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Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?

 Anyone else selling more and making more money with face book and Creigs List since the new Ebay policies started?

 

 

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Re: Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?

I actually know people who are quite successful on FB.  I used to sell on FB successfully (out of items to sell there).  But it's no more than yet another option.


“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” - Henry Kissinger

"Do not obey in advance." Timothy Snyder "On Tyranny"
Message 46 of 54
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Re: Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?

What policies are talking about. Ebay is constantly changing things? No changes for me I sell stuff every day and I get money deposited in my checking account every business day.

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Re: Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?


@from_me_2_you wrote:

I took a look at FB and there was some mention 5% + $.40 (waived until June 30th)  Not sure if this for business or all listers.

Also for coins, look at coinbook, and etsy also seems to have lower FVF rates. Some of etsy listings (IMHO) were "JOKE" listings, as hundreds of $$$$ for items that had little or no value and were subject to "offer"

I rarely buy, but have a fairly large inventory of consigned items and more usually waiting to get to me, some expensive others should have stayed on the garage sale table. Pushing past 80 (years) I get the same old downsizing plight by my peers with instructions to donate, re-cycle, or throw away unsold items.

 


It's 5% or 40c minimum fee. Also includes shipping and sales tax. Facebook does offer no fees as well as free shipping on certain categories on occasion. Probably both ways to get more people to sell on there. I am sure at some point the fees will go up (similar to what OfferUp did in the beginning). This is for shipped items though. Local pickup is free for now at least. Plus, even if Facebook sticks with breaking even (possibly even losing money on their marketplace), they can afford it if only because they have the ability to use or sell your data based on peoples shopping habits.

 

Myself, I like to use it for stuff I don't want to list here for whatever reason (too big box up usually) or have multiples of.

 

Etsy is a different issue. It's mostly niche. And while the fees are low for now, you have to contend with if you sell too much your fees will double and stay that way forever. The listing fee is another consideration. Not a lot of money, but it plays a part if you sell stuff where people might want to buy multiples of. If or when the wife gets to where she gets anywhere close to 5 figures in sales in a year. I'll probably make a website for her and we'll have to seriously consider if it's worth continuing to sell on Etsy. She does sell a few things here, but most of her stuff is made to order. And I always think someone will back out because they missed the part of the description on possibly having to wait up to a month before the item will even get mailed out.

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Re: Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?


@theteamsetguy wrote:

What policies are talking about. Ebay is constantly changing things? No changes for me I sell stuff every day and I get money deposited in my checking account every business day.


Yeah, all that daaaaaaaaang money they keep dumping into my checking account every week like clockwork.  How DARE they!


“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” - Henry Kissinger

"Do not obey in advance." Timothy Snyder "On Tyranny"
Message 49 of 54
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Re: Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?

I sell a lot of under $100 stuff local or very popular higher priced stuff, as of this year I've been shipping quite a bit through marketplace. Laptops and phones sell like crazy and 5% fee kicks the crap out of eBay free, I've moved more and more of my business there.  Oh and no returns is AMAZING compared to forced returns for any make believe reason here....

  I usually try to sell most stuff local for cheap before I list here, for example a 4k monitor that sells here for $350 I list local for 275.  Makes for an unbeatable deal and many jump on it...

 

 

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Re: Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?

LOL

 

Seriously, though. I do that at my condo in Palm Springs.

Message 51 of 54
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Re: Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?

     I sell across multiple platforms including a couple of local ones and of course there is not the buyer base eBay has but like  jahood1984 mentioned I can list items considerably cheaper because of lower fees and in a lot of cases the buyer is close enough that there is no shipping involved just local pickup which is generally done at a neutral. Because of shipping costs, especially the new surcharges, there are a lot of things that I won't even list on eBay. 

     It has also been somewhat of a evolutional shift as FBM, and other local forums, became more and more established people started searching those forums for items prior to even checking eBay simply because the price was often cheaper, there was no shipping involved and they could actually look at and inspect the item before they took possession. Payment can be handled through PayPal, Venmo and cash at the time of the exchange. While my profit margin is about the same on the local forums since I list at lower prices the amount of merchandise I move through those local forums, as well as other ecommerce sites has shifted most of my sales to those platforms although I continue to list across multiple platforms at the same time. Only about 20% of my sales are on eBay these days a huge shift from the 90-95% that is used to be several years ago. 

Message 52 of 54
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Re: Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?

"Why list on eBay when Facebook is free" is easily answered by "Not everything suits Facebook, or eBay."

 

Never mind that Facebook's CEO is an auton.


“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” - Henry Kissinger

"Do not obey in advance." Timothy Snyder "On Tyranny"
Message 53 of 54
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Re: Why use Ebay when facebook is Free >?


@nocoolnamejane wrote:

bra access card (open doors with a chest bump!) 


OMG.  Okay first if you're a spit-taker like me, better swallow any liquids before you read this.  

I was dead tired last night when doing catch-up reading on this thread, in fact in the wee hours I woke up from a nightmare, finding myself still sitting in my recliner, woke my computer up and found an open page of a Community post (not this one, but another I was reading after this one).  So anyway, what was the nightmare?  --I had invented a device that strapped onto the chest and could stimulate lactation for any woman, even without a recent pregnancy and also collect the milk, and from there on, continued use would just keep it going infinitely, as happens with real lactation whether it be human, cow, whatever.  Now I don't know if you've ever breastfed or even been pregnant, but if not I'll tell you, 'the girls' get HUGE, like at least one cup size bigger, maybe more.  So in this dream, I figured I was going to get rich from this device, because women would buy it for bust enhancement! 

I was talking about it with my Mom (who is long deceased in real life) and she was like, "Why would a woman do this every day just to have bigger boobs?"  And I replied  (paraphrasing) "Why would a woman pay crazy money, go through lots of pain, risk permanent bad results or even death, for surgery to get bigger boobs?  I'm going to sell these machines for like a thousand bucks or something, way cheaper than surgery, and totally safe, reversible results!"  (I had a point, did I not?).   

We had that conversation while the machine was still in the "idea" phase, but then I created it immediately through the magic of dreaming.  I tested it on myself and the problem I ran into was, what to do with the milk?  That got me thinking, women who bought this device might even be able to sell their milk for babies (I've heard of that but never did any research, ha).  But here I had this milk that I just produced, and true to dream form it was an insane amount; I had drained it into a gallon-sized Ziploc and it was almost full.  I didn't want to waste it but didn't feel right about trying to sell it, so ..... I sh you not ..... I make a FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE ad, offering it for free!  Right away I got a response from a lady who was so excited, said she needed it for her baby, so we agreed to meet somewhere (vague dream location).  When I got there, it was actually a DUDE, and I immediately realized he had some pervy breastmilk kink, but it was worse than that, like he was going to kill me to keep his secret hidden.  So I just took off running, or tried to, but I bet you know how THAT went (semi-paralyzed legs, like trying to run through wet cement).  And that's when I snapped awake in my recliner. 

Scoot back in time a bit, to when I read this reply of yours about bra storage.  When I read it, I really struggled to understand what you meant about this ^ part.  I thought you might be using "access card" and "open doors" in the metaphorical sense, like getting all kinds of things you want, with the advantage of either: larger boobs (sex appeal), or, being a breastfeeding mom (empathy appeal, like how some parking lots have 'New And Expecting Mothers' spaces close to the door like handicapped ones).  And I thought to myself, about you, 'Okay, kinda T.M.I. but way to work the system I guess.  You go girl!'  LOL.  

And why did I think allllll that, and why did I have that nightmare?  Have you guessed yet?  --Because when I read your words, my tiredass eyes read 'chest pump', not 'chest bump.'    And I'm so glad I came back and reread, because now I totally get what you actually meant, I'm picturing you chest BUMPing the scanner at your door, kinda funny but not T.M.I.  weird, and definitely 'You go girl!'  

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