eBay or own website ?

MrsStepford

After two low-level fraudulent transactions on my debit card, although it hasn't left my house in 17 months, ny bank advised me to use PayPal and so far, it has worked really well. I buy a few things from eBay here and there eg books and postcards and haven't had any problems.

I did a declutter during Lockdown 1.0 and have quite a lot of stuff to sell, including vintage clothes, postcards, ephemera, books and ceramics. I was thinking about using eBay until I saw all the complaints about this new managed payments system.

I really really don't want to give my bank details to eBay and I don't want the hassle of openng another bank account just for eBay sales. 

I have a proper website, hosted in the USA, by a major player. I have discovered that I can add a customised shop to the website with no extra charges, with payments being handled by PayPal. This would avoid listing fees, % of payments to eBay, giving my bank details to eBay or opening another bank account.

Is it a no brainer or does eBay have any plus points which I haven't thought of ? 

Thanks in advance.

noitsnotme

MrsStepford said:

Is it a no brainer or does eBay have any plus points which I haven't thought of ? 

The obvious advantage of eBay is traffic.  You have millions of potential buyers on eBay.  How many daily hits do you think you will get on your website without paying £hundreds/thousands on SEO?

I don’t know why everyone is so afraid of eBay having your bank details.  I’ve been selling on Amazon and Etsy for 10+ years and they’ve always had my bank details.  In fact eBay are using the same payment processor on their site as Etsy use.  And PayPal always had bank details and were originally owned by eBay anyway 🤷‍♂️

theonlywayisup

MrsStepford said:

I have a proper website, hosted in the USA, by a major player. 

Is it a no brainer or does eBay have any plus points which I haven't thought of ? 

Is your website actually 'doing anything' at the moment?  If you google one of the items that you have to sell, the first page will show Ebay and Amazon in the search results [generally].  Is your website likely to be on that first page?

martindow

Agree with the theonlywayisup. It is straightfoward setting up a site the problem is being visible  - it is no good being on page 60 of google searches.  If you are selling very niche and unusual items it is a little easier.  If the site has useful information relating to the products you sell, google could pick that up and generate some traffic and maybe sales.

However there is nothing lost putting Paypal on your site and allowing people to buy from there so give it a try.  Quite a lot of people sell in parallel  on ebay and their own site.  Some put a slip of paper in with Ebay sales with their website address to encourage repeat orders directly to hope to build traffic directly to their site.

soolin

martindow said:

Agree with the theonlywayisup. It is straightfoward setting up a site the problem is being visible  - it is no good being on page 60 of google searches.  If you are selling very niche and unusual items it is a little easier.  If the site has useful information relating to the products you sell, google could pick that up and generate some traffic and maybe sales.

However there is nothing lost putting Paypal on your site and allowing people to buy from there so give it a try.  Quite a lot of people sell in parallel  on ebay and their own site.  Some put a slip of paper in with Ebay sales with their website address to encourage repeat orders directly to hope to build traffic directly to their site.

Using ebay as a platform to sell other things by putting details of your website in your packages is a good idea and I often try and do it myself - albeit with very little success. If I want to buy something online I tend to browse ebay , Amazon and sometimes facebook marketplace- I don't recall ever having bought anything from a single owner webpage at all. Also you appear to be looking to sell as a private seller - will that even work with your own shopfront? I would be nervous that you would in fact be looking like a sole trader but would not be offering buyers all the normal protection expected of a business - would you buy from a standalone website with no business terms and conditions, no refunds, no geographic address etc (unless of course I am mistaken and you would be setting up as a business). At least on ebay you would have some anonymity as a private seller with no requirement to openly show your geographic address.

If it's just old unwanted items look at Facebook marketplace or even a small business page on facebook , you can offer cash on collection or paypal and have some control on your sales. Most weeks now I sell as much, if not more on facebook than I do on ebay. It's hard work though , I sell on sites with very strict rules and have to remember which site has which rules- answer lots of daft questions and wait for people to come and collect (or mess about with paypal payments if they want it posted) .

If you are nervous of managed payments and bank accounts how have you added your bank account to paypal? 

forgotmyname

When something arrives with a direct website link I tend to have a quick browse and think thats one to remember
in future. But 99.9999% of the time I will have forgotten and just go direct to Ebay or Amazon.

Is your website currently getting a ton of traffic with a high percentage of those willing to buy directly?  If not
then advertising your site to get that traffic could be far more expensive than using Ebay or similar.

My ebay username is short, my password stupidly short. The same with Paypal and I have never had any
security issues since opening the account over 20 years ago.

A lot of complaints are people that want the money instantly, cannot wait a few days for the money to get
into their bank accounts.

edwel1793

MrsStepford said:

After two low-level fraudulent transactions on my debit card, although it hasn't left my house in 17 months, ny bank advised me to use PayPal and so far, it has worked really well. I buy a few things from eBay here and there eg books and postcards and haven't had any problems.

I did a declutter during Lockdown 1.0 and have quite a lot of stuff to sell, including vintage clothes, postcards, ephemera, books and ceramics. I was thinking about using eBay until I saw all the complaints about this new managed payments system.

I really really don't want to give my bank details to eBay and I don't want the hassle of openng another bank account just for eBay sales. 

I have a proper website, hosted in the USA, by a major player. I have discovered that I can add a customised shop to the website with no extra charges, with payments being handled by PayPal. This would avoid listing fees, % of payments to eBay, giving my bank details to eBay or opening another bank account.

Is it a no brainer or does eBay have any plus points which I haven't thought of ? 

Thanks in advance.

I absolutely detest eBay after the recent update, I've been with them for more than a decade but now I'm bidding farewell because of their new atrocious fees. They've been overall really good though before this bloody change. They have an amazing fulfillment service because out of 1k+ transactions, I had less than 20 complaints when it comes to the product. It always got to the customer safe and sound. But from the sound of the products you plan on selling (vintage clothes, postcards, ephemera, books, and ceramics) I'm not really sure if an e-commerce store is going to do you any good, too. Since the eBay incident, I've been reading up on several guides like this one on how I'll make my own store, and like what the other peeps already mentioned, unless your items already fit the niche of your items.

Both options really depend on your situation. I personally don't like ebay anymore, but if you still want to push through and are still wary of the banking stuff, you can opt to open up a stealth paypal account, if you haven't already.

soolin

edwel1793 said:

MrsStepford said:

After two low-level fraudulent transactions on my debit card, although it hasn't left my house in 17 months, ny bank advised me to use PayPal and so far, it has worked really well. I buy a few things from eBay here and there eg books and postcards and haven't had any problems.

I did a declutter during Lockdown 1.0 and have quite a lot of stuff to sell, including vintage clothes, postcards, ephemera, books and ceramics. I was thinking about using eBay until I saw all the complaints about this new managed payments system.

I really really don't want to give my bank details to eBay and I don't want the hassle of openng another bank account just for eBay sales. 

I have a proper website, hosted in the USA, by a major player. I have discovered that I can add a customised shop to the website with no extra charges, with payments being handled by PayPal. This would avoid listing fees, % of payments to eBay, giving my bank details to eBay or opening another bank account.

Is it a no brainer or does eBay have any plus points which I haven't thought of ? 

Thanks in advance.

I absolutely detest eBay after the recent update, I've been with them for more than a decade but now I'm bidding farewell because of their new atrocious fees. They've been overall really good though before this bloody change. They have an amazing fulfillment service because out of 1k+ transactions, I had less than 20 complaints when it comes to the product. It always got to the customer safe and sound. But from the sound of the products you plan on selling (vintage clothes, postcards, ephemera, books, and ceramics) I'm not really sure if an e-commerce store is going to do you any good, too. Since the eBay incident, I've been reading up on several guides like this one on how I'll make my own store, and like what the other peeps already mentioned, unless your items already fit the niche of your items.

Both options really depend on your situation. I personally don't like ebay anymore, but if you still want to push through and are still wary of the banking stuff, you can opt to open up a stealth paypal account, if you haven't already.

I’m not sure how opening a stealth PayPal account will help if a seller is unhappy with managed payments? 

Buster_Danog

Ebay doesn't seem to care. I notice that when the new payment system came in they started adding a lot more foreign listings to the UK website. I think they must have expected a significant drop in listings and decided that if they made more US and Australian listings visible it would still give UK buyers the illusion that there are just as many products being listed.

In reality it is dire. I used to buy a lot of items, but the requirement for bank details from sellers seems to be the final nail in the coffin of finding bargains on ebay. For ebay they just look at things in terms of percentages so they don't care too much about the user experience. If they make more money without Paypal fees they are happy. However, they should have set up their own payment system similar to Paypal and they could have had the best of both worlds.

I have looked at Shpock although Fraudsters seem to be happy to take their chances on that site where Paypal is not the payment method. I guess Etsy, or ebid are your other options. 

soolin

Buster_Danog said:

Ebay doesn't seem to care. I notice that when the new payment system came in they started adding a lot more foreign listings to the UK website. I think they must have expected a significant drop in listings and decided that if they made more US and Australian listings visible it would still give UK buyers the illusion that there are just as many products being listed.

In reality it is dire. I used to buy a lot of items, but the requirement for bank details from sellers seems to be the final nail in the coffin of finding bargains on ebay. For ebay they just look at things in terms of percentages so they don't care too much about the user experience. If they make more money without Paypal fees they are happy. However, they should have set up their own payment system similar to Paypal and they could have had the best of both worlds.

I have looked at Shpock although Fraudsters seem to be happy to take their chances on that site where Paypal is not the payment method. I guess Etsy, or ebid are your other options. 

Etsy will need your bank details as they use a payout scheme similar to ebay, you also want get free listings, although the listing costs are cheap at 16p for 4 months. Ebid is a waste of time, it has no buying traffic at all. Shpock will allow a seller to use manual PayPal payments for a while, then they try and force you into either taking out a paid subscription or letting them manage your PayPal at 50p per transaction. I did very well on there for quite a while but gave up when I couldn’t respond to questions without signing up for a monthly fee , I don’t know if I hit a limit as I had done several hundred transactions up until that point. 

Buster_Danog

I thought Shpock had stopped working with Paypal. I think it is possible to swap details with a buyer / seller and get their Paypal details but in that case the transaction would be done outside of Shpock. That is what one fraudster was doing when I enquired about buying an item.