Is Ebay Worth the Effort These Days?

soolin

Strangely enough one of the large antique groups I am a member of has had a long discussion going for the past 2 weeks or so asking where all the buyers have gone . The difference is though that they are talking about antique fairs and visitors to the large antique warehouses that house large numbers of individual dealers. At least 2 larger dealers are discussing giving up entirely and offering barn loads of stock for sale, whilst other smaller dealers are looking to downsize their presence in the warehouses or are planning to halve the number of fairs they pay to attend.

Ive been to an auction this week, one where a few years back I would struggle to get my purchases into my large family car. This week I filled less than 2 jute bags with my goods.

One suggestion someone did have on my collectors group was whether the modern fad for minimalism, only keep what you need, throw everything away, means we literally are just buying what we need now and not cluttering our houses with impulse purchases?

On a different subject, things like DVDs, CDs and books which used to be good sellers and certainly made things look busy have now almost come to a halt. Who buys music or DVDs much anymore? I'm no youngster but if I want to see a film I download it on SKY or Netflix , likewise music is bought as a download and 99% of my reading matter is on the kindle.

forgotmyname

The ebay search system doesnt help. I am after a fairly expensive piece of machinery, I search and a few appear. Sometimes i get the extra items at the bottom. But why are they not in my search results?

Appears if i search on my phone there are 580 results but only 559 on my PC?
Change the minimum price and its 219 on the phone and 218 on the PC.

Items are not matching. The phone and PC's search results are different???

2 machines thate are on my phones search are not on my PC's search? Exactly the same search criteria.

Edit: and more.. 2 machines currently around £600 not on my PC search and a £1200 machine not showing also.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

Ive been to an auction this week, one where a few years back I would struggle to get my purchases into my large family car. This week I filled less than 2 jute bags with my goods.

It's surprisingly cyclical in the auction business. I doubt anyone has ever done a study of the smaller auction houses but I'd bet they follow a pattern. A recession throws up a lot of redundancy pay and a host of people who want to sell stuff and more who want to buy to earn on it. When it starts picking up again people hold on to stuff and those unemployed accountants who thought they could make a million selling tat go back to being accountants.

It happened before Ebay existed and it will probably happen long after they're gone. On the outsides there will always be remarkably unsuccessful traders and freaks who make a million overnight!

soolin

forgotmyname wrote: »

The ebay search system doesnt help. I am after a fairly expensive piece of machinery, I search and a few appear. Sometimes i get the extra items at the bottom. But why are they not in my search results?

Appears if i search on my phone there are 580 results but only 559 on my PC?
Change the minimum price and its 219 on the phone and 218 on the PC.

Items are not matching. The phone and PC's search results are different???

2 machines thate are on my phones search are not on my PC's search? Exactly the same search criteria.

Edit: and more.. 2 machines currently around £600 not on my PC search and a £1200 machine not showing also.

Ah yes the very strange search matrix that doesn't always give you what you are searching for and gives you other things instead. I've posted about this before and couldn't make people understand what I meant as I got the suggestion that I needed to learn how to search properly!

It is still happening though, 1 PC and 1 ipad , same search at same time and show different results and where on occasions what I am searching for is ignored and other things are suggested instead.

onesixfive

I usually reckon a quarter to a third of takings goes in fees, and postage.
plus always keep proof of postage, (especially with expensive items) because eBay ALWAYS falls on the side of the buyer in "lost in post items".
Larger/expensive items sell better (due to fees) on Gumtree & buyer collects.
Likewise it pays to "job lot" when selling items to save on postage.

theonlywayisup

sng165 wrote: »

I usually reckon a quarter to a third of takings goes in fees, and postage.
plus always keep proof of postage, (especially with expensive items) because eBay ALWAYS falls on the side of the buyer in "lost in post items".
Larger/expensive items sell better (due to fees) on Gumtree & buyer collects.
Likewise it pays to "job lot" when selling items to save on postage.

You need to check your maths.

Always keep POP is a good point, but if it's an 'expensive' item then I suggest you use the appropriate method of posting. Ebay will NOT accept POP for 'lost in the post'.

prowla

I've given up selling things as it's not worth the effort; I lose on the P&P, which itself can be more than the sale price of the item.
I do still buy though.

hubb

Absolutely not. It's dead for me. Stone dead. I used to sell so much stuff I could hardly keep up but now I sell zero, even with a 100% shining profile. I sell a lot of variable stuff over time but it seems some, even bad sellers with terrible feedback are reaping the rewards. It's a mystery so all the best with it .

jon81uk

theonlywayisup wrote: »

You need to check your maths.

Always keep POP is a good point, but if it's an 'expensive' item then I suggest you use the appropriate method of posting. Ebay will NOT accept POP for 'lost in the post'.

But Royal Mail will. So as long as the item is worth less than £20 you can claim the cost back from Royal Mail even if eBay goes in buyers favour. Of course if it is worth more than £20 you need tracked postage!

sequence

I am a long time business seller on ebay, I feel it has got easier than it was 5 years ago. A lot of the amateur sellers have dissapeared in my category, so there is less competition. The rules for sellers now are more lax than ever, I don't know why people keep saying there are more rules to contend with.