Comments on: eBay: No Matter How Hard You Try, You’re Still No Amazon

By: jan

jan — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:50:50 +0000

I pesonally prefer amazon. I hate the bidding process on ebay. Most likely you will be forced to bid with someone who has turned on the automatic bidding system so you can never really secure A reasonable bid. Some sellers require you to give your credit card numbers and other personal information to them directly and I find that to be very unsafe seeing you don’t know who are giving your info to even if the feedback is good. Amazon on the other hand takes the money from you and gives it to the seller which is much safer. Ebay doesn’t care about the buyer their more for the seller because the seller pay’s them. Ebay customer service sucks big time and you’ll find that ebay bidding process can drive the price of an item far more than it’s worth when amazon has A set most likely reasonable price.

By: tom vermeersch

tom vermeersch — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:26:09 +0000

quote tatiana v
[...]They do not send certain items outside of the US! [...]
false
I can order from amazon, and it will be shipped to me from germany or the UK cheap.

[...]And than the paypal payment and being covered, yes you are covered when a seller cheats on you and doesnt send you what you apid for. BUT, the problem is that the cheaters never keep cash in their paypal, nor do they give access to their bankl accounts, so even though Paypal gave me a satisfactory answer, they were not able to get back my money.[...]
Talk about a false sense of security then.
Paypal as a system is devised to serve as “bank” between users, similar to visa – with the difference that when you prove to visa money is missing, they go and harass the culprit, not simply ignore the victim.

By: Paul Ellis

Paul Ellis — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:34:22 +0000

The point is, most eBay users aren’t buying specialty stuff. Just look at how many cameras (~29,000), iPods (~12,000), game players (~3,200 PS3/360/Wii/PSP/DS) are being sold on eBay right now. That is a lot of auctions for stuff you could buy at Amazon (or somewhere else).

By: Bob Caswell

Bob Caswell — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:18:10 +0000

Yeah, Arse, but again, that’s kind of the point:

If eBay only works for “specialty, oddball, collector stuff” and is for “smart and careful” people only… Well then, that means eBay is screwing a lot of people by default due to its sheer size and the majority of what it offers.

I like retailers were the default position isn’t getting screwed. And Amazon fits that description better than any other online retailer I know.

By: Arse

Arse — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:00:05 +0000

Hello. Anybody home?

Ebay and Amazon are different. Only a fool would by anything on ebay that could be bought on amazon. But if you’re looking for specialty, oddball, collector stuff ebay is a source, amazon is not. You have to be smart and careful, but there are deals, great deals, to be had on ebay. It’s just not a place to buy your next camera or ipod or game player.

By: George

George — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:31:02 +0000

The main reason I use eBay is because I live outside of the US (Canada). eBay sellers obviously have much more freedom when it comes to selling products across borders. Amazon on the other hand must respect regulations set forth buy the suppliers. For example, it’s quite common for electronics equipment to not be permitted for cross border sales.

For example, I recently tried to purchase a Canon TX1 from amazon.com (it isn’t sold on amazon.ca and was about $200 at local retail stores). During the checkout process I recieved a message telling me that the supplier doesn’t allow buyers from outside the US to purchase the product. So my option was to get it from Best Buy for $649 or get it from eBay for ~$360.

By: Tyler Reber

Tyler Reber — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:58:36 +0000

Yeah, I don’t know, there’s just something about Amazon that feels safer. That’s why I didn’t mind buying and selling my books on it.

By: Paul Ellis

Paul Ellis — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:20:43 +0000

You can buy a fair number of things used on Amazon.com these days actually. Sure, it would be hard to find an authentic one of Napoleon’s hats on Amazon.com, but probably 90-95% of the stuff on eBay is on Amazon too. And while 2 out of 700 doesn’t sound too bad, I have never been screwed by Amazon, and I never have to “check before [I] buy, talk with the seller and see if [I] get a nasty gut feeling.” That is the hassle Bob is talking about avoiding.

By: zorn

zorn — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:04:14 +0000

eBay’s one benefit is that they have items there that you will not find on Amazon. I just sold a machine on eBay that rolls and separates pizza dough for $8000. Could not do this on Amazon.

Amazon is great for simple things like electronics toys, books, dvds, etc. But if you want to sell a 115′ long governor’s yacht (I did) for $175,000 and sell it in one week, eBay is the place to go.

By: Josh McCormick

Josh McCormick — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:00:10 +0000

Amazon does not have used arcade games (the big ones like in arcaes), or their components.