{"id":22637,"date":"2017-02-20T07:15:13","date_gmt":"2017-02-19T23:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=22637"},"modified":"2017-02-25T19:24:56","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T11:24:56","slug":"ebay-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2017\/02\/20\/ebay-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"eBay – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are plenty of Internet-based ecommerce sites today that support consumer\/business to consumer sales transactions. And while I have accounts on a large number of sites, the two that I find myself buying most from remain Amazon and eBay. Between the two, I’ve been on Amazon for much longer – since 2002 in fact, with my first order on that site comprising several research and dissertation writing books I bought to bring along to Perth – and the site remains my favorite place to access a large range of items that aren’t normally sold in Singapore, or sold here but at higher prices. I reckon that’s why Amazon’s reported plans<\/a> to expand to\u00a0 South-East Asia and through Singapore excited many here, since it would finally bring to shore Amazon Prime, and also – likely – cheaper delivery.<\/p>\n

That said, the number of items I buy off eBay are almost as many as that on Amazon. My first purchase on eBay was from 2008 – and a camera product LOL. The range of items sold on eBay run a crazy range, and it can often be hard trying to find exactly what you want, since each of its country market can offer a different range, with many items typically available from multiple sellers at different prices. With a large roster of international sellers also brings about issues of varying customer quality service levels. Over the years, my general impressions are that:<\/p>\n

Sellers from the dominantly western-countries (e.g. UK, US, Australia) offer great service, though you sometimes pay slightly more for shipping. I’ve never had to raise a dispute with sellers based in these countries. Shipping is also often quick, with the turnaround from UK-based ones especially impressive.<\/p>\n

Sellers from South Korea: normally quite good too, and I typically get my lens filters from them. Delivery is reasonably quick: usually a fortnight.<\/p>\n

Sellers from China: are a huge hit and miss. I’ve received counterfeit items before with their sellers flying aeroplane<\/a> (‘disappear’ for our Ang Mo bud!) thereafter. Items can take anywhere between a fortnight to six whopping weeks to arrive. On the other hand, their products are often priced lower, and shipping is typically free\/incorporated into the cost of the product, or minimal.<\/p>\n

Here’s a list of things I’ve ordered recently on eBay that I’m pretty happy about at least.<\/p>\n

Leather belts<\/strong>. Alright – so most men do not really care to spend money on apparel. I’ve had pretty bad experiences with under $35 belts that I buy from brick\/mortar stores here, with most fraying on the edges within weeks, and the belt material also beginning to disintegrate shortly after that. I assume it’s because the material isn’t genuine but faux leather. I found a UK-based reseller<\/a> of leather and sheepskin products, and their prices for genuine leather products are routinely cheaper than what one would pay here. And the item takes just a week from point of ordering to arriving in Singapore.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Battery cases and pouches<\/strong>. There’s been revised regulations concerning the transportation of Lithium-Ion batteries on board airplanes, and largely to do with risks of them causing undetected fires. AA battery cases are easily available at camera shops, and I found a seller carrying colorful ones like these, and selling them for cheap at just over a dollar each including shipping. So, a couple were picked up:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How about camera battery wallets? Think Tank sells a pricey version<\/a> of a 4 battery wallet (USD18!). While on eBay, an almost similar replica can be had for $5:<\/p>\n

\"\"
Four pouch camera battery wallet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And lens filters! Granted, it’s tempting, and sometimes maybe even necessary, to get a UV filter as soon as you buy a new lens. But if it can wait, then you might save a few dollars by just buying them online. Important though that you get from a reputable reseller, as there are plenty of fakes around.<\/p>\n

I’ve been buying from the same South-Korean reseller of Hoya filters for several years now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More in the next post!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are plenty of Internet-based ecommerce sites today that support consumer\/business to consumer sales transactions. And while I have accounts on a large number of sites, the two that I find myself buying most from remain Amazon and eBay. Between<\/p>\n

Read More eBay – Part 1<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photography-cameras","category-toys-technology","wpcat-13-id","wpcat-16-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/ebay.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}