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eBay Manipulation

Thomas Linton

Thomas Linton

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Jun 16, 2003
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First, eBay decided the default on a search should be "best matches," instead of "ending soonest." Most of the "best" choices are marginally related, at best, to my search perameters. Like table knives when searching for "puukko."

Now, after you manually reset to "ending soonest," eBay edits what appears, claiming "We removed some search results to show you the most relevant listings." The items shown are NOT the most relevant to my search perameters. But I am only a customer.

Am I cynical to assume that eBay sees more revenue in steering a potential buyer away from what they want? Do sellers pay extra to be listed as "best" or "most relevant"?
 
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It's like Amazon, the search results are garuanteed to be anything but what I searched for.
 
I just did a search for a pukka knife in knives, swords and blades on Ebay. The clicked ending soonest and 389 knives popped up. Searches can be a pain sometimes.
 
I just did a fleaBay search for "pukka" "knife" in all categories and got 33 hits, all knives with pukka wood handles. :cool:
 
Options for what - dealing with scammers vis the biggest market for counterfeit and mispepresented goods in the World? Everyone make their own decisions. I have purchased and sold a number of knives on forums and at shows with no issues. Only got scammed on eBay but, because I paid by credit card, got my money back (although I had to kick Discover around once).
 
I just did a search and it came up “ending soonest” like usual. I wonder if there isn’t a preferences setting or something you could change? The one annoying thing they usually do is assign a search to a catagory, rather than leave it ”all catagories”.

Ebay is useful for finding older out of production things, I don’t use it to shop for the most part.
 
Ebay has a lot of equipment that I commonly look for that nobody carries. I go there quite regularly. Amazon I can't stand, their prices have increased exponentially over the last couple years. Yes Ebay does seem kind of so 90's; but I trust them more than Amazon. I gave an honest appraisal of an electronics cable from Amazon and they blocked my ability to post feedback. It seems their chinese supplier didn't like the gist of my feedback.
 
If you know what you are bying, know the "right" price," and avoid sellers who do not give enough information to make a rational decision, Amazon and eBay are OK. But they cannot be trusted, otherwise. Of course, with Amazon, you must akso be willing to support the richest individual in the World and his politics.
 
This knife in not a puukko, was not Finnish military issue, and was made in China. It has appeared, falsely described as a Finnish military puukko, many times on eBay over the last couple of years.

The current seller is a lesser liar. He says it's a military "style" puuko and a "reproduction."

Those statements are still both lies because Finland never issued a military puukko (although it issued knives - "veitsi") so it cannot be Finnish military "style" puukko or a "reproduction" of such a fantasy item.

It is a Chinese imagining of a Sami-style small leuku. Because Finnish soldiers supplied their own knives, privately purchased, some might have carried a leuku, but they would have known it was not a puukko. Most Finnish soldiers carried a traaditional puukko, if often with a longer-than-normal blade (to penetrate thick clothing) and/or a cross guard, to protect the user's hand if thrusting.

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This fraudulent listing appears at the top of the search results for a "puukko" in the "Best Match" eBay scam.
 
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I refuse to buy knives there. I simply have no faith or trust in it. If I can't buy it here or from a reputable dealer I'll live without it.
 
Amazon: "It will be delivered june 3rd.

Amazon: "Delivered to your porch June 4, 2021. Driver waived signature."

Me (today): "Not delivered."

Amazon: "Sometimes items are reported delivered before they are delivered. [ :rolleyes:] If the item still has not arrived by the end of Monday, you can call back to report failure of delivery."
 
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I bought a drill press on eBay. Seller sent wrong model. I finally got an address to send it back...to Vietnam. It came to me from Illinois. Local shipper said $248.00 to send a drill press to Vietnam. I got screwed by paying for a product I did not order, can't use, don't want. Ebay would not help because I paid via PayPal; ebay said let them handle it. Paypal would not help. I guess I'm too low tech...i actually believed the ebay website when it said it would help if problems arose. Paypal as well. No doubt better computer communication skills would benefit me, but I still feel sickened by their lack of concern for my issues as an old cancer survivor who really can't afford to buy things that are not what I ordered or needed. Wish I had been home when it was delivered so I could have refused it.
 
Yes, I didnt realize it but Amazon is not a safe place to buy knives. Many fakes being sold there. Buyer beware!
 
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