Done With eBay
 

I will NEVER sell something again on eBay.

I'm a frequent eBay buyer, but have not sold anything in several years. They have changed how they pay you and their fees are now ridiculous.

Selling fee now = 12%. And for that 12% they hold your payout for several days. With previous method I got my PayPal payment immediately.

AND THEY CHARGE THE 12% ON SHIPPING, too. I know this is because eBay could not police their site themselves and stop listings of $1 with $1,000 shipping that were attempts to avoid final value fees. But geez I'm a retired IT guy me and some of my developer friends could have easily created a set of code to automatically find those and delete them. But of course that would not allow eBay to collect additional fees.

The 2+ day delay also allows them to accrue tremendous amounts of "float" interest on funds they temporarily hold for those 2+ days. It's worth $$$millions; banks live on float.

And on using eBay shipping: I sold a bike and wanted to get estimated costs using eBay shipping. I entered info and instead of giving me price and allowing me to decide to purchase, it automatically created a shipping label and tracking. Now I have to contact seller and tell them to ignore the tracking; I'll enter tracking in a few days once LBS boxes and BikeFlights picks up.

I'll continue to buy items on eBay, but less than previously. I'll never sell anything there again. I'll use Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. For musical instruments I already moved to Reverb. The world is ready for a better mousetrap in this niche for sure.

I came to this conclusion several years ago. For me, eBay is a last resort for easily shipped, niche products that aren't likely to be sold locally for close to their value.

And yeah, PayPal is a racket. Unless things have changed recently, they're only licensed as a money transmitter, like Western Union, but they regularly overstep their bounds by doing things like withholding funds.

I like PayPal I have no issues with PayPal. Someone pays me I get money instantly if use PayPal. I can transfer the money instantly to my bank via PayPal. I use PayPal all the time.

eBay is the problem. They don't manage funds like PayPal. eBay acts as the broker and it no longer goes through PayPal.

eBay keeping money in escrow, collecting fees on shipping, and charging 12% fee those are the issues!

And eBay's poor decision making is reflected in their financials. Fewer users fewer sales less revenue it's all going downhill. Because they're making it more difficult for sellers and less profitable for sellers. Sellers have to raise their prices by 12% and over-inflate shipping costs to cover the 12%. That causes buyers to, well, buy less. Plus sellers don't get paid in a timely manner.

Let me save you some time and headache: skip craigslist.

Yea I stopped when they mandated a link to a bank account. I was like pass and closed my acct. I have not used it in a few years anyway.

I often see complaints about CL, but I've generally had good experiences as a seller. I like that there are no fees. I like that sales are final and that I can wash my hands of them immediately (no, I'm not texting you, Mr Prospective Buyer). Those two factors are big for me - places like eBay have a track record of being pro-buyer in the event of a dispute, and I just don't want to deal with that noise. I'll take good pictures, I'll accurately and thoroughly describe the item and I'll manage the tire-kickers if it means that when it's done, it's done.

Don't forget that eBay will still charge you if your listing was ended early.

I'm with others where eBay is a last resort. I had posted up a mini groupset in a few places including eBay; ended up getting a bid but it sold on another platform. Since I ended it early, I had to pay a 12% fee.

Yeah the Craigslist for bicycles isn't very helpful or fruitful unless you want a cheap bike for a 4 year old. But it's loaded with bargains for things like drums, cameras, audio, and other categories.

Only true if it's an auction and you have bids. if you do just a BIN and end early there is no fee.

I 'sold' a wheelset on eBay recently that I had marked as US shipping only. Of course, the winning bidder was not from the US. eBay makes you wait 5 days to cancel a non-payment auction, even when the auction cannot be completed.

I haven't bought or sold anything on Ebay for at least 12 years and would only use it as a buyer if there was something I could not find anywhere else. Ebay has done nothing but get progressively worse over the years. I only have a PayPal account because someone I make frequent payments to likes to use it. If it wasn't for that I'd lose PayPal too.

almost all my recent bike related purchases (past two years) were via Craigslist and eBay

I've been on eBay for 22-23 years and it has gone downhill for a small seller. It is a costly pain and I don't sell. I do buy. I have a lot of stuff to sell but the eBay hassle isn't worth it especially now that the Feds want you to pay taxes on paypal transactions. Who has a receipt on old stuff to prove no money is made.

Yes, I'm done with E-Bay too. My beef is they wouldn't stand up for sellers. I had a buyer who didn't like something I sold. Sorry, I said, no returns. E-bay force me to refund the money or they would hold the money until I ok the refund. Nope, I'm done with them. Goodbye and good ribbons to them.:notamused:

Done with eBay too. The shipping fees are ridiculous.

Ditto. I only sell things on eBay that are absolutely void of value to me. That way, psychologically it feels like I'm getting coffee money for things I'd probably just donate or toss.

Agree with most of the above but Ebay still has the highest volume of potential buyers compared to alternatives especially if you live in a less populated area with far fewer local buyers. I still use Ebay for items that are fairly easy to ship and then raise my price some to account for the higher fees. It is still surprising how many buyers are on Ebay looking for items. I can often sell an item on Ebay for a substantally higher price than alternative sites because there are 10-20 times more shoppers.

For payments, I have opened a separate savings account at my local credit union and use this account only for Ebay selling. Ebay usually transfers my money from sales into this account the day after the transaction which is before the buyer even receives my item. I then immediately get the money out of that account so Ebay has no access to any of my funds. I always clearly state in my listings in bold print that I do not accept returns for my items. I had one instance where a buyer falsely claimed that my item was damaged. I again refused to return his money, threatened to close my account and Ebay ate the charge after a couple emails. That was my only problem in about 400 sales.

Ebay has clearly gone downhill but they can still be the place to make the most money on sales.

The key to Ebay is to charge more than what you'd normally charge in order to make up for the fees. Due to the high volume of potential buyers, even if your item is overpriced, there's bound to be someone who wants the item. Also you can put certain sales restrictions in place to weed out scammers. Saying that, selling locally is always the best bet especially when it's cash upfront!

What would it take to make that happen?

That sux. I like it for buying

I've been selling vintage briar tobacco pipes on Ebay for about a decade. Now, the payment structure and fees just don't make it worthwhile any more.
Facebook messenger for general items for me, and hobby-specific forums for tobacco pipes, etc.

It's not "their" shipping fees.In many cases the eBay shipping price is 50% of the UPS or other carrier's price if you were to show pop at UPS and ship at standard UPS rate. Same with Reverb. There really is a major discount on shipping using the eBay rate. Of course you lose some of that discount with the 12% fee they charge.

FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE HAS BEEN GOLD FOR SELLING VINTAGE VIDEO GAMES.

AMAZON MARKETPLACE, IMHO, WILL SOON TAKE A MAJOR SHARE OF eBay's business. If it's eBay vs Amazon, bet on Amazon.

Oh sorry about all the caps. I'm too lazy to re-type lol.

I don’t typically sell on eBay but I buy stuff there from time to time. I have gotten some pretty good deals on vintage road bike parts when no one else bids. I have sold items before but probably won’t do very much in the future. eBay held my money for 20+ days because even though I have been buying and selling for many years and 100% feedback , I have not sold anything over $1k so they held my money. The buyer , in one case , even contacted them telling them that they were very satisfied. In one case the buyer was upset because he paid immediately on a “buy it now” for $2500 . I waited 25 days to get paid but eBay took fees immediately, which infuriated the buyer (we became friends after the sale).I have had good results both buying and selling on Craigslist but I understand the potential for things to go bad. I think caution is prudent.

I wonder if this is why Pro's Closet and others are doing decently well now.