SGI: Discussion

mapesdhs wrote: sybrfreq writes:
>Craigslist is also great. Zero fees, and locals too. I've sold a bunch of stuff on craigslist, and every time I was able to meet with the
> buyer, leave with cash, and the buyer got what he wanted too. I'm not sure if you are familiar with it or if there is something similar
> in the uk, but there should be.

I had a look, but I couldn't quite work out how to do a global search. Search interface seemed a bit klunky too.

Btw, do you think eBay is watching?... see my other post .

It's enough to make one just a tad paranoid... 8|

Ian.

sorry I didn't respond earlier. must have missed the post.

Craigslist is a sort of local classified site, so for example http://cincinnati.craigslist.org or for you http://edinburgh.craigslist.co.uk/ (wow that doesn't look too popular yet - help get the word out )

probably not so good for your kind of volume but it is worthwhile to keep an eye out. maybe also look at neighboring cities' listings.

the whole global search thing would be interesting for craigslist... it is more like a big garage sale than something per se ebay or ebid.

sybrfreq wrote: the whole global search thing would be interesting for craigslist... it is more like a big garage sale than something per se ebay or ebid.

I guess tha's why it didn't initially appeal to me, ie. I would want to search worldwide, and advertise worldwide, eg. this
week I'm sending three PSUs for Indigo2 to the Kingdom of Bahrain (Gulf Air Simulator Centre), a 1600SW to France, etc.

Thanks though!!

Ian.

sybrfreq wrote: the whole global search thing would be interesting for craigslist...

You can do a quasi-global Craig's List search with Google: will get all the "sgi" listing on the domestic Craig's List. To keep things current I usually do an advanced search and limit the results to the last week.

If you want global results you could probably tweak the search to include the .uk list <or other country specific sites>.

mapesdhs wrote: And if eBay had an Escrow payment option, the feedback changes they've made would not be necessary, because the seller pressure they cite as one reason for the changes wouldn't have been a problem in the first place.

Hmmm... Regardless of how much I do not trust Paypal, I'd prefer it over escrow services every single day. Virtually all online fraud I encountered (not myself, luckily; I tend to accept nothing but international wire transfers) were done with escrow.

They'll only release the money when you send them a code? Bollocks! They'll release the money to the very first person who seems to know one or two facts about you. And don't think you'll ever get your money back. Hell, even Western Union - about the most used escrow service in the world - is one huge fraud factory.

I sure hope that this eBid will prove to have a better track record than that.

And I still can't access the site! Pity, cause I was in a buying-mood all of the sudden. Argh.

ramq wrote: And I still can't access the site! Pity, cause I was in a buying-mood all of the sudden. Argh.

Not heard back yet on this, will enquire again today.

As for Escrow, as I understand it, the idea is that the seller isn't paid until the buyer is happy with the time,
ie. files the appropriate confirmation online and with eBid. I don't see how the seller can get round that.

And the funny thing about W.U. is that I've never had a problem with it. I guess it depends on what kind
of item is being sold, probably not so much fraud with SGI stuff.

Either way, the Escrow service makes perfect sense to me, though I do have the advantage of a prior
good reputation anyway.

Ian.

ramq wrote: And I still can't access the site! Pity, cause I was in a buying-mood all of the sudden. Argh.

Looks like they are for some reason blocking Sweden - or at least parts of it. Cannot access ebid at all from Bredbandsbolaget but from my server co-lo'd at Helsinki ebid opens using Lynx. Go figure

-Reko

rturja writes:
> Looks like they are for some reason blocking Sweden ...

I have an answer, but alas it's not good news for Swedish residents and those in various other
nations (seems that atm eBid is no panacea as a general alternative to ebay): I didn't realise eBid
was strictly only available to certain countries at the present time. The response from eBid was:



I said they should sort out a global launch in 2 months tops, not 2 years. :} And I said that at the
very least the site should be viewable from everywhere, even if the registration and use of the site
is limited to a subset of places. That way, at least anyone can see what the site is all about, even if
they can't use it. Kinda breaks the basic concept of the web IMO to have a hard block on certain
countries.

Oh well, my apologies to those in Sweden & elsewhere who would otherwise have been keen to use the
service to bid on my or other items. The only thing I can do to help sidestep this somewhat is mention
what my listed starting and BuyNow prices are when I post an auction advert. This won't help for normal
bidding (unless of course a fellow Neko member is willing to bid on their behalf, something I know that
already happens a lot with eBay), but if someone in a place like Sweden (or wherever) is happy to buy
something for the fixed price option, then as long as there have been no bids yet I can cancel the relevant
auction and just sell the item normally for the BuyNow price; those in nations where the eBid service is available
would have to purchase via the eBid system in the normal way of course. Until eBid is more widely
available, maybe this will help a bit. I'll update my auction advert just now...

Ian.

Sorry Ian, but that sounds like utter bullshit to me.
Why?
Cause I could access ebid.net at the very first post you did in this thread and watched through all the stuff you had there. Now they've managed to block the whole site from the entire swedish region.
Why didn't they block Finland? Or Norway? Or...?

And why do they do this???

We have a quick solution to this dilemma: Someone please open up a proxy server for us swedish (or other "blocked" countries).

Same here (Netherlands): I can access the site from home, but not from work. Different, but both reputable, Dutch providers.

Well, I guess I shouldn't be browsing auction sites in the bosses' time, but this sort of sh*t doesn't encourage me to sell stuff through eBid ...