Is EBay worth it for sellers anymore?

[johnmcelroynu]

I just noticed that EBay fees since January 1st have been 21%, I use the most basic listings. They are hostile towards sellers...always on the side of the buyer, and really don't give a *&% as they think they are the only game in town. It isn't worth it; besides the crazy buyers, a bunch of theives at EBay and the headaches...for what, 79% of my goods and I get the hassle. And if that guy comes on that always tells you to take a deep breath, hold yours for as long as you can.

[komokwa]

So ...we'll see you again 9 months from now with an update?
Heeheehee......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[old_man_arthur]

eBay may be the only game in town. Certainly cheaper than opening a real store.

Now There's the Problem.

All these crappy store listings are from Stores that could open a regular website instead of screwing it up for the Small Sellers.
Like others have said, we need to go back to when the store listings were separate from the auctions.
If you want Fixed Price Listings, you used to be able to hit BIN only.
But now, hitting Auctions only doesn't get rid of the stores.
Plus many small sellers are using Fixed Price Listings now.

Maybe if you could just specify Sellers with feedback of less than 1000?
Or maybe sellers with less than a certain number of items for sale?

I can dream can't I?

[inkman]

I need to think about my next step in selling regarding this. So far it's just been my old comics and low grade coins/melt silver coins but i'm considering putting up my high grade stamps and coins. Doing research on completed auctions, U.S. coins aren't too bad with BIN, but Mint U.S. stamps before 1940 seems to be swamped by the BIN dealers. Watching auctions end, the first half of the page is BIN always at the top with completed listings the same, where as the auctions seem half way down the page. Not the kind of exposure i'm looking for when it comes to high dollar items. I'm going to keep an eye out and see what happens. Sure isn't like the old days when i used to buy and auctions were king 😞

[Anonymous]

Sales have fallen off because of the worldwide economy. Not because of eBay and it's polices. And would someone please tell where there is another website that can match eBay's potential to sell for all sellers?

[siegtrmpt]

Sales have fallen off because of the worldwide economy. Not because of eBay and it's polices. And would someone please tell where there is another website that can match eBay's potential to sell for all sellers?

If EBAY sales have dropped off there are probably many reasons, including the economy and EBAY policies, that have caused that to happen. Ebay's effectiveness is a function of what you are selling. If you're selling new or drop shipped stuff there's a lot of competition. If you're selling something that's hard to find locally or is in a niche of some kind then Ebay can still be a good place to sell. For large, more common items I've found a list by a guy named Craig works best and for some of my "niche" items where you need a national audience there are some discussion board marketplaces that are very effective that have replaced Ebay in my little selling/buying world. I think Ebay can be a good place to sell an occasional item (every month or so?) so you don't have to deal with all the DSR, power seller crap. For my taste they muck around in the details of the transaction which, if they are simply a venue (doubtful), should be none of their business.

[kansas_gal06]

All these crappy store listings are from Stores that could open a regular website instead of screwing it up for the Small Sellers.

Actually, they can't. They need eBay, too. They'd never come up in search engines for their website and setting up inventory mgmt & shopping cart systems is fairly expensive. It's not just brick & mortar stores that have overhead.


Yeah, I wish the stores were gone from the regular listings, too. It's too easy to set your search and forget it - I usually have it Time Ending Soonest, but not everybody does that. Isn't the default for a new user set to Best Match?

[im_my_twin]

Ebay is still the best place to sell online. There are other online options, but those other sites don't have the following that Ebay does. As for the seller fees, I think it is worth it because Ebay does a lot of advertising that draw the buyers here. I'm hoping the changes Ebay has been implementing, and plans to implement in the near future, will help all the sellers. If I didn't feel that way, I'd wouldn't of come back to Ebay.

If the OP isn't happy here, then he should try selling at other online sites. Or selling offline. There are many ways of selling and it is the sellers choice to stick with just one way of selling or to try every opportunity that's available for moving the merchandise at a profit.

[hjccollectibles]

having $800 left after making $1000 is great.try owning a b&m store and see what is left from that $1000.take out overhead costs and you might make $600 if you are lucky.selling here with the fees sure beats have a regular b&w store and like in the b&m store if you sell what everybody else sells you have more competition.sell something no one else sells and you own the world.sales here like anywhere else is based on what you are selling.

[traderjohn4]

I keep hearing about how the economy is responsible for lower sales and I don't think the economy is playing as big a part as people are saying. I consider myself an average consumer, and I just don't see any advantage in buying a lot of items on ebay any more.

I still buy some things here because, due to my selling, I always have some cash in my Paypal account and I like the convenience. But I'm not going to overpay for that convenience. And that's what I'm seeing more and more of on ebay, items priced at or above retail. If I have to pay retail for an item, I'll search it on Pricegrabber, or just go to Amazon.

[komokwa]

That's because many people are not seeing eBay as an auction site anymore .
What auction house ever started their bidding at Retail ?

[jetbob2010]

I am a brand new seller. I find the listing fees fair and the 9% sales fee is quite fair considering that my stuff is being offered nationwide, even world wide if I desire. I have to hit my fellow California residents with 8.375% sales tax or run afoul of the authorities. If you have been following the news you'll have to agree that I am getting 10 times, make that 100 times, more value from eBAy over the California Legislature. jetbob2010

[ch*couture]

Your right Brian, you won't get near as much traffic anywhere else., so i'm done going back & forth , as to wether it's worth it anymore..they offer specials at least., and if you open a store , you get free listings! I enjoy listing and selling...so if some of you don't , don't do it! get a 9-5 jog...yikes!!! not me!!

[hondamedic]

Hi ch*couture & welcome to the Part Timers Forum!

It wasn't me OMA! (Don't worry ch*couture, it's an insider joke!;-))

[vasox]

Sales have fallen off because of the worldwide economy. Not because of eBay and it's polices. And would someone please tell where there is another website that can match eBay's potential to sell for all sellers?

My 2 cents:

I think the economy excuse ois overblown and here is a good example.

My buddy Owned a I sold it on E-bay store and his business picked up once the economy went down. People were coming in by the droves to help with pay bills. He was doing great until 2008 when the fees went up, Repeat customers walked out his door after he informed them of the new fee structure and how little their profit would be. Store closed not because of lack product but sellers unwilling to pay higher fees.

next point or 3 cents however you want to put it

I have posted many times about making my return as a full time seller, i do get helpfull advise but I have noticed 60% of the respnses or negative in nature and not helpfull.......... So i will say it again "if you got nothing nice or helpfull to say don't say at all.

B-) nuff said

[daveliq6jlr]

John You will not get any understanding here, they all are Ebay cheerleaders. But take a look at their feedback numbers, how low they are and also see how many items they have listed thats what defines cheerleaders . Lovelaughs is one of the best sellers in here Good Luck