Chit Chat in VOLTVILLE Thread #2 :)

[Tritium]

A few links to get you started.
9 Safety Tips For Buying on eBay
Buyer tips for auction-style listings
Buying basics

And the best tip, use only "buy it now" items and not biddings.

 

[Semiretired]

A few links to get you started.
9 Safety Tips For Buying on eBay
Buyer tips for auction-style listings
Buying basics

And the best tip, use only "buy it now" items and not biddings.

Personally I like buy it now, but where you can make an offer. I have gotten a lot of takes on my offers - I don't try to under bid to much - just give myself a little bit better price...

 

[Renolizzie]

Hubby bids when he can dive in at the last second and grab a deal The problem with bidding is you have to decide how much it is worth and only allow yourself to pay that.

 

[Semiretired]

Hubby bids when he can dive in at the last second and grab a deal The problem with bidding is you have to decide how much it is worth and only allow yourself to pay that.

I bought a car that way. My bid was still below their acceptable numbers, but they contacted me after the bid and took my offer - I guess I was close enough...

 

[SandySu]

Like others, I've bought stuff via eBay using PayPal and never had a problem.

 

[Renolizzie]

[URL='http://s1364.photobucket.com/user/renolizzie/media/DSCF2123_zpsuq3gjffl.jpg.html'][/URL]

This photo is from when we went to Pickle Meadows on Labor Day.

 

[Tritium]

Oh! Radar ears! I like it

 

[awsum140]

I've gotten some great deals by "sniping" on FleaBay. Like Lizzie says, you need to decide how much it's worth to you and stay at that, bid at the last 20-30 second mark to give their server time to register and acknowledge the bid and it usually works, unless there's a better "sniper" around on that item.

I use "buy it now" quite a bit but, to be honest, have found better deals on Amazon lately and they (Amazon) have easier return and resolution policies.

Wish me luck...I'm going to convert to ComTrash from FiO$ in a little while, assuming the cable drop to the house is actually hot. The last residents here were, shall we say, not exactly timely with bill payments.

 

[Tritium]

Do you think i should expand my "empire" on Amazon?

 

[awsum140]

Couldn't hurt, Tritium, a whole new market!

So much for ComTrash for today anyway. As I suspected the drop from the pole to the house seems to be disconnected at the pole. I plugged the modem directly into the house end of that cable and it sees nothing. So, I called support and actually got a live person fairly easily (amaZING). She suggested I plug the modem into another outlet, even after explaining that I was directly attached to the drop cable, maybe she forgot. Then I had to give her the MAC address for the modem and the serial number, which is actually different than the serial number you would normally use. Even after that, nothing.

Anyhow, the first appointment for service was Sunday but she, on her own and without me saying a word, got an appointment arranged for tomorrow morning. Let's see how that one goes, but I was surprised by the phone support being fast and actually fairly intelligent. The accent was a bit of a problem to my tin ears, but we managed.

 

[Tritium]

Tomorrow you are going to be visited by a tall hairy guy with a beard looking like a lumberjack claiming HE is the operator you spoke yesterday (same voice and accent) and he's here for the line fault

 

[Renolizzie]

I called DirecTV about my sudden $15 increase on our bill. Although I like the new Genie we got last year, I am very unhappy that we are now paying $120 per month on our TV programming. The "nice lady" suggested we go from our current channel lineup to the cheaper channel lineup since we would still be getting most of the shows we like....we are not still getting most of the shows we like.

Hubby, surprisingly, said he wants to "cut the cable" and just pull from Amazon Firestick and the internet. So, I have a new improved wireless router coming and a Chromecast dongle. We are going to try that. Sure, not the same but we don't really watch that much TV and I hate paying a fortune to watch drivel. We are going to try it before cancelling our DirecTV. There is a penalty for cancelling before another year is up but we would still be saving a lot of money.

We don't watch sports and we don't watch some of the more popular stuff like madmen and NCIS or others we don't even know the name of or any thing like that. We don't pay to watch movies...no Starz or HBO.

Amazon Firestick with Prime has a lot of free content and you can always rent movies for under$5. I've never seen the Sopranos and we can get all the episodes for free. We missed a bunch of seasons of Heck on Wheels so we could go back and watch the early seasons for free. I already pay for Prime because I love free 2-day shipping so Firestick TV is basically free.

 

[awsum140]

I looked at the Firestick, too, Lizzie. It was missing one key thing for us, FNC. We do watch lamestream news as well, but the difference in reporting is so obvious between the two. PlayStation offers, basically, a cable package but when you add in the cost of high speed internet the monthly is about the same plus you need a PS4, another $400.00. Comtrash has a "special" going so we're getting upgraded services, ShowTime and a DVR for less than FiO$ is charging for antique equipment.

The thing that pushed me over the edge was a letter I got from them telling me my modem, supplied by them, was going to cost another $5/month if I didn't upgrade and buy their "certified used" new, old, model modem. Let's see, more money to them one way or the other...no thanks, I'll go elsewhere. Also nice that they certify that something is used.

It also irritates the heck out of me that cable customers are stuck paying for so many services they just don't use, like you with Dish. A "local sports fee", ESPN (ESPN gets about $7.50 per subscriber) and a ton of other pap and crap we never watch. If you try to go "al la carte" it ends up costing more. What's wrong with that picture?

 

[Semiretired]

I cut back to what they call basic cable - 45 channels - $30 plus internet $70. $100 for both. If what I want to watch isn't on the 45 channels - to the internet I go...

 

[Renolizzie]

I cut back to what they call basic cable - 45 channels - $30 plus internet $70. $100 for both. If what I want to watch isn't on the 45 channels - to the internet I go...

My internet is separate from the DirecTV satellite and it costs me $50 per month but I love my high speed internet. It should be able to stream from our computer to the TV no problem. If I had to keep one thing it would be my great internet

 

[Semiretired]

If I had to keep one thing it would be my great internet

Same here - we went without cable for a couple of years to save money, but when they came up with the $30 option I went for it... I get enough for us - don't care about all the sports/movie channels, but we do like the history channel and local stuff...

 

[awsum140]

I get a kick out of the WiFi and Internet speeds they advertise, too. Think about this, you can watch a movie on your phone, LTE, or a tablet, 54mbs, with no problems. I watched full HD over a ~30mbs internet connection with no problems and probably could have watched HD on three or four TVs at the same time with no problem on that connection. Reality is the bandwidth actually needed is more on the order of 10mbs or less for an HD picture. In the mean time everyone rushes to upgrade to 100mbs internet service and pays a premium price for it. They'll probably never even use a third of that 100mbs availability but are convinced it is absolutely necessary in today's "connected" world.

On another note, a B flat, I decided to open a FaceBook account last night. As soon as I did I got an email, on my Hotmail account, from Google telling me someone had accessed my Google email, which I used for an email address on FB. While it was nice of them to tell me that, why did they allow that access? Anyhow, after looking around and seeing the gigantic list of "people I might want to be friends with" and thinking about how that list got generated and thinking about the information they were asking for in my "profile" and thinking about the very limited security tools and being irritated that they automatically invaded my email account for a contact list, I deleted the account about an hour later. It is impressive the amount of computing power needed to do that, but I am not a "globalist" and having that much information, potentially, easily available on such a broad platform made me very uncomfortable. I know, I'm a dinosaur, but I value my individuality and my privacy, very highly.

 

[Semiretired]

I know, I'm a dinosaur, but I value my individuality and my privacy, very highly.

Dinosaur's want something that works - not the bling. Apple would be out of business real fast if the world was filled with dinosaurs...

 

[CatLady007]

Thanks everybody, for the input. I'll sing out if I experience any problems.
Awsum, I truly identify with your Facebook experience. I once created a throw-away email account, and started an "anonymous" FB page. I, too, was horrified by the amount of personal info they want, even though most of mine was fictional. (I just wanted to be able to look around on the site.) I believe the page probably expired from lack of attention, and I no longer even remember the email address. The amount of dreck you have to wade through left me cold. ECF probably has the most legitimately gathered info on me, of any entity that exists exclusively in the digital world.
As a parting thought on being a dinosaur--the amount of money people are willing to spend to "upgrade" to the latest thing leaves me bemused. If something works for me, I'm won't be looking to replace it.

 

[Wuzznt Me]

Quick advice, please: Is it safe to buy from eBay with your CC or debit card? (I have never purchased anything from eBay). And does anyone have any advice for a first-timer? And, Lord, if I'm not supposed to ask this here--many apologies--it's just that the hurricane Hermine locked me away from the internet for 8 days, and I'm behind schedule for purchasing some needed items.

Checkout with a credit/debit card is through Paypal even if you don't have an account with Paypal. Open an eBay account and shop till you drop. I usually buy several things a week from eBay and never have a problem. During checkout there's a little box that wants to save your cc# for future purchases that's automatically filled in. I un tick it. When I buy from Amazon I delete my card # after the purchase. I have a small account with a debit card for online purchases. Doesn't cost me anything and they won't get much if they hijack it but I don't leave a lot of information laying around to get hacked
My Wife is the only reason I've got cable at all. All I need is a good antenna and a dvr to watch anything I want, which is usually the news and Jeopardy. Both are on local channels. Channel Master dvr also has a guide with no subscription like Roku. I also watch some Netflix for under $10 a month. Lot's of shows I haven't seen and I don't have to wait a week for the next episode when they end with a cliff hanger.