Ebay Pewter

[The Appalacian]

Watch those sellers!!

Been buying pewter off ebay and so far have had pretty good luck keeping my cost down to a reasonable amount and not having too many "bad" pieces (non-pewter) show up. Nothing anyway that's worth fussing about. Been buying mostly lot sales of "scrap" stuff. The sellers so far have all been great to deal with.

But, I just got burned by one seller in the past couple weeks. I won't out his name (yet) because ebay is dealing with him however ebay deals with this sort of situation. I am going to get my money back from ebay for a fairly large lot of scrap pewter listed "buy it now", but it's going to take a while and it's been a hassle.

The seller never shipped my purchase and never communicated until I made a claim with ebay on it. He finally responded to my emails saying that he "sent" a refund. Two days after that message and no indication anywhere a refund had been issued, the chat agent said no, no refund has been issued by the seller.

I don't know how easy it is for a fake feedback rating to be set up, but this joker has high marks across the board. My issue with him though, definitely isn't worthy of any high marks.

All part of the risk of buying anything online basically sight unseen, but I'm glad ebay has the money back guarantee to fall back on with this one.

[JimB..]

Never bought scrap from ebay, but I’ve been burned on other stuff and ebay does a good job for buyers. I think sellers complain that it’s so good for buyers that sellers are sometimes scammed, but I have no first hand experience with that.

I once bought a large number of snap-on sockets that were described as “mint”. When they arrived it was clear that a few had been used on an impact wrench, but most were in great shape. Seller was unhelpful over less than $200 on over $1,000, then ebay refunded it all and told me to keep them. I was happy to replace the few that were bad.

[bangerjim]

I quit using ebay for any buying and selling over 6 years ago. I occasionally use it for price references on the antiques (not guns) I deal with., but most sellers on there are insane on prices.

I buy all my scrap metals locally for a buck a pound normally.........lead, tin, pewter, etc. Can't beat those prices.

[kevin c]

When metal content matters, nothing beats xrf, but of course, you’d have to buy the item first. My now invariable fall back is personal inspection using fairly stringent criteria.

Sounds like this case was an attempted rip off, but sometimes items being sold are just plain misidentified. I frequent an auction house with “experts” who routinely misidentify various metal items as pewter.

[The Appalacian]

When metal content matters, nothing beats xrf, but of course, you’d have to buy the item first. My now invariable fall back is personal inspection using fairly stringent criteria.

Sounds like this case was an attempted rip off, but sometimes items being sold are just plain misidentified. I frequent an auction house with “experts” who routinely misidentify various metal items as pewter.

It's a roll of the dice buying a box of crushed pewter. The huge majority of what I've acquired being legit modern lead free pewter. Sometimes though something aluminum or something silver plate or something other than pewter winds up in the box. Can't say if it's intentional by the seller or just not knowing. Like I said it's never enough to fuss about. Most sellers selling scrap seem to know what folks like us are after. I usually send a message prior to the sale or bid to confirm what the stuff is. Other than this jackwad that's trying to stiff me, sellers are more than happy to discuss what they're offering up.

[Tripplebeards]

I try not to buy anything off eBay because it’s a nightmare trying to get a refund and most of the people on their selling “new” things are far from new. Just start hitting your thrift stores and Salvation Army. You’ll find pewter eventually.

[The Appalacian]

I try not to buy anything off eBay because it’s a nightmare trying to get a refund and most of the people on their selling “new” things are far from new. Just start hitting your thrift stores and Salvation Army. You’ll find pewter eventually.

Not around here you won't. Been looking long enough to quit looking.

The VERY FEW things I've found in pawns, salvation army, or flea markets around here are either not pewter marked as pewter, or they are priced as some priceless collector's piece despite being beat up junk.

No, the highest probability comes from ebay despite the risk.

[Tripplebeards]

I think it comes in streaks to those thrift stores I used get tons of it there for a dollar to two bucks. My local thrift store still has some, but they marked it up now. I have enough that I don’t worry about it either so when they have their certain items on sale, I’ll go in there and see if it’s still available.

[Eddie Southgate]

Watch those sellers!!

Been buying pewter off ebay and so far have had pretty good luck keeping my cost down to a reasonable amount and not having too many "bad" pieces (non-pewter) show up. Nothing anyway that's worth fussing about. Been buying mostly lot sales of "scrap" stuff. The sellers so far have all been great to deal with.

But, I just got burned by one seller in the past couple weeks. I won't out his name (yet) because ebay is dealing with him however ebay deals with this sort of situation. I am going to get my money back from ebay for a fairly large lot of scrap pewter listed "buy it now", but it's going to take a while and it's been a hassle.

The seller never shipped my purchase and never communicated until I made a claim with ebay on it. He finally responded to my emails saying that he "sent" a refund. Two days after that message and no indication anywhere a refund had been issued, the chat agent said no, no refund has been issued by the seller.

I don't know how easy it is for a fake feedback rating to be set up, but this joker has high marks across the board. My issue with him though, definitely isn't worthy of any high marks.

All part of the risk of buying anything online basically sight unseen, but I'm glad ebay has the money back guarantee to fall back on with this one.

Might be a Pirate. They take over other peoples accounts and put stuff up on a fake account using their feedback profile. I have caught and reported a number of them over the years.

[The Appalacian]

I think it comes in streaks to those thrift stores I used get tons of it there for a dollar to two bucks. My local thrift store still has some, but they marked it up now. I have enough that I don’t worry about it either so when they have their certain items on sale, I’ll go in there and see if it’s still available.

I've been on a mission to aquire something I could eventually call a "lifetime" supply for me, and for my sons after I'm out of the picture. All the rifles and pistols I cast for will go to them and they'll need supplies to feed them. Who's to say those supplies in 20 or 30 years won't be dried up, or "not govt approved" to own. So, I'm stashing and hoarding everything I can get my hands on right now.

Besides, I have another use for non-lead pewter anyway. Casting muzzleloader nose caps and knife bolsters. So, I buy a lot of pewter.

[Ia.redneck]

EBAY is definitely for the buyer, not the seller.

[JimB..]

I’ve just started finding pewter in thrift stores again, hadn’t found any for a couple years. Not a lot in any one store, but between 6 or 7 stores went from zero last year to about 10lbs last month.

[schutzen-jager]

after 20+ years i gave up selling there, due to the outrageous selling fees + payment policies - still buy on occasions - they always favor the buyer in any disputes !!!

[Tripplebeards]

Yeah, it seems like they almost charge you 30% or more by the time you pay fees and shipping and all the other garbage. The only time I’ll ever buy something on there is if it’s vintage and I can’t find it anywhere else.