ccmatty | 31 Jan 2016 10:38 a.m. PST |
So I am always interested in browsing eBay to find miniatures, models, supplies, etc. However, I have noticed in the past year or so that seller prices are high, shipping is high, etc. Not that I am out there bargain hunting, but you would think one might find a bargain now and then. Lots of "buy now" and fewer true auctions. Seems like sellers have lost perspective on pricing (I do recognize it is a seller's right to ask and sell an item for what he/she wishes, after all it is a free-market on-line society). Is it me? Or, is it just going down hill? Sign of the times in the miniatures industry? Just curious if others share the observation and frustration. |
BobGrognard | 31 Jan 2016 10:45 a.m. PST |
I totally agree. Lots of very mediocre items for high prices. |
Aladdin | 31 Jan 2016 11:01 a.m. PST |
From a painted figure sellers perspective (and I confess I largely stopped on Ebay a few years ago), I found there is no longer any point putting a low price in to encourage bidding. There aren't enough interested people for any sort of auction to take place. You might find one person willing to buy, certainly not the 3-4 of years past. Unless you want to take a hit on every single item, you put on either a buy it now or a reserve price of what you actually want to get for it. Also, the last thing I sold on Ebay they charged me all told around ten percent- youch! My opinion is that Ebay's ship has sailed- the magic is gone for both buyer and seller. |
Garand | 31 Jan 2016 11:14 a.m. PST |
Depends on what you are shopping for. If I am buying GW, I can usually get some decent deals on them, or buying 1/35 model kits. Damon. |
Allen57 | 31 Jan 2016 11:21 a.m. PST |
I agree also. Seems like the guy trying to get rid of a couple items he does not need is gone and has been replaced by a lot of fellows trying to make a living off of eBay. You have to troll a lot of that to find the few odd, many times OOP, items. |
cosmicbank | 31 Jan 2016 11:30 a.m. PST |
Ebay killed the little seller, then they tried to get him back, then killed him again. I sold 100s of items on ebay 5 years ago or so. Thwn paypal fee ebay fees and shipping costs ran me out, throw in the Professial ripoff expert and its just not worth doing, |
cosmicbank | 31 Jan 2016 11:31 a.m. PST |
PS made a living off ebay for a over a year, |
steamingdave47 | 31 Jan 2016 11:33 a.m. PST |
Here in UK, I am finding that I can often buy the same item cheaper if I go directly to a store, rather than through its EBay store. As an occasional seller, I find I have to charge more for postage of small items than I did a few years ago; e.g a blister pack from the likes of Foundry would have gone as a "Small Packet" a few years ago at a price of £1.00 GBP to £1.50 GBP. Now, because it's more than inch thick, it has to go as a " Small Parcel" at minimum cost of £2.80 GBP ( with extra £1.05 GBP if recorded delivery, used to be about 70 pence). EBay now charges 10% commission on postage as well as on sale price so that has to be factored in. PayPal fees on small turnovers are another 3.4%+20 pence, so the costs of selling small items are prohibitive. |
cosmicbank | 31 Jan 2016 11:36 a.m. PST |
Dave is UK post as bad as it was 5 years ago? |
Doms Decals | 31 Jan 2016 11:55 a.m. PST |
As others have said, Ebay pretty consciously killed off its old trade. With seller fees doubled, no ability to leave meaningful feedback, commission charged even on your postage costs and lots of smaller changes it's steadily killed off the "casual" seller, while a hollowing out of the customer base for auction listings has put those in a death spiral – people don't list cheap because there's little prospect of the price getting bid up. I think the short version is that for a good few years now, Ebay has been trying to become the second Amazon instead of the first Ebay…. |
Extra Crispy | 31 Jan 2016 12:08 p.m. PST |
A few years ago the new CEO explicitly stated they wanted to become an Amazon competitor, not really an auction site. The issue was simple. It costs Ebay the same amount of money to do your auction for a $10 USD bag of lead, as it does for Best Buy's $40 USD headphones. But Best Buy also spends ad dollars to be featured, and gives them massive volume. The other change is information. In the early days you had sellers who didn't know what they were selling. So you bought "toy knights" for $5 USD that were valuable GW figures. In essence, once Ebay went big time, the market worked. |
dampfpanzerwagon | 31 Jan 2016 12:45 p.m. PST |
I occasionally buy from ebay – but selling items has become a chore. Just not worth the hassle. Tony |
scrivs | 31 Jan 2016 1:08 p.m. PST |
I only sell items on eBay now after posting the items for around a couple of weeks on my blog, forums and Facebook groups. I then have to factor in that eBay takes 10% commission (even on the postage) and price accordingly. It really is the 'shop window of last resort' these days. |
Karnophage | 31 Jan 2016 1:10 p.m. PST |
Between the rise of shipping rates and the Ebay Fees it is really hard to list anything hobby related at a reasonable price. Giving free shipping used to be a option but now it is a profit killer. Also it is easier to find out what things are actually worth so there are no longer the insane buy it now lots offered on ebay. As for selling painted miniatures on ebay it is hard enough to get the retail cost let alone time invested into the items. |
galvinm | 31 Jan 2016 1:13 p.m. PST |
I also used to sell a lot on ebay. After they started charging for paypal, shipping, etc., I got out. For the personal seller, it is almost not worth selling anything unless you are willing to take almost nothing for it. Gutting the Feedback also did not help. Another thing that drove me from buying is how ALL miniatures seem to be RARE, OOP figures. Even the new releases. Everyone wants top dollar, even if they are selling junk. I guess the old saying of "one man's trash is another man's treasure", means everyone thinks what they have is treasure. |
Prince Rupert of the Rhine | 31 Jan 2016 1:14 p.m. PST |
I still find it useful. I can get new buy it now stuff, use paypal, and get a couple of quid knocked off without having to go through setting up numerous annoying accounts with the source suppliers. Bargains are few and far between these days a lot of sellers just wack a hefty fee on anything GW even badly painted and damaged second hand stuff. It's still handy for OOP stuff (picked up an old white dwarf with a couple of articles I wanted for a £1.00 GBP today for example)but that depends if the seller knows what his got and prices accordingly. The other thing is I find a lot of wargames stuff I didn't know about Board games, paint supplies, small boutique miniatures and conversion parts that I probably would never have found just surfing the net. Of course then I usually go and find the original source to find out who is cheaper. So in my experience ebay is still a useful hobby source but just don't expect the killer bargains you got a few years ago. |
napthyme | 31 Jan 2016 1:14 p.m. PST |
Another problem is auctions do not work for 90% of anything these days unless its a huge $$$ item and in huge demand. So those cheap starting auctions have died away as well since your lucky to get one bid much less two for anything not attractive to re-sellers who sinp your items. |
steamingdave47 | 31 Jan 2016 1:16 p.m. PST |
@cosmicbank don't have any hard evidence to answer your question, but I have to say that my overall experience of the actual service from Royal Mail has always been positive. In 12 years on EBay I have never lost a parcel/ packet as a seller and only once had an item I bought fail to turn up. Just this week, I posted two items second class and they were delivered within 36 hours. I think the Royal Mail sometimes gets a bad press; having said that there new pricing structure stinks if you are trying to sell low cost/ low weight, but bulky items. |
Gennorm | 31 Jan 2016 1:17 p.m. PST |
I've continued to find it very useful. |
TheBeast | 31 Jan 2016 1:36 p.m. PST |
Ditto, but mostly for some 'weird' stuff; I buy a heck of a lot off sellers on fora including right where we're talking. Dave: Might be speaking of pricing; we hear THAT'S painful, especially crossing the briny. However, I guess I hear MORE complaints about Royal Customs. Doug |
Mako11 | 31 Jan 2016 1:38 p.m. PST |
I agree with pretty much all of the above. Take a careful look at their fees, and those of Paypal, and you'll see their costs are really closer to 15%, combined. The post office helped kill off international shipping as well, with their ridiculously high rate increases as well. The only good thing is eBay protects the buyers well now, but sellers are at risk, unless they get delivery confirmation for every shipment. |
miniMo | 31 Jan 2016 3:55 p.m. PST |
So many countries have raised their international shipping rates through the roof. That's not EBay's fault, I buy a fair number of DBA armies on EBay. I look for cheap ones and am happy spending a day or two touching up a bd paint job. As always, there are dry spells when none pop up for a long stretch. But patience pays off. I've been getting a lot of great Gashopen from Hong Kong the past few months. |
ccmatty | 31 Jan 2016 3:56 p.m. PST |
Wow. I am glad I am not the only one. Thank you everyone for your input. I guess I will look for alternate sources of buying and selling. I have some new items I need to sell, so I will sell here on this site. |
Spudeus | 31 Jan 2016 3:58 p.m. PST |
It does grate on the nerves when ebay charges 10%+, then tops it off with fees on every Paypal transaction (which is owned by ebay!). Still, I use it occasionally to unload games, minis, dvd sets, etc. that I don't want anymore. I always auction, and start low; if I take a loss, well that's better than throwing it out. |
vicmagpa1 | 31 Jan 2016 4:27 p.m. PST |
i was ran out of ebay. i had a slow month. 4 of 5 buyers were competition. i did not know. closed me down. once closed you cannot reopen. but i must admit it has gotten to a point it is not profitable on ebay anymore. the ship has sailed and replaced with modern apps on cell phones. |
WeeSparky | 31 Jan 2016 5:23 p.m. PST |
I still use ebay to purchase goods directly from China, Thailand, and other foreign locales that do not get stocked in the local WalMart. Not a lot of other options for buying bags of plastic architectural model trees cheaply. Ebay/Paypal does offer slight buyer protections (much more than Alibaba). |
Jeigheff | 31 Jan 2016 6:20 p.m. PST |
As a buyer, I occasionally make a find here and there on Ebay. As a miniature gamer looking for particular figures, my interests are admittedly pretty narrow. I'm most often disappointed, but I have to be honest about my being picky. It just isn't Ebay's fault that the stuff I'm looking for usually isn't there for sale. I have a friend who has accumulated all kinds of stuff, mostly pertaining to motor bikes, and has stored it in his garage, hoping to sell it at collectors' prices on Ebay. He quit his job a couple months ago, with the idea of being a seller on Ebay. I truly wish him the best from the bottom of my heart. Still, he'll have to go forward with his idea to see if it works for him. |
79thPA | 31 Jan 2016 8:24 p.m. PST |
I have pretty good luck selling on ebay. I don't like getting screwed by ebay over postage, which is a convenient money grab rather than any real concern for the consumer. It is a great way to put my product in front of buyers all over the U.S. |
kiltboy | 31 Jan 2016 8:29 p.m. PST |
I stil bargain hunt on ebay but too many lisings are stores selling at retail prices. The bargains are few and far between though I do find I buy bulk lots of lead to sift through. My games of WW2 lens themselves nicely to some of the random finds and I find it a fun way to gather core units for projects. I will find better deals here and in other places so I rarely buy on bay and I feel it isn't worth my time to sell there. David |
Doctor X | 01 Feb 2016 12:20 a.m. PST |
I've always had pretty good luck with ebay for the 17 years I have used it. Last year I sold 700+ mechs. There was lots of bidding competition on quite a few items. The fees are getting atrocious though. |
Old Peculiar | 01 Feb 2016 6:15 a.m. PST |
I sell on Ebay, and do ok with it. It depends just what you want and expect out of it. My prices for 15mm units are more expensive that some of the China based companies, but the figures are genuine and not pirated copies. As an established seller I get numerous free or reduced price listing offers that I take advantage of when I can. I tend to sell to repeat customers mainly, with a number based in Italy and France, who are willing to pay a higher asking price for higher quality, something that some UK buyers seem to struggle with. I also buy on Ebay, and there are certainly bargains still to be had if you are patient. My current Saga collection was largely sourced there and were bought for peanuts with decently painted figures at well below the cost of new castings. Ebay though is just another selling option and like 79th PA is a good way of getting your goods noticed by a wider potential market, so you need to be canny in how you use it. |
Heisler | 01 Feb 2016 7:31 a.m. PST |
Paypal is no longer owned by eBay, it was spun off as a separate company sometime last year (2015). |
SoW Reddog | 01 Feb 2016 9:07 a.m. PST |
The only real bargain I've found recently was lost in the post so ended up with a refund… There's a few decent lots here and there but they do tend to attract the other bidders so you end up paying top whack if you want them (which is good for the seller but not the skinflint like me :) |
Tacitus | 01 Feb 2016 11:07 a.m. PST |
Still use ebay to find something quickly. Not for bargains anymore… |
ACWBill | 01 Feb 2016 1:47 p.m. PST |
Not if your'e looking for bargains. I find stuff there I sometimes cannot find elsewhere. |
Buff Orpington | 01 Feb 2016 2:11 p.m. PST |
One day I'll have a mass clear out but until then I'm just a buyer these days, less frequent than I was though. Looking at the current UK listings there are 221,000+ in Wargames & roleplay, 90% of these are buy it now. |
jowady | 01 Feb 2016 6:11 p.m. PST |
I'm not a fan anymore, a few years ago I tried to buy an MLB jersey. The thing was a counterfeit. I complained to ebay, they didn't care so I wound up complaining to MLB and they went after the seller (gave me an MLB gift card too). I've had tickets that turned out to be fake as well, again complained to ebay and ebay did nothing. If they're trying to compete with Amazon they had better up their game. I've had some problems with Amazon but they always took care of them. Meanwhile ebay doesn't seem to care if you get ripped off or not. And they don't seem to care about individual or small sellers either. Some of their sellers are just rip off artists. My other hobby is photography and I occasionally see stuff I'm interested in but then I read the feedback. Even if someone has 95% feedback you'll often see that they didn't respond to complaints, shipped used merchandise as new, etc. All I can think is that there is some way that some of these guys "bump up" their good feedback. Either way I no longer trust ebay. I usually find that what I want is the same price or cheaper from actual stores and the service is much better. Since ebay makes their money from the sellers, not the buyers it's the sellers who are their real customers and who they are interested in protecting. |
MiniatureWargaming dot com | 01 Feb 2016 7:51 p.m. PST |
What are the alternatives? |
Shadowcat20 | 01 Feb 2016 9:55 p.m. PST |
I sell a bit on E-bay, been doing painted armies a lot lately to gain customers to deal with outside of E-bay. Problem is if you sell a lot you have 10% fees off the top and 3% for Pay Pal. This includes cost of shipping. So you HAVE to build in about a 20% markup on prices just for their cut of everything. Another problem is a lot of Chinese junk is shipping out of containers in Washington state. E-Bay is not longer a Garage sale, it is now a cheap alternitive to brick and morter stores without haveing to worry about charging sales taxes. It ain't what it used to be. |
Jimlad48 | 03 Feb 2016 5:18 a.m. PST |
Stopped using Ebay when after many succesful sales and positive feedback, I had negative feedback left for me. I listed a genuinely OOP hardback book that Ebays recommended postage was listed at £3.50 GBP and it sold for about £10.00 GBP Due to the weight of the book, my cheapest option to ship via RM wasn't £3.50 GBP but about £15.00 GBP There are no courier people near me to ship via other means. As such I'd have ended up fairly out of pocket just to post the thing. I asked the seller if he'd either like to pay the balance of the p&p, or if he would like a full refund. They had a hissy fit, refused to pay and sent me some fairly strong messages implying I was trying to rip him off, and then left negative feedback to that effect. I have no means as a seller of contexualising the feedback, or explaining why I'd asked for him to cover the costs. I don't mind soaking up a little bit extra, but I do mind when you factor in the total costs and commission being several pounds out of pocket to sell things. Buyers are the first to complain if you overcharge P&P and demand refunds, but seem strangely reluctant to accept that it works both ways! That was the point when I realised it was more hassle than it was worth to use ebay. |
Old Peculiar | 03 Feb 2016 7:59 a.m. PST |
Some good points, shipping is a nightmare. I recently sold a large number of medieval figures to Europe and the buyer wanted me to combine shipping. problem was as the parcel was over 5kg the shipping was higher than the originally estimated cost. So I split into 3 smaller packages and confirmed postage of £48.00 GBP including tracking and insurance. Buyer was not happy and would not pay even though this was £7.00 GBP cheaper than original quote. So the items went on 2nd chance and only 1 sold. I have stopped selling books on E bay as the carriage costs are prohibitive. I have also been threatened with negative feedback unless I give refunds. On buyer from Northern Ireland bought 8 items was not happy with one, I gave partial refund, he wanted full refund and to keep the item. I told him that was not a reasonable request, he then said he would post negative feedback on all items. I said that I would be forwarding all emails to the police, he backed off! Also over November/December 5 packages issued via Royal mail apparently went missing. I now quote postage for signed for delivery, if not accepted then carriage is at buyers risk. This has of course upped costs, but not sure what other options I had. |
Shadowcat20 | 03 Feb 2016 7:55 p.m. PST |
I flat rate ship here in the States and only sell in the US also. I KNOW what my shipping charges are and fold them into the price then give free shipping. It is a bit more expensive but I get a tracking number so can watch it get delivered. No shipping price arguments and I KNOW when they get it. Been working real well for me. |
albion | 04 Feb 2016 6:02 a.m. PST |
Used to sell on ebay but it became to much hassle. I still buy from time to time. However I have noticed that if you really want something you either have to bid really high or be around at auction time. This is due to some app or programme that seems to make bids at the very last second. it is very frustrating. |
1815Guy | 04 Feb 2016 8:50 a.m. PST |
E bay is still good for top end painted figures. I couldnt afford them, of course, and neither could many of us! £10.00 GBP a figure is not unreasonable for the time and skill that goes in to painting a figure, but I just dont have £250.00 GBP to throw at a unit when a box of plastics will give me two units for £20.00 GBP Plus a bit of my time, of course. I still find that Vallejo is pretty good on Ebay, and some manufacturers put a few dozen figures out on there below normal prices on a regular basis. Foundry, for example. Generally though, I wait until I see a deal from manufacturers. Thus a box of plastic 28mms is £20.00 GBP On Ebay its still £20.00 GBP, but postage included. BUt if you wait for a manufacturer deal its even better, direct from them. Victrix regularly do 30% off RRP. Thats basically buying at trade prices. Its really not cheap to post stuff these days. Packaging alone is a a couple of pounds, then there's the privatised mail service – with recent price hikes. I have a load of stuff I would like to put on Ebay to clear some space, but the postage and packaging costs alone just dont make it worth while. I do like the micro shops on Ebay (and Amazon) and usually get all my rulesets that way from regular suppliers. They arent any cheaper than anywhere else, but its very convenient. Where I am, the nearest outlet for anything Wargames related is an hour's drive away each way. |
1815Guy | 04 Feb 2016 8:55 a.m. PST |
(btw, I am increasingly wary of Chinese knock-off stuff flooding onto Ebay. I don't think it has hit the Wargames market yet, but I treat every branded item with great suspicion if it looks a good deal. And if it's IT related and on Ebay it's probably almost certainly a Chinese copy anyway. SOmetimes these are good bits of kit, but sometimes they could just kill you.) |
Weasel | 05 Feb 2016 8:38 a.m. PST |
I went and looked at my ebay profile and realized that everything I've bought recently have been from regular stores who just happen to also have an ebay store front. Old books and stuff like that. I used to frequent ebay quite a lot for retro-computer and retro-game console stuff but a lot of that is a bunch of people selling to each other for increasingly higher prices, hoping to get a few bucks from someone else. |
Tom Scott | 05 Feb 2016 12:37 p.m. PST |
As a long-time Ebayer, I definitely agree that it has lost most of its value. Much harder to sell at reasonable prices, and much harder to find something that is not just a listing by an online store. I have been surprised that no replacement site has started up to compete by attracting the casual seller who started Ebay on the path to success. I use it far less for buying and selling than I used to. |
stew46a | 08 Feb 2016 1:16 p.m. PST |
I sell my stuff at my local war games show on the bring and buy, supports the show and the local group running it. |