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Charles Rice

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Been burned twice - NEVER again!

 

I understand what you are saying. But ebay is like a door into peoples attics and is gold mine for the forgotten and unappreciated. There is no place like it for finding fountain pens in the rough.

Edited by top pen
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Too many fakes, misrepresentations, and garage sale junk finds.

Edited by Charles Rice
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I've had 3 not so great ebay experiences, two of which I was able to get my money back and got stuck on the third one. However I've had probably 60 or more really good experiences. Lately I've bought more of my pens in stores, on-line or at pen shows rather than ebay but I haven't given up on it and don't think I would say that I'll never buy there again.

PAKMAN

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I've had no issues with new pens, but I have had an issue with a vintage pen. I think for vintage, you have to go through trusted sources.

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Of the 50 or so vintage pens i've purchased off ebay, none have been fakes. Amonst the 200+ other items i've purchased, none have been fake. I have never purchased "garage sale junk finds" nor do I consider anything on ebay to be junk. I would estimate that 99.995% of the items on ebay do not interest me.

 

I've bought several items that were described inaccurately, but sellers were always willing to work with me.

 

If you are seeking items that you haven't researched, and require a brick-n-mortar shop or other reputable online presence to eliminate the risk of your own dealings with shady ebay sellers, then I see nothing wrong with that.

 

Ebay is my goldmine and I'd love for people to stop alpha dogging my bids.

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I have no problems with eBay. Yes I have had a couple of questionable deals. Out of 250 or so that's not bad. So long as the seller has a reputable feedback there's a great chance it's a solid deal. Anything in life is a risk. It's a gamble to walk out of your house.

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Of the 50 or so vintage pens i've purchased off ebay, none have been fakes. Amonst the 200+ other items i've purchased, none have been fake. I have never purchased "garage sale junk finds" nor do I consider anything on ebay to be junk. I would estimate that 99.995% of the items on ebay do not interest me.

 

I'll give you a good example.

Several years ago, when I lived in the city of Bloomington, MN, they had a program where you could put your junk out on the street and it would be collected for free. While it was out there, anyone could pick up what you were discarding.

So I had a nice Pioneer tape deck that got fried by lightning. I pulled out what was still useful and put it out in my from yard. It got pick up by someone - I know not whom.

 

A week or so later I check eBay, and OMG, the tape deck was there. Yes, it was the same one as they showed the serial number.

 

It sold. Somebody got screwed.

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While Ebay offers generous protections for buyers, I think there is substantial risks--particularly for new collectors. While I have found a couple of terrific deals on Ebay, they are far outnumbered by the pens with undisclosed major defects I've bought. I also see numerous pens that are badly misdescribed if not misrepresented. I see frankenpens and pens that are "fantasy" pens made with aftermarket materials. And even after asking lots of questions and peering hard at photos, I've been stuck more than once.

 

But there is a value to buying from reputable sellers (some of whom are on ebay), and I worry about the new collectors that don't have 250 transactions under their belt that go to ebay thinking they'll find a bargain--and end up with some dealer's offloaded junk.

 

Also, is it just me or are Ebay prices for pens rising? Oftentimes I see poor or damaged examples of desirable pens selling for prices in excess of what collectors would pay each other at shows or meets. Or even on these pages. A lot of new collectors would be better off spending $20-50 more for a restored example from a reputable dealer that will work, that comes with a guarantee and that can be returned or exchanged if it doesn't suit their hand.

 

For those rare pieces that are seldom given up by collectors, ebay does occasionally offer the chance to buy something wonderful from the wild. But the bargains seem far outnumbered by the ripoffs of late.

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> Also, is it just me or are Ebay prices for pens rising?

 

Yes, they are. The prices are insane for the big names. But there are stil good finds. Time-wise, it's not worth it, but hey, we're pen nuts: time does not exist.

 

To be on the safe side, I always cast an horary chart. I also elect my picking times. My only bad experience was when I went against the testimonies that were given, but it was a 3$ experience.

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Can anyone give input to a newbie about what to look for in questionable sales? I'm looking to collect some cheap vintage pens and learn repair, so I started looking into ebay. I figure avoid pens with cracks and mangled nibs...any other input? I can't figure out why a pen on ebay with no repairs goes for almost the same price for a rehabbed one on FPN. Are bidders not familiar with the price of fountain pens? What is the worse case fountain pen that I could end up with? Words of wisdom please.

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several years ago? so that is before buyet protection? if this happens now the buyer would not loose even shipping cost on it.

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If I had written off eBay as a lost cause early on, I would have missed out on many of my best purchases. If you know what you are looking for, are careful, ask questions and know the pen, the market, and obvious problem areas, you can avoid most problems. Will you occasionally get a dud? Sure. Just don't overpay for it.

 

I figure I have maybe about 2-3% bad experiences, which equates out to about 2-3 pens. The amazing things I've found, the diamonds in the rough, the sumgais - they completely dwarf the couple of bad experiences.

 

YMMV

"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick; and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

~ Benjamin Franklin

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Depends what I'm buying, at times I've wanted to avoid eBay, but there are times when I simply cannot for the item I want, especially if someone selling it off of ebay is charging 4x than they do in their own ebay store.

 

For selling though, I rarely ever sell on it, have tried to avoid it most of the time since before 2007.

 

As far as being burned by a seller, there are hoops you can jump thru to get the buyer protection, but it's a lot of hoops, and I usually check feedback history on sellers.

 

On the lighter side, there are a few things I would never have gotten if not for sellers on eBay. Like getting my Montblanc 225 for $50 that just needed a little cleaning.

Edited by KBeezie
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Nowadays with ebay buyer protection ebay is very safe. Yes I have bought things that weren't as described, but I have never lost any money on a fake or a lemon. I have always found sellers or ebay willing to put right what went wrong.

 

I have even had ebay send me £20 vouchers to spend when the items I bought were so cheap they were hardly worth the P&P to return them.

 

You do need to take great care, and really check out your sellers. They now have star ratings as well as feedback to assist you when you're looking for something particular.

 

I recently bought a great couple of tops, for pennies, and I once bought a genuine, almost new, electric professional hair tool for 99p post free!

 

I have no concerns about people who hate ebay and won't buy anything on there. It leaves more bargains for me to pick up. :thumbup: :bunny01:

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I've bought dozens of pens on eBay. Had a couple of pups, no more. Have bought some incredible bargains. Never had any problem with sellers. I sell too on eBay from time to time and have never had any problems.

 

I don't think eBay prices are rising particularly - no more than on the Classifieds here where I rarely find pens within my budget these days......

http://www.aysedasi.co.uk

 

 

 

 

She turned me into a newt.......

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I've been stung on ebay a few times and it's not a pleasant experience. If you want to buy vintage it is one of the big main sources, but lately some of the prices have been a bit silly to be honest. I don't think it is only pens either. There are a lot of other things on ebay that are either listed as 'buy it now' or that are up for auction and sell at hugely inflated prices. I watched two Conklin demonstrators recently - one at a buy it now price of €98 and another an auction that started at 99c; both from the same seller. The auction pen, which was exactly the same pen as the 'buy it now' option, sold for over €200! Mad.

Now I make sure the seller has a good number of feedback for items and that the feedback is 100%. I always check the other items that they are selling too. If the photographs are in any way fuzzy or if there is a part of the pen not shown in the photo, I pass on by. Likewise, if a pen is not clearly listed as either in need of repair, or having been restored, i don't even consider it. It's not difficult to spend a minute or two putting in a decent description. If it just says 'fountain pen' or the brand, I leave well alone. Anything that says 'bought as seen' also rings alarm bells for me. I also avoid sales where the bidding starts to get a little fishy.

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