New fees on eBay - yikes !!!

[Thunderbolt]

It's been a little while since I sold something on eBay, so it was a little bit of a shock when I saw the 10% fee come crashing in on a recent transaction.

What with PayPal fees on top, it's no wonder one of my favourite Traveller sellers bailed out of eBay a while ago.

I get the principle that they take a cut for providing a service, but sheez, this is getting a bit silly - surely there is a competitor waiting to steal their lunch?

 

[far-trader]

...surely there is a competitor waiting to steal their lunch?

Several. The problem is market (eBay is huge) and trust (but see below).

I pretty much quit eBay a couple years back. The scammers (both buyers and sellers) were just getting to be too much and instead of eBay fixing the feedback issues and taking action against the few bad seeds in a way that might have saved it, they pulled boneheaded ideas out of thin air that fixed nothing. Then because they were still losing money they cut staff, farmed out support, and hiked fees. Brilliant :smirk:

 

[savage]

Bad news

Ouch... bad news. Haven't sold anything in a while but was kikkin' it around.

However, isn't that just the big traders causing trouble. I thought they'd changed the feedback to favor the buyers opinion.


Anyhow, here is a big opportunity for traveller trade Hunter! Put an auction in the Duty Free Shop.

Cheers.

 

[lucasdigital]

Eeek!
I've boxes full of old game books I've been procrastinating over ebaying. I'm now worried it won't be worth my effort.

 

[Thunderbolt]

When things only go for a few quid here and there (e.g. MegaTraveller), it hardly seems worth the effort, and I see less and less of the interesting stuff these days.

Funny, till now, I thought it was only the government that could extort that much out of my income, seems eBay are trying to get in on the action too :-(

@lucasdigital - nice artwork you have there, very professional, what tools do you use?

 

[Ron Gianti]

I gave up selling stuff on ebay after they bought Paypal, then forced you to only use Paypal, then jacked up the Paypal sellers fees.

Since then I've sold stuff on Amazon.com. No bidding but I've never had a problem either. If you want $30 for something, just post it for what you want for it.

 

[savage]

Amazon

Amazon commission rates aren't cheap either.

Amazon Kindle = 15 percent
Automotive parts and accessories = 12 percent
Camera and photo = 8 percent
Cell phones and accessories = 15 percent
Computers = 6 percent
Electronic items = 8 percent
Items in the Everything Else store = 15 percent
Musical instruments = 12 percent
Watches = 13 percent
All other product lines = 15 percent

 

[saundby]

Perhaps Etsy

etsy.com is an alternative worth considering. While their main thrust is handmade items, they also allow listing of "vintage" items, which they class as anything over 20 years old. The listing fee is US$0.20 per item, and the commission is 3.5% on sale, shipping isn't included in the amount the commission is paid on.

So if it's dated 1989 or earlier, you'd be good to go on etsy.

 

[soloprobe]

Ebay fees

What I can't stand are buyers ,who want to whinge about shipping cost.. They don't seem to understand that Ebay makes its money off the sellers....What do you do when buyers whinge about shipping?

 

[savage]

shipping costs

Its always a tough call. I use the shipping precalculator so there is little arguement. However, if your selling something that could be bought new off amazon need to be careful that your not marketing yourself up and out of the competition.