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That Immensely Popular Website That Begins With an "E"!

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by stlouisgasser, Jul 16, 2009.

  1. stlouisgasser
    Joined: Sep 4, 2005
    Posts: 673

    stlouisgasser
    Member

    Just a little aggravated tonight thinking about E-Bay. It has almost made finding rare or hard-to-find parts too easy and not even fun any more. Remember up until the late 90's when you were building, restoring, whatever a traditional-style or 50's/60's style car and you really had to beat the bushes, network yourself out, meet new people, hit garage sales even, actually WALK around at 6AM on a Sunday at swap meets trying to find that hard-to-find part to make your ride correct? Nowadays, no matter how rare or obscure that part is, you can sit in your underwear with a cup of coffee in your computer room and find ANYTHING within a few minutes on E-Bay or Craigslist, pay for it online and have it delivered to your front door in a few days. Is it just me......or have we lost something? Gone, are the days when you would finish this said ride, go to a show or cruise night and have people asking "Where in the world did you ever find this-or-that particular part?" Well, the answer in this new age is always too simple....."on E-Bay!" I miss using the answer "Well, I went to a garage sale or I met an old drag racer standing in line at the auto parts store where we struck up a conversation where he told me he had these cool old parts, and maybe even a whole car, stored for the last 30 years and I was able to buy them." I miss those stories and I miss the treasure hunt aspect of finding and building these old cars. Rant over.
     
  2. troylee
    Joined: Jul 10, 2007
    Posts: 689

    troylee
    Member

    I think the worst, is the guys that buy up anything cool or rare. Just to sell it on e-bay. I guess a guy has to make a buck. Sure makes it costly to build your ride. On the other hand, I think the fee's for ebay are bringing the guy's back out to swap.
     
  3. dannyego
    Joined: Mar 12, 2008
    Posts: 1,387

    dannyego
    Member

    god bless Ebay. I dont have the time to scour swap meets and there is nothing better than scoring a part in my underwear while drinking a cup of coffee.
     
  4. temper_mental
    Joined: Oct 22, 2006
    Posts: 2,718

    temper_mental
    Member
    from Texas

    I buy at swap meets and eBay I am a whore I get it anywhere I can.
     

  5. Bosco1956
    Joined: Sep 21, 2008
    Posts: 545

    Bosco1956
    Member
    from Jokelahoma


    Ditto I am to old to run around the swap meets :D
     
  6. i am more aggravated with the fact that a crooked-ass seller can still somehow maintain a good feedback rating.. popped into an add on there cause it said NOS t-bird valve covers then scroll down the add to find out they were re-pops and were on a car for a year... the guy got pissed when i told him he was a crook...
     
  7. Yes you are correct, at least in my case.

    The present economy is getting more vendors to the swaps too.

    Last year, all year, there were lots of empty spots at Pomona, even entire rows.

    Now it is selling out. The cars for sale area is packed to the gills too.

    But ebay has been a source for many items that I cannot find at the swaps, or here on the Hamb.
     
  8. Bettlejuice
    Joined: Apr 27, 2009
    Posts: 481

    Bettlejuice
    Member
    from WV

    Wouldn't be able to do what I want to the cars if it wasn't for EBay... This ain't exactly hot-rod central 'round here (although I did find my flathead in the classifieds) and everything more than a decade old got smashed. The couple yards around here that have anything that WOULD be worth a shit will either only sell whole cars (for stupid prices at that, they'd make your highest EBay price laugh) or aren't even "salvage" yards, they're just graveyards for stuff that could have been salvaged in 1982.
     
  9. von zipper
    Joined: Nov 23, 2008
    Posts: 1,015

    von zipper
    Member

    I hate some parts of E bay, but! when I can type in a part, and it comes up, it works for me! it's better than some guy that won't sell it because he's going to put it on a car that he will never get going!
     
  10. north
    Joined: Mar 22, 2009
    Posts: 33

    north
    Member
    from orlando fl

    you can always not use ebay and still go to swap meets, no one is forcing you to use it you know.
     
  11. 49ratfink
    Joined: Feb 8, 2004
    Posts: 18,829

    49ratfink
    Member
    from California

    buying and selling is fun. buying something at 5:30 A.M for 10 bucks and selling it for $200.00 on ebay is fun also. if you want the good stuff get thier earlier than me. I had an always changing never ending parade of cool junk for 5 years. I wish I had kept all the pictures

    this thread will probably be deleted by the time I hit submit
     
  12. ltex old iron
    Joined: Dec 10, 2008
    Posts: 515

    ltex old iron
    BANNED

    i have bought at swap ,eets and i have bought on ebay...i have sold at swap meets and i have sold on ebay...i dont feel guilty for any of it..swap meets are fun but swap meets dont happen in or around my town everyday..i can log on to ebay any day..people at swap meets usually know what they have..people on ebay sometimes dont so therefore i can get my part i cant usually afford for a good price and put it back on a hot rod...some people buy stuff for 5 bucks at a swapmeet or find it in a ditch somewhere and they can get one the HAMB and sell it in classifieds for whatever price they put on it..nothing wrong with that either...nobody will say no to profit and nobody would blame them..just my two cents i could be wrong...
     
  13. corsair
    Joined: May 16, 2009
    Posts: 287

    corsair
    Member

    I think it's a little bit elitist to say that Ebay is anything but a blessing to anyone who keeps HAMB-worthy machines around. There is no way I could reasonably expect to get my car into shape and use it daily without Ebay and Craigs. I can't spend every weekend scouring parts at swap meets, or wheedling people for bits I need. There just aren't enough hours in the day. I honestly don't know how people have kids and old cars at the same time.

    I understand that people of my generation may not understand the legwork it took to build one of these cars before computers made networking easier. On the other hand, these cars are getting older every year. Even NOS parts are degrading into dust. The internet is one of the main reasons that many HAMBers cars are runners, rather than waiting under a tree for that one piece of unobtanium.
     
  14. 296 V8
    Joined: Sep 17, 2003
    Posts: 4,666

    296 V8
    BANNED
    from Nor~Cal

    I am very thankful for the existence of eBay. There’s no way I could afford to travel to all the swap meets it would take to find the stuff I like.
    Also the stuff I sell on there moves very slow at local swap meets. That gives me extra income to buy the stuff I want.
    On the other hand, swap meets pre eBay were allot better. I think Barret Jackson has done more damage.
     
  15. 50stude p/u
    Joined: Jul 14, 2009
    Posts: 169

    50stude p/u
    Member

    Swap meets are generally cheaper. And you don't have to deal with the $50 price jump in the last 20 seconds. I scored a McCulloch centrifugal supercharger for $400 at a swap meet! The guy remembered being young and broke like me :)
     
  16. 49coupe
    Joined: Nov 4, 2005
    Posts: 569

    49coupe
    Member

    I've bought and sold a lot of parts through Ebay and Craigslist. How many other tools, other than the HAMB and some restorer sites can you get worldwide exposure?

    Without the internet in general, my car would not be where it is today. The problem I find is that at least up here, the stuff at the swap meets is getting newer. I rarely find decent '49-51 Ford parts locally any more, and when you find them people want a fortune for rought stuff. On the other hand people know what stuff is worth these days and so prices have gone up. All in all, I think we are getter off.
     
  17. Weasel
    Joined: Dec 30, 2007
    Posts: 6,698

    Weasel
    Member

    I wonder how many of you slagging off eBay secretly use it anyway? It seems like there is a lot of dual morality here. It is here to stay so get used to it - it is called progress.
     
  18. 32 Barn Car
    Joined: Jul 2, 2008
    Posts: 663

    32 Barn Car
    Member
    from Oregon

    I started selling at Swap Meets in 1966 . Was fun for a long time but these days I get ripped off when I turn away or go pee . Didn't have those problems on eBay . I don't sell on eBay any more though , high fees , etc . etc ......Still buy at Swap Meets but can shop everyday on eBay...........
     
  19. LowBlazin
    Joined: Jul 9, 2009
    Posts: 16

    LowBlazin
    Member
    from Austin, TX

    I dont think many are lucky enough to have swap meets in their general area. Ebay and craigslist are one of my favorite websites. Hell i like to scroll through craigslist ads just to see what cool finds are in my area. Although getting out and meeting people would be nice.
     
  20. Beau
    Joined: Jul 2, 2009
    Posts: 1,884

    Beau
    Member

    I think it's good and bad.But that's not the subject.

    What's even worse I think, are companies that reproduce hens teeth parts and make them a common among shows.

    It's sad to have a nice, rare set of wheels at a show. Only to see five other credit card nazi's that have minty knock offs of the same thing...purchased off ebay.
     
  21. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Count me as one of the guys who doesn't get to many of the swap meets in the area. That is primarily due to work schedule and distances involved as I am an equal distance from Seattle, Spokane and Portland.
    The local wrecking yards don't have a lot to offer as far as old car pieces go and there isn't a lot of old stuff sitting around like there was 30 years ago.
    Ebay and the other places on the net let me buy what I want or need and if I shop right I get it for a decent price.
    Just like going to a swap meet, yard sale or wrecking yard you need to know what you are looking at and set your price you are willing to pay and stick to it. I think too many guys shopping on Ebay get caught up in the "I gotta win at all costs" and then bitch about the price they paid or the fact that someone else sniped them at the last minute. Unless I am just putting up an "oh yea, that would be nice to have" bid I try to never bid before the last few minutes of an auction. Too many asshats come along and just see if they can bump you up to your max bid for shits and giggles.
    Still it lets some of us have a bit of a business going where we wouldn't ordinarily be able to do that. It lets others sell off their extra stuff without dragging it to dozens of swapmeets or having who knows who show up at the door if it is offered on Craigslist or the drifty Nickle.
    The biggest problem I have had Selling on Ebay is screwballs who don't check into the cost of shipping before they bid on certain items. On the other hand I have had two guys pay me quite a bit extra to strip the items they wanted off parts cars I had for sale on Ebay and ship the parts to them. One guy even sent me a shopping list before he bid on the car to see if it had the pieces he needed.
    As far as getting screwed on Ebay, I have given up on buying anything for my wife from Women sellers on ebay. I've been scammed or screwed several times on items I wanted to pick up for her. As far as car parts, 99 times out of a hundred I have been pretty lucky.

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  22. It ain't perfect but for me ebay beats drivin 2 or 3 hours into Pa. to hit a swap meet, paying for parking and walkin' all day hopin' to find a particular part at a reasonable price. While I enjoy goin' to the swaps once in while to look around I just don't have as much free time as I used to and I sure wouldn't want to rely on swaps these days to complete my project. It's going slow enough as it is. Another thing about ebay is they changed their feedback system so a seller can no longer leave a buyer bad feedback. While this may allow a few bad buyers to wrongly punish a seller, I think overall it will really smoke out the asshole sellers right quick.
     
  23. motorhead711
    Joined: May 7, 2008
    Posts: 734

    motorhead711
    Member

    I mainly go to swap meets (Turlock, pleasanton, santa rosa, petaluma) and local wrecking yards. But E-bay has helped me make a few bucks when I needed it, and I've found some stuff on there too. I do remember a time before E-bay and the internet when some people just got rid of their old stuff because they didn't want it anymore and didn't think it was worth anything. Now, even Old man whithers with the haunted amusment park can look on ebay and see what his stuff is going for. I don't have an account with E-bay anymore because of the whole "paypal" thing. I liked cashiers checks and money orders. Yes, faster with paypal, I just didn't like the fact that they made me have a paypal account to buy and sell stuff. Just my two cents worth, and right now it's only worth a peso.
     
  24. LarzBahrs
    Joined: Apr 11, 2009
    Posts: 759

    LarzBahrs
    Member
    from Sacramento

    Paypal is retarded, you have to give em your card number if im not mistaking. I just dont see a reason why cashiers checks and money orders, as said above, cannot be used. Just another business getting greddier, ebay is, probably making bank off of paypal for endorsing them.
     
  25. hellonwheels
    Joined: Jan 16, 2007
    Posts: 674

    hellonwheels
    Member

    I'm not a fan of ebay lately, especially with the practically manditory and universally accepted use of paypal, which I HATE beyond belief.

    But, I've bought 75% of the parts for my 36 project because of ebay. Some guys have personal resources that turn them on to the good stuff. I don't. Some guys go the swaps and get the best stuff. Well, here in Texas, the swap meets suck if your looking for the o.g. stuff that I need. If you want small block intakes or tri-five chevy parts or nine-inch rear ends or whatever generic crap-you-can-find-anywhere-stuff, then you're in heaven. Otherwise, forget it unless you get there at 5:00 a.m. on Friday morning and snag it, and even then, they have crack prices!

    Ebay, Fordbarn, and sometimes Craigslist are the places I get most of what I need. The sheer volume and exposure are undeniable! Not to mention the obscure stuff you can find! It's a love/hate for sure (emphasis on the hate), but a nescessary evil as far as I'm concerned.

    By the way, let me say that I'm mostly over ebay BECAUSE of paypal, that shit is EVIL!!!
     
  26. LarzBahrs
    Joined: Apr 11, 2009
    Posts: 759

    LarzBahrs
    Member
    from Sacramento

    Id take craigslist anyday over e-gay. Ebay just makes it harder and harder for people who dont have credit or debit cards to due business..
     
  27. 61pv544
    Joined: Mar 27, 2009
    Posts: 17

    61pv544
    Member
    from Denmark

    For my part, e-bay rules. I live in Denmark, and there is no hope in hell that you can get ANY cool parts at swap meets. So i figure: It'll cost me a few bucks more (fees, availability and demand, etc), but I'd gladly pay 50 dollars more in shipping in stead of paying 1500 dollars for travel, flying to the other side of the world, spend countless hours looking through old junkyards, and STILL not coming up with the parts I was looking for... And then you still have to pay shipping to send the stuff home!

    Sure, e-bay isn't perfect, but we might as well use it to the best effect!
     
  28. hellonwheels
    Joined: Jan 16, 2007
    Posts: 674

    hellonwheels
    Member


    I think you completely missed the point.

    Craigslist is a crapshoot, where you don't know what you will find. Ebay is more of an eventual guarantee that you will find what you want if you look long enough.

    I'm not talking about price or value here, only that you are exposed to the parts you're looking for. Everyone is capable of deciding what they want to pay. That's the beauty of the free market system.

    Weather or not you have a credit or debit card has nothing to do with parts availability.
     
  29. American Hellbilly
    Joined: Jun 11, 2008
    Posts: 121

    American Hellbilly
    Member
    from Seymour,IN

    You still won't find alot of rambler parts on Ebay,especially 64/65 Amercian parts.
     
  30. buzz bomb
    Joined: Jun 3, 2006
    Posts: 493

    buzz bomb
    Member

    You got that right!Pomona is packed, and I atribute it to ebay as well. But like one guy said here I get it where I can find it,plus ebay has really helped me find parts I otherwise had no time (the kids) to find. I also think that beacause of ebay parts that may otherwise have eneded up in some trash can will now be sold because someone knows there worth a couple bucks.

    Buzz
     

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