It's amazing what people will convince themselves *their* copy is worth. I actually saw a cartridge someone put up for $1,599.99 at one point, but it's gone meow. That HAD to be a joke.

Strangest Earthbound related thing I saw on eBay, were 10 copies of Earthbound that somebody wanted $25,000 for.

Buying on eBay isn't that bad, but selling is a pain in the ass. I tried selling my copy of Paper Mario on there, but the lady I tried to sell it to was schizophrenic. The all caps, trying to contact me 10 times before I reply, all within a two hour period when I was asleep, complaining that I said that the cartridge had a little bit of dirt on it (which I easily cleaned off), and all sorts of other shit.

Got a bit of money out of it (like a few dollars, to cover shipping for something else some other time) because I asked her to pay for the shipping fees and other eBay-fees since I had already bought the shipping label at the time.

Ended up selling stuff on Amazon instead. A lot easier to deal with. I bought my used Wii on eBay, though, and that was perfectly fine.

You know what's even more ridiculous than selling copies of old games for crazy high prices?

GameStop is selling used copies of Xenoblade for $90. 90 fucking dollars, for a game that's only about 2 years old. Their reason is that it's a "vintage game" (their actual words) "in high demand." Absolutely ridiculous, especially when these "used" copies all seem to be suspiciously new and in pristine condition, but without the plastic wrap.

About the EarthBound copy, I'll think about it. I would also need to get my hands on a working SNES, too. But damn do I love EarthBound.

GameStop is selling used copies of Xenoblade for $90.

I paid $5.99 on the PSN store. Not the same, but there's no way I'd pay that much money just to have a physical copy.

Xenoblade. Not Xenogears.

It appears I do not have the ability to read. Sorry to bother you.

Carry on.

I also have a working SNES, AV cables and a controller. The only component I don't have right in front of me is the power supply and I know it's in my basement- just need to find the box it's hiding in.

Additionally:

Super Mario World
Yoshi's Island
Super Mario All-Stars
Starfox
Kirby Super Star
and Battle Cars, but I can't even find what that game is worth. The demand I am sure is a whopping "nothing" though.

Just took another look at Earthbound- I think you're more interested in the game than the collector's value. There is, however, a little wear on the upper side of the label. Nothing but black space though, and it's a spot about half the size of your nail on your pinky finger. The illustration is fine.

Turns out battle cars ranges from $7-15, hahahaha.

I'm interested in both playing it and collecting it, really. I've already beaten the game, at least 5 times, but I'd love to have it as a collector's item and play it on the original system some time.

Finding a working SNES isn't that impossible. I'm sure I'll find one that's not too expensive if I look hard enough.

You're absolutely right, but if selling it to you at a discount means I can earn a few extra dollars on top of the game, I'm willing to do it. I don't mind that at all.

If you can hold out until the end of the year, I foresee PS3s becoming stupidly cheap once the PS4 releases. But I'm not 100% sure about that, since there's no backwards compatibility.

Seems like that's gonna be the case, with the way money is panning out. (Waiting that is)