I was replying to someone else and then I thought I'd just leave the whole insanely long-winded mixed emotions your post stirred in me as more of a comment than a reply. Whereas some may think you just aren't cut out for ebay, I think it's more about disillusionment that some will experience more than others over things that they are not responsible for.
I've bought things from people who I thought were excellent sellers who said matter-of-factly they questioned whether ebay made sense for them compared to other platforms. These were overseas sellers usually so I don't know if they face difficulties I don't know about, but implying that someone doesn't understand what free shipping means or doesn't know how to mark up or resell is not unaware but specifically saying if ebay was ever meant to be a way to use the internet to allow ordinary people to sell a few things like in the commercials, the people making a nice profit are selling very specific things that require nothing but clicking on a few descriptors. There are some things I know it's better not to sell them at all on ebay if it's a very nice example of things that ordinary examples can be bought for much less. Example: I had a vintage tourmaline ring. It's hopeless to use comparable sales, ebay suggests 19.95 or 10,000, there is a huge difference upon seeing them but not so much in pictures, and anyone trying to do a good job describing flaws is competing with someone selling a broken one who thinks that goes without saying for $50 while you are splitting hairs about the wear or is it patina, there are 100,000 of them that you can get free shipping from Thailand for a brand new one, 10,000 positive reviews, and the difference is that it's natural tourmaline all right, and looks way better in the picture, but it's lab-grown. You need lab certification it's earth mined and then is that a standard treatment or are you going to say you don't know or leave it blank or assume the best or that you are not trying to recoup retail costs? Are all cuts really excellent and stones AAAAAA VVVVVS!!!!!!!100%!!!!!!!!! Certification is, surprise, practically free in the country with the largest gem cutting industry in the world, but will cost anyone in the US $200. The worst was in putting oneself in this role, people who ordinarily would never wonder if their neighbor was trying to make a fast buck off them thought it was sad you had no higher interests or purpose and could not possibly make real money doing that while I earnestly thought it could be a service with social value. At some point one asks oneself, should I not accept $50 for this and move on? Give up? Or is it not like me to give up at the first time it's not sheer effortless joy? My solution to all this was to spend hours doing all the things that make sense and ebay loves, pictures with all the angles, free returns, free shipping, 24 hour turn arounds, offering discounts and making offers all saying this is the way to get a sale, that's the point. There are things that are on ebay for years, they will never sell, or not at that price. You think you are doing something wrong, and so does everyone else. Great. You can be the closet of the world in 24 hours or get a bad rating and no one says it is musty, because you just went out and got emergency dry cleaning. Then I went the extra mile and described the entire market and provided substantial evidence that my listing, although twice as much, was 30% less than the cost directly from the mine.I was pleased to have been favorited until I realized it was as a reference for knowing how to pick things they actually bought. Regardless of whether someone accepted there was no possibility that anyone in Sri Lanka saw a living wage from mining, cutting, and shipping a gemstone to the US at that price, people still offered half. I can work myself up to a fury in a day over some things. Naturally some things are delusionally priced, and some things are in fact way cheaper than anywhere else because people go to ebay for cheap, not to pay extra for awesome service that a store wouldn't do, nobody walks into a store or goes to a yard sale and just automatically assumes to offer less as a standard way it works regardless of price or what it is, do they? Or would have the gaul to suggest cheaper things sell faster like that's not obvious, but not necessarily the point and of great interest to boast about and promote as a sales platform that sees profit from sales. Their ideal situation is having things bought and sold on ebay multiple times, each time the profit increasing with better and better sellers, consumer confidence building. Perhaps not ideal. Ideal is if no one ships anything. Someone might customize the listing and sell what they bought while removing the history and keeping it private, but when you see the site of the customer you just sent something to, you will feel like a tool. They will never say Provenance, from my neighbor's yard sale. Can you believe I got it for 5 bucks and can sell it here for $50?! It's not worse than your friend suddenly turned Lady of the Manor, who mentions her silverware is missing a spoon--perhaps you'd like to sell it and take a small commission? It's unkind to say that. It's just not as easy to sell a silverware set missing a spoon on the internet as it sounds and sensible people are intimidated by that. You mean...it transforms me into a knowledgeable and helpful logistics specialist? All this would be torpedoed in horror the moment you saw someone throw out or give away something truly unique and priceless, and they think you're insulting and patronizing them as they explain to you gently everyone knows it's worth nothing, you've got to stop hoarding and thinking it's all a priceless treasure. Thank goodness I have on at least three occasions thought I would, but why bother to sell it at that price, isn't it just fun to have in your closet for a costume party? I have said oh well what does it matter to $300 for a diamond and 3 carat orange sapphire and sold it, but kept the silly glass ring I bought with my daughter when she was a child, that is a 4 carat Padparadscha despite even an appraiser not even considering the possibility. Priceless treasures do happen, but by the time they are identified, they are not sellable on ebay. There is something of the mutual cat and mouse game of both seller and buyer thinking it's best not to say what you think it may be worth, but the buyer thinks nothing of it, because it's the seller's loss not to even know what they are selling. The seller is not to be trusted, particularly if they think it had that kind of value--why are you selling it on ebay for $10,000, is it the notoriety of listing an unusual slice of toast harmless?
I'm over feeling frustrated, sad, or angry but I'll just note that I was that many times, people sent me five times what I bought and said earnestly they were hoping to earn a little money and could I please give them a nice review and constructive feedback (don't use the ugliest packing material in the world that is bright orange or screams Bulk Gift Box for a sentimental charm bracelet, send it like you'd send it to anyone you like) no, I said nothing), people offered me half like it's super savvy to do that when an actual collector would pay much more (quote from dealer offering me half), every dealer I know uses ebay as a lowest common denominator and takes the sale price less 30-50% "ebay costs," forums using other sites regularly discuss buying and selling with prices that would make an ebay seller of those things choke to hear, and I ended up ending the listing for everything that I could sell at those other sites, typically, something like the tourmaline ring, no sale, no interest at $400 without $200 GIA report, sale in one day for $1495 on TheRealReal that didn't even want my GIA report on something else because it makes them look like that's necessary. On the other hand. You will get scrap metal value for many things, and more on ebay because although no one is scrapping it, someone will pay $45 for an antique silver pin because they love it, and a dealer will only pay $25 if they are in love with you, because the Prime Directive is never get stuck. A lovely person at Range Rover told me I am sorry but I cannot offer you as much as your car is worth because we are not allowed to hold inventory past 90 days and it is too risky that we may not be able to repair some cosmetic flaws in that time. It suggests time really is money, and on ebay if the turn around time is more than 30 days it is a no-go from a business perspective, but consumers expect the same price regardless of whether they are buying and selling and by making both simple without transparency gloss over they have created a way to make a profit without the cost of labor or goods sold or investment, even if you must by necessity sell a car for a dollar, it doesn't beat money for nothing which is the explanation why someone should be paid collectively by all consumers by noting what sells and having an AI generate a listing for it but it all depends on you, if you're willing to put in the hours it takes to get the top 100 sellers on ebay to people who if they are anything like me, would buy all that stuff on Amazon, I'd buy something like the Timex I'm unable to function without on ebay, because that's a person who may have one and the best solution to having one you don't need or want that I've ever heard, sell it to someone who needs and wants it. It was clear to me that one would tank on ebay unless one had a large inventory, easily replenished, in a standard box with standard shipping and obviously new and probably never seen by humans before 100 of them were sold on ebay. Then it was clear to me that I decide what it is, and if no one wants my Timex, I'm overthinking it. Obviously you don't need a store and a priority ad campaign and can charge shipping without something thinking you're delusional if you go with a nearly identical listing and similar price. Since I can't sell my lapis lazuli duck, I'm thinking not that many people search for that or know they want it, but there is someone who will buy it if they think they can sell it or it is worth more, it would frustrate me if they said don't ship it--just hold it for me until I tell you where to ship it, and I'll give you five stars. I'm typically shocked how low I'll go that still isn't low enough, one could address things like slightly changing the listing which moves it from Siberia to where people might see it, but when you get to less money and more time than anywhere else, that's worthless. Technically you could be over the moon if they took 80% and it was worth ten times more if it was the amount that was needed in a tight spot.
That was quite a rant, wasn't it? Because I am aware of how selling on this platform works, I am thrilled it exists so I can buy a new Timex Expedition watch for less and get it shipped to my house, and just this morning I looked and it's dead as a doornail, it lasted one year, must have been sitting somewhere for over 10 years to drain a Timex Expedition. You can come back to it ten years from now if you take a break, your stuff will be more valuable and the top sellers today will be in landfill. I'm not crushed, I'll just get another one. If others are reading this who are having doubts, I hope this is valuable advice that saves them frustration. What you are selling has more impact than how you are doing it. I asked ChatGPT once how much to list an antique necklace for, the AI said $1700 was reasonable on ebay, and the same thing would go for $11,000 at Christie's and $400 on Heritage. Christie's is the most because everyone knows it's real and what it is, no surprises/risks. It's the least on Heritage because they will go out of their way not to say it's anything, so no one could return anything saying it is not as described, which is something like A Unidentified Piece of Broken Jewelry, Could Use a Cleaning. It's $1700 on ebay but I doubt someone would pay that much because they'd be nervous they couldn't sell it. Ebay is for resellers to buy from other resellers, or take a risk of getting stuck, regardless of whether like me I'd routinely lose money like the time I listed 36 sapphires for $60 wondering if that was too high compared to the comps (flash purchased by European), that was my only sale and after the store fee, only a little loss. It's probably not possible to sell them on ebay without actually losing money in total, or, everyone watching and waiting for you to freak out and crack. I think, quite seriously, I might write to a Thailand ebay seller and say I will ship you all my inventory, if you will get the certification and have everything in place to do this quickly and easily, and I trust you completely to send me half less all fees whenever. I suspect if I had done this first or if at any point they praise all the saints accept, I would have made a nice profit without the growth opportunity as a person. If there's some analogue to one's situation of not actually wanting to be growing as a vendor, considering costs per click and can outsource the outsourcing, yes, net gain, otherwise, no. At any point if you are not able to see the humor in it, immediately put it on vacation mode. It will only get worse if you do not appreciate someone demanding to know WHERE IS THE BAGGIE? when you politely write to someone that unfortunately one earring did not make it into the package, is there any chance it's accidentally still there? Which was the only plausible explanation I could think of, and the person demanded the return of the single earring before issuing a refund, but not before yelling in all caps and me yelling back, WHAT BAGGIE? as all semblance of this as a possible way to buy or sell to anyone who was not a depraved drug addict was stripped away. That's a seller whose only plausible explanation is that there is someone who would suggest they did not receive something in order to not pay for them both, who will not get away with it this time. $15 earrings. That didn't match the seller who blocked me from all her auctions when I asked if the most expensive item was returnable if the entire necklace, not just the clasp, was not gold because I wasn't sure I understood why the price was so low if it was all gold. She wrote back that I did not understand how ebay works (so?) and she was not interested in returns. I suppose because people return things for nothing and find an excuse to do that just to potentially cause you major financial stress when they change their minds because they didn't read the listing, didn't you clearly understand that a 40" necklace is solid gold because the clasp tests as gold and yes, you'd start that auction at a dollar so people will go nuts bidding in $1 increments and that's how ebay works, there's no possibility you know you don't know what that means and you're going to ask just so you don't confuse everyone why you're bidding a clasp up to thousands of dollars because I'm suggesting she's so low, she's relying on people being confused but that's ok because they themselves are low down dirty dogs to try to take advantage of a seller who doesn't realize the whole thing may be gold even if they ask if they are confused about what a listing includes because it says no returns accepted so I'm not going to return it if she tells me the necklace tested as gold, and here's what sinks me every time, I'm actually offering to test it for her after buying it. It's possible she doesn't know if it is or isn't and is not actually trying to mislead anyone who has access to expensive testing equipment she clearly does not. The buyer is supposed to be the clueless one, not the seller. But it's often the reverse on ebay, because buyers are sellers. She blocked me as a buyer, but I didn't realize it, I was just confused why I couldn't seem to pay for the more than half her auctions where I was the high bidder. Did she know that and block me anyway? I wanted to tell her but she'd probably try to ban me from ebay at that point. I was prepared to take out loans and fund her if she really had that much gold to sell and was willing to rely on ebay bids for a fair price, given my experience. There was a time when you could just watch Youtube videos to see the levels at which someone said this is easy, you can set the auction start price at a dollar and there's no question you will see full value. Never do this 🙂 This was an expert selling specialty rifles where the only people who bid or bought them knew what they were and what they were worth down to a penny. There is nothing like it except certified gold coins. Last point: it's not nefarious, but check your assumptions. Typically you can even see dealers looking up previous sales on ebay and using those as comps. Those are not the same for everyone. I probably shouldn't say this because I'm going to use it to take over the US auto market, but the sold listings you see vary based on an algorithm that someone will assume is the best price or the actual value of all the sales, because, AI, when that could be one supreme idiot sold something for $200 and tanked the resale value of one of the finest Native American silversmiths who ever lived and that's the only one you see with a $6000 sale practically the same day that you don't see, and that's how your $6000 piece goes to $200 before you receive it.
Regards,
