ebay; good or bad for fishing tackle shops and anglers?

nicepix

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I will admit that I am a great fan of ebay.

When I was first into photography if you wanted to buy or sell anything second hand you were basically restricted to small ads in the magazines or going through a dealer. If you sold a camera to a dealer for say £100, he would then sell it on for around £200. Come ebay and you could sell the same camera direct for around £150 so both buyer and seller benefited. Of course this has resulted in many photographic shops going to the wall. Same with second hand fishing tackle. The old style second hand shops where you would buy and sell your old stuff are largely gone.

With new fishing tackle I find that it is far easier to search for something online on a site such as ebay than physically going to the shops or phoning round. The price of tackle has become cheaper and you can easily find the cheapest seller of any item. The downsides are that you can't actually pick up the item and inspect it and of course, many High Street shops are finding it hard to compete especially as there isn't the same demand these days for maggots, something that guaranteed a regular customer footfall in the past.

Overall I think that ebay is good for the angler if not the old fashioned retailer. Some have managed to embrace the new trend and seem to do very well out of industrial units and lock-ups.

What do you lot think?
 

Lord Paul of Sheffield

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Good for the buyer , bad for the trade shops

But I've seen item going for much less than there shop prices only to jump up to the normal price at the last minute then the seller has another of the same item to sell and the same thing happens
 

ibo7

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99% of my fishing gear is from eBay, simply because of the price. I'd love to walk into a local tackle shop and buy from them but I can't afford to.
Even small things like lures, braid and wire traces are just ridiculous prices in local tackle shop.
Bought some swivels from eBay yesterday for £1.50 delivered, local tackle shop cheapest was £4.99,
Wire traces on eBay £2.50 for 6, tackle shop £1 each.
Unless I become stupid rich I'll continue buying from eBay.
 

jacksharp

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I will come right out and say I support my three local tackle shops and buy all my larger purchases either from them or secondhand from members at my club. I like eBay for stuff they haven't got and small things that I can use my PayPal balance on (I sell a hell of a lot on there) I have just bought some drop-shotting weights and lures from eBay that my locals don't stock. I bought the lure rod, reel and braid locally though.

eBay are getting greedy and now charging a seller fee on postage, which is plain wrong. I think that sooner or later it won't be worth using them as a small privete seller, given that you pay a listing fee, a Final Value seller fee on the item AND the postage and then their other arm PayPal charges you a fee for receiving your payment. Frankly they are taking the pi$$
 

lambert1

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I'm with you on that Jack. I used to sell a lot on Ebay as well but as you say they get greedier and greedier and things are much more in favour of the buyer now since their current boss (his names escapes me) came in. Sellers cannot leave bad feedback and as I am sure you are aware there are some time wasting buyers out there. Like you I support my local tackle shop where I can and for some things, I have actually found them cheaper although that is not all that often.
 

nicepix

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I'm with you on that Jack. I used to sell a lot on Ebay as well but as you say they get greedier and greedier and things are much more in favour of the buyer now since their current boss (his names escapes me) came in. Sellers cannot leave bad feedback and as I am sure you are aware there are some time wasting buyers out there. Like you I support my local tackle shop where I can and for some things, I have actually found them cheaper although that is not all that often.

That about it being weighted against seller is a valid one. I wonder just what you would have to do to get banned as you can't even leave negative feedback.
 

jacksharp

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I'm with you on that Jack. I used to sell a lot on Ebay as well but as you say they get greedier and greedier and things are much more in favour of the buyer now since their current boss (his names escapes me) came in. Sellers cannot leave bad feedback and as I am sure you are aware there are some time wasting buyers out there. Like you I support my local tackle shop where I can and for some things, I have actually found them cheaper although that is not all that often.

I have had several ding-dongs on the phone with eBay reps. The latest being on postage fees but previously about not being able to leave negative feedback for time-wasters who don't pay. Their excuse is that they are stooping retaliatory feedback against buyers who leave negative for sellers.

I suggested, perfectly reasonably, that you should be able to leave negative feedback for a buyer IF an unpaid item dispute had been closed in your favour. Of course nothing happened. They say the buyer can get an unpaid item strike but they never tell you if it was issued or not.

I hate the lazy buyers who can't be bothered to leave you feedback after you have left it promptly for their payment. Nowadays I don't leave it unless I get it first.
 

nicepix

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For me there is no excuse for a buyer not to pay. By nature of the terms and conditions an agreement to buy is a commitment to pay and therefore a contract has been made. It is low life like non-paying bidders who ruin things for others :mad:
 

jacksharp

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For me there is no excuse for a buyer not to pay. By nature of the terms and conditions an agreement to buy is a commitment to pay and therefore a contract has been made. It is low life like non-paying bidders who ruin things for others :mad:

People who bid and win and then come up with some cock and bull story about why they can't pay or worse, just fail to respond, are time-wasting pond-life and need rooting out of eBay. Just being able to block them from bidding on your stuff or give them an unpaid item strike means nothing. ;)
 

terry m

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Variety is the spice of life. I see it as a positive that I have the choice between Ebay or a local retailer. I do try to support my local tackle sops but sometimes they simply do not have what I need.

I have limited sympathy for retailers that do not adapt then fall behind. It is a tough world out there, especially in retail, you must adapt or die.

---------- Post added at 13:31 ---------- Previous post was at 13:29 ----------

I hate the lazy buyers who can't be bothered to leave you feedback after you have left it promptly for their payment. Nowadays I don't leave it unless I get it first.

Trouble is Jack, as far as I can see, more and more people are taking this line, buyers and sellers. The end result is that nobody wants to be the first to leave FB, so ultimately it does not appear.
 

nicepix

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Before I came to France I was facing retirement, the house had not sold and I would have been paying a mortgage on a reduced income so I set up an eBay business selling hunting lamps for air rifles. I got most of the parts from Deal Extreme, put a bit of Velcro with the bits and some instructions. Total cost £15.50 including selling commission. Sales price £26.99 plus £5 p&p. I ended up selling over 60 a month.

I made a point of leaving feedback as soon as I saw that payment had been made and always had the item posted 1st class recorded within one working day. I noticed that virtually all the feedback I received was posted the day the item arrived and therefore before they could have used the lamp. And they nearly always mentioned the speed of delivery. That seemed more important than the quality of the product. I think that those who take the trouble to be efficient and reliable do benefit from positive feedback.
 

dorsetandchub

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I've managed to gather together quite a number of reels I'd had years ago for very little money, in one case a Browning Ultimatch 30 with FOUR spools (as originally supplied) for the sum of 99p plus £4 postage.

It's like anything else, I guess. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

But, I'm sure you'll all be glad to know I do honour my commitments and pay my bills on it!! :)
 

nicepix

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I've managed to gather together quite a number of reels I'd had years ago for very little money, in one case a Browning Ultimatch 30 with FOUR spools (as originally supplied) for the sum of 99p plus £4 postage.

It's like anything else, I guess. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

But, I'm sure you'll all be glad to know I do honour my commitments and pay my bills on it!! :)

Glad to hear it D&C :)

Did you hear about the guy who bid on some items and then refused to pay because he found out the seller was making a profit on the deal? :rolleyes: Even more unbelievable is that the bidder claims to have worked in a shop so was no stranger to making a profit on sales :eek:mg:
 

maggot_dangler

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People who bid and win and then come up with some cock and bull story about why they can't pay or worse, just fail to respond, are time-wasting pond-life and need rooting out of eBay. Just being able to block them from bidding on your stuff or give them an unpaid item strike means nothing. ;)

Yes just the same as the sellers who receive your money then say they have not been paid .
Like the one i had to go to Cambridge and almost kick his door in to get the goods i had paid for Flea Bay gets no business from me these days or paypal ..
 

jacksharp

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Yes just the same as the sellers who receive your money then say they have not been paid .
Like the one i had to go to Cambridge and almost kick his door in to get the goods i had paid for Flea Bay gets no business from me these days or paypal ..

Fortunately, I am not one of their number! :D
 

smufter

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A couple of years ago, I was looking to buy a new JRC shelter. I popped into my local tackle shop to buy some odds and ends. I knew the owner quite well (he had bought a new car from us) so asked him if he could get the particular one I wanted. I had seen this shelter on ebay (brand new) at a reasonable price, but wanted to support my "mate" and was willing to pay a bit more for it on the basis that he was literally around the corner. I told him what price I had seen it advertised at, and he had no doubts whatsoever he could get close to the price.
"No problem Rob, the rep will be in next week. Leave it with me, I'll sort it".
Two weeks went by, so I popped in to see him.
"Any luck mate?"
"Errrr what with Rob?" came the reply.
I reminded him I wanted to buy a shelter.
"Oh sorry mate, I completely forgot. He's back in two weeks time, I'll sort it then, promise. I'll give you a ring"
I'm still waiting for the call.
I bought it off ebay in the end.
 
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tiinker

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I buy 99% of my tackle from my tackle shops I have never bought off ebay. My sons but off ebay if I cannot get what they want from the shops. I have found over the years that if you give your tackle dealer your trade on a regular basis they will look after you. At least give them a chance to match the price.
 

mark brailsford 2

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The only thing I buy off Ebay are enamel badges (I collect fox hunting/shooting/fishing/rock music badges) as I usually know what I am getting, anything else is a no no as there are more crooks plying their trade on that site than anywhere else on the net! I found a badge only the other day where the seller Added the word ''vintage'' to the description and a starting price of £24.99 and p+p of £3.99! the badge is actually a new issue and I have bought the same straight from the hunt for £5.00! Sad thing is, people will actually fall for this clap trap and willingly part with their money!
I have friends that have bought things like fishing and shooting accessories via Ebay and later found the products to be dud, rubbish Quality of worse still, counterfeit!

last week the factory floor Defibrillator was stolen and guess what it turned up on Ebay! turns out that it was our very own security man that stole it, apparently his wife, whom works in the NHS had a nice little stash of Medical goods found at their home when the police paid them a visit! :eek:mg:

---------- Post added at 09:06 ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 ----------

Oh, one more thing I dont get,
Why do people think PayPal is the safest way to pay for good on the net? Today, most online businesses use encryption software for card payments, so no one at the ''other end'' sees the cards details anyway! Yes I do pay for a few things through PP but I will not open an account, I have heard some really bad things happening to folks who leave their bank details with them!
 

smufter

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I have been using ebay and paypal for some years and have never had a problem...maybe I'm lucky.
OK had a couple of late deliveries over the years, but nothing that didn't get sorted.
I have no hesitation in buying stuff off the bay.
 

tiinker

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I got a good deal on Amazon books yesterday. The new J. cox and L. Pearce books that come out on the 14TH Feb both hard back editions delivered for £16 all in. book shop price £35 keep the misses happy and quiet for a bit.:)
 
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