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September 21, 2007
Dear CNET members,
Happy Friday! Get ready for fall and the holiday season to come! (Yeah, I know it's a bit early, but you know how time flies.) What better time to bring up and learn from a bad buying experience?
This past week, our members poured in suggestions to Jim on what steps to take when an online auction transaction goes bad, and many folks offered up a ton of safe-buying tips. Many members shared their personal good and bad experiences as buyers and as sellers, which makes for a great gathering place for our members to educate one another about online auction sites.
Jim, I'm really sorry to hear about your bad experience. Even if the resolution doesn't come out in your favor, your question will save many people from going through the same ordeal you just experienced, and it will help others know how to go about handling such a situation in case it does happen to them. Personally, I use eBay quite often, and even with a few hundred transactions (537 to be exact) under my belt, there a few times where I still got burned on a transaction. Why, because I broke the No. 1 rule: read everything carefully, from the description to the shipping. And if anything in the details is even slightly in question, don't be afraid to ask. I learned that doing a little homework on the eBay seller goes a long way. And as many other members suggested, always use a credit card for purchases, as many credit card companies do offer buyer-protection plans. One other thing that was mentioned quite often by our members: if you are going through a PayPal resolution process, never resolve it until you have the item in your hands or have received your money back--because once it's resolved, there is no going back. I'm going to stop here and allow you and the others to read what our members have provided through their experiences and knowledge. And to get the ball rolling, I have a few selected answers to get you started.
I encourage all of you to continue this topic of conversation--whether a good or bad auction experience. The more people contribute, the more we learn from one another. Take care everyone and be safe online!
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Member Question of the Week
Here's my problem, I purchased an iPod from eBay some time
ago; the user claimed a friend shipped them out without
tracking numbers. So I listened to his song and dance, and
going on the belief that all people are good, I believed he
would send me an iPod. So I cancelled my resolution on
PayPal and threw caution to the wind. Well, here I am 8
months later with no iPod and out $200. When I talked with
PayPal, they said I could only use 1 resolution per
transaction, and then said the seller had used the service
before and seemed to be an alright person. So now I guess
I'm screwed, because I have no way of getting him to give my
money back. The only thing I have is his phone number that
he gave to me in an e-mail. I have called him and talked to
him about either giving me my money back or getting me the
iPod I'm owed. Is there anything else I can do to get back my
money? In addition, what are some eBay buying tips that you
can offer, so it does not happen to me or future eBay users?
And if you have had any bad experience like me on eBay, what
did you do? I love to hear your stories and advice. Thanks!
Submitted by:
Jim G.
Vote for the most helpful answer
 Below are the answers we've selected for you to vote on. Click on the title to read the answer by the member.
Here are the selected submissions grouped in one post.
Time to vote! Now that you've read our members' answers, which would you consider the most helpful? Click on the button to weigh in on the decision.
(Note: Below is the section to vote, please read the individual answers above before casting your vote below.)
 Answer by Rae
Answer by tuvals
Answer by paultjos
Answer by vasser
Answer by tizzanne
For the member whose answer was voted the
most helpful by our community, we will send
this member some cool CNET branded gear.
 Previous week's Q&AThe votes are in! Below is the answer voted most helpful by our community to last week's question.
I'm really excited. After years of dealing with my old
half-functioning Windows ME machine, I finally jumped and
bought myself a brand-new Dell desktop PC with Vista Home
Premium loaded on it. Now the question I have for you is,
where do I start with a new machine in order to maintain a
good running computer for the long run? I have had all sorts
of headaches with my older computer, and I want to start off
this one on a clean slate. I know an antivirus utility is
critical, so I have that installed already. This might be a
tall order to ask of you, but please, I could really use some
pointers for maintenance hardware--and software-wise, as this
PC will be in use for a long time. I'm not computer-savvy
like many of you here, but I'm a good listener and follow
instructions well. Any list of recommendations and tips will
be extremely helpful to me. I look forward to reading all of
your suggested guidance. Thank you.
--Submitted by:
Maria R.
Just a little loving care
Congratulations for being able to last this long with Windows ME. Most users gave up long ago trying to keep it running. I obviously don't know the exact type of problems you have had in the past, but I am willing to bet that most of the responsibility lies with the operating system rather than something you were or were not doing.
I am often accused of giving out way too much information filled with overcomplicated instructions so I have decided...
(read more)
--Submitted by:
CNET member: waytron
Congratulations to the winner!
Community Buzz
 Each week we take a look at topics discussed in the forums.
Have fun and enjoy!
More from the forums
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Check out next week's question:
Hello, I am not what you would call a computer geek by any means, but I'm also not afraid of the computer and love to learn about its inner workings. I installed a second hard drive to my new computer (second drive from my old computer, 5 years old). I made it the slave drive and reformatted it. I just wanted to use it for backing up. My problem is...sometimes when I turn the computer on I can see it as the "E" drive and I can access it. Other times I turn the computer on and it ISN'T visible to me so I can't access it. However when I use a program like Winaudit or Fresh Diagnose it shows up in there. I also have an external drive and it always appears visible. What could be going on, I need to see the drive. My computer is an E-machines T6216 with XP Home. Thank you!
--Submitted by:
Wendy B.
We feature a new question every Friday, and if you have the answer for our member, you can submit it above. If your submission is picked by our members as the most helpful answer, you'll receive some cool CNET branded gear.
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