Why sell on eBay

[sailorangel59]

I know this seems like a weird question, and I am about to age myself.  But with all the discussions, scams and issues with buyers, why sell on eBay?  It never seemed to be this complicated the last time I sold on eBay over a decade ago, or even bought anything on eBay.  Now I'm here trying to sell a bunch of stuff to save money and make room for another baby, and I'm starting to wonder would it just been easier to try and sell this on another platform, granted I may just run into the same issues.  

I still have more items to sort through and list, so I'm not done with listing items.

I know I am reading the issues only, because why post positive stories on a message board, but reading this makes me wonder if all buyers are A***oles, and eBay has just plummeted in value.

[whiteyswrecking]

Don't sell anything you can not afford to lose, you have NO protection !!!!!!  

[whattheactualfox]

When I started investing I was always told, "Put in as much as you're willing to loose." That applies to eBay here when you sell. I have started selling recently and I can tell you its not too bad. The only downside is that there will be a few bad apples, but that shouldn't be something to scare people away from selling.

And yes there are people who like to manipulate the system and things have changed, and some things I don't like (new layout, managed payments, etc..) and I've seen my fair share of cases where ebay favors the buyer. Personally, if this is just for raising or getting money, and not full time, then I don't see an issue selling here. Just my 2 cents

[bearswatching]

Because tens of thousands of sales with no issues occur every day on eBay. Those that have problems are an infinitesimal portion of that. Rarely does a buyer come to the boards to announce a perfect transaction...as most are. I’ve bought and sold on eBay for 23 years. Never had a transaction have issues. I’m willing to bet that’s true for 99.9 % of sellers.

[Anonymous]

ebay has the widest audience. Unless you want it to sit forever, ebay is the place.

Figure that for every scam mentioned, there are probably A) many others that have gone un reported and B) many many many more  SUCCESSFUL transactions as @bearswatching alluded to. I've also had very few, if any, issues in approximately the same time period.

People don't research enough and protect themselves against these things. Your best protection is knowledge, not being reactive AFTER something happens.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@sailorangel59. Well 1st of all, congrats on the upcoming arrival of the little one ( just got a new fresh baby myself yesterday via son's)

     Your going to read horror stories here and some of them will stop you dead in your tracks. But look how many sales often "sail" by with no problems.

    I have never had a bad sale or purchase ever, oh maybe a few issues but I kept the communication lines open and it got solved.

     I find that most of these bad issues with sellers are they are new, listing high scam items, not reading eBay's rules, not listing correctly and just plain jumping on board selling

a big fat IPhone for a thousand dollars! Yikes!

     This is hard work, you must remain professional at all times, you must pkg/ ship your items like their going to grandma! I wish you all the best!

[katzrul15]

We have two in college - we have sold on e-Bay to pay for private daycare, braces, sports equipment, tennis lessons, gymnastic, travel ball teams............

What others have said is true - you only remember the carpy dooooche-canoes, but so many sales are uneventful.  

You reap really what you are willing to put into it.  I work FT and try to do this daily as well and some days, "this" is just not something I can do much with, so no listing gets done, maybe only time to get packages out the door.  Other days, can devote a lot of time to it.  There is no PT gig that would let me do it this way, so it still remains attractive to me.

Yes, many things can go wrong.  And some of those really are out of your control - if you prioritize Customer Service and treat your buyers how you would like to be treated, things usually go pretty well.  Congrats on the new little one!

[dhbookds]

If you are asking me why I sell here........because I make money......that's the bottom line. I've been able to cope with stuff over 14 years and trust that I will be able to do so in the future......  Certainly, it's more complicated....everything in life is....at least to me.....

[glasser]

The vast, vast, vast majority of transactions are 100% fine.  In the last year I think I had one non-paying bidder. No big deal just resold the item. I think I have had two returns and both my fault for not seeing some damage.

If you are running a business, and even selling a few items here and there qualifies for that designation, there will be an occasional bump in the road. Not a sink hole a bump. Just keep on powering through.

I sell here because it works. People buy my things and pay me.

[slippinjimmy]

Some things just attract problems.

Those things can be the product and customers and it can also be the sellers themselves.

Some people post here frequently about what seems like endless issues, there are those selling high value items that attract scams, there are those selling real garbage who get a lot of disappointed buyers and then there are some who are just totally lacking people skills.

Personally, 22 years on eBay over 50,000 transactions and I can count on one hand the number of buyers who have tried to rip me off. That doesn't mean I haven't had other issues but my own mistakes and delivery issues are not something that are in any way the fault of my buyers or eBay.

Specifically

Q - "why sell on eBay?"

A - Because it's easy money if you know what you are doing (but you still have to do the work)

[divwido]

Keep in mind, not everyone is complaining.

I am shipping about 15-20 items a week, have no complaints about managed listings and don't come on here (generally) screaming about eBay.  I've had some issues, but I am here to sell period.

[veronicabooksandart]

I'm thinking Shopify / Google Merchant Center
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Google Search Network channel ads though.

[doug_5857]

I have been here only 3 years. I have no where near the troubles/problems selling either.  Granted 95% of my sales are under $20.00.  99% of my buyers are Great. Very few returns and minimal lost orders by the famous USPS. It is not as hard to understand if you have the mind frame to learn new things.  I have sold 1225 (approx) items so far with 873 FB. and a .20% defect rate. and 100% positive FB. As to the old original rule of thumb for me is  " The customer is always right."  Even when I know he /she is 300% wrong.   I just offer the Buyer  free returns, quick refunds after item is received back because I want my item returned. Even if its a .99 cent Penny and costs me $3.49 to return it. Its the way I do business.  When all is said, done and refunded. I Block Bidder and move on.  Always Remember,  If I can afford to sell a big ticket item here them I can afford to give it away as well.  I like the pocket change I get from here.  Well Worth My Time!!!

[luckythewinner]

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@sailorangel59 wrote:

I know this seems like a weird question, and I am about to age myself.  But with all the discussions, scams and issues with buyers, why sell on eBay? 

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I sell on eBay because I do not get scammers and do not have issues with buyers.

[iart]

I'll bet about 90% of the problems are in a few categories. (clothing = returns... phones, jewelry, electronics = scams).

We usually sell vintage items like books, posters and toys. We have very little problems with scams or returns.