Wood on ebay

[pipemaker]

I have always been somewhat hesitant to buy wood on ebay. A lot of it just looks too good.

After reading this, I am more reluctant then ever.
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_comparison.htm

What are some of your experiences with buying on ebay?

Thanks.

 

[Fred in NC]

Only bought a couple times from eBay. The pics on eBay made the wood look real good. When I got it, the colors were much duller.

 

[DCBluesman]

It's not just eBay, Mike. With any supplier, I buy a small amount to test the integrity of their photos. If I'm unhappy with the first purchase, they're on my "spit" list.

 

[Gary]

I've made a few good buys there, but I've also been disappointed. I no longer buy there.

 

[JimGo]

I've purchased most of my wood from eBay, as have some others on here. You just need to find the proper suppliers. I have purchased from Chitswood (http://stores.ebay.com/Chits-Exotic-Hardwood-Cache_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm ), JJHooper, PawPaw00, and Wilswood-inc (http://stores.ebay.com/Wilson-Woodworks-Inc_W0QQssPageNameZVIStoreHeaderLinksQQtZkm? ), and been very pleased with my experience with all of them (in fact, most of my wood has come from Chitswood). The woods that I've received have been as advertised, and as pictured. Others here have recommended McFamilyWood (http://stores.ebay.com/Clints-Hand-Selected-Hardwoods_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm), but I haven't purchased anything from them (yet).

 

[wee willie]

I have purchased some on ebay but I have had problems with shipping to Canada. They tell me they have shipped it but I have never received it. John at Woodchuckers tells me that if it is a large quantity that they fumigate it at the border.(mine wasn't large) so perhaps it got lost there but who knows. Any thing I buy now I get sent to my son at the university of maine and I pick it up when I go down to see him 3 or 4 times a year. Unfortunately he is finished this year so things may go to my sister in law in Minnesota or relatives in Florida. I have bought some nice wood(I think) from a chap here in Ontario on ebay. His sellers id is wallwoody and it came express post(next day)and very reasonable. I got some stabilized spalt maple that you can see in my album under wee willie

 

[ldimick]

I have bought a lot of wood on Ebay. Never had a problem. I ALWAYS check the feedback first. If the person has a few "plain looking" comments, or if they do not report that the actual wood is being shown, I tend to shy away.

Having said, that the best wood that I have ever bought was from the members here.

 

[Darley]

I don't buy from eBay anymore as I lost a lots of money for rubbish and nearly been fine for AU$60.000 for importing rooten wood ( spalted ) and bark, all my e-mail to the vendors was saying that I can't have spalted wood and bark, but we got allway smart ^#s

pipemaker thanks for the link it will be very usefull for everyone

Serge

 

[darbytee]

I've got a couple of vendors I trust, but overall I haven't had any bad experiences buying on ebay. I buy from Chitswood, Clint's Mcfamilywood, and a guy named Ron (ron7749 I think) that sells some incredible pen blanks. I do check feedback before I buy and will not buy from someone with bad or neutral feedback.

 

[jckossoy]

I've never had any trouble with the wood that I've gotten over on e-bay. In fact, some of them were better in person then in the picture. Some of the people I get from is IPopperwood (always prompt and very good woods), Mcfamilywood (bought once and will again, really nice grain and came fast). There are a few others, but overall, most of my orders came in a week or less.

Kol Tov,

 

[BogBean]

I have had good luck buying pen blanks on Ebay but I like buying from the members of IAP better...

 

[penhead]

I have only purchased wood from ebay from McFamilywood (Clint) and have never been disappointed.
I also have purchased corian from bajacrazy on ebay and was very pleased.

 

[Rifleman1776]

That is the key to buying anything on eBay, check the feedback. And always leave feedback. If the product delivered is not as represented and the seller won't make good, leave negative feedback with an explanation.

Originally posted by ldimick
<br />I have bought a lot of wood on Ebay. Never had a problem. I ALWAYS check the feedback first. If the person has a few "plain looking" comments, or if they do not report that the actual wood is being shown, I tend to shy away.

Having said, that the best wood that I have ever bought was from the members here.

 

[jdavis]

My experience with e-bay is check the feedback before buying anything not just wood. I have not bought wood from there. I have several suppliers for the school that do me a great job.

 

[PenPauli]

I have not had problems with buying wood on ebay also. But I usually notice that alot of the time they mention the wood was moistened for photographic purposes. I think thats how they get those bright colors.

 

[swm6500]

I have had good luck with most of my ebay buys. Laminated pieces from woodwork2722, kfandb and woodart631 have all been very good. Blanks from ron7749 have also been good. Always check the feedback and see what others say.
Sam

 

[Mudder]

Originally posted by penhead
<br />I have only purchased wood from ebay from McFamilywood (Clint) and have never been disappointed.

Clint has treated me very well.
I have bought literally hundreds of pen blanks from him and I have never been disappointed. He always throws in extra's and has a no questions asked policy for returns. I can't recall ever being beaten on ebay. I have paid too much for something, but that's because I got "caught in the moment" and made a stupid bid. I buy/swap wood from folks in this forum and been very happy there to.

 

[Bev Polmanteer]

I have purchased quite a bit of wood on ebay and only once got stuck. The guy had outstanding feedback and I purchased $25 of wood as did several others (different $ amounts tho) and he disappeared. The wood from others has been as advertised. I REALLY like buying from IAP members now and have purchased from several. Sometimes they are a little too high tho so I just don't purchase. Funds are limited also!

 

[pipemaker]

Thanks to all for the great feedback. I will put it to good use.

 

[dougle40]

I've never bought any wood off E-Bay but I have bought a lot of kites , jewelery and books and haven't been bitten yet .
I have checked out some of Clint's wood but he states that he ONLY ships to the US so I just by-pass anyone who makes that statement and don't look any further (no sense getting my hopes up only to be shot down , it did happen to me once . Bid and won but was later informed that they wouldn't ship to Canada even though there was no mention of this in their ad.) .

 

[PensofColor]

Hi, everyone. As an e-Bay PowerSeller, I wanted to add my 2 cents to this discussion.

We sell pen blanks on e-Bay, as well as other items. Like some of you have stated, we wipe our blanks with a moist cloth before taking the picture. That gets rid of any sawdust and makes the colors look richer and brighter. This is not to deceive, it is to show the actual colors of the woods and what they will look like after turning and polishing. A dusty pen blanks shows no color or grain!

The best piece of advice about buying anything on e-Bay is to check feedback. We have 679 unique feedbacks, but we actually have 1238 feedback comments left for us. That means we have a <b>55%</b> repeat business rate. That says that over half of our customers liked our woods so much, they came back for more again and again!

If someone's feedback is less than 97 or 98 percent, you're better off staying away. Read the comments left by others and see what is being said about their products and their service. If no one is tooting their horn, you might be better off buying someone else's woods.

We don't have anything listed on e-Bay at the time I am writing this, but we will be posting auctions on Thursday evening if you want to take a look.

Happy Turning!

PS. We ship to Canada and other International locations with no problems or issues. Most of our auctions list the shippnig costs so you know up front what it will be.

 

[melogic]

I agree with Sheila and others. I have purchased some wood off of eBay and it was wonderful. I look at feedback and make my decisions based on this. There was an individual from Harrisonburg, Va. that I purchased from several times and his woods were always much nicer in person than his pictures. I e-mailed him sveral times offline and would like to stop by his place sometime when I'm back in Virginia to see his inventory. Just be careful when ordering anything off of eBay!

 

[mikes pens]

Doug, I bought some wood off Clint and I live in Canada. He was kind enough to send it to me. I will order from him again but not too often as I don't want to bother him with shipping to Canada. He has to go downtown to send packages to Canada. He did throw alot of freebies in.

Mike

 

[GregD]

I just wanted to say I've been buying some pen blanks on e-bay. So far I have gotten what was advertized. Or should I say, I've got what I thought I was getting.
The biggest problem with e-bay is, it is an auction. There always seems to be someone else with a pocket full of money that wants the item worse than you. If you follow some simple rules you can do ok. Decide what your top dollar for an item will be and don't go over it.
Always, always check the feedback. Always read the discription and shipping information.

 

[wdcav1952]

I have done reasonably well on Ebay. The worst buy was for some bad Russian Olive. The kid that was selling it was so sincere and helpful that I couldn't bring myself to tell him his blanks were relatively worthless. I haven't yet bought from Clint, but likely will soon. Three very good sellers (along with our own POC Shelia) are ron7749, buxwoods, and poeticsoul2.

Damn, now I want to go shop on Ebay!

 

[mikes pens]

What always interests me on E-Bay is how people bid on wood the first day of a 6 day listing. Then a bidding war starts and the original people end up dropping out as the price soars. I did it once when I started on E-Bay. Then I realized that I was bidding against one other person. Now, I wait until the last day to decide if a certain wood is of interest to me.

Mike

 

[elody21]

I just wanted to share a funny e-bay story with you. Last winter I purchased a log of pistachio from California. When it came I put it out side on the porch, living in Illinois, the log froze. A couple of weeks later I brought it into the house and as the bark fell off to my suprise were 15 wasps and 3 spiders waking up from a deep freeze! Luckely I got it outside again before they completly came to! Lesson,--- Sometimes you get more than you bargined for--- even on E-bay!

 

[rtgleck]

Now why are you all sharing how good of a Seller Clint is. C'mon It's best keeping him a secret for all the cool blanks he sells. And the fact that he gives you Freebie's and has a great deals all the time. If you keep sharing that Everyone is going to go see his auctions, and bid up the three auctions I'm bidding on right how with him. Man... Okay I guess everyone can know, just don't bid on the ones I bid on Okay? Cool Thanks everyone.