Ebay Rules

They need to sort out their search engine, the totally irrelevant stuff that it throws up is unbelievable. It stops me from even bothering to look anymore. It has saved me a lot of time though, I used to spend hours looking. The last search I put in was for a brake master cylinder and I got a load of Bosch washing machines. Again some Geek's idea of clever I suppose. :shake::shake::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
Perhaps I'm in a minority, but I believe ebay is a good thing for our hobby. Without it the second hand market which I think most of us rely on to make the hobby affordable would be nowhere near as extensive. Because there are so few of us relatively speaking you really need a global or at least continental market to buy and sell the things we want. And a healthy second hand market makes it better for the manufacturers of new items as it increases the number of their potential buyers. As for the search engine I think it is pretty good, although it does rely on the seller giving an accurate description. The "followed search" feature which sends you an email when something new comes up is a great time saver. Okay so they have some petty and arcane rules but I'm sure on their side they see many people trying to abuse the system and in their own way they are trying to protect us and them. A lot of the rules are automated because if they weren't then I suppose they would have to employ lots more people and the fees would be even higher. I rest my case for the defence (or defense). :-)
 
My search was completely specific. Jaguar X-type brake master-cylinder, new. What have washing machines got to do with that? I did get a couple, and some second hand ones, but there were far more washing machines than master cylinders. I have to say theirs is not the only horrible search engine lots are just as bad. It's rather along the lines of "We must show you lots of things whether you want them or not" instead of giving a nil result.
 
They just hope you'll buy a washing machine as well!
 
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There are other auction sites scouting the perimeter of Evilbay. I think Dunnyrail is onto something.
 
A bit of ebay history....

Years ago it was possible to add an auction-style listing for multiple identical items. Bidders named their price and the quantity of those available that they wished to bid for. If somebody else came along and bid a higher amount then the lowest bidder would be knocked out of the auction. When the auction ended the identical items were split between the bidders based on their requested quantity and they all paid the LOWEST price. If I remember correctly it worked like this...

I have five things for sale.
Bidder 1 wants 2 and bids £1 for each.
Bidder 2 wants 1 and bids £2.
Bidder 3 wants 2 and bids £3 for each.
Bidder 4 wants 2 and bids £4 for each.
When the auction ends bidder 1 would get nothing. Bidders 2, 3 and 4 would get their requested quantity but they would all only pay £2 for each.

Not surprisingly, a lot of people did not understand how this worked so ebay withdrew the facility. Multiple identical items can now only be sold on Buy-It-Now fixed price sales, or by making each items description unique.

For those of us living in the proverbial middle-of-nowhere ebay is an absolute essential part of my life and work. With no shops to speak of ebay (and Amazon) provides the stuff I need to do my job.

Out of curiosity I just searched for "Jaguar X-type brake master-cylinder, new". 18 items, all brake cylinders, no washing machines. :)
 
Rhos Helyg Loco Works said:
Out of curiosity I just searched for "Jaguar X-type brake master-cylinder, new". 18 items, all brake cylinders, no washing machines. :)
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18, lucky you, but how many were for the afore mentioned vehicle? I got three, two of them second-hand.

They were only Bosch washing machines, no Hoover or Indisit! :smirk::smirk:
 
Rhos Helyg Loco Works said:
A bit of ebay history....

Years ago it was possible to add an auction-style listing for multiple identical items.....
Click to expand...
Wasn't that called a "dutch auction" or similar? I remember getting a few bargains from that type of auction.
 
G-force1 said:
18, lucky you, but how many were for the afore mentioned vehicle? I got three, two of them second-hand.

They were only Bosch washing machines, no Hoover or Indisit! :smirk::smirk:
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The problem is many search engines tend to work on an OR basis for the search terms entered, unless you start playing with the advanced search options and/or using quotemarks around search terms to get an exact match.

I usually just sit on the eBay N Gauge category these days and see what new stuff turns up. I'm not looking for G scale any more, and I'm not bothered about wrongly listed stuff.
 
ntpntpntp said:
The problem is many search engines tend to work on an OR basis for the search terms entered, unless you start playing with the advanced search options and/or using quotemarks around search terms to get an exact match.

I usually just sit on the eBay N Gauge category these days and see what new stuff turns up. I'm not looking for G scale any more, and I'm not bothered about wrongly listed stuff.
Click to expand...
Amazon's is worse :punch::punch::punch:
 
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