mahjong
Contributor
Unfortunately, as someone already mentioned, if you leave negative feedback for someone that person will almost definitely retaliate by leaving negative feedback for you. Consequently, there are many people out there who should have far more negative feedback than they do because of the VERY strong disincentive for leaving negative feedback at all. What most people, in my experience (and I have spoken with many an ebayer), tend to do is simply not leave any feedback when they are dissatisfied. So, most bad sellers will not only have an inflated positive feedback rating, but they will in fact have conducted far more transactions than indicated by their feedback--as there is no record anywhere of the goods and prices of transactions for which no feedback was left. I myself am a perpetrator--on 4 or 5 occasions I simply chose to leave no feedback when an item was misrepresented--and this is the most difficult problem to avoid and resolve on ebay (you can get your money back through PP if no goods were ever received, but generally you are stuck when an item was misrepresented). People do tend to inflate the description of products. In short, for scuba gear, it is a good idea to buy only new or near new stuff--or stuff whose origin/history the seller convincingly relays to you. It is also a good idea--GENERALLY--to avoid buying scuba gear located in Florida, California, and Hawaii, where salt water usage is heavy and the markets are complex (there are of course exceptions--but in my experience more caution is required in these places). It is also wise to avoid buying gear from dive shop owners that are dumping the rental stuff. Dive shop owners also know how to dump other lousy gear effectively--like by sticking a new hose on a beat up reg or gauge (then when you get the reg or gauge and complain about the poor condition, they will tell you: "what do you expect for the price...the hose alone runs for $35"). Know what you are buying and get a good feel for the seller by asking a couple of detailed questions and, with more expensive items, even speaking with him/her on the phone. Ebay does allow access to incredible gear otherwise difficult or impossible to find elsewhere or prohibitively expensive at a dive shop. But you have to be careful. My 2 cents.
