Buying off Ebay

[Howard MP]

I've come across a Scamp on Ebay that seems to fit my needs. Not perfect, but in usable condition with some non-urgent fixes, upgrades desirable.

So what are the pitfalls of an EBay purchase? Any horror stories I should know? Any great stories to relate?

thanks,
Howard
Denver, Colorado

[CindyL]

We had no trouble. We bought our Burro off Ebay (I did have one of those nasty last second bidders, but I had put in an unexpectedly higher bid and the last second person did not bid enough to outbid me.), but we bought it from an auto auction place and even near us, so we could at least see it through a fence.

The second one, our Uhaul VT, was also purchased off Ebay. We did a "Buy it Now" with little questioning, after learning from the Burro, that you can fix almost anything on these campers.

In a sense, buying our new Silver Cloud from an RV place was also a gamble. We did not get both chairs in the picture, the bedroom peeling wallpaper is worse than images show, and not everything works, even though it did the first night (The furnace is not working.). However, again, being fiberglass, we can fix it.

Be careful of auction fever, i.e. getting angry at other bidders, so you bid more than you should. And check out your seller's information, maybe even send a few questions as bidding takes place. We did not have time with the VT, but the seller turned out to be very nice and helpful.

Best of luck!

CindyL

[RogerDat]

People are better at bidding price up than they are at setting an actual value. We tend to be best at determining that something is worth more than X than we are at determining it is worth less than Y.

If you can determine a value and bid accordingly it can work out well.

I have found some good stuff, no real problems. Nothing as big as a camper but there does seem to be a tendency on the part of sellers to equate old with vintage or collectable. And some are selling things they don't really understand. See that a lot in reloading equipment. As in that tool ain't vintage it is rusty, they still make them, and new they sell for $10 less than you are trying to charge for that refugee from a garage sale tool.


You may see this same thing with campers, the person selling has no idea about the real condition, or even how to assess the condition of function of a camper or RV. Has a refrigerator is not the same as the 3 way fridge works on all three power sources and the seller may have no idea of how to check.

[Borrego Dave]

I've been selling & buying on Ebay for 15+ years with only one bad one so here's the horror story. I was looking for an early Mustang for my daughter. Found a nice looking '66, great pics and went back and forth with the seller to answer my questions. I won the bidding. When it arrived I knew from 50 feet away that the seller had not been upfront with info. Closer was worse . Lets just say picture angles can sure eliminate problem spots. As an example, as in a straight on pic of the gutter rails that hide the rust behind them. Lots more but you get the idea. That was by far the biggest purchase I've ever done on Ebay but I learned a few things from it too. There are third party folks that for a fee will go and inspect the item and give you an unbiased report. For the $150 it would have cost me it would have saved thousands. Bottom line, I think my seller was in the 1%. Would I do that again, yes but with a separate report done.
BTW, that incident is written down in my "Lifes Learning Experiences" book and has an * by it .
Good luck to you.

[lrb945]

i bought a vintage trailer on ebay a couple of years ago. no problems at all, and the former owner was very nice!

[jaye580]

I bought my 84 Scamp on Ebay many years ago and sold it on Ebay last year. Was more afraid of selling it than buying it as Ebay has a great buyer protection plan but nothing in place for the seller. HOWEVER.... I also bought an old motorhome on ebay a long time ago and had to drive 500 miles to pick it up, it was a piece of crap and not at all as described, ebay did not stand behind me as they said I had the option of not going through with the purchase when I went to pick it up- so it's a gamble you just have to decide whether or not to take I guess.