Time To Say Goodbye To eBay?

nat_85

we found individual sellers have been crippling for us, it varies depending on what stock we have at the time however!

With some we found that they are happy to make 50pence on an item they drop the prices to silly levels!

luckily I have the storage space to sit on the stock until they all sell out but it really cripples our sales!

Some times i just find the whole Ebay experience so disheartening, but like them all you get good days and bad days!

RFW

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

What are their european sites called?

http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/continent.html

http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/UK-United-Kingdom.html

Wicked_witch

I just sell privately occasionally, but have pretty much had enough too. Buyers know that all the power is in their hands now and I am sick of having to grovel to blatant chancers just so they won't hit my stars and wipe out my account- as a private seller, I can't afford more than a couple of spiteful feedbacks. The little bit of money doesn't come close to compensating for the stress.

As a buyer, postal prices are hitting me as much as they are sellers and there seem to be so many people now selling the same thing for a few pence difference that finding something I want is just a chore. Yesterday I gave up searching for a medical bracelet after 15 pages of identical, poor quality items and just went to a dedicated website- about £15 dearer but at least I know what I'm getting. I used to buy a lot of books but again postage prices add so much I might as well buy new or get it on the Kindle.

Brooker_Dave

RFW wrote: »

http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/continent.html

http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/UK-United-Kingdom.html

That's just alibaba, I'm on there and do get a few enquires as it happens.

What we need is for them to do a UK or European auction site or aliexpress style site.

alx2013

Wicked_witch wrote: »

I just sell privately occasionally, but have pretty much had enough too. Buyers know that all the power is in their hands now and I am sick of having to grovel to blatant chancers just so they won't hit my stars and wipe out my account- as a private seller, I can't afford more than a couple of spiteful feedbacks. The little bit of money doesn't come close to compensating for the stress.

As a buyer, postal prices are hitting me as much as they are sellers and there seem to be so many people now selling the same thing for a few pence difference that finding something I want is just a chore. Yesterday I gave up searching for a medical bracelet after 15 pages of identical, poor quality items and just went to a dedicated website- about £15 dearer but at least I know what I'm getting. I used to buy a lot of books but again postage prices add so much I might as well buy new or get it on the Kindle.

I am also tired of grovelling to irate unreasonable buyers - as a business seller I am trying to keep a clean slate!
Buyer: "please acknowledge my last email"
Me: "Sorry I have no record of any email, your item was posted this morning"
Buyer: "Well I cancelled the sale within 20 minutes and now I am annoyed because you could have saved yourself 2 way postage"

So I phone Ebay CS - they could not see any cancellation requests or emails either and have given me a credit to cover return postage.

So through gritted teeth I have to smile and say thank you very much here is a full refund + postage, sorry your message did not get through blah blah!

If this was a sale on my private account I would have refunded minus any postage costs!

southerndave

As if in spite, eBay has bitten back....buyer bought item that is collection only, I explained I couldn't post (items are prohibited from Royal Mail) and refunded. Now I have to wait for them to cancel the transaction so I get the FVF back and they can still leave poor feedback....GRRRR. Glad I am going, this is the stuff that drives me mad.

fred7777

Certainly time to consider other options.

I have just sold one dinghy and bought another, in the past i would have used ebay but fees as a seller would have been around £125 with ebay and paypal so I sold on www.apolloduck.co.uk who charged 10 for a 3 month advert. As a buyer the seller of the boat I bought would have been looking at similar fees which means some people are asking silly buy it now prices. I bought from a seller on gumtree who charge £0 fees.

Similarly other specialist sites are better value and amazon is much better for books (especially if it's hardback and rare).

Ebay seem oriented towards businesses selling on them so as an occasional seller of stuff i don't need anymore I'll never be a "power seller" or whatever other scheme they devise. But as a buyer I would be wary of anything over £25. Online shops have Distance selling and SoGA protection but in practice ebay doesn't.