eBay - worth the hassle?

Curv

I've got a few bits and pieces to sell and I'm naturally think of eBay as the way to do it. However, whenever I look for advice all I seem to find is horror stories of unscrupulous 'buyers' (thieves?) and a complicated system that seems to make getting your money back nigh on impossible.

Is it really as bad as it seems? Will I be better off sticking an ad in the newsagents window?

TheEffect

eBay charge way to much for selling something. If you sell something for £20, expect to get closer to £16/17 after paypal and ebay fees.

RFW

TheEffect wrote: »

eBay charge way to much for selling something. If you sell something for £20, expect to get closer to £16/17 after paypal and ebay fees.

Depends what you are selling and how you sell it as to whether its worth using. I've been selling on there for 5 years, had about 50,000 transactions and a handful of 'problems'. Money gets paid into Paypal and gets transferred into my bank account within 7 days.

It isn't 'cheap' compared to other places, but if like me you had previously sold via auction houses it is certainly cheaper than them with more customers and better results. For a way of checking if it would be useful for you, check the item you want to sell against those currently listed and also against completed sales.

The newsagents window will certainly be a cheaper option, I doubt they get over a million people a day passing by, but if you sell your goods without paying fees (I guess the newsagent still gets something!) all well and good.

There's some good guide threads on here about listing and getting started and also on Ebay.

There will be plenty of people with 'horror' stories, more so on here than other places, you will have to make your own mind up!

soolin

Surely getting something for your goods is better than getting nothing?

By all means stick an ad in a newsagents window, my local one charges 50p a week, personally I'll pay my listing fees for 50 items a month on ebay instead. However, if I had a large collection only item like a sofa or a bike then I would almost certainly try local ads first, but it really depends on what you have to sell.

Kron

I sell on ebay quite regularly. I just sell things from home that are no longer needed. I think its worth while. I usually get enough after fees etc to make it more worthwhile than a bootfair (and its warmer than standing in the cold). I don't have many problems but I think you can get more problems if you are selling mobile phones, electricals etc.

At the moment ebay is still useful to me.

Karen

Brooker_Dave

Curv wrote: »

I've got a few bits and pieces to sell and I'm naturally think of eBay as the way to do it. However, whenever I look for advice all I seem to find is horror stories of unscrupulous 'buyers' (thieves?) and a complicated system that seems to make getting your money back nigh on impossible.

Is it really as bad as it seems? Will I be better off sticking an ad in the newsagents window?

Newsagent's window:

Cheap advertising, local people ring up, come round, pay with reddies and haul away their loot.

Ebay:

Cheap advertising, someone in Canada "wins" your sofa, other stuff brought by people all over the UK, hours of wrapping things up, hours in queue in post office with sneezing grannies, paid by paypal, so perhaps in 3 weeks you may see some funds, but then again perhaps not.

What about the free ads Loot, Bargain Pages, Adtrader etc?

chezba

Yes it is worth it as people have said - millons of buyers looking for things. Yes there are scammers out there but that is one of the 'problems' with forums like these in that people highlight the negatives. No one come son here and says "today I sold this and the buyer was perfect in every way ....". Since reading this forum for advice I'm become much more cynical when selling on ebay and if someone doens't pay within 30 seconds of winning the aucton I'm already panicking about loss of fees etc :rolleyes: .

Reading this thread would make you think that every transaction always goes wrong - that isn't the case. I've been selling for approx 6years odd bits and pieces as and when I no longer ned them and have only had two or three concerns and that is in over 300 transactions.

Also - is selling via shop window ads any safer? Do you trust everyone in your town/city? Who's to say that when Mr X comes round to check out your sofa he isn't also checking out your 42" plasma, surround sound system and DVD player to see what he can get later when he comes back with a van while you are out?

Curv

chezba wrote: »

Who's to say that when Mr X comes round to check out your sofa he isn't also checking out your 42" plasma, surround sound system and DVD player to see what he can get later when he comes back with a van while you are out?

Ha ha! I'm selling stuff so I can get the 42" plasma etc...

Thanks for all your comments - they've been really helpful. The main thing I want to sell right now is a pushchair, so I'm thinking that trying local is the best bet and I'll eBay it as a last resort. I've also got a load of terry nappies with accoutrements and I don't think eBay will let me sell them on there so I'll have to try local for that anyway. Might as well put everything on one card and see if I get lucky.

Thanks again.

soolin

For baby stuff try your local NCT as well, as for nappies there is a dedicated website somewhere (can't remember at all what it is called) where nappies can be advertised.

Curv

soolin wrote: »

For baby stuff try your local NCT as well, as for nappies there is a dedicated website somewhere (can't remember at all what it is called) where nappies can be advertised.

Brilliant - thank you. Just found it and advertised them there. It's https://www.thenappysite.co.uk

philgee

Hmmm, was just thinking about putting my old TV on fleabay, but seems I can only accept paypal in consumer electronics, so perhaps not as it will be collection only!