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I'm still looking for a Featherweight & before I venture into the world of eBay I just wanted to get your opinions on how to buy. Have seen several in my price range but I guess I'm just to paranoid to go ahead & buy.

Need help with this :smile:

Gina

Look at their feedback...
Click on the item, then look to the right for the person's selling identity. There will be a number in parenthesis. Click on that. The number is how many people left feedback. You will then see the percentage of positives. eBay also breaks it down to the last 30 days, 3 months, etc. You can see if any neutral feedback was left as well as negative feedback.

eBay also has a protection policy of its own. You can turn it over to them.

Or, you can protest the charge on your credit card (however eBay prefers you don't do this, they would rather handle the problem themself).

I've had only one problem a couple of years ago with a DVD that was never received. I did get it resolved and got my money back.

I do NOT buy a lot on eBay...just a few random purchases over the years.

I havent bought a sewing machine on ebay but I do have a couple of safety tips that might help you with this purchase, or any other.

First, compare the prices of machines PLUS shipping. Shipping will vary considerably from seller to seller. Also commpare the sellers rating, and how many transactions the seller has. I would be more wary of a seller with 100% satisfaction on three cheap sales, than one with 99% satisfaction on 5,000 higher or mixed price sales.

Once you have narrowed down your search to the ones with the best TOTAL price, read each description thoroughly. Some people have been fooled into thinking they were buying items like a video game console, when the desc itself was for the cardboard box that it came in. :/

Make sure the machine description matches up with the picture. Check which accessories it does and does not come with. Once you are satisfied that the seller seems legitimate and it's the machine that you want in working order, place a bid.

If you win, pay for the item through the EBAY website, and not paypal directly, or follow the other payment instructions that were listed in the ebay listing. Keep track of the expected shipping date, most sellers with let you know once it has been shipped. Some even ship earlier than they have said they will ship.

If you do NOT win, do not respond to the seller if he/she tries to get you to buy the machine, or another machine privately. Be careful of any emails that come from the seller that look like they are an ebay listing, but are not. This is usually the case with Craigslist scams and not sellers that have ebay accounts in good standing tho.

Keep an eye on your calender, and if the item doesnt arrive within a day or two of the expected date then send a polite email to the seller. Most transactions have a range of a few business days. If you don't get satisfaction from the seller, your transaction is protected by EBAY itself, as long as you have gone through them and not through the seller direct.

Good luck, and have fun shopping

Jane that's good advice. I did purchase 2machines from ebay and one of them I needed to send back as it was NOT as advertised. I was able to get my money back, but I first took it to a shop to see if it could be repaired. The seller paid for half of that cost and I had to pay the return shipping....In total it cost me $100.00 to look at the machine. If I had not paid through ebay though I don't know what the outcome would have been.

Always, always check the shipping and handling fees! Some items are sold really cheap, but make it up with s/h. Wanna know how I know?? I bought a $3.00 briefcase and paid $59.95 for the s/h. Lesson learned.(the hard way!)Still had to pay it because it was on the page, I just didn't look.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BlueSkies7,

I checked out ebay before buying mine via Craigslist. One thing I noticed about some of the ebay machines is that the seller noted that they had bought the machines and were not actually sew-ers. There were comments that said: "I plugged it in and seems to sew just fine." My guess was that they were estate buyers. I appreciated their honesty, but when it was all said and done, I decided that I wanted to see mine sew before I bought it.

I looked at a machine in an antique store and it wouldn't sew just right. It was also missing a part needed to wind a bobbin. I later found out that that particular part is very hard to get. My machine guy told me that he has a hard time finding them. The man that owned the machine had no clue about that. He was charging almost $400 for the machine.

I'd feel a little more comfortable comfortable buying from a seller that really knew that the machine is in good working order.

I did buy Helen Francis (Featherweight) on ebay but I really studied the offerings. My machine is great and got a great deal.

It pays to research!!

Pam

Just my opinion, but since I get my machine serviced and cleaned at least every year I have learned that you may not get anyone locally that will service you machine that you bought on e-bay or HSN. I was talking to my Viking store and they said they would not service ebay or HSN machines. To a lot of people this does not matter. But if it does I would be careful