sooni

Yes in the ebay world 98% is pretty low.

Unfortunately I couldn't contribute to the rating after closing the ebay dispute.

alo

Chinese would rather make a quick buck scamming someone, than have a good reputation. I have had Chinese try stupid things with me. If you understand the way they operate, you are better prepared to deal with them. When they say ship it back, expect them to say they never received it. So you will have paid for the product, and return shipping, and have nothing in return.

It is common for them to act like they can't understand your communication. I suspect a lot of people give up trying to communicate with them because of this, and just accept the loss.

There are some good Chinese sellers, selling good things.

There many who have some good products, and some scam products.

There was one who sold a fake product. I got a refund. I left negative feedback. He expected me to remove the negative feedback because I got a refund, while he continued to sell the fake product, and scam others.

Some have a false description, which give the impression the product is better than it actually is. I have told these to correct the description. I have noticed, other sellers selling the same product also correct the description. Probably Ebay reads these, and notifies the others to correct the description too.

Ebay does not want to get into the details of every dispute, and remove scammers, so they thrive.

SClaraPokeman

Hummm, I got a couple pairs of Ultegra R8000 pedals shipped to me from HK last year for under $100 each. They were no doubt real and that was a obviously a very good price. I then saw a pair of R8000s offered for under $40 and while I was incredulous, I was also a bit curious so I ordered it. When they arrived, I could see that they were obviously not R8000s and when I complained to the vendor, I was offered a 10% rebate--which was after some more haggling (I kept asking how to return them) was increased to 50%. I did tell them that I wasn't going to put them on any of my bikes and trying to trick buyers was uncool. I then contacted E-Bay and they responded to me right away and told me that the seller was going to refund my account 100% and that I didn't have to return the pedals. So it was kind of stupid of me to have gone through the hassle over $40, and I should have known better, but OTOH listing products that clearly aren't what they purport to be violates the seller's terms with E-Bay.

That aside, E-Bay has been very useful for me to obtain a lot of things over the years. Old hand planes, boat cleats, small bike parts, some lightly used bike jerseys and jackets, replacement parts for various items. I just wouldn't be willing to wade into territory like carbon parts where verifying authenticity could be difficult and fakes could be potentially very dangerous.

veganbikes

Oh no someone bought a cheap no-name carbon seatpost from some rando on eBay and had a bad result...stop the presses.

eBay is not always terrible certainly have had some good interactions with some smaller sellers but certain things you can kind of tell are a little good to be true.

mstateglfr 

The appeal is that it is a vast and ever replenishing marketplace for products people want. It gives people easy access to more goods than they would otherwise have access to.

Without ebay, it would be more difficult for me to find and buy a Shimano 600 tricolor rear derailleur, for example. Multiply that times millions across the world.
Oh, older road frames- ebay opens up huge stashes of quality exotic brands and offerings from Poland, Italy, etc.

I have saved hundreds on each of the mountain bikes I built for my two kids by using ebay. Hundreds saved...and they aren't exactly expensive as built.
I have had 1 bad experience in probably 150 purchases and sales, and that's because I mistakenly bought from a seller with no rating when I should have bought the same item for the same price from a number of sellers with essentially perfect ratings.

It isnt for everyone though, clearly.