Is ebay a good idea?

M

mannequinette

New member
I've been reading a lot of posts on this site to get educated for my first pda purchase and I'm leaning toward purchasing a Palm T/X (Drewster, thanks especially for your helpful comments).

What are your thoughts on purchasing a PDA on ebay to save some money?

Thanks,

AK
 
I have purchased both palms and ppcs from ebay and have had great experiences. Just as long as you are careful with who you are buying from. Someone with a good history, who will stand behind the sale. Also get insurance and if you can get buyer pertection through paypal or your credit card.
I recently bought a palm tx through paypal. Though I don't think you get any super deals buying that way. You may save yourself about fifty to seventy five dollars, but if you buy from palm you may get some extras thrown in depending on their promos at the time.

Personally I haven't really liked the palm tx as much as the IPAQ rx 3115.
 
Apartmentking, thanks very much for your kind words ... I'm not as technically experienced of some of the other people on this forum, so I'm just glad to be able to help out somehow!!! And I know how hard it is these days to purchase the right PDA ... there's just so many possible options! When I got my first PDA back in 2000, there was either the Palm III, IIIx, V and organiser or a Windows CE which everyone knew to steer clear of!!! :rolleyes:

Now you have a huuuge range ... Treos, Zires, Lifedrive, Clies (though they Sony has now withdrawn from the PDA business), Tungstens, Zires ... and that's just the Palm OS devices!!! :eek:

Hmmm, purchasing PDAs on eBay ... I did do it a while back, but as akt rightly pointed out, you need to choose someone with good history and you also take advantage of insurance and Paypal buyer protection offered. But with eBay is always hard to tell ... Like, last year, I bought an Accessory for my car ... the seller was a power seller, had feedback in the 250s with not one piece of bad feedback, and then when I finally decided to purchase with him, and paid for the item, I found out that he wasn't going to ship. And because the item value didn't reach a certain amount, it wasn't eligible for the PayPal Protection that was advertised on the auction ... check him out ... http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=iwupetesmith

Anyways, personally, I wouldn't advise on purchasing a PDA over eBay. Not with the reliability problems with the newer Palms that people seem to be plastering all over the net forums ... they're probably from the same person!! :p But, I just reckon it's better to have the ability to go a shop attendant and blast them for giving you a faulty product!! Oh, that leads to what I really wanted to say about eBay ... if you receive a lemon product (which more and more PDAs seem to be these days since manufacturing is now done in newly industrialised countries - the original Palm IIIx used to be manufactured in USA), then you may have some troubles with trying to get a replacement arranged ...

I also took the liberty of scanning through eBay USA for you. The lowest priced T|X I could find was $259 (before shipping). I also looked up some other prices for you to compare ... ummm, I mean CNET.com looked it up for you!! :o The cheapest retail store for the T|X is CompuAmerica at $253.82 Cash (http://www.compu-america.com/ProdDisplay.asp?CatID=0&ProdID=252533&ExportID=3).
In addition to better post sales support with physical stores, I'm sure you can haggle with the retail stores as well to get a good deal. I think I knocked $59 AUD off the RRP for my T|X .. got it down to $440 AUD.

But the T|X is a very good choice. The best part of it is the screen! I put it next to my Palm IIIx and HP ipaq 1930 the other day ... it's like looking at the evolution of PDAs!!
 
I've purchased 3-5 Plam devices and numerous accessories and memory cards off E-bay. Overall, my experience has been positive. However, most of those purchases were for older models where the possibility for getting a really good deal was higher. For a newer model like the T/X it might make sense to go with a retailer where you get a warranty etc. For older devices that's not as much of an issue.

If you go with E-bay, look closely at feedback scores (and the actual feedback comments other customers have left) and only buy through Paypal. It offers the most protection.

In some ways feedback gives you a lot more information about a seller than you would get for a typical retailer. I've sold a few things on E-bay and bought more and my feedback score is very important to me. As a seller that's a very important thing in getting the best sale price. I would think other E-bay sellers are interested in that too. That being the case, it's in the seller's best interest to make sure you are happy with your purchase. I have experienced first hand the lengths a seller will go to to make sure I've gotten what I bid for. E-bay I think is a good system and generally encourages pretty positive sales practices.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Buyer beware on E-bay. I've been buying through online auctions for over 12 years (yes, even before e-bay). And only this year I have been scammed twice. I reported them to e-bay (along with the other dozen people affected), filed an FBI report, tracked the perps down to local addresses and filed local police reports. After several months of effort, no results. Even local police in the towns where these guys live do nothing. The local DA won't prosecute, because they don't believe the victims will appear in court, and the cost for a few hundred dollars is prohibitive. And e-bay is an empty black hole; they only send out form letters suggesting you cry on someone elses shoulders. The threshhold for the FBI to take an interest is $50,000.

Digital cameras, Audio/video players, PDAs, and other electronic equipment are easy targets. And with everything I have learned through this futile exercise, I can routinely find scam auctions in a matter of minutes. My personal hope is that either Congress will take action to make it easier to track and prosecute these criminals, or e-bay implodes on itself.

;)

Cheers,
John
 
I echo the precautionary advise. I have not had a problem with eBay so far. However, keep in mind there are usually no warranties with items sold there. In my own opinion, I would rather do a source on Froggle.com to get the best price and still at least have some type of warranty. Also, don't overlook Overstock.com.
Carol
 
Phew! Thanks to jcrick and Telyx for clarifying what happened there ... I was starting to worry that I somehow offended someone with my last post :( And kudos to dwinget and others for identifying the scam post and reporting it. We shouldn't have to put up with that sort of nonsense here ...

Maybe I should work on my editing skills so I don't keep posting mammoth replies! I couldn't agree with jcrick and CarolCasey more. Ebay, whilst it has many positives, should definitely be viewed with caution, and it's great that people like jcrick share their bad experiences with us, so that we know what risks we can run into.

But fortunately, in your case (the T|X) there's isn't too much of a price advantage to buying over ebay as opposed to a traditional retailer ... so there's very little temptation or 'curiosity'. But always be careful with ebay ... at the end of the day, there's not much that they can do when things go wrong ... :mad:

Andrew

 
Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments.

I decided to browse for a T/X at my local Best Buy, Office Depot, and Circuit City, and Office Depot had a $30 rebate put on a merchandise card.

I'm now charging it up and very psyched about getting started with it.
 
And if you buy from Office Depot, slgn up to get an 'Advantage Card', you get a 10% rebate at the end of the quarter. I bought my TX there and I got a $30 rebate check comming from Office Depot.

Cheers,
John
 
I agree with the authors here who are cautious about eBay. I have delt 9 times on eBay and have been robbed twice (22%). Total loss nearly $2000. It is not possible to speak to eBay. They email you to talk to PayPal. PayPal then says it is NOT part of eBay (a misstatement at best). They duck and weave and remember are employed by the sellor! The times I was duped, the cheating was obvious, but they do not care. FYI there was a large positive feedback with no negatives, but he sold a $2000 computer he did not have, five times in a 10 day period. Each was sequential but eBay never told the following bidders of the fake bid. eBay is easy to trick and their rules allow the truly dishonest to steal.

There was a one hour show on CNBC this weekend about eBay, and it is worth watching. They got lots of problems, and lying about fraud is just one. I would be interested in knowing peoples' bad experience when searching on the net, then buying from those companies directly. I personally have done a fair number (>100) and NEVER been sorry. eBay gives the sense of safety, but I suspect the cheat rate is higher than general commerce.

I too would buy from Office Depot. Get the discount card. I not only got the $30, but during a sale I got a 1 gig SD card for $9. yeah nine bucks.

I have owned nearly every Palm or Pilot ever made and the T/X is just right.

good hunting

billwein
 
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