Monday, August 19, 2013

eBay Gripes

It was, however, not so obvious that PayPal would taste its first major success by helping people sell Beanie Babies on eBay. - Eric Ries

I've never sold or bought anything on eBay.  I've had lots of people ask me about how it works and I've always told them I don't know, because I don't know.  Many years later I've gotten around to listing 1st Generation Apple TV and my 17" PowerBook G4 on there.

When comparing to other similar listings it makes me sad.  People get a lot of money for these things by filling them with illegal content.  So I see AppleTVs overflowing with pirated movies or PowerBook G4's overflowing with Microsoft Word, Adobe Creative Suite 4, etc.  They selling description lovingly details all of the illegal content and then says, "Content/Software is unlicensed and for demo purposes only.  It is the buyer's responsibility to remove it."

My devices are completely wiped with a fresh install.  The PowerBook G4 has Panther, complete with pinstripes.  I listed them and I even got a $49.99 bid on my AppleTV.  I was stoked about this.  Then 3-days into my auction they got delisted and I was told to call eBay.

I called and they asked me a bunch of identify verification questions and some basic questions about the items I was selling to see if I stole them or not.  Seriously?  I'm selling 5-9 year old electronics with their original boxes for very little money.

They relisted my items - but they are new actions and the bids were lost.  I sure hope someone will bid again.