The problem I've found with international shipping is that as a seller you have no recourse against claims to PayPal for 'not shipped items' as you have no cost effective means to obtain a tracking number. The one thing that PP accepts as absolute confirmation an item has been shipped.

I always immediately acknowledge receipt of payment and I clearly state how and when the item is actually shipped, including tracking numbers whenever possible. And, I also ask that I be notified when their item has been received, and mention that once they are satisfied with the purchase, I would be enjoy exchanging our Feedback on eBay for the completed transaction - since finalizing the transaction is knowing that they are happy with the purchase. There is no threat implied in this.

As a Buyer, I would appreciate the same considerate treatment from any Seller. I've noticed some even instantly respond with Positive Feedback as soon as mine has been posted for them, although I usually communicate as soon as I get an item, first to thank them and also to advise them that I have just left my feedback for them [hint... hint...] and would of course be most grateful to receive feedback from them, at their convenience... (and I even include a link to the auction page - to prompt their memory and to make their quick response in kind as easy as possible for them to navigate directly from that email...)

I do the same when I buy. While I can see both sides of the issue, it is true that the sale isn't "completed" until both parties leave feedback. That would generally preclude the buyer making a stink about something after you have left them a positive. More importantly, it is essential that the product being sold is described accurately, and with lots of photos. I have made many really good purchases from those who post only one cruddy picture which tends to depress prices much more than a sellers feedback policy. As a seller, I don't want buyers expecting one thing and getting another, and if they do I am happy to work toward an equitable solution. I just don't want to do it by means of negative feedback.

Stacey wrote:

"The problem I've found with international shipping is that as a seller you have no recourse against claims to PayPal for 'not shipped items' as you have no cost effective means to obtain a tracking number. The one thing that PP accepts as absolute confirmation an item has been shipped."

Yes - this is the main reason I don't ship internationally!

Just some food for thought

https://money.cnn.com/2008/01/31/smbu...ey_mostpopular

if there was no sign of damage, the buyer straight up lied to you

Same here in Ottawa - it's UsedOttawa and way more stuff is put for sale there than on CL. CL in Ottawa is pretty much dead. Of course I always miss the great deals so actually buying something is a different story.

For small items airmail gets you a tracking number. Bike frames and wheels would be very costly to ship airmail.

As a buyer I'd risk having a seller with good feedback send me items via ground without a tracking number, but finding a seller that trusts me not to scam them, even with my 100% feedback, is another story. I'm buying locally if I can, and even found that my LBS had stuff for less than I could get them on eBay (Tektro R200 levers for $20 - no shipping!). They also have a nice big parts book under the counter and ordering from that has NO shipping costs. So new parts are via the LBS now.

eBay should do something against snipers. For example, if there were bids during the last 5 minutes, prolongate the auction.

Why?

Why would anybody sit and watch how something goes away in the last seconds when the time for bidding is over? When you lose a few auctions because of it, you understand that eBaying is usually a waste of time and buy somewhere else.

If it's a live auction, the auction goes on as long as there are new bids.

No, it is a timed auction and a bid can be put in at any time you want. Just bid the most you are willing to pay. If it goes higher, well, no big deal. If it doesn't you win.

I assume you mean that when you say "live auction" you mean that it is an English auction. It is not. There are many different types of auctions. Not just the "Going once, going twice, gone!" type of auction.

You haven't mentioned how you would like to change the way bidding is done on eBay. How would you propose to change it? Here is a discussion we had about a month ago.
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/387252-curse-you-ebay-snipers.html

Read through that thread.

Most items have typical ending prices. If your bids are below those and you are watching other bidders snap the items up at the end of the listings, you aren't adjusting to how the bidding game works. For popular and hard to find items, more often than not, the items get sniped. Studying completed auctions for ending prices tells a bidder what range they have to bid in to win. If you are in that range you should end up with what you are looking for before too long.

A better question would be "Why would anybody sit and watch an eBay auction?" Just bid your maximum and walk away.

I don't think there was anything much wrong with the old feedback system, except possibly Ebay's refusal to ever remove feedback.

With the new system, a seller can't leave negative or neutral for a buyer. What's the point of feed back that's only allowed to be positive? How can you tell the difference between someone with 10 good deals, and someone with 10 good deals and 1000 bad ones?

The shipping thing's a bit bollox as well, because they're only collecting data from people who've bought - not from people who've chosen not to buy because of high shipping.

The only people who want to do away with snipers are people who aren't smart or fast enough to do the sniping.

Do tell, where is this vintage parts nirvana???

There only a couple of "local" swaps near me in Chicago, the 3rd largest city in the country. And by local I mean within 100 miles. I have yet to find anything I truely want. There may be some nice stuff but it is hit and miss. ebay is also hit and miss but there are hundreds of items added every day. For the stuff I really want, 90% of the time it is coming from Europe through ebay. Even with all of its faults, ebay is the only reason we can experience these vintage bikes instead of just reading about them.

That said, I don't care much for hiding the bidders no matter the price (yet to take effect in the European ebay sites). Makes it way too easy to shill bid, not that ebay cares, a higher price just makes them more money. Instead of policing the few big ticket scammers, they stick it to us with the wide spread low level scammers.

What bugs me is that the big ticket scammers were so obvious, only an idiot would fall for them. Hey stupid, if it seems too good to be true, it is too good to be true.

I think that Craig from craigslist should hire a programmer and create a new website where people will be able to post ads about products they can ship everywhere in the USA. He should add more categories like
bikes->parts->derailleurs->Campagnolo.

The main problem with current craigslist is that everything is in one category and it's difficult to look through all of the pages to find what you want.