buying a cage through EBay?

[SunMommy]

What are your thoughts??

They have many auctions for brand new cages and have good feedback so I'm thinking what could be wrong. ??

The cage we have looked at is about $200 cheaper through EBAY than at our local bird store. $200 would buy a lot of bird toys.

What do you think? Have you ever bought one through EBAY?

[flyingfluff]

I, personally, have not. But I do know people who have and have had no problems. You can always contact the seller first if you are unsure before you go ahead and buy from them.

[charlieandmom]

I've never ordered anything from Ebay. Other people I know do it all the time and have no problems. I've also heard that you can get some really good deals at bird fairs. I wish they had them close by me but haven't been able to find one.

[PowerBBS]

All of our cages... from eBay... i would suggest it to anyone. It's nearly impossible to beat the prices. I would use the web to research what cage I wanted and then go buy it off of eBay from sellers with high ratings and large number of sales.

Typically a cage from eBay is almost 1/2 the cost than from a retail store.

All of our play gyms (2) are from eBay... all of our bird toys.... from eBay.... even many times food... from eBay...

For us it's just common sense as the amount of cash to be saved is that so much. The only disadvantage of eBay is typically the "return" policy. In many cases eBay has none. Besides that... I'd recommend eBay for all that. Yes I've been buying and selling on eBay for over 10 years now! If you have never tried or done it... I simply encourage you to do so... once you find out how much money you can save... you'll be hooked too.

[birdsnreps]

ebay USED to have good deals on cages...and yes, i have bought a cage on ebay a long time ago with no probs. now, they have jacked up all the prices, i can get a better deal with my discount from the local bird shop.

[cody123]

I bought to cages off ebay about 2 years ago and I haven't since because it may look the price is great but the sellers jack up the shipping so its not worth it.

[greencinacheeks]

well you've just gotta keep looking for that ONE deals with good price and reasonable shipping...i buy stuff from ebay, i wouldn't say a lot, but maybe 1-2 times a month.

my brother tried to buy a computer on ebay once....it was a $4500 reg. computer for $1999///he was duped!!!!! lost the $2000 and the FBI never caught him when we filed a report...AHHHH!!!!!!! but just be aware that that can happen but NOT often.

~Nate

[PowerBBS]

For the last two years I slowed down a bit. Especially after I sold off my business. I would say back then I would average at least two packages a week to my door from eBay, now it's down to about 2 or 3 a month. But constantly.... that's about all I do anymore. Go find in retail to handle it, review it and make my buying decision. Then off to eBay to save a bundle.

And Greencinacheeks is right... keep shopping around even on eBay... eventually even after shipping, you're most likely still gonna save money.

And in terms of getting ripped off. About 7 years ago... yup... lost 1200.00 on a laptop purchase/scam. Turns out crimes like this have to be over $25,000.00 before anyone takes notice. I about crapped my pants when the local Dept of Consumer Affairs Attorney told me that - as legally anything over 1000.00 is grand larceny(sp)/theft - a felony. Here's a long story, actually made short:

I had documentation of where the person lived, heck even a photocopy of the guys drivers license from the "mail box shop" they had rented their shipping po box from.

But ney... the government (law 'enforcement') did nothing. I still have everything reguarding the incident in my desk drawer in an envelope. About two years ago (the crime happened in Apr 2001) I finally got a call from the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs in Georgia (that's where the guy lived and where I filed charges) inquiring about it - 5 years LATER! I about flipped out on the phone... the lady tried to claim... "we just got this"... I told her to look at the postage mark and date on top of all my letters and try to come back on the phone say that without laughing.... she paused for about 20 seconds... "Well.. my office just got it... I don't know why it took 5 years to get here....?" "Since it's been so long, I doubt we can do anything about it/find the person." My response was a very rude... "Do ya think?"

Still today, I've never heard back. I had a phone number at one time that was suppost to be the person's number. I called and got an answer, they said "Wrong number"... two hours later called same number back... disconnected number. All this was in the packet I sent to Georgia... and Georgia shafted me on it. I don't know what more they needed to catch the guy. He's gotta pay taxes at least, or car payments, or have credit, or have a bank, or pay rent, or renew his driver's license... something that is easily trackable to get a current residence address of him. But since it's not $25K+ no one but me really cares.

(Wow... I'm really on a rant there ain't I?)

So it happens to people for sure. Since then I've wised up a lot and take some extra precautions when it comes to my purchases. Mainly I look for a high number of history sales (1000+) and a high rating (95+). I also have my PayPal account tied to a creditcard that guarantees/insures online purchases. So it's zero risk to me now. But, I have yet to get ripped off since, so just using my "head" so far since has kept me safe.

The company that I use most/quite often on eBay has an eBay store. JMExotics is their name. Typically they have some good prices (but still not always the cheapest).

Yes... look at the shipping costs. Sellers jack up shipping costs to fool eBay - not necessarily the end buyer. You see eBay charges them a small fee based on a percentage of the sale (before shipping). So sellers try to cheat out eBay of their "cut" by setting the price low and shipping extremely high. Thus the seller keeping nearly all it's profits and eBay getting nothing.

eBay has caught onto this and is slowly tracking down and closing accounts that practice this. Just there are MILLIONS of users and stores to track so it's near impossible to find them all, let alone "PROVE" it is truely a jacked shipping. Especially when sellers have the legal right to charge a "handling" fee as well, which no-one can dictate a rate on.

One finaly note. I support local businesses as much as possible, but still I look for anyway to save myself some well needed cash when ever possible.

OMG I've written another novel of an email. Sorry.... I could go on and on about it.. I better stop right now as this is just TOOOOOOO LONG ALREADY!... Not to mention this isn't really a "bird" topic/response is it.

Good luck... YES EBAY IT! That's my suggestion.
EDIT: My god... I need to lay off the coffee... way to much... way to early in the morning... LOL (yup Nate... too much time indeed!)

[greencinacheeks]

ha ha...got a little time on your hands don;t you? lol


we got ahold of the person who ripped my brother off...i could hear kids in the background of the call. i called back a week later because he said call then.....????.....so my brother called this time. phone number disconnected ahhh!!!!!


~Nate

[lilmama]

I got both my cages off ebay and saved a bundle! Just look at the feedback score and research, research, research the price because I have seen things sold on ebay for more than they are in the store so check the shipping cost and factor that in. I buy toys and toy parts there as well.