# Are you afflicted with BSD?



## Deleted member 30996 (Nov 15, 2019)

Hi, my name is Trihexagonal and I like to shop ebay. 

Buying-shopping disorder (BSD), an extreme form of craving to buy online products. Addiction to shopping fueled by online retailing should be classed as a mental health condition, psychiatrists claim.









						Experts claim addiction to shopping is a mental illness
					

Addiction to shopping fuelled by online retailing should be classed as a mental health condition, psychiatrists claim.Researchers said that about 5 per cent of adults in developed countries — more than 2.5 million Britons — had some form of buying-shopping disorder (BSD), an extreme form of craving.




					www.thetimes.co.uk
				




I don't shop much anymore but if there is something I want up for auction you might as well not bid because it's already mine and not even a bot can out-snipe me.

Call me crazy, but I also like to use FreeBSD as a desktop OS. Especially when I shop ebay.


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## Phishfry (Nov 16, 2019)

I am also afflicted by this addiction.
One thing I know for sure is that Ebay charging me State Sales Tax on used garbage is really decreasing my urge.

I have no problem paying sales tax for new items, but when I take a risk on a as-is item there is no way I should be paying sales tax.
More than half the as-is goods are not working. So I am paying sales tax on garbage. That pisses me off. I am gambling with my money yet they collect.
There should be a method for me to recoup my Sales Tax when the item does not work and is sold as-is.
It is bad enough that the State Sales Tax is being applied multiple times to the same item when resold but now they want to tax my as-is gambles?
Now I do everything in my power to go around the auction site now and they lose auction listing fees now.
They try and make it hard by screening for email addresses and phone numbers in messages to sellers but I really don't care.

How about when my state has a sales tax holiday for back to school. They still charge me sales tax on electronics when they should not.
That is bogus and I personally consider it an abuse of power.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Nov 16, 2019)

Phishfry said:


> I do everything in my power to go around the auction site now and they lose auction listing fees now.
> They try and make it hard by screening for email addresses and phone numbers in messages to sellers but I really don't care.



When I bought my W520 it was supposed to come with a working installation of Win10Pro. It was a business lease return and the key he sent me wouldn't go though so I messaged him about it. He stated he couldn't see images well on the site and asked me to take a screenshot of the error and send it to his off-site email address.

I knew that was against the rules for a seller but saw it as him not wanting ebay to see him send me a new key. Which is exactly what he did and would deal with him again.


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## Phishfry (Nov 16, 2019)

They have threatened me with account removal and temporary suspension for sending contact info in my messages to sellers.
Realistically who would lose more, them or me...
I have 2100+ feedback and have never sold an item there. I could walk away tomorrow and have enough gear for 20 families needs.


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## tedbell (Nov 16, 2019)

amazon.com and skipthedishes are of the devil. FreeBSD is of the daemon.


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## Birdy (Nov 16, 2019)

According to this acronym list: BSD also stand for "Big Scary Daemons" or "Blind, Stupid and Desperate". There's also the option of combining these in any order of importance and at your own leasure..


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## Deleted member 9563 (Nov 17, 2019)

Occasionally afflicted.  Currently I'm upgrading my sound systems and it's mostly Ebay parts. I'm rather poor, so getting someone else to put it together to my specs is out of the question, and no high-end offerings are designed to my taste anyway. So ... I go modular. (Being too lazy and dysfunctional to start from scratch and break my back soldering for hours.) The problem is that I'm always tempted to buy stuff for stock. Why not get a big bag of brass standoffs? Never run out again! How about that handy circuit board that's all soldered  up and ready to go, for cheap. Should I get 4 more, just in case? lol

Part of the Ebay issue with cheap electronics parts is that it takes over TWO MONTHS to get all the way up/over to Canada and the sellers seem unconstitutionally incapable of giving even the most rudimentary description. I wonder if they have any idea of how inconsiderate they appear. The cultural difference is just so startling and downright offensive. Also, in many cases, I dislike free shipping. Why not offer something faster? It's not like the money matters in _every_ situation.  I really don't want to read "brand-new, unused, ..." over and over, when the information I need is actually a "little" more technical. So I buy one anyway, and hope that it's what I imagine it to be. /rant


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## Phishfry (Nov 17, 2019)

Shipping from Canada takes about 14-21 days to Virginia.
Shipping costs are very high too.
This is my favorite Canadian Ebay vendor: calgarycomputerwholesale

If you have bought something from a seller you can use their email from Paypal info to contact him outside of ebay. You do lose ebay protections.


OJ said:


> when the information I need is actually a "little" more technical. So I buy one anyway, and hope that it's what I imagine it to be


I agree with you here. Some of my best buys are good pictures with lousy auction titles or minimal description.
It is a risky way to buy because many sellers are clueless.
I started on ebay 20 years ago by searching for items with typos in the title.
Takes lots of searching but the less visibility, the less I have to worry about competitors. That was mostly with the old system before Buy-it-Now.
Sometimes I offer more money when an item goes for .01 cents or something ridiculously low. I don't like to feel guilty or cost a seller out of pocket.


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## Deleted member 9563 (Nov 17, 2019)

Yeah, the typos do offer an opportunity sometimes.  Like you, I do have some considerations for these low-end sellers. Sometimes I get the impression that they don't have the same empathy for me though. In any case, I don't really expect someone who's main business is makeup and pantyhose, to describe an electronic circuit. The sellers who obviously are real electronics buffs know what they're selling and often the information is there in the picture or hidden in the included Haiku. Personally, I feel that those people really should get a little help from the internet or someone who has learnt English. That would be more polite.

I was just looking at a motorized potentiometer and this is the information I have been honoured to receive:

_"Each boot automatically transferred to the smallest sound and automatically transferred to the 9 o'clock position, very intelligent, so it can ensure not appear every time you turn a great voice." _

Boot? Voice? Obviously one of us is from Mars.


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## christhegeek (Nov 17, 2019)

Here in greece you need to pay 20$ for something you can find on ebay for 3 Dollars maximum so yes i'm buying online for sure.
My laptop a geobook (slim aluminum ultrabook with m2 sata easy installation,full hd quality monitor, 4gb of ram etc) it costed me only 100$ !
Also my ulefone power (12000mah battery smartphone) here in greece costs at least 100$ more 
Of course i'm gonna shop online i'm not gonna give a fortune for a cable or a case !



Trihexagonal said:


> Hi, my name is Trihexagonal and I like to shop ebay.
> 
> Buying-shopping disorder (BSD), an extreme form of craving to buy online products. Addiction to shopping fueled by online retailing should be classed as a mental health condition, psychiatrists claim.
> 
> ...


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## teo (Nov 17, 2019)

Trihexagonal said:


> Hi, my name is Trihexagonal and I like to shop ebay.
> 
> Buying-shopping disorder (BSD), an extreme form of craving to buy online products. Addiction to shopping fueled by online retailing should be classed as a mental health condition, psychiatrists claim.
> 
> Call me crazy, but I also like to use FreeBSD as a desktop OS. Especially when I shop ebay.


I'd like to buy a computer that supports all  the drivers with the BSD either by eBay or amazon.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Nov 17, 2019)

teo said:


> I'd like to buy a computer that supports all  the drivers with the BSD either by eBay or amazon.



I would look for a Thinkpad at or under the W520 series so you get compatibility and a good keyboard in the process. Mine originally came with Win7, others came with Vista. I have the W520, a T400 and T61 running FreeBSD right now and everything works with my Ethernet LAN.

I paid $50 for my T61 on ebay and am typing on it now.


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## teo (Nov 17, 2019)

Trihexagonal said:


> I would look for a Thinkpad at or under the W520 series so you get compatibility and a good keyboard in the process. Mine originally came with Win7, others came with Vista. I have the W520, a T400 and T61 running FreeBSD right now and everything works with my Ethernet LAN.
> 
> I paid $50 for my T61 on ebay and am typing on it now.


I would like an AMD Ryzen  computer from the series above 3000, ninth generation, that is powerful and compatible with all BSD drivers. At eBay, they say that buying for that virtual store is not so safe, users who complain that they have been scammed, I have no idea what those ebay and amazon virtual stores will be like to buy any product.


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## Deleted member 9563 (Nov 18, 2019)

teo  I order stuff from Ebay every week and have for the last decade. Once, only once, the item didn't arrive. I have no idea what a "virtual" store is. A store is a store. Just click and you'll get the stuff. 

One would often use Ebay to save money by accepting to wait for an item to arrive instead of buying locally at a high price. If it doesn't arrive then you get your money back. I've ordered a few things that were not right and Ebay has refunded me the whole amount, including shipping, within an hour or two of me asking. There is absolutely no reason to worry about being scammed when using that platform.


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## teo (Nov 18, 2019)

OJ said:


> teo  I order stuff from Ebay every week and have for the last decade. Once, only once, the item didn't arrive. I have no idea what a "virtual" store is. A store is a store. Just click and you'll get the stuff.
> 
> One would often use Ebay to save money by accepting to wait for an item to arrive instead of buying locally at a high price. If it doesn't arrive then you get your money back. I've ordered a few things that were not right and Ebay has refunded me the whole amount, including shipping, within an hour or two of me asking. There is absolutely no reason to worry about being scammed when using that platform.


Does registering on eBay or amazon have a cost either for the purchase or sale, or simply the active registration account on such commercial websites?


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## Deleted member 30996 (Nov 18, 2019)

Amazon and ebay are two completely different things. With Amazon you purchase products provided by them or other sellers through Amazon.

With ebay you are dealing with private sellers so you need to exercise due diligence in checking the sellers feedback from previous sales and weigh the pros and cons of either dealing with someone who has a bad reputation but what looks like a great deal as opposed to someone else with a good rep and something going for a few $$$ more.

It doesn't cost anything to make an account at either site.  I only shop ebay and pay for my brother-in-law to use his account to purchase anything I want from Amazon.


When I was actively collecting Soviet era Russian watches I dealt with people mainly in Russia, the Ukraine and  US. The only time someone tried to jack me around it was someone from the US and I took care of that myself by phone.

The only time I had problems with an auction was when another guy from the US didn't get the chance to bid up his own item before I swooped in at the last possible second and sniped it out from under him at a bargain price. He was slow in sending it but finally came through after shedding a few tears.

The only time I've ever filed a case or given someone negative feedback was buying a HDD tray for my W520. It was the wrong one and when I contacted her she stated she would have to get prior authorization from their country's Ministry of Finance to refund my $7.  I got that back, too.

Overall, it's been an enjoyable, enriching experience for me culturally if not financially. I have a lot of nice stuff that you would never see for sale locally, like Soviet Mickey Mouski watch:


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## Deleted member 9563 (Nov 18, 2019)

teo said:


> Does registering on eBay or amazon have a cost either for the purchase or sale, or simply the active registration account on such commercial websites?


Yes. It is fairly invasive, but I don't think anything on-line can be any other way. In my case I'm very critical of corporate databases of personal information, but in order to be functional I've limited my footprint and involvement quite a bit.

To use most shopping sites (eg Monoprice or Newegg) one needs a way to pay which involves some arrangement with a bank. I think the most convenient is Paypal, and it is the only connection anyone, other than myself, has to my bank. Other than a way to pay, most sites don't require any registration and only want any working email. Also, if you have a credit card you can use that for Paypal without registering with them.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Nov 19, 2019)

teo said:


> Does registering on eBay or amazon have a cost either for the purchase or sale, or simply the active registration account on such commercial websites?



It costs the seller a portion of their sale and so much to post a photo directly to their page. The main guy I bought watches from skirted that by linking to an outside image. I've never sold anything so don't really know much about that end of it.

It's never cost me anything to do business on ebay but shipping and the purchase price of the product. Phishfry said he has to pay tax but that must be the state he lives in because I bought some CD's for a neighbor through my account a couple weeks ago and didn't pay tax.

Amazon is more like newegg IMO and more of a "store". In my experience, with ebay you have to be more in tune with what's going on as far as what's being sold, who you're dealing with and able to work with people on a 1-1 basis.

A guy was slow sending a dinky Robby the Robot keychain I paid about $10 for but wasn't worried. After about a week he messaged me to say a family member was ill and he had been driving 100 miles each day but would get it sent as soon as possible. I told him not to sweat it, that his family was more impotant and I could wait as long as it took.

About a week later my package arrived and he had included a Collectors Edition book of TV and movie robots with it that cost several times what the keychain was worth for working with him.


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