Buying........between a rock and a hard place

[zanadoo_56]

So there's something I would like to buy.

There are no sellers in Oz so I have to look overseas and that means mostly from the UK.

Sorted by item cost and postage the winner is.....a seller with 670 negatives in the last 12 months (approx 30+ of which were in the last month).

After that the next five sellers are actually the same first one under slightly different names.  The feedback is equally bad and only less than the top priced one by the fact that they probably haven't had those eBay accounts as long.

The next seller on the list has the item at a great price....but they use the GSP...and the GSP charges are higher than the cost of the item (and that's excluding the GST),

Next seller....item a bit more expensive, GSP a lot more expensive.

And after that the prices get really ridiculous including one from the US.

Hmm.  I think I'll stop looking for a while.  Maybe a long while.

[davewil1964]

'Would like' seems to be the operative term.

If you don't like the seller(s) or their terms, don't buy.

If you do, do.

I'm not sure what you expect the members here to do about your 'dilemma', or how we can help you to a resolution.

I do look forward to your elucidation, however,

[*tippy*toes*]

The seller with the 670 negs, how many feedback have they got in the last 12 months? If it's like 100,000 then 670 isn't anything to be concerned about.....unless there is a common factor.

You mention about the GSP sellers having the shipping more than the item. Does the OVERALL cost seem reasonable? If the item is $30 with $35 GSP postage, would it seem that obscene if it was $65 with free postage? Would it be worth $65 with free postage, or are you just balking at the postage cost?

I haven't bought from UK sellers since the GSP came in, but I've bought a few items from the US where the sellers used the GSP. The last item I bought was last year. She wanted $US65 for a pack of 30 of these things, new, sealed in box, with GSP postage of $US30. She also had another nearly identical listing that I wanted as well. I asked her if she could edit one of the listings to include both (I explained about not being able to combine postage with GSP). She happily obliged.

Even if she hadn't, the box of 30 to buy direct from the company is $US180 with $15 postage. Even if I had to pay postage on both, I was still coming out WAY in front.

Look at the complete cost, rather than "the postage costs more than the item". If the overall cost isn't acceptable, don't buy it. It's as simple at that. If the item is $5 with $30 postage, rather than $35 with free postage, just buy the damned thing if you want it that bad.

[zanadoo_56]

---

@davewil1964 wrote:

'Would like' seems to be the operative term.

If you don't like the seller(s) or their terms, don't buy.

If you do, do.

I'm not sure what you expect the members here to do about your 'dilemma', or how we can help you to a resolution.

I do look forward to your elucidation, however,

---

Oh good grief...be nice.

I was wondering what other buyers might choose - a good price but potentially dodgy seller....or the GSP.  One item I bought this year using the GSP......complete with a weird administrative issue and of course a really slow expensive service.  It didn't inspire confidence.

It's not a dilemma per se, other than the fact that eBay seems to be the only source of the item.

As for your elucidation if you have more to say, I'll pass thanks.

[zanadoo_56]

Originally the seller plus GSP had the best price. 

But now the seller with lots of negs has the item in stock and they are cheaper.  They do have a high turnover (thanks for that idea - I've just checked) but nearly all the negs are about non delivery.  Wouldn't you know it....

[brerrabbit585]

Surely you wouldn't prefer the negs to be for sending wrong items, or for sending fakes or for inferior quality items.

[kopenhagen5 · Accepted solution]

Sounds like you have a case of wishful thinking.

The bad sellers are probably bad.

The expensive items are probably as they should be.

No amount of hoping will change that.

I sometimes take 3 - 6 months of looking until I find the right one. 

[zanadoo_56]

---

@brerrabbit585 wrote:
Surely you wouldn't prefer the negs to be for sending wrong items, or for sending fakes or for inferior quality items.

---

The negs are for not receiving the items at all which is not exactly comforting, not getting wrong ones or dodgy ones or fakes.  The item is more expesnive than I usually spend on something similar hence my asking for opinions from other buyers.

[zanadoo_56]

---

@kopenhagen5 wrote:

Sounds like you have a case of wishful thinking.

The bad sellers are probably bad.

The expensive items are probably as they should be.

No amount of hoping will change that.

I sometimes take 3 - 6 months of looking until I find the right one. 

---

My wishful thinking was that I wish I could find it from an alternate source than eBay. 🙂

I think you may be right.  As much as I'd love to buy it now, the fact that I can't decide suggests I should take more time to consider the options...which at the moment aren't great.  Thanks.

[springyzone]

---

@zanadoo_56 wrote:

---

@kopenhagen5 wrote:

Sounds like you have a case of wishful thinking.

The bad sellers are probably bad.

The expensive items are probably as they should be.

No amount of hoping will change that.

I sometimes take 3 - 6 months of looking until I find the right one. 

---

My wishful thinking was that I wish I could find it from an alternate source than eBay. 🙂

I think you may be right.  As much as I'd love to buy it now, the fact that I can't decide suggests I should take more time to consider the options...which at the moment aren't great.  Thanks.

---

I was going to suggest-ebay isn't the only fish in the sea of selling.

Keep looking.

Maybe you'll be able to buy it direct from whoever makes it.

If you  have to buy several at a time to make it worthwhile, is it the sort of thing there would be a good market for here for Australian sellers?

If you do feel you want to buy from the slightly dodgy seller, take a really long, careful look at the delivery date. If it is coming from UK, it shouldn't be taking much more than a month.

I think it would be safe to buy in that if it doesn't arrive by the due date, you could then open a claim for item not received. It depends on the seller's feedback in that if they sell thousands of things, then quite a lot of negs might actually only be a small percentage of their sales and yours may very well arrive okay.