Lack of new members

[etb321]

Just looking down my list of sold items, there are almost no buyers with feedback less than 100.  I used to get members with feedback scores of zero or one, stumbling their way through inital purchases. My thinking, hopefully incorrect, is there has been a fairly  steep decline in new ebay accounts.

Tom

[springyzone]

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@countessalmirena wrote:

I recently bought a particular cookbook from a seller on GT. It was a smooth transaction with cash on pickup, but a previous person had contacted the seller to buy it, then was not heard from again.

I could not leave a transaction hanging in the wind like that. It's frustrating and disrespectful to others.

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It was a smooth transaction because you're a responsible human.

You only contacted the seller because you were interested and when you decided to buy and pick up, you did just that.

From what I have heard from quite a lot of others and what has also happened to me is people sometimes say they will pick up but then just don't turn up. You'd think they could send even a quick text message to say 'Sorry, not coming' but they don't.

I don't blame facebook, but I think it is part of being (or feeling) anonymous online. maybe not under their real name, so some people take it as a licence to do and say things that they might not face to face.

It's not about how 'new' they are as members on ebay or GT or facebook, it is about their attitude & sense of responsibility, I suspect. 

[eol-products]

I sell genuine parts regularly and although they are the same as oem I find there are buyers willing to pay the premium as you know what you are getting. 

I am seeing more and more cheap suspension parts from china but also now starting to see local sellers selling chinese parts as well with no brand name to check quality. I doubt mechanics would use these parts so may be diy people trying to save a few dollars. Either way it is a scary thought knowing there will be cars on our roads using such poor quality parts. 

[brerrabbit585]

I don't think fb is responsible for teaching ebayers not to follow through. I think the ones who do it on fb often learnt from ebay, though not because ebay 'taught' them, more that it's the way they are and they found they could get away with it.

I have less waste my time on fb and they only get away with it before I block them. Unfortunately there automated buttons for asking certain questions like "is this still available" and "will you accept offers" and people on phones hit them without realising they've done it. I ignore any messages asking will I accept offers. It annoys me when they ask is something still available within a few minutes after I do the post.

A lot of what happens on fb depends on the groups. I wouldn't bother with marketplace or local buy/swap/sell groups unless I had something large that I didn't want to post.

As for non-genuine car parts, my mechanic uses them but he gets them from a place in Melbourne. I'm sure he wouldn't use them if there were any safety or other issues, but buying on ebay would be another ball-game. I recently had to get a new indicator lens and it was either $80 + freight for a non-genuine one or $250 to get one imported from Germany (it would have taken a month).

[eol-products]

Non genuine lights, radiators and other parts of the car that are not used on critical areas is a good cost saving but steering and suspension is one are you need to know if the parts meet oem specifications. 

I doubt a mechanic would use chinese parts in critical areas but someone selling a car for profit may cut corners. 

[brerrabbit585]

My front shockers are also non-genuine but I think this mechanic has been buying from that particular place for years. He's a racing car driver so he would be conscious of safety, but he also has a business that services a large rural area and he wouldn't be about to risk his business or people's lives.

When my sister got her first car my father took it for a roadworthy and was told it needed new ball joints. He bought new ones but ended up taking them back because they were worse than the ones he took out of the car. That was about 45 years ago and he would have bought them from the Holden dealer (the car was an old Vauxhall) so they would have been genuine parts.

[supermussolinibros]

wow with ebay your sales are thru the roof, you might have made enough to buy some mixed lollies .

[heihachi_73]

It's already a scary thought that the cars that have known defective parts are hardly ever being pulled over to begin with. One only has to spot any old garish-coloured V6 Commodore (VEs seem to be the worst these days) with cut springs and sitting on 20's to know that they *will* hear it, it isn't just the ricers anymore (VW Golfs, Hiluxes and lifted 4WDs are just as bad, if not worse, than the laughably-underpowered ricer brigade). Never mind the big rigs with straight pipes, which make the same inexplicably loud engine brake type noise even when accelerating or droning away at the same constant pitch on a perfectly flat section of freeway.

[collect247]

Just because a car is lowered or engine cranked up doesn't mean they have got defective parts lol.

Brand name manufacturers items are the items that are being placed on these cars.

It's the **bleep**ty Chinese parts that are being put into these cars that are defective and may stop to work sooner than expected.