Ebay no longer worth the time it takes

sequence

I've never understood why ebayers are such astounding cheapskates. I once had someone ask for a discount on an item that was 99p with free post! Still, you can turn it around to your favor, there are items that I buy on ebay and sell on amazon for a nice profit.

morganedge

martindow wrote: »

How do you do this? Does your business depend on shoplifting?

lol.
I've been over this before about a year ago I think?

My best friend is a marketing director for 'arcadia' who own shops like topshop and a few other clothes shops. He gets given free clothes at various functions etc.
He is loaded and doesn't want or need the gifts he is always given and so he gives them to me. I used to sell them on Ebay.

But clothes that were £100 in the shops would only get £20 on Ebay, so I realised I was much better off selling on facebook and word of mouth etc.

celestius

morganedge wrote: »

lol.
I've been over this before about a year ago I think?

My best friend is a marketing director for 'arcadia' who own shops like topshop and a few other clothes shops. He gets given free clothes at various functions etc.
He is loaded and doesn't want or need the gifts he is always given and so he gives them to me. I used to sell them on Ebay.

But clothes that were £100 in the shops would only get £20 on Ebay, so I realised I was much better off selling on facebook and word of mouth etc.

I have a similar friend who sells me all his stock samples that he gets from china for £1 and I sell them on for whatever I like. As they are mostly one-offs it takes for ever to list them, still I would be very happy with £20!

earthstorm

morganedge wrote: »

lol.
I've been over this before about a year ago I think?

My best friend is a marketing director for 'arcadia' who own shops like topshop and a few other clothes shops. He gets given free clothes at various functions etc.
He is loaded and doesn't want or need the gifts he is always given and so he gives them to me. I used to sell them on Ebay.

But clothes that were £100 in the shops would only get £20 on Ebay, so I realised I was much better off selling on facebook and word of mouth etc.

so you get the clothes FREE and think you can get full retail price on ebay and complain if you only get £20 for them. take all fees into account you will be left with approx. £18, which not bad for something that cost you £0.00

porto_bello

Though I've found eBay very useful for clearing unwanted items and have usually been very pleasantly surprised by how much an item sells for, I can't see eBay ever becoming attractive as an alternative to full-time employment.

Whenever someone talks about making a profit on eBay, I find they invariably forget to subtract eBay selling costs, Paypal fees and the original purchase price, after which they're probably somewhere not too far from breaking even.

I'm sure there are some skilled and dedicated people making a living wage from eBay, but as we saw from the 'Wheeler Dealers and Del Boys' TV programme, it's not something that most people can just turn their hand to and watch a steady profit fall into their lap!

zerog

If people wanted to spend £100, they would go to the shop. They're paying £50 for the experience and another £30 to try them on and check for defects before buying.

The clothes themselves are probably worth £20.

missgivings

I agree eBay is very time-consuming and does take a lot of effort, BUT on the whole I find it's worth doing if you're a private seller and stick to free listing weekends. Things seem to build up nicely if you do it regularly.

By avoiding the temptation to fritter I managed to save enough from eBay to pay for a much-needed new bathroom and am aiming for a new shed and a roof repair. Motivation really helps with eBay I find, don't you?

unluckymike

morganedge wrote: »

I gave up about 6 months ago. Despite getting brand new, current season clothes from shops like topshop etc for VERY cheap (as in, often free!!) It was still hard to make much money.

People want Ebay items for next to nothing.
I still have some ASOS leather jackets that are still in the ASOS store for £100 and I'd be lucky to get £10 for it on Ebay, lol. It's mad.

I have much more joy through old fashioned word of mouth selling!
I had an auction recently where I was selling a DKNY handbag. Cost at this second online is still £180.
The winning bid was £38! I obviously didn't send it, and managed to sell it to my sisters friend for £150. Much more like it.

Not to mention the crazy fees that just go up and up.
Finally, things get lost a lot, and teh royal mail hate to cough up the compensation, so you lose out there aswell.

Stick to facebook selling and teh like. You'll do much better!

Ebay is old news

And it's folk like you who contribute to the increased costs on eBay and PayPal.

You sound like a petulant seller of things.

Anyways, I'm taking my ball and going home.

porto_bello

missgivings wrote: »

I agree eBay is very time-consuming and does take a lot of effort, BUT on the whole I find it's worth doing if you're a private seller and stick to free listing weekends. Things seem to build up nicely if you do it regularly.

By avoiding the temptation to fritter I managed to save enough from eBay to pay for a much-needed new bathroom and am aiming for a new shed and a roof repair. Motivation really helps with eBay I find, don't you?

Yes, it can be very rewarding to have turned clutter into cash - particularly when the amount of cash involved is rather more than you imagined you'd receive.

chuckley

I agree. i miss the 2005 year on ebay. it was all fun and things sold for decent prices, but now it is all cheap cheap cheap!!

postage is sky high, fees are getting worse and more and more people are leaving ebay. all of my sellers list has disappeared. and they were veterans from way back.

free listings have always been a pain for me. i remember when ppl used to do blank ones and fill in later.

i sell a lot less now and more goes to those 'cash for clothes' places as its too much effort to potentially sell for 99p with all the added extras.

NO SIR!