With the rocky year of the global health crisis only just receding behind us, times are still tough for many of us. We have dreams we want to start rolling again, but there may be financial constraints at play that are keeping our styles cramped. It’s only natural to start looking for alternative ways to save- and with eBay’s beckoning deals lighting up your inbox, maybe you’re considering an oak porch kit from eBay. That’s why Oak Porches U.K are shining a spotlight on why this might not be the best idea.
Lack of quality control
Possibly the biggest reason an oak porch kit from eBay is not likely to give you the look and feel you want for your home comes from the very nature of the site. eBay does not carry a brand, or even approved sellers. It’s little more than an online auction house. In theory, anyone can sell anything they like through the platform, and no internal quality control standards are enacted. This can be a very double-edged sword. Sometimes, you find yourself with access to unique, quality sellers who have never had a brick-and-mortar presence before. At other times, you find your screen flooded with low-quality, and even scam, sellers and Chinese dropshippers using fake photos to sell products that will never, ever turn out like the stolen photos suggest.
In fact, the phenomenon of stolen pictures being used to showcase legitimate goods, and the purchaser instead receiving ridiculous, low-cost, terrible quality knockoffs, has become such a problem we’re seeing many legitimate manufacturers try legal routes to control the damage from this picture theft. The DIY Porch Kit on eBay has also been a victim of the same- legitimate suppliers photos stolen to sell inferior quality.
When it’s an addition to your home, low quality doesn’t just look bad- it can be outright dangerous. There’s an art to wood, and it takes correct craftsmanship to produce the high-quality oak kits you’re used to. Poorly chosen oak- even ‘greek oak’ used the wrong way- will shrink and can even twist or turn while doing so, causing shrinkage and gaps. And if the wood is not correctly treated and harvested, kinks, fractures, and weakness can go unidentified. Come the first storm or stress, that’s your beautiful oak porch lying in a heap of ruin!
When is a deal not a deal?
While the high chances of receiving an inferior product is perhaps the largest concern, it’s not the only issue you might face buying an oak porch kit on eBay. eBay has, sadly, become notorious for hidden fees. Unlike with retail stores or bespoke oak porch orders, the price you see is not necessarily the price you pay.
eBay has become notorious for loading fees. In fact, many reputable sellers have stopped using them exactly because of these loaded, and often hidden, fees, enacted both on listings and on using Paypal.
This general lack of transparency is a common complaint on both the seller and buyer side, too. Many also complain of the phenomenon, ‘International Flooding’. You search for your product, and find many 1000s of hits. Yet these are, for the most part, low-value offerings from far afield, which will never reach your door- or even ship there. It just makes for a crowded marketplace full of very little.
There’s also the well-known trick of advertising your product at a good price, only to load up artificial shipping prices that push it way past affordable. This used to be done to bypass paying listing fees by unscrupulous sellers, but isn’t immediately obvious to many buyers. Deception has also become a key issue, with listings featuring key aspects of a product- waterproofing, for example- only to ship without the needed feature. Hardly what you want from the supplier of a pricey home fitting! To add to the frustration, the platform doesn’t have the best record on easy communication with customer service.
In short, while eBay is a suitable platform for some things, such as niche collectable sales, it’s not the best sales platform to connect with a reputable home improvement vendor.
Why dealing with a specialist company is the way to go
While opting for a cheap oak porch kit from eBay may seem like a saving, in the long term we’ve had all-too-many consumers come to us, upset at the wreckage of their home improvement dreams, needing to pay again for us to fix it.
An oak porch is an investment in the look of your home. Although we’ve crafted our DIY oak porch kits to be simple to use and install, in order to help you keep your budget low, we still have decades of experience behind us. Each kit has been carefully crafted to the exact specifications of your order- something we will triple check with you during the process. With our experts on hand, we can guide you and assist you in finding a match that will blend seamlessly with your home.
You aren’t merely a buyer buying an ‘auction’ item with no guidance and no tailoring to the specific needs of your home, nor is your ‘kit’ a cookie-cutter assembly that’s been pushed off of a factory line. Each is shaped precisely around your needs and home. While this sort of quality and in-person expertise does attract a (seemingly) higher price tag on initial look, the ease of erection and quality of fit you receive at the end of the day saves a ton of money in the long run.
Are you keen to find the perfect oak porch for your home? Skip the low-quality oak porch kits flooding eBay and come to the masters of oak instead. Oak Porches U.K are always on hand to help you find the perfect match to your home.