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Post by grumpybill on Sept 29, 2017 12:46:24 GMT -5
I'm wanting to increase my tumbling capacity, so I've been watching eBay.
Early this week I saw a listing for a used “Lortone Model 3A”, but the photos clearly showed a 45C. After confirming with the seller that the photos were of the item being sold, I placed a bid...the only one at that time. The next day I got a notification that the auction had been canceled. I'm guessing the seller discovered his/her error and didn't want to be accused of “not as described”.
No problem, I thought. I was also interested in a “never used” 33B and placed a bid. Next day I saw that the bidding had gone higher than what a 33B sells for New! The day after that I received notification that the 2 high bidders had each retracted their bids and I was again the high bidder. A few hours later the auction was canceled. I wonder if the seller got caught having shill bidders and eBay yanked the ad?
I'm a collector and do a lot of bidding/buying on eBay and have never had anything like this happen, let alone twice in the same week.
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Post by rockjunquie on Sept 29, 2017 16:02:56 GMT -5
Hmmmm.... that really is strange.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,722 
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Post by Fossilman on Sept 29, 2017 16:21:32 GMT -5
Never heard of that,all in a weeks time too....WOW!
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Post by grumpybill on Sept 29, 2017 17:35:46 GMT -5
I seen "Item is no longer available" when the listing stated that the item was also for sale locally. That wasn't the case with either of these listings.
I've gotten a "Second chance" email when the high bidder backed out after the auction ended, but I've never seen bids being retracted during. Reading eBay's rules, it's only permitted under very limited circumstances.
Interestingly, the seller with the retracted bids had signed up just a week before and currently has no other items for sale.
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Post by aDave on Sept 29, 2017 18:31:55 GMT -5
Aside from the Ebay issues, I would never buy anything smaller than a 45C for rotary finish work. I have two frames and 3 barrels to help me get through my stuff after it's been run in a QT66 to shape. That's just me. But, then again, there are folks who use a vibe for everything after coarse. I haven't gone there yet.
IMHO, the 33's simply serve the entry level market but are pretty lacking when it comes to efficiency. I was initially using a 45C to shape. But, when I got the QT66, I immediately saw the benefit of having a larger barrel (with extra weight) to run the coarse stage. Right now, I shape in the larger tumbler and finish in the different 45C's.
I don't know what your total setup is, but I'd avoid the 33 series personally. That's just me, and that's using hindsight. You see them mentioned alot, but I truly think it comes from entry level folks who don't know what the big picture is. Best regards.
Dave
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Post by grumpybill on Sept 29, 2017 18:57:27 GMT -5
aDave I'm about as entry level as you can get. <laughing> Current setup is a 3A and a 3-1.5. I hear you on efficiency. I've only gotten through 2 polish runs...and that's with the 3 lb barrel and 1 or 2 of the tiny critters constantly running course grit. But... I'm a cheap SOB who doesn't want to spend a pile of money on a hobby I'll probably lose interest in after a few more months. (Something that happens all too often with me.) Added to that I live in an area of nothing but sandstone, limestone and shale. So I need to buy all my stones. I'll never have enough at once to fill a larger barrel.
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Post by aDave on Sept 29, 2017 20:25:27 GMT -5
aDave I'm about as entry level as you can get. <laughing> Current setup is a 3A and a 3-1.5. I hear you on efficiency. I've only gotten through 2 polish runs...and that's with the 3 lb barrel and 1 or 2 of the tiny critters constantly running course grit. But... I'm a cheap SOB who doesn't want to spend a pile of money on a hobby I'll probably lose interest in after a few more months. (Something that happens all too often with me.) Added to that I live in an area of nothing but sandstone, limestone and shale. So I need to buy all my stones. I'll never have enough at once to fill a larger barrel. I hear you, and my view is entirely 20/20. From my perspective, if I had an idea I of what I wanted to do (somewhat) getting into tumbling seriously which I've done, I'd offer this: Get a QT66 to run coarse only. The efficiency of heavier weight grinds starts to pay off here. Run these barrels till the cows come home. Since I bought this tumbler in Feb, it's been running non-stop. Yep, no break in service, and rocks have been running 24/7. From there, you can go one of two routes: Vibe or rotary. If you want to do the vibe, there are many here who can give you advice. I'm not one of them. I use rotary tumblers through the entire process. After coarse, all my rocks go into one or two Lortone 45C's. This allows me to produce a decent amount of material, and that's shared between a few barrels. I have never had experience with the 3 series, but I'd at least want a heavier sized barrel to help me finish my stuff. The 45C's produce a decent amount of output, and I think I still benefit from a somewhat heavier weight barrel when finishing rocks. The 3's might be OK for finish work...I don't know. But I've had good luck with my setup. Just offering that as an option. Best regards. Dave |
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Post by grumpybill on Oct 2, 2017 20:13:34 GMT -5
Hmmm...This week is starting out just as weird.
This morning I'd reached my limit on an item and was outbid.
About 30 minutes before the auction ended, I got a notification that the bid had been cancelled, making me the new high bidder. Not "retracted", it was "cancelled".
What's up with that? Did a shill bidder get caught? Did the seller have previous unsatisfactory dealings with him/her and refused to accept the bid?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2017 2:54:07 GMT -5
Not "retracted", it was "cancelled". What's up with that? Did a shill bidder get caught? Did the seller have previous unsatisfactory dealings with him/her and refused to accept the bid? Seems ebay now has the bidder contact the seller and request that a bid be "canceled" - which the seller can opt to do without going through eBay's customer support. One less job for eBay's support people, I suppose. Doesn't necessarily mean the bidder had a bad reputation. |
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Post by grumpybill on Oct 3, 2017 6:50:45 GMT -5
Thanks, @rocks2dust .
It's been a couple years since I last read eBay's rules. I thought the procedure of contacting the seller to cancel a bid only applied after the auction ended.
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Post by grumpybill on Nov 7, 2017 7:53:21 GMT -5
...I would never buy anything smaller than a 45C for rotary finish work...<clip>... IMHO, the 33's simply serve the entry level market... Hey, aDave , you'll be happy to know that I've progressed one tiny step above "entry level". <laughing> A 45C arrived on my doorstep yesterday. Won't be able to load it up until I get home next week. |
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Post by aDave on Nov 7, 2017 10:06:11 GMT -5
...I would never buy anything smaller than a 45C for rotary finish work...<clip>... IMHO, the 33's simply serve the entry level market... Hey, aDave , you'll be happy to know that I've progressed one tiny step above "entry level". <laughing> A 45C arrived on my doorstep yesterday. Won't be able to load it up until I get home next week. I think you will like it. I know I like mine. My 6 lb barrels rolls coarse for me, and that's a very manageable amount. Makes it easy to load up the 4 lb barrel. I know there are folks who run double-digit (and then some) weight barrels, but what I'm using works very well for my purposes and work space. Dave |
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Post by grumpybill on Nov 29, 2017 12:05:08 GMT -5
Update on the 45C:
I bought it used on eBay.
I was having trouble keeping the barrel from walking off the rollers and/or getting jammed against the frame unless I kept one side tilted up. I finally figured out the problem...it's a 45C frame with a QT6 barrel!!!!!
I ordered the right barrel from the Rock Shed this morning and have asked the eBay seller to credit me some of the cost.
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peachfront
fully equipped rock polisher
Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them.
Member since August 2010
Posts: 1,745
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Post by peachfront on Dec 8, 2017 20:07:02 GMT -5
I have to admit I'm surprised people still buy on ebay. Their policies mean it hasn't been a place that allows for the average seller to make a profit, and it has been that way for over a decade. If there is no profit in being honest, some people won't stop selling because they rely on that money to eat. Instead, they will become dishonest and justify it as doing what they gotta do. I don't buy on sites where I have been pressured to drop prices to a point where only a dishonest person could sell at that price. It tells me there's something badly wrong...
I had a 100% positive feedback on literally hundreds of sales back in the day but ebay changed and you have to let it go when it changes, know what I mean?
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Post by grumpybill on Apr 14, 2018 16:38:38 GMT -5
Another weird eBay experience:
This morning I bid on an item that had been listed within the past 24 hours.
There was an opening bid amount and a Buy It Now price. No "Make Offer" option.
I set my max bid about midway between the opening price and BIN.
About 2 hours later I got an emailed invoice for the minimum bid saying "Fair price. I can ship it Monday."
What? The seller accepted the first bid and ended the auction? He has hundreds of transactions, so he's not a noob.
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Post by vegasjames on Apr 14, 2018 17:47:37 GMT -5
I'm wanting to increase my tumbling capacity, so I've been watching eBay. Early this week I saw a listing for a used “Lortone Model 3A”, but the photos clearly showed a 45C. After confirming with the seller that the photos were of the item being sold, I placed a bid...the only one at that time. The next day I got a notification that the auction had been canceled. I'm guessing the seller discovered his/her error and didn't want to be accused of “not as described”. No problem, I thought. I was also interested in a “never used” 33B and placed a bid. Next day I saw that the bidding had gone higher than what a 33B sells for New! The day after that I received notification that the 2 high bidders had each retracted their bids and I was again the high bidder. A few hours later the auction was canceled. I wonder if the seller got caught having shill bidders and eBay yanked the ad? I'm a collector and do a lot of bidding/buying on eBay and have never had anything like this happen, let alone twice in the same week. Does sound like they were shilling the bid to force up the maximum real bidders were bidding then they simply cancelled the shill bid to get the max they could. |
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Post by grumpybill on Apr 15, 2018 5:15:45 GMT -5
There are a lot of shill bidders. I sometimes play with them a bit. I will keep bidding on something once I figure out that there is a shill and then I will back out of the "bidding war". I've been known to sometimes play with bidders (never sure if they're shills or just idiots) when bidding gets ridiculously high. A few times I've gotten scared when I'm still the high bidder with a minute or so left. So far I've been lucky and been outbid during the last few seconds. One of these days, though, one of those shills/idiots will drop something on me and I'll be stuck overpaying. |
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Post by stardiamond on May 10, 2018 17:05:01 GMT -5
Ebay is only as good as the seller. I haven't bought any lapidary material in a long time, but buy regularly using buy it now. I don't sell on ebay because it would be work and I'm retired, the amount of money isn't needed to buy groceries and I would just be making money for ebay who doesn't have the goods or does the work associated with selling.
I'm glad I have a lot of material and supplies because finding reasonably priced material on ebay and etsy is a lot more difficult than in the past.
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Post by aDave on May 10, 2018 19:58:12 GMT -5
Ebay is only as good as the seller. I haven't bought any lapidary material in a long time, but buy regularly using buy it now. I don't sell on ebay because it would be work and I'm retired, the amount of money isn't needed to buy groceries and I would just be making money for ebay who doesn't have the goods or does the work associated with selling. I'm glad I have a lot of material and supplies because finding reasonably priced material on ebay and etsy is a lot more difficult than in the past. I know this is an older thread, but with some of the recent replies and yours most recently, I thought I'd jump in. I actually (respectfully) disagree with your stance about "Ebay is as good as the seller." I happen to think it's the other way around...buyers have all control. What you primarily see when you go to Ebay, and you are interested in a particular seller, is a feedback rating that should give an idea of the reputation. That's a great thing in my view. Even if a seller has some negatives, I can make a judgement about the person at the end of the day. I can usually tell if negative feedback is retaliatory in some fashion or if the negative is a "one off." What a person doesn't see is an accurate representation of "buyer" feedback in all instances, and the buyer usually holds all the cards. That's my main reason for not routinely selling on Ebay...as a seller, I've got little recourse for a sale gone bad. What do I mean? Well, it's very easy for a buyer to dispute a sale and an item being "not as described." This usually falls into the PayPal wheelhouse, but from what I've seen, sellers usually lose out in these claims. Even if an item is "flawless," someone can place a claim, and the seller is out cash and (usually) the item. In addition to that, buyers can simply not choose to pay, and there are no ramifications (negative feedback). I tried to sell an item a couple of years ago, and the winning bidder simply chose not to pay. If I recall correctly, as a seller, I wasn't even given an option to leave a "negative." Moreover, the stance for sellers is that leaving "negatives" for buyers is a losing battle down the road. All I could do was report the seller and hoped that there were enough reports to have the buyer banned. Because of this, I had a bunch of collectible toys that I simply chose to donate and avoid the headache, as Ebay is really not that seller friendly. |
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Post by stardiamond on May 10, 2018 20:23:09 GMT -5
The perspective is whether you are a buyer or a seller. I've done very little selling on ebay. I had no issues and worked with the buyers. What I was selling was fragile and the buyers demanded double boxing so I did it.
My son and I bought and sold sportscards and there was a lot of fraudulent behavior but that was years ago.
I buy things on ebay when they are cheaper than Amazon and they can be much cheaper. Usually I get quick shipping and good communication.
One seller was very slow getting the item shipped and did not respond to communication in a timely manner.
Sellers do al the work and have to deal with unreasonable buyers, but that applies to any business.
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