let's roll the ebay roulette!

[68122e0810490icemann]

Absolutely. Sticking with that from here on.

[68122e0810ab1unn_atropos]

[...]Gumtree [...] his ex-wife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq_wZE93ZAY

 

[68122e0810c67voodoo47]

or, like when I buy stuff from aliexpress using the paysafe card, just fully accept there is chance of losing all the money when you purchase something (using that combo for really, really cheap junk that is not available on ebay). I never go above $20 per deal there, and I'm aware of all the risks. so far so good though.

[68122e0810ed5Kolya]

unn_atropos That was actually hilarious. 

[68122e0811047icemann]

Funniest thing I've watched in ages. Plus classic aussie humour.

I've had some weird situations happen across the years of selling on Ebay, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace, but nothing like that fictional story. I used to let people into my unit, to check on the containers I have filled with retro games, but had one guy get aggressive. So stopped with that. Now only let them come to the door.

Only went into one sellers place, and he turned out to be the ex boyfriend of a girl I'd dated back in the early 00's. Odd coincidence. His place was wall to wall full of old computers.

Had a few buyers on Gumtree wanting to meet at a neutral location at late hours of the night. Hell no.

[68122e081116bvoodoo47]

so yeah, full refund on those 7 bucks, didn't even have to escalate to ebay. wonder what his deal was.

also, seems like some aliexpress sellers are creating warehouses all around the EU, offering much better shipping times should you happen to be located close enough to them - grabbed some scrap just to see whether the shipping time reduction is going to be a real deal.

[68122e0811271voodoo47]

so yeah, ten days total, not bad. plus zero chance of having to deal with corrupt customs officials - just leave all the bribing to the chinaman!

[68122e0811501voodoo47]

some aliexpress sellers are creating warehouses all around the EU

and not a moment too soon - turns out a new friendly EU bill has been passed, and starting from July the 1st, ALL deliveries from outside the union will be subject to the customs process, which will guarantee the recipient will have to pay the value added tax, no exceptions (+20% of the package value shipping included, and increased handling time).

it's being wrapped as "creating a fairer and more equal field on the market for all involved parties". quite a roundabout way of saying "outright theft".

[68122e08116c9Nameless Voice]

Well...  I'm a little torn on that one.

On the one hand, I have to pay more on any cheap stuff I order from outside of the EU any more. 

On the other hand...  having everything manufactured wherever they can pay (and treat) workers the worst and then shipping it around the world is not really great either.

But it's not like they're going to suddenly start manufacturing everything locally or fairly anyway, so the point is probably moot.

[68122e081182dfox]

I'm a little torn about that too. It's not the right starting point for that kind of change but at least it could be one. I definately think the EU should become more self-sufficient overall.

[68122e081191dvoodoo47]

yeah, I'm very sure additional customs taxes are not going to make that situation any better.

[68122e0811a6cfox]

It will make people think twice about ordering stuff from outside the EU (more often). The increased taxes, in theory, can be used for something that is benificial to the EU. I'm not naive but as I said, it might be a step in the right direction and I think there is some momentum for a change since Covid alerted many people about avoidable but dangerous dependencies.

Not a fan of MAGA-inspired politics at all but I was never too big on boundless globalization either and I guess the seemingly endless lockdowns automatically lead countries and unions to increased focusing on their own wellbeing.

[68122e0811b67Nameless Voice]

Globalisation should have been a great thing, but it seems to have just ended up with "find the easiest people to exploit, anywhere in the world".

[68122e0811cfavoodoo47]

it's human nature, if a demand for something exists, there will always be someone to satisfy it, and it will be impossible to stop them, no matter how much barbed wire you apply - remember, we still were able to get to the forbidden wares even when we were locked up behind the iron curtain, and those were the times where you could get sentenced to forced labor in uranium mines for smuggling jeans. compared to that, sellers having to move warehouses to work around the new rules poses no challenge. also, whatever you buy/get/have, the chance of a human being having to suffer because of it at some point to make that thing happen is pretty much 100%, and it's not like this has been any different in the past - it's just that nowadays you can read about it in the news.

so yeah, the world is shit, it always has been, it always will be, and there is little anyone can do about it. applying more bureaucracy is certainly not going to make it better.

[68122e0811f56icemann]

Globalisation should have been a great thing, but it seems to have just ended up with "find the easiest people to exploit, anywhere in the world".

It's led to the death of the manufacturing industries of many countries. US and Australia for example. Car manufacturing of many places is all but dead. Free trade ftw.

[68122e08120a8Kolya]

No eastern German went to the uranium mines for smuggling jeans. Lots came back from visits to the west wearing two pairs over another and no one cared. And you could buy jeans in so called "Intershops". Guess we were lucky?

Globalisation was always an economic goal first and foremost. Apart from industries predictably moving to the cheapest labor force,  I'd argue it raised prosperity in most countries it touched. And it has political consequences: A world war between developed nations is pretty much unthinkable these days, not least due to our economic interdependence.

[68122e081220efox]

Globalisation is a double edged sword and there's a reason why I added "boundless" to my comment. Interdependence might be good for peace but dependence on essential things can (and most likely will) be weaponized. Never count on fairness in foreign policy or economy.

[68122e08124f4voodoo47]

as with everything, you need to be smart about it - for example, there is little sense in trying to bring the manufacturing of small random electronic wares "home" (as they were never made here in the first place), however, killing your entire dairy industry just because you can get powdered milk 20% cheaper from china is probably not a great idea. because yeah, the moment you are 100% dependent on import is the moment whoever has the monopoly now is going to screw you. there always are consequences for everything.

No eastern German went to the uranium mines for smuggling jeans.

that was an exaggeration (unless you also were having all those stupid thoughts about freedom, then you had a much higher chance of having those burned away by a bunch of gamma rays while swinging a pickaxe around), but yeah, you could get into lot of trouble for smuggling back in the day.

[68122e081263dvoodoo47]

nice new scam running on aliexpress - once you pay for your purchase, the seller will ask you to either buy vip shipping in a standalone buy now auction, or cancel the entire order. happened to me twice in a row, both were higher value purchases - one seller wanted extra $36, just laughed and cancelled, but the other one went for just $9, and I actually caved in and threw those extra bucks at him. order shipped within 12 hours.

evil little extortionists.

[68122e0812733icemann]

I'd have said no. Price of listing is the price and report them to the site.

[68122e08128b9voodoo47]

yeah, I don't think I'll ever do it again, but wanted to see what will actually happen (I was half-expecting the seller to try to scam out more money). the FAQ bot says that should the seller do this, it's best to just cancel the order - I'm guessing the site will not punish them for trying to pull this, aliexpress is not ebay which is 100% buyer oriented (not so great either tbh).


//yep, another purchase over $100, same deal. I'm guessing you'll get this on any order that is not just a single item for a couple of bucks. this illustrates the chinese seller mentality nicely - they will happily forfeit any future deal (like I'm going to ever buy from such a seller again) in favor of grabbing a quick bit of cash right now.

[68122e08129cdvoodoo47]

..goodbye ebay, it's been fun - seems like ALL purchases outside EU now have VAT added automatically. this, of course, will not prevent the local customs people from applying it one more time. so, a *1.44 multiplier on everything. yeah right.