Going off of ebay

givememoney

It might be me and the stuff I am trying to sell, but I am not as successful with ebay as when I started.

Joined about 3 years ago I think and everything sold, but know I am lucky to even get a bid.

I am not selling for business only selling stuff I want to get rid of.

Is it because everyone knows about them now and there is so much choice....too much choice.

Good for buyers of course.

pin

I think what has happened to ebay is businesses have come in, meaning its actually hard to find a private seller.

Joolzr68

I actually agree the market has been flooded by big business and countries in

the far east selling cheap goods new, selling is becoming tougher. why would

you buy something used when you can get it for the same or a lower price

new!

The market is still good for collectables however!

bugly_2

ebay has lost the plot, no controls over security that have any meaning, huge amount of pirates copies cheap imports etc. The neg feedback / private scams, it is a shame -people i know have stopped buying and many are stopping selling due to fraud, many kids i know through work have been cheated and won't go near it. Ebay is doing little to address this and even seem to be encoraging it. The turn over is high, the profits are good it's easy to ignore the growing concerns of genuine traders and sellers. I tried to get ebay to stop selling stolen school equipment but no use but they soon threw me out when i tried to sell an adult toy!
Check the community threads out and see the disgust from shops and individuals at e bay policy, but there is no competition or regulation body. So just have to wait for the next sales trend.
but i tell you what, i wish i had of thought of ebay first!!!!!

homealone_2

givememoney wrote:

It might be me and the stuff I am trying to sell, but I am not as successful with ebay as when I started.

Joined about 3 years ago I think and everything sold, but know I am lucky to even get a bid.

I am not selling for business only selling stuff I want to get rid of.

Is it because everyone knows about them now and there is so much choice....too much choice.

Good for buyers of course.

feel the exact same! initially was able to get rid of excess clothes for a couple of pound profit. recently have found myself selling at a los. so gave up bothering about 3 months ago. so have 2 wardrobes full of 99% new clothes still with labels that i refuse to sell at a loss. definitely more available out there these days and as previously stated alot of dealers involved these day

Fidget

I was hoping ebay was going to be a back up for me after having lost my job as I've alway done pretty well on there before.

I've made less than £200 in 4 months and now I'm lucky to get a bid.

Sold some chunky solid gold earrings that cost hundred + for opening bid to only watcher at £20 a couple of weeks ago. I have 9 items on now and I seem to be getting only 1 watcher who disappears after a while on the odd thing. I deffo think I'm starting to make a loss.

Funny how when I want to buy something off there it invariably rockets at the last minute and goes for a price a fair bit higher than you can buy new from an established shop. S'not fair

Dack

You also get the bid sniping softwares/services annoying new Ebayers.

I used to sell a reasonable amount on there but can't be bothered these days due to:

1. Scam merchants (and the associated complete lack of protection Ebay/Paypal gives you)

2. Commercial sellers with disproportionate postage fees

3. The complete non-interest from Ebay when you report infringing auctions

4. Tit for Tat negative feedback - and the converse, people so scared to leave negative in case they get one meaning scammers are allowed to thrive.

5. The extortionate fees (especially with the Paypal costs and Ebays attempts at forcing you to use it)

Ebay has had it's day and no amount of television adverts telling buyers how cheap it is to get things on there (which also informs sellers that they are not going to make much profit) is going to make a difference.

greeneye

Dack wrote:

4. Tit for Tat negative feedback - and the converse, people so scared to leave negative in case they get one meaning scammers are allowed to thrive.

This is one of the main problems with ebay and it's supposedly unique community selling ideology. If they had just thought about it they should have forced all ebayers into having 2 accounts one purely for buying and one purely for selling and this problem wouldn't exist.

victory

Ebay is harder I agree, I joined nearly 3 years ago and sold it all, not a professional just bit and pieces in the house etc and they seemed to always sell now so much of it comes off unsold I wonder what is the point?! There are so much of the same that the buyer has such a choice they do not have to be loyal, they look at the postage costs(I do too) and buy from the cheapest, if they loose out on a bid they know that they are 50 more they can bid on xxx

charliegirl_3

I have only started selling in the last few months, and while I agree its not always easy to get everything sold I think that surely its better to try to get rid of stuff even for a small amount than have it piled high taking up space as unusable clutter.

I have sold many items at less than I had hoped for, but to balance the scales have had a few good surprises when items go for more than I had expected. I have taken lots of tips from this site (thanks to all those who are kind enough to share their vast knowledge), and have for instance bought a certain type of book for 50p at a stall - this sold for £8.00, and have had other lucky sales where new branded clothes donated to me by a family friend have sold at almost their proper retail price.

My belief is to take the rough with the smooth - if I sell things then even after ebay/paypal fees it is still extra money which so far has enabled me to buy quite a lot of things for my family that I wouldn't have done so otherwise.

I list things for a week, then try a bit cheaper for another week and if still unsold they go off to Cancer Research or Save the Children so nothing gets thrown out.

Good luck to all sellers for the forthcoming Xmas season and beyond! x x

mah_jong

I am mainly a buyer but have sold a few things.....I have never bought in order to sell.

I agree with the poster who mentioned collectables.....at the moment I have a couple of things up for sale that I got through a promotion 10 years a go and paid nothing for.... am surprised at the bidding. Not huge, but getting tenner for clearing a space is fine by me!

Though to balance, other stuff I thought would didn't and after 2 trys its gone to the charity shop. (am decluttering!)