E-bay France?

[Jonzjob]

Has anyone had any dealings with e-bay France? If so what is the consensus and how safe is it to use?

I'm looking at a bit of kit that is way cheaper than we have seen it anywhere else. the seller has a positive record of 12  sales over the past year, no negs.

Is this a case of 'if it looks too good to be true' I ask myself?

Any ideas?

[Chancer]

I have done several deals on E-bay france without problem but only from established sellers, there does seem to be a bit of naivety on the part of some "green" sellers and I often have a laugh at the way some things are presented (or not in most cases) from time to time I see something that I reckon is broken as I am looking to replace mine that has also broken, being sold by a seller with virtually no feedback.

Follow your instincts, if you can sniff out a good deal or a dodgy one on E-bay UK you will have a head start on E-bay France.

Edit, one advantage is that most people dont trust and wont accept paypal and they have not made it obligatory in France, so given the high carriage costs here, unless the item you are buying is very small you will be going to collect it, if it isnt as described you just walk away.

I have also found that a lot of French buyers just dont understand what an enchere is, you will frequently get questions like what is the price and I have found sometimes that when people arrive to collect their item they will then start to tyre kick and reduce the price.

[Jonzjob]

This is not a small item JR, it weighs in at about 40 odd kilos, but the seller is telling me that the postage(?) is 13,50 EUR Colissimo Recommandé so it can't be too bad. That is his comment.

I have the feeling that I may just go for this one. It will be the first time for e-bay anywhere but it looks good.

As far as I can see it isn't difficult to set up a paypal account?

[Chancer]

I cant be ar5ed to look up the price for colissimo recommandé but that sounds too cheap even for 40kg in the UK.

Granted I dont know how much the item is and perhaps he is allowing some of the sale price towards the postage.

Are there any other bidders or is it a buy it now?

If so check out their feedback rating and bidding history with this seller

Beware encheres privé (although I am not sure if this can be done in France) as this way the seller can bid on his own item, create a phoney account to do so or get a pal to do it without you being to check ito se if shill bidding is going on  the above manner.

Is he accepting paypal? If so and the item is to be sent recommandé perhaps you have a measure of protection.

Follow your instinct and let us know how you get on, there is not much that is way cheaper in France than the UK and I like to now what still is!

[Jacqui Too]

[quote user="Jonzjob"]

Has anyone had any dealings with e-bay France? If so what is the consensus and how safe is it to use? Not France , but plenty on .UK

I'm looking at a bit of kit that is way cheaper than we have seen it anywhere else. Is the item for auction or buy it now? 

the seller has a positive record of 12  sales over the past year, no negs. Is twelve all he has, are they for buying or selling and finally has he sold similar items before?

Is this a case of 'if it looks too good to be true' I ask myself?

Any ideas?

[/quote]

I buy and sell quite often and if I am buying I usually ask a lot of questions until I am satisfied the item is what I want ( not if it is cheap, say under £20)

Also if it is 'buy it now' or auction I do an advanced search and tick the completed items where you can see if any other similar items have sold and for how much, you might even see 'your' item, if he has put it up for sale before and failed to sell it. 

If it is for auction, do not bid until the last few moments before it ends, if you have broadband have 2 screens open, 1 with the item were you can keep refreshing (last 10 mins)and see any other bids that come in and also keep an eye on the countdown, and the other screen paused ready with you max bid to send it at the last moment that way you dont have to lose site of the time while put your bid in!

Hope that helps

Good luck 

ps the shortest time I ever left it was 1 second!!! and once I was to late [:'(]

[dave21478]

Ebay France still seems to be in its infancy here in many respects. It  is nowhere near as busy as ebay UK, and as mentioned, the descriptions are often laughable - a single blurry photo (or no photos at all) and a one-line description stating the bleeding obvious seems to be the norm.

There are very many users with relatively low feedback (single figures) simply because it is not as commonplace to use ebay as in UK. I really never used it that much in UK, but still accumulated 90+ positve feedback comments.

As for potential scams....what sort of money are we talking about here? Have a look in detail at the sellers feedback - a common scam is to buy or sell lots of small items for a few quid each, building up 20+ positives, than list an expensive item and rip off the buyer. The buyer sees the positive feedback and thinks the seller is honest.

Paypal...Paypal grips my shit. I really cant stand them. They have no interest in any part of a sale apart from their commission fee, their buyer protection is laughably poor, and their customer service is rank. The most common problem is non-delivered items or items not as described. Paypal WILL NOT enter into a dispute about an items description - all they look for is that the seller can prove he posted something to the buyer. He could send you a couple of bricks, recorded delivery, and as he has a receipt for sending something the approximate weight, and you signed for it, they are happy that the seller has done his part and the case is closed.

If its at all possible, and if the savings are that great, it will still be worthwhile travelling a long distance, visit in person, inspect the goods and hand over cash or cheque. If its a LOT of money, dont go alone. Keep your eyes wide open, do your research and remeber the old phrase - if it looks too good to be true.......

[dave21478]

ps - the La Poste website wont quote for an parcel over 30kgs. Sending a 30kg parcel unrecorded will cost €23

[Chancer]

I second all that Dave has said and am pleased to learn that parcel delivery in France is less than I thought, shame most of the merchants want to charge lots lots more for delivery.

JacquiToo I have a question for you.

I would like to use your astuce for last second bidding as at the moment I do it from the refresh screen and can be too late (my computer is slow) even when I act 10 seconds before, I think that I know how to have 2 screens open (running IE twice?) but how do you have them both open and visible at the same time without one being minimised?

I am sure that my question is overcomplicated and that there is a simple answer.

[Jacqui Too]

[quote user="J.Rs gone native"]

JacquiToo I have a question for you.

I would like to use your astuce for last second bidding as at the moment I do it from the refresh screen and can be too late (my computer is slow) even when I act 10 seconds before, I think that I know how to have 2 screens open (running IE twice?) but how do you have them both open and visible at the same time without one being minimised?

I am sure that my question is overcomplicated and that there is a simple answer.

[/quote]

I am using Vista and IE, I can have as many screens open at a time, they are not minimised just 'hiding' behind each other, only takes a slit second to change screens

ps I don't agree with 'Dave' I have 100% feedback on 161 and have only ever had to send 1 item back, I had a full refund including P&P, never had a bad payer, so there seems to be one thing that is better in UK than France then [;-)]

[Scooby]

There are downloadable tools that will put in a last second bid for you without you sitting at your pc.  I think the one I have used is called 'snipe'. Tbh I haven't bought on ebay for ages - I found that a lot of the stuff being sold was just total rubbish.  There are far too many con merchants on there (especially anything to do with electronic gadgets / mob phones) and absolutely no protection if things go pear shaped.  I would endorse everything Dave said - particularly about Paypal.

[dave21478]

J.R. - for the last second bidding, I use Firefox (will work with IE too) and open two tabs for the same auction. With 5 minutes to go, I use one of the tabs to log in, enter my max bid etc, and go through all the stages untill there is just one button press left to confim the bid. I then click onto the other tab and refresh it every few minutes to watch the auction progress. In the last actual minute, I refresh it every 10 seconds or so, and when there is about 20 seconds left to go, I swap back to the other tab, count to ten, then click the button to confirm the bid. (assuming the price hasnt exceeded my max bid in the last few minutes). This method rarely fails, unless someone else is using auction-sniper software, or a flakey broadband connection decidedes those few seconds would be an ideal time to disconnect. The problem is, you have to be physically present to do this. I very often forget about an auction ending soon and miss out. I have never used auction sniping tools, so cant comment on how good they are, but the cynical side of me thinks that handing my ebay log in deatils to a third-party program cant be a good idea.

[Jonzjob]

Pay-pal is offered and it is not a bid or a 'Buy now' either. It is just a sale that came up when I was looking for an item. It is a French seller as far as I can make out.

I didn't even realise that it was on e-bay till I looked at it because it came up under a search and the link was through www.twenga.fr . It is such a good price that it would not be worth bidding anyway?

One of these daze I will catch up with this bloody technology, but by then it will have moved on?

P.S. I thought that I had posted this last night, but it's still here?

[Scooby]

Dave, you're right about having to have your user name and password stored on the database that is acting as your proxy bidder.  However, I never had a problem using snipe software.   The only reason I don't use it now is that I don't use ebay.

[Russethouse]

 I use www.auctionsniper.com for last second bidding, never had a security problem. The main thing is to think carefully about the maximum you are prepared to pay when entering the bid...then you can forget all about it.[:)]

[AnOther]

[quote user="J.Rs gone native"]I would like to use your astuce for last second bidding as at the moment I do it from the refresh screen and can be too late (my computer is slow) even when I act 10 seconds before, I think that I know how to have 2 screens open (running IE twice?) but how do you have them both open and visible at the same time without one being minimised?[/quote]Go and grab yourself Deskpins, it's free and allows you to 'pin' a window, or windows, on the desktop so it stays there regardless of whatever else is going on.

 

[cooperlola]

Why not open two browsers and re-size the windows so they're next to each other - or of course you can just have them cascaded so they overlap?  Works perfectly on IE7 with XP and indeed was the trick which  I had always understood was what gave Windows its name (the idea that you can have several windows open at once and look through any or all of them).

[ViVienne]

if you use paypal I have found them really good,. I use ebay uk a lot and have only ever had a problem once when the seller didn't send the item. I opened a dispute with paypal, they found in my favour and repaid me the money.

[Jo]

A paypal account is easy to set up, I managed it, and my son was away at the time[:-))] I have found it an easy and reliable way to pay.[:)]

[Fi]

Oh dear, I was thinking of selling some old french cutlery and was getting quite excited to see very similar items going for decent ish money.  I have bought via ebay.fr using paypal (I have an account for the gites) and never had a single problem.  but this seems to be quite a negative thread about the whole ebay.fr experience. 

I feel another think coming on.....

Fi

PS  Still like leboncoin.fr best - got a really good, solid, wooden salon de jardin for 110 euros last week - definitely a bargain!  And a new porte-fenetre for 120 euros (somehow the seller had ordered too many - how do you do that then? - my mind is boggling!)

[tuppence]

Hi Fi [8-)],

I would like to sell on E-bay France but have heard of issues with vat. Not sure what that entails but like you I have easily bought and sold on leboncoin.fr which is great. Best bargain without doubt was a sideboard bought for €100 last year. Lovely helpful seller too. Have sold tumble dryer, unwanted tiles found in outhouse, curtains etc. May do even better next year when I intend taking down unsightly garage/outhouse with unseen goodies lurking therein!!

tuppence

[AnOther]

Don't know about VAT but in terms of income tax in UK HMRC have for some while been taking an interest in people who trade (defined as buying to sell on) rather than just selling their own unwanted items and I believe similar may be taking place in France.

I have had some good experiences on Leboncoin also.

 

[Scooby]

[quote user="A.N.Other ex Ernie"]

Don't know about VAT but in terms of income tax in UK HMRC have for some while been taking an interest in people who trade (defined as buying to sell on) rather than just selling their own unwanted items and I believe similar may be taking place in France.

[/quote]

Yes that's definitely the case

[Clair]

[quote user="ex Ernie"]I believe similar may be taking place in France.[/quote]

This is already happening in France:

Vente sur Internet et travail dissimulé (Sales on the Internet and concealed work)

un simple particulier n’est pas imposable s’il se contente de revendre

de temps en temps des objets d’occasion lui appartenant. En revanche,

s’il est considéré comme professionnel, il est redevable de l’impôt sur

le revenu sur les gains réalisés dans la catégorie des bénéfices

industriels et commerciaux et devient passible de la TVA et de la taxe

professionnelle.

a private individual is not liable for income tax if he is content to sell from time

to time objects belonging to him. However, if considered a

professional, he is liable to pay income tax on gains in the category

of industrial and commercial profits and becomes liable to VAT and

business tax.

Also: http://forums.ebay.fr/thread.jspa?threadID=500012113 (in Google English here)

[Patf]

 

I've bought several items on ebay.fr, the largest being a piano. I actually went to look at it first before bidding, and had already looked at a few others.

Then went to collect it and paid in cash. Other times I pay by cheque.

I never opened a paypal account - I'm a bit wary because husband had one once and someone in USA broke into it and spent a lot of money. Eddie didn't have to take the loss, but spent ages sorting it out.

[Clair]

Mr Clair has bought and sold on Ebay France, using his Paypal account 90% of the time.