"Is EBay a Nanny State?" Topic

"Are still selling on Ebay?

Me and the Missus have started again this summer selling stuff around the house in a bid to de-clutter…"
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

A bit short/brief but valid. EBay isn't what it was when it started.

I'd say the best times for EBay (in terms of earning!) were the mid-2000s. It's a different beast now.

Ebay has just become more hassle than it is worth for the most part.

I use ebay extensively now. I find it easy to use, and still gets me out to a wide audience. I started a small business selling books and hobby stuff last year, in part to help my fiancée sell her late husbands stuff. I finally bought into a storefront this fall when I found I could not rely on getting enough free listings to sell what I needed to. I find it user friendly, I like that it tells me the average selling price of the item I am listing, and I am happy with the prefilled data, to a point. Sometimes it can add info that is incorrect or unintended if you are not careful. I don't think ebay's best days are behind it at all.

I sell twice a year spring and fall. No storefront, just as a means to sell off unused stuff and fund "The War Department". There are also some great deals to be had. I recently purchased well over 100 RalPartha colonials for under .50 each. For me the buying key is to watch for large lots and not individual blisters.

Its more a store based system now. Few of my auctions every get two bidders.

Yes, with paying the cut to eBay, PayPal, sometimes even postage. Now some states charge you state tax even if you don't live there, but purchased something online there. I do little eBaying anymore …

I have recently cooled towards eBay following a sale that went sour. I sold a painted unit of medieval supermen to a buyer in Italy. I sent them tracked and insured, in short, the buyer gave me an incomplete address and the figures were returned to me.
I refunded in full, he then leaves me negative feedback and l will probably never see the figures again…..!

I still do a small, but steady, stream thru eBay. I bought some stuff at Fall In in the WB specifically to eBay resell. I made 1900% on one item, and %250 on 2 others, (before fees.). Mostly I sell off early hobby stuff of mine that I no longer want.

eBay has changed. Mostly as a result of early buyer/seller disputes. They will always side with the buyer. I had one where the item presumably got porch pirated, as the tracker showed delivery, but the buyer demanded a refund. I declined. eBay raided my PayPal to give him his money back. I complained and eBay gave me my money back.

eBay is willing to cough up the money to make peace in the rare case of a problem. "Nanny State.". Sounds fairly apt.

Notwithstanding, it works just fine the vast majority of the time.

A little bit but with all of the associated costs now, it is not worth it for most things. I find it much harder to find things now as there are so many store sellers selling items at full retail that it makes it harder to find the small listers.
It certainly is not what it used to be, when it was just the average joe selling some excess items.

Thanks!

Amicalement
Armand

I used to sell a "ton" of stuff on ebay. But have not used it in years now. Occasionally I will view it for items of interest. I may start selling on it again when I retire and have more time available.

USPS "delivery confirmations" aren't worth the paper they are written/printed on, or those little ones and zeroes moving through the ether.

They recently "confirmed" a delivery to my address that ended up in another city, an hour away.

I only found out about that after a lot of time and research, and hours wasted on hold with the USPS.

I eventually got the item, but it took a week and a half to do so. The USPS guys were dumb-founded about how my address could be listed as "confirmed delivery" in this case.

So, insure, and/or ship via Priority Mail, which gives you insurance, if you are the shipper, just to be safe.

Use Paypal if you are the buyer.

Signed for delivery is a good idea for anything that is valuable.

Yes, I use signature required on any item over $100. USD

I've just sold a kitchen appliance on Ebay for £170.00 GBP They took £17.00 GBP fees.

Im OK with that, although given that they are just one of many media available locally it's not cheap.

I was less happy with Ebay telling me how much my heavy appliance was going to cost to ship, and charging me 10% on that too. Not to mention the risk of transit damage and subsequent arguments about condition. So I listed it as "collect only or arrange your own pick up". That limited the sale mainly to buyers in the region. So the local paper might have been cheaper and as effective.

When it sold I was totally unhappy with the way either Ebay or Paypal held onto my money until the buyer placed his feedback. I have excellent credit, and been with Paypal for literally donkeys years. Yet Im treated like a con man. Meanwhile the scammers on Ebay still abound.

As a buyer I've had some decent wargames and boardgames stuff via Ebay, but I stopped buying anything electronic due to a high risk of cheap cloned Chinese knock-off sh*te being supplied as the real thing.

If Im buying new, it's Amazon all the way.