Would love to hear from people what they like and dont like or Pros and Cons about shopping for iPad Accessories on Amazon and Ebay ?

Maybe issues such as: Security, Delivery times, Selection, Pictures, Reviews, Fakes, Refunds
Or really anything that come to mind.

I've bought most of my accessories from either eBay or Amazon...cheaper, more selections & variety...plus Paypal protects you from fraudulent sellers. I started doing it with my android tabs because I couldn't find anything locally...

Typically... Both.. last year was a lot of amazon though because I did their promo student membership for free for a year. Although I still am a student I didn't want to pay the annual $39... Got to admit though the standard free 2day shipping and $3.99 next day was an awesome perk.

Reviews are nice to see on amazon.. but typically I already know what I'm going to get and did my countless hours of research ahead of time. So it really comes down to where I can get it for the cheapest total price.

The amazon $25 standard free ship is nice but can be frustrating to wait for. Sometimes they just send it by ground or usps regular mail or smart post - which is just dumb as hell. If you don't know what smart post is; it initially gets shipped via UPS or Fedex ground then gets transferred to usps and deliver by regular mail. Takes soooo long.

Amazon has a good return policy. 30 days, never really had any problems. If I did, which I have - small issues, I just call and talk to a rep. Gets handled on the spot.

I'm a huge ebayer as well. I always buy from distributors/sellers who have high sell counts and good feedback score. Shipping is pretty quick. Although with eBay I go into the purchase with the expectation as; I'm going to buy it and I will not be able to return it.

I just don't like dealing with returns on eBay. Although the seller has a high rating and good feedback sometimes they are just slow to deal with. Plus some bogus garbage like 15% restocking fee... Amazon you don't have to deal with that (I always buy from amazon or a company fulfilled by amazon).

I rarely... Rarely ever buy anything used from someone. It will always be new-NIB.

paypal for eBay.. which is pretty much the standard..

CC for anywhere else online.

If I don't feel like waiting... I'll just buy it retail and figure out a way to do a price match; if I can find a competitor selling the item for cheaper.

I use Amazon a lot, without probs. If they were probs, I trust that its customer service would take care of me.

I avoid eBay because it's sketchy, and I don't know what kind of CS I'll get.

I must say that i do shop on amazon and sometimes on ebay, but if i researched a product and found it on some other (non amazon ebay) site and they seem ok i would buy from them.

I have dealt with online selling, and many small companies feel they stand little chance against these giants. they do try to provide extra value is all sorts of ways, lots of the times people just do the research online then buy the thing from amazon. i do understand this and that is life kind of thing, but afraid that one day we will live in a world dominated soly by these giants.

I research most products locally and on the manufacturers website. I also review video reviews and product demos on uTube.

When I'm finally satisfied I know the item I want I check prices on Amazon and Craigslist. Amazon almost always wins out with the lowest price and offers excellent customer service.

I have purchased on Craigslist but don't relish meeting unknown people with a wad of cash on hand.

eBay has been okay on the few occasions I've used them. Delivery has proven slow so I generally stear clear.

Mainly use eBay. Amazon have a wierd poilcy for a lot of their stuff in Europe, won't ship to your location is the usual issue. I have made many eBay purchases from suppliers all over the world without issue, occasionally items have not arrived as quickly as I would like but IF I want something that promptly I can always pay a premium and buy locally. For instance I bought my CCK from Hong Kong for $6 including shipping, it arrived in 16 days (they quoted 15-20) and it works exactly the same as my sons £25 one that he bought form the Apple store, mine has the advantage of being one connector with both SD card slot and USB connector whereas he has to have 2 to do the same job.

I will say I purchase most of the staff on Amazon since I have the Prime and it's pretty quick.
But for some items, it all depends. Sometimes the local or other online retailers have a cheaper price or better reputation.
Just google it~

EBay and Amazon are good both, it depends if the seller is good or bad

No one mentioned Craigslist. If you are savvy you can't beat the prices there.

"Post are better with pictures ".

I'm wary of buying from small online companies partly because of uncertain CS, and because I'm careful with credit info. When I do buy from small sources, I pay via PayPal. Otherwise, there's no chance they're getting my business.

I think any small company that wants to sell should have Paypal integrated, otherwise lose business. In our site we accept only Paypal for example. What annoys me that lots of people come read reviews. find the case they like based on the information we provide, then go buy if on Amazon or Ebay for like 5$ less. Internet is a cruel market place, anyone is a click and a half away from anywhere else. Like i mentioned before i think if this kinda of things continues , Amazon and Ebay and lets say Walmart would be the only stores out there. wouldn't that be sad...

My monday morning rant. ;-)

I have purchased many things from Amazon over the years with no issues. I have had to return a couple of items, due to wrong size, etc. The refund process was painless. The customer service has been very good. I have had no problems with security, delivery is dependent on the delivery service selected, selection is usually good, reviews can be helpful, have had no problems with fakes.

I avoid "e-prey."

YMMV

I read reviews, but I've never found it helpful to read reviews on mom-and-pop websites (no offense to yours, which I've not used). I use Amazon reviews because they're generally robust. I don't mind paying a few bucks more if I buy stuff in person at a brick-and-mortar joint in my area, because I want to support local businesses. What I generally avoid is buying from small businesses online, because I don't want to deal with the possible hassle of return and exchange, or hunting down something that doesn't arrive. I've often paid several bucks more to go with Amazon, specifically because I know its service is reliable.

Would you consider sites like iLounge or CNET mom-and-pops websites? i think they got good review...
I think you will find that some small online business would go to greater length then Amazon or Ebay to make sure their customers are happy.
Altough i must say i have always found service on Amazon quite good, not so much Ebay. But both from a seller's point of view are a bit of a cartel ;-)

I've looked at iLounge, but haven't found the reviews useful. That's probably a matter of what I buy, and how focused the reviews are. I generally like Amazon because it has a bunch of reviews for the same product, which lets me compare perspectives. I've checked CNET on occassion, but for hardware I'm more likely to use other sites, which aren't involved in selling anything directly. With those, I like to compare a bunch of reviews across sites, and read comments.

I buy through sites like Etsy sometimes, because they have individual vendors with a specialized product. For me, it doesn't make sense to buy a commodity-type product and risk poor CS, even for savings. That's me, of course. I can't speak for others. But my husband and I buy A LOT online, and that's our pattern.

Agree with what you said above. I guess over all it depends on the product, like when i buy a TV for example i would read lots of review and choose like that.
I think Amazon review are not always 100% honest as there is some amount of "fake" user reviews on there. I have also bought a pair of Ear Phone (Sennheiser CX300) from Amazon which turned out to be fake.
this would have probably not happen if i bought on lets say Bestbuy or something.

I do shop a lot on line but if i see something i like i probably just go for it, i think most shop know that CS is very important and that they will lose customers very fast if they don offer good CS.
I must say i also give my CC online at times, so far so good, took me a while to get over the "im going to sponsor a trip to Hawaii for someone" fear.

Long story short, i do try to give smaller businesses that offer me extra value in terms of user experience on their site the chance to take my money ;-)

Agree about fake reviews -- on all types of websites. I've seen ones on Amazon, Yelp and even something lame like local Yellow Pages website (was looking for landscaper and saw a bunch of fake reviews), for example. That's why I like a good number of reviews to check out. If anything smells funny to me, I just skip buying. I can't remember anything I had to have badly enough to override what I thought were suspect reviews, but maybe I've just been lucky.