I can't believe how greedy ebay and paypal have become.

theorville

soolin said:

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

theoretica said:

theorville said:

 What is relevant is that they earn 10% of the value of the items sold, so if that value decreases, so must their earnings, otherwise they earn out of nothing, and that's not fair.  

Of course it is unfair - they wrote the rules. 

Being persistently unfair usually ends badly for an entity that is like that.

They are currently a very strong brand - if you read novels or even watch some modern TV programmes people don't 'auction online' they 'ebay' just like people who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

BTW, eBay's history in pictures: https://www.ebayinc.com/company/our-history/

soolin

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

theoretica said:

theorville said:

 What is relevant is that they earn 10% of the value of the items sold, so if that value decreases, so must their earnings, otherwise they earn out of nothing, and that's not fair.  

Of course it is unfair - they wrote the rules. 

Being persistently unfair usually ends badly for an entity that is like that.

They are currently a very strong brand - if you read novels or even watch some modern TV programmes people don't 'auction online' they 'ebay' just like people who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

BTW, eBay's history in pictures: https://www.ebayinc.com/company/our-history/

I am quite fascinated with the difference between actual history as opposed to the 'official' released history, I recall the whole Pez story- that still does the rounds even now. 

Ebay tried a lot of different things to gain a foothold, and I think they eventually just bought out any serious competitors. Even now each country is entirely different- in normal times I often list on ebay.com and have to remember an entirely different setr of rules- some due to US law but some purely down to ebay treating the markets differently. 

It also used to be more expensive to sell on ebay- in the height of my listing frenzy when my business really took off I was paying 35p per listing- but an extra 15p per photo and you couldn't host your own, they all had to be paid for with an extra cost for a gallery pic. I even had to pay extra for MVLs, so rather than as I do at the moment - I pay a set listing fee for a listing and can have 1000 items in that listing, in the early days you paid per item, so the cost varied depending on how many quantity you showed.

FVFs were much cheaper- but all the money was paid up front - which did deter a lot of the junk from being listed, it made you really think about what to list and what to discard. 

I am quite fascinated (and always often VERY worried) about each new trick ebay tries- and wonder what algorithm or research they use, if any, to come up with their changes.

Incidentally there is an auction site that pre dates ebay UK that is still running, it's called ebid. They have a different model entirely, they make their money by selling lifetime memberships and then basically letting sellers do what they want.

jon81uk

soolin said:

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

theoretica said:

theorville said:

 What is relevant is that they earn 10% of the value of the items sold, so if that value decreases, so must their earnings, otherwise they earn out of nothing, and that's not fair.  

Of course it is unfair - they wrote the rules. 

Being persistently unfair usually ends badly for an entity that is like that.

They are currently a very strong brand - if you read novels or even watch some modern TV programmes people don't 'auction online' they 'ebay' just like people who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

ple who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

I remember QXL.com and Yahoo Auctions being big in the UK, it took a while for eBay to get going over here as you say.

soolin

jon81uk said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

theoretica said:

theorville said:

 What is relevant is that they earn 10% of the value of the items sold, so if that value decreases, so must their earnings, otherwise they earn out of nothing, and that's not fair.  

Of course it is unfair - they wrote the rules. 

Being persistently unfair usually ends badly for an entity that is like that.

They are currently a very strong brand - if you read novels or even watch some modern TV programmes people don't 'auction online' they 'ebay' just like people who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

ple who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

I remember QXL.com and Yahoo Auctions being big in the UK, it took a while for eBay to get going over here as you say.

Ah yes , I remember QXL auctions, I’m sure there are others as well that have slipped my memory. 

theorville

jon81uk said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

theoretica said:

theorville said:

 What is relevant is that they earn 10% of the value of the items sold, so if that value decreases, so must their earnings, otherwise they earn out of nothing, and that's not fair.  

Of course it is unfair - they wrote the rules. 

Being persistently unfair usually ends badly for an entity that is like that.

They are currently a very strong brand - if you read novels or even watch some modern TV programmes people don't 'auction online' they 'ebay' just like people who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

ple who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

I remember QXL.com and Yahoo Auctions being big in the UK, it took a while for eBay to get going over here as you say.

I rememeber eBay and their competition being completely free in the beginning.

soolin

theorville said:

jon81uk said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

theoretica said:

theorville said:

 What is relevant is that they earn 10% of the value of the items sold, so if that value decreases, so must their earnings, otherwise they earn out of nothing, and that's not fair.  

Of course it is unfair - they wrote the rules. 

Being persistently unfair usually ends badly for an entity that is like that.

They are currently a very strong brand - if you read novels or even watch some modern TV programmes people don't 'auction online' they 'ebay' just like people who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

ple who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

I remember QXL.com and Yahoo Auctions being big in the UK, it took a while for eBay to get going over here as you say.

I rememeber eBay and their competition being completely free in the beginning.

Many of the competitors were free to list With small FVFs, I don’t recall eBay ever being completely free of listing and FVFs, they have always been a business and not a free site. My original .com account was closed many years ago as I picked up a stalker , possibly from here, who did a bit of auction wrecking. Both eBay and myself did what we could, but in the end it was easier to just allow that account to go dormant and then close it. My current business account says it was opened in 1999 and I don’t recall whether that was originally a .com or Uk account, I think that might also have been a .com to start with. 

It’s  quite an interesting Discussion, where things will go and how online selling will evolve. I don’t see anything lasting for ever and I wonder where the next logical step is. At the moment Facebook marketplace is very profitable for me, some days it out performs eBay . However in the US it is already becoming a proper paid for selling site, with auctions possible as well as straight BINs and in some states it is more expensive than eBay. I suspect with the rise of marketplace here it will eventually become chargeable as well. 

I think there is also a gap in the market for the missing categories, collectable coins being a notable one as these will no longer be saleable on eBay once a seller switches to managed payments. They are also banned on marketplace. There are bullion and coin sites but no real high impact market presence yet. There are other similar categories that are not allowed on marketplace or eBay with managed payments, and I’m sure someone is looking into how to get that market. 

theorville

soolin said:

theorville said:

jon81uk said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

theoretica said:

theorville said:

 What is relevant is that they earn 10% of the value of the items sold, so if that value decreases, so must their earnings, otherwise they earn out of nothing, and that's not fair.  

Of course it is unfair - they wrote the rules. 

Being persistently unfair usually ends badly for an entity that is like that.

They are currently a very strong brand - if you read novels or even watch some modern TV programmes people don't 'auction online' they 'ebay' just like people who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

ple who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

I remember QXL.com and Yahoo Auctions being big in the UK, it took a while for eBay to get going over here as you say.

I rememeber eBay and their competition being completely free in the beginning.

Many of the competitors were free to list With small FVFs, I don’t recall eBay ever being completely free of listing and FVFs, they have always been a business and not a free site. My original .com account was closed many years ago as I picked up a stalker , possibly from here, who did a bit of auction wrecking. Both eBay and myself did what we could, but in the end it was easier to just allow that account to go dormant and then close it. My current business account says it was opened in 1999 and I don’t recall whether that was originally a .com or Uk account, I think that might also have been a .com to start with. 

It’s  quite an interesting Discussion, where things will go and how online selling will evolve. I don’t see anything lasting for ever and I wonder where the next logical step is. At the moment Facebook marketplace is very profitable for me, some days it out performs eBay . However in the US it is already becoming a proper paid for selling site, with auctions possible as well as straight BINs and in some states it is more expensive than eBay. I suspect with the rise of marketplace here it will eventually become chargeable as well. 

I think there is also a gap in the market for the missing categories, collectable coins being a notable one as these will no longer be saleable on eBay once a seller switches to managed payments. They are also banned on marketplace. There are bullion and coin sites but no real high impact market presence yet. There are other similar categories that are not allowed on marketplace or eBay with managed payments, and I’m sure someone is looking into how to get that market. 

AFAIR ebay was free during their first year after they established their company (they had to attract customers somehow), but it was so long ago that I am not sure how long they were free (if at all - maybe I am confusing them with some of their competitors, that were free for sure).

So what are the alternatives to ebay for private sellers? Gumtree, marketplace on facebook. What else?

soolin

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

jon81uk said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

soolin said:

theorville said:

theoretica said:

theorville said:

 What is relevant is that they earn 10% of the value of the items sold, so if that value decreases, so must their earnings, otherwise they earn out of nothing, and that's not fair.  

Of course it is unfair - they wrote the rules. 

Being persistently unfair usually ends badly for an entity that is like that.

They are currently a very strong brand - if you read novels or even watch some modern TV programmes people don't 'auction online' they 'ebay' just like people who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

ple who 'hoover' their house rather than vacuum it. 

They have been strong in the UK market now for 20 years plus, buying out or wiping out most competitors , I don't think they seem to be suffering unduly yet. I go to B and M auctions (towards the lower end of the market, not million pound paintings!) and if you look around at the people browsing the stuff for sale virtually all of them are using their phones to look up ebay completed prices. If being unfair does mean it ends badly for them, then it is a long time coming.

I do however think ebay will eventually run out of steam, perhaps when all this covid19 stuff is a distant memory people will embrace going out to shop again - and ebay, like other online companies will start to decline.

They are the strong brand on this market because they had been the first dominant on-line auction site on this market. But there are countries where some other companies started their auction services before ebay, and ebay with all their money and power have not managed to undermine them. Ebay's share of the market there is negligible comparing to those other companies who were there before ebay. Being first in internet is almost everything for some large internet businesses.

If that were true then eBay UK would not have such a huge presence now as EBay Uk were late to the UK market. I was selling on other sites well before eBay UK started and in fact I first opened my eBay account on .com as they hadn’t launched in the UK and people were suggesting that when they did they were going to be huge . Freeserve auctions served me well, and were taken by eBay, there was a site called Friday auctions (not connected to something of the same name now), they just folded and also Yahoo auctions - but I don’t know what happened to them. 

Ebay have not got a foothold in the Far East at all though and sellers on eBay are desperately trying to fight off Chinese sellers who are trying to get a strangle hold on the Western market by using eBay and often by using misdirection with their location, and dodgy stock. 

I remember QXL.com and Yahoo Auctions being big in the UK, it took a while for eBay to get going over here as you say.

I rememeber eBay and their competition being completely free in the beginning.

Many of the competitors were free to list With small FVFs, I don’t recall eBay ever being completely free of listing and FVFs, they have always been a business and not a free site. My original .com account was closed many years ago as I picked up a stalker , possibly from here, who did a bit of auction wrecking. Both eBay and myself did what we could, but in the end it was easier to just allow that account to go dormant and then close it. My current business account says it was opened in 1999 and I don’t recall whether that was originally a .com or Uk account, I think that might also have been a .com to start with. 

It’s  quite an interesting Discussion, where things will go and how online selling will evolve. I don’t see anything lasting for ever and I wonder where the next logical step is. At the moment Facebook marketplace is very profitable for me, some days it out performs eBay . However in the US it is already becoming a proper paid for selling site, with auctions possible as well as straight BINs and in some states it is more expensive than eBay. I suspect with the rise of marketplace here it will eventually become chargeable as well. 

I think there is also a gap in the market for the missing categories, collectable coins being a notable one as these will no longer be saleable on eBay once a seller switches to managed payments. They are also banned on marketplace. There are bullion and coin sites but no real high impact market presence yet. There are other similar categories that are not allowed on marketplace or eBay with managed payments, and I’m sure someone is looking into how to get that market. 

AFAIR ebay was free during their first year after they established their company (they had to attract customers somehow), but it was so long ago that I am not sure how long they were free (if at all - maybe I am confusing them with some of their competitors, that were free for sure).

So what are the alternatives to ebay for private sellers? Gumtree, marketplace on facebook. What else?

I think a lot of it depends on what you want to sell really. I never found Gumtree much good, the percentage of scammers was so high I spent too long weeding them out and not enough time actually selling. There are various aps like Shpock , I did well on that for a while but they are trying to push their paid for service and I found it became barely usable on the free service- and again the time involved was not worth it. 

I currently like marketplace , I sell loads on there , the majority is posted and paid for by paypal (so I pay paypal fees) but a small percentage is collected- quite a lot  by other dealers who buy several things at once. I also sell some specialist items on facebook groups- but they are often hard to track down and find one that allows sales. 

I don't know if there is anything as general and as well known online though as ebay.

jon81uk

theorville said:

So what are the alternatives to ebay for private sellers? Gumtree, marketplace on facebook. What else?

Depop for vintage clothing.
Schpock maybe?
Or car boot sales when they are able to happen again.
Amazon does still allow private sales I think but it was faffy with high fees and weird fixed postage costs so didn't see worthwhile to me.

Unfortuantly i think eBay have put all the auction sites out of business.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Interesting video showing most popular websites:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uj1A9AguFs

eBay had more visits than Amazon up until 2008 and whilst Amazon invested in Prime, Tech, Fulfilment and Cloud (where they now make most of their money) eBay ignored the problems on it's site, cashed in their Paypal chip and squeezed seller fees for growth. 

I don't think there will be any small companies rise to the level of eBay or Amazon, Facebook has the potential but as we see a fair few threads on these boards about people falling for dodgy ads on Facebook when buying from unknown websites they'd have a lot of work to do in order to gain trust.

As for eBay being greedy, faceless corporate companies usually are. That said goodwill from eBay still exists however granting a FVF credit for part refunding a buyer for a damaged item doesn't really fall into eBay's philosophy of further a positive buying experience.