Though Amazon is excellent, ....you quite often pay substantially more than the very same item would cost on E-Bay.
I have never had a problem that E-Bay/PayPal did not resolve to my satisfaction.
You haven't sold much there then
Or dealt with a a better scam artist.
I've been both ends of spectrum wronged as seller, wronged as buyer, and each time felt paypal was not on my side. At least nothing like if you've ever had an issue at a typical business and escalated it to American Express. AmEx just takes your side, fights the fight for you, and makes it simple. PayPal is exact opposite.
Anyway, sold a laptop. Wasn't new, but worked and was decent shape (obviously used, but not damaged/abused). Pictures, description, everything described it very well as a used, but functional and working laptop. I packed it well, sent it USPS Priority (for free) and included option for buyer to insure at HIS expense - i.e. free shipping, pay extra for insurance if you want it (he did not). Anyway, buyer claimed it arrived in pieces and their description/pictures weren't shipping damage. Box was fine, but screen smashed and detached, keyboard not attached, etc...case had to be opened to remove these items - they couldn't have possibly sheared off with the box and packing material in great shape, and no damage to the hinges or chassis. Obvious to me the buyer "staged" the scene. I'm thinking he needed an internal replacement part, took it out of mine, then smashed screen, and took pictures of the disassembled machine, claiming that's how I sent it. Ebay/paypal took his side even though it would be impossible to get a laptop in pieces like that without chassis damage if it were "accidental" or "shipping damage". The screen couldn't be smashed in the center of glass side (like hit with a hammer), yet 0 damage to the outer top side which would have had to take a very sharp blow to smash screen underneath....
Then almost exact opposite....bought a laptop and received an empty (but sealed and in perfect condition) box. But tracking said it was delivered, so ebay/paypal took seller's side. I did eventually get refunded, but it was a battle.
I have about 1000 positive feedback on ebay, bought & sold a lot over the years, very few issues. But the few I did have were nightmarish. So I limit eBay to pretty much $25 and under. Buying or selling. But since they just keep increasing seller fees all the time, I pretty much quit selling. But will buy something for $15, $25 - if there's an issue I'm not out a lot of $ and not worth fighting with them over it.
Really, now the only thing I buy there is if I need an oddball end mill or carbide inserts for lathe tools from sellers I've dealt with in the past. You can buy whole packs of name brand carbide inserts for about the same as 1 would cost from MSC so that's a good deal. Otherwise, I'm more inclined to go with Amazon or anywhere else who will resolve issues quickly and without much fuss.
