Snipes and Tripe on eBay

I had a $63.88 doorstop. My first eBay disappointment.

Ken from Largo had billed it as an audiocassette duplicator with one teeny, tiny problem. When I wrote asking for details of how bad the problem was, he wrote back that the duplicator worked fine when he used it to copy church choir music a year ago.

But, when it got here, I realized I'd been had. The heads on the recorder wouldn't engage. What had been described as a $10 problem was something far worse.

So, in the eBay tradition, I tried communicating. I asked for a refund, but he ignored my e-mails.

This kind of experience is just the cost of doing business on the Internet with a wonderful system that has saved me tons of money. I love eBay. I love it. LOVE IT.

I've bought electronics, software, jewelry, books, office supplies, blank cassettes, magnetic insoles, music boxes and more.

I go to eBay for items that have been discontinued, like a dial-up modem for my Palm VIIx. The company doesn't even sell them anymore, but I got it for just $30 from eBay.

Having spent a few years on the starving author's budget, I needed a way to create a fabulous — yet affordable — wardrobe for television and speaking appearances. I could buy major name brands for peanuts on eBay. There was a Liz Claiborne suit for $15, an Armani blazer for $50, a Coach purse for $26, a Jones New York suit for $40 and other great clothes. All were new or looked it.

At some level, the penchant for these on- line auctions becomes an illness. What can I find? How cheap can I get it? Can I win?

But, it's not a bad illness. At least, not for me. I've won 38 auctions in the past 18 months, so it's not like I am about to lose my house so I can get my hands on a My Friend Flicka lunchbox or old Bobby Sherman posters.

I'm deliberate about it. And, quite shrewd.

It didn't take long to learn something that some eBayers never figure out: If you bid early, all you are doing is jacking up the price. If you wait until the end, you won't be responsible for inflating the price.

You must wait until the end. The very end. And, you can't assume that you are the winner because you are the high bidder with 10 seconds to go in the auction. The real pros get their bids in at the very last second — with the help of a good computer program.

A last-minute bid is called a "snipe." Get a computer to offer up for you, so you don't have to sit around and pray you get the last bid. Most programs wait until there are just a handful of seconds left before zapping in the bid.

If it's you vs. a snipe program, you will lose every time.

Learning that, I invested in a snipe program. On eBay. This turned out to be my only scary experience with a seller.

The guy, Ross, advertised a program that would enter my bids at the last minute so I could easily trump my eBay competitors. After I paid $5, he e-mailed me a web address. It sent me to a Web site owned and operated by a company with no connection to Ross, who was profiting from it.

I loved the Web site (and will tell you — for free — to check it out at http://www.vrane.com/, but I thought it was wrong that Ross would make money off somebody else's Web site. So, when it came time to leave the all-important feedback that helps buyers decide whether to trust sellers, I posted the Web address so others would be able to access it for free.

Ross went crazy. Since he knew how to maneuver the eBay system better than I, he managed to a) get my remark deleted, b) get my home phone number from eBay, c) leave negative feedback about me, which continues to tarnish my otherwise perfect buyer's reputation to this day, and d) harass me at home, repeatedly.

He called my home three times, leaving creepy voice mails that invaded my privacy and made me feel threatened. On one call, he made his voice sound like a heavy-breathing obscene caller.

I reported this to eBay and got a letter filled with legal BS telling me that the company stays out of such disputes. That's great for cover-your-behind strategy, but other buyers have written of their own experiences being harassed at home by Ross.

I stayed off eBay for months after that, but when it came down to another choice between principle or value, I went with value.

That's what left me with the broken audiocassette duplicator sitting in my garage. Suddenly, it hit me. I would see if I could recover any of my loss by reselling it on eBay! I went to great lengths to be honest about the fact that it was broken: "I can't get the heads to engage and make it run properly. … If you know audio and can do the necessary repair to the unit, this is a bargain. This duplicator is being offered AS IS…"

I figured somebody actually might be able to fix it, or use the machine for parts. Imagine how startled I was when the bidding started and escalated rapidly. Once it hit $40, I got scared. What if it sold for twice what I paid for it? I couldn't charge that money! My posting was so honest about the problems with that machine, yet anonymous electronic personas were fighting over it from different parts of the country!

Mercifully, the bidding stopped at $51 — more than I ever dreamed I would get back. I volunteered to pay the $15 shipping.

I'm no rip-off artist.

Just another eBay seller, playin' the game of buy and sell.

Contact columnist Fawn Germer at fawn.germer@weeklyplanet.com or 813-248-8888, ext. 134.

This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2002.