Help me w/ Ebay purchasing!

[atmail35]

So for the first time I bought some Lego on Ebay. For the most part stuff was fine but there were a few cases where I have questions:

1) One seller had pics, but no description besides them being "used". These were Minifigures and a bunch are really chewed up (literally teeth marks or ran over by a bike on asphalt). What should I look for in the descriptions? Am I expecting too much that the condition be mentioned? It seems impossible to notice these issues in the photos. I'm not expecting "pristine" in most cases, but I wonder if I have too high expecations and need to stick with Bricklink?

2) One seller had pics of the figures, but only the front was shown so some of the backs were pretty chewed up and it wasn't noticable in pics. The description was vague. "genuine Lego" and not much more.

3) The "non-smoking home" thing. Most of the sellers did not specify (I've bought from 3-4 sellers). I got one batch that smelled of smoke, I soaked the pieces in water/dish soap overnight and that seemed to help. Do you tend to bid only on those that say "non-smoking home/smoke free home"? It seems like A LOT of people don't specify either way.

Any other advice you can offer? Thanks!

[unclephn]

1. Obviously, the more descriptive sellers are, the better. If their photos don't answer all the questions you might have, shoot them a quick email. In my experience, you'll get a fairly quick reply, as I would assume most people would want to garner as many bids as they can. If they don't answer your questions, or come back with answers that don't satisfy you, then I would stay away. It's your money afterall, and you shouldn't put it where it isn't deserved.

2. Again, I would shoot them an email and ask if they could provide additional photos for you. If they can't provide you with any, and can't give you a better description than 'Genuine Lego', I would stay away.

3. This is odd to me, because the vast majority of listings I've looked through usually indicate that their items are from a smoke-free home. However, it is possible that this is a particular detail that the seller hasn't mentioned, because everyone might not think to put it in their descriptions. So once again, it doesn't hurt to ask.

For general advice, I tend to gravitate to listings that appear to look a little bit more 'professional'. In my mind, proper spelling and grammar in listings go a long way, and help me think that the seller is serious about what they're selling. Another important piece of advice is to always check out their feedback. Most people have very high positive feedback, but if they have that one negative feedback, I would read that and find out what went wrong.

These are my general 'rules of thumb' that I take into consideration when buying off of eBay. I myself have bought a few Lego sets off eBay, and have been very pleased with the professionalism from the sellers I've dealt with. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[jsnweitzel]

I like to think that most people are honest but when it comes to money, expect deceit and buyer beware.

I've bought many things on ebay over the years including legos. I agree with everything unclephn posted.

Depending on the dollar amounts that you are spending, meticulously review everything about the seller's post and scrutinize. What's the return policy if there even is one? What has the seller sold recently and for how much? (If I'm not mistaken, you should be able to see this in feedback somewhere) What else does the seller have for sale? Most sellers accept Paypal, I would questin the auction if they didn't.

It's my opinion that you will have one of three types of lego sellers on ebay.
You will have the AFOL that buys and sells legos consistently to feed their habit. If you see the last dozen sales have been large quantities of lego and feedback is good, I would assume it's safe.
You will have what I call speculators that buy sets on sale/clearance and then post online looking for profit. Most of the time these sets would still be sealed so theoretically safe as long as the seller is honest.
The 3rd is the wildcard of the bunch. A parent or grown kid found a box of legos in the attic or at a garage sale and has heard that lego = big money and posted online hoping that their twelve mini-figs from the 90's will be enough to retire. Usually these people/stores know little or nothing about what they are selling and are only interested in your cash. Their descriptions are typically the vague or flat out wrong ones. Ask for more details if needed or take a gamble and accept that it could turn out bad.

I would never assume that an open set is complete even if advertised as such.
Just because someone lists an item as being from a non-smoking home doesn't mean their telling the truth. If I'm selling something on my account for my smoker buddy, I'm selling it from a non-smoking home(I don't really do this, it's just an example)

I have had no bad experience buying a few legos online but did get a "new" phone that had pics of someone's family on it. The seller apologized and refunded the cash. A family member bought some pre-assembled antique model cars that looked like garbage when they arrived. No refund on those.

[atmail35]

All this info is very helpful, thank you. I think those 3 seller categories that jsnweitzel mentioned make sense.

I was happy with most of the auctions I won, I was mainly wondering about the one seller (who does sell a lot of lego, but I didn't notice any comments in the feedback) where I got the chewed/road rash parts.

[drtabo]

Hmm.. Has anyone had any experience/issues with counterfeit lego's on ebay?

I've seen a couple of overseas sellers (china/singapore/hong kong) that are selling things pretty cheap in comparison to US prices. I am cautious to stay away from them, but curious. They have 99% to 100% positive feedback and thousands of sales in the recent months on legos, with no mention of counterfeit..

But I am going with the "if it's too good to be true, it probably is" school of thought.

[jsnweitzel]

Hmm.. Has anyone had any experience/issues with counterfeit lego's on ebay?

I've seen a couple of overseas sellers (china/singapore/hong kong) that are selling things pretty cheap in comparison to US prices. I am cautious to stay away from them, but curious. They have 99% to 100% positive feedback and thousands of sales in the recent months on legos, with no mention of counterfeit..

But I am going with the "if it's too good to be true, it probably is" school of thought.

I have not bought legos from china but have noticed those sales in the past. There was a set selling from Singapore or Thailand a year ago that got my interest. They had several new in box sets for sale. Don't remember what the theme was, Batman maybe. It seemed odd but not impossible that someone in China would have multiple sealed new in box batman sets.

The store had great feedback and was a big seller but when I went to the feedback, most of the sales they had completed were for $1 or a penny for some ridiculous little item. The customer feedback was also misspelled and very poor grammar in English. I came to the conclusion that this China store (and probably most others) were padding their sales by selling to themselves in order to lure real people into buying.

[cowbug]

Hmm.. Has anyone had any experience/issues with counterfeit lego's on ebay?

I've seen a couple of overseas sellers (china/singapore/hong kong) that are selling things pretty cheap in comparison to US prices. I am cautious to stay away from them, but curious. They have 99% to 100% positive feedback and thousands of sales in the recent months on legos, with no mention of counterfeit..

But I am going with the "if it's too good to be true, it probably is" school of thought.

Last month i bought a Brand New Battle for Geonosis ($39.99 MSRP) for $17 from a new seller in Korea with 0 feedback (nothing negative or positive). It took 3-4 weeks to get here but it did get here it was packed very well and sealed and everything was fine. The whole time I was wondering if I would ever get it and if I had made a good decision to buy from this seller. I think in the end it was a bad decision that just happened to turn out well. The price was just so good I was willing to take the chance.

[gator06]

I've made 4 lego purchases off ebay. 2 were for bulk lots of 10 and 20 pounds of lego bricks. They were as described, but one was just poured into a cardboard box, and leaking bricks by the time is got to my house. Another was for the older millennium falcon sold by someone who said they were an adult collector. It was in great condition, as was the box. All the pieces were disassembled and in ziplock bags, with a separate bag for the minifigs etc. I bought another set that was a "New Sealed" Troll's Mountain Fortress, and it was already torn open and had some some of the King's Castle bags in the box, with none of the pieces that were supposed to be there. So My best luck was from the listing that said it was from an adult collector. The bulk bricks were fine too, just uncaringly packed.

[condor]

I've bought a couple of sealed sets and they all came exactly as described. Like unclephn said, your best bet is to ask those questions. One thing I've found though is that you can get hidden gems from the unprofessional sellers since they don't list everything right.