Ebay sucks

[huminski]

A typical sale on ebay will cost you 11.9%. 9% to ebay and 2.9% to paypal. A few categories are a bit more. Most sellers now get 50 free auctions a month, and there are plenty of free sites to host photos and link to auctions so there should be no reason to pay ebay premiums for such services. Paypal's fees are deducted before you ever see the money, and I personally make it a point to print and pay for my shipping label through ebay/paypal and pay the final value fee for the item as soon as it sells, out of my paypal balance. Takes the sting out of a larger one time monthly payment.

Listen, I have also had my share of 'experiences' with ebay and paypal, and they will in my experience 98% of the time side with the buyer in all disputes. For example, I sold an old Penn electric downrigger a couple years ago for $200 or so, stated that it was old and sold as is but tested to raise and lower (it did), shipped for a fortune because it was huge and heavy, buyer received, then weeks later complained that it worked, but a minor feature that tripped the switch off when fully retracted didn't work, so he had to flip the switch on and off manually. Buyer complained, I pleaded my case, paypal allowed buyer to return and then graciously refunded their payment including the original shipping which was about $60.

Bright side is I immediately relisted it, detailing the issue encountered in the first sale, and it sold for about 50% more the second time....

I also had them freeze my paypal account to the tune of $700 once when I sold a PS2 when they first came out. That was fun..... and unfair to me.

I guess what I am trying to say is that nobody puts a gun to your head and makes you sell on ebay. The experience is definitely not as good as it used to be, but if you think about the national, or even international exposure your little auction gets, and the fact that you are basically guaranteed a sale for the most part, I still think it's a fair deal. I've been buying and selling since October 1999 so I've been around the block with them a few times by now.

[mrlexan]

I guess what I am trying to say is that nobody puts a gun to your head and makes you sell on ebay. The experience is definitely not as good as it used to be, but if you think about the national, or even international exposure your little auction gets, and the fact that you are basically guaranteed a sale for the most part, I still think it's a fair deal. I've been buying and selling since October 1999 so I've been around the block with them a few times by now.

Well said. I agree with this statement in it's entirety and was going to follow up with a similar post. The junk can sit there in your man room and do nothing, you can try to sell it in a garage sale for pennies, and most other sites won't get you the amounts that ebay gets you..... totally up to you. Everything comes at price, you just have to ask yourself is it worth your time and hassle.

Also hum did mention it and this does have some bearing on the end of auction prices, if you don't want the hassle of dealing international and limit yourself to the US or your country, I feel you are doing yourself a dis-service. Come on guys, this is a world market now, it's 2012.... embrace it. If you haven't noticed, anytime the middle east says "BOO!", what happens to your local gas pump?..... that's a global market (I know it's more complicated than that, but you get my point).

I think the game changer for me this year will be the tax thing, with the 200 items and $20,000 is sales, but that's a different rabbit trail for discussion.

BTW, I've been a user since 1997.

[huminski]

Amen on the international sales. Actually, I would say 50% of the RC stuff, especially the vintage items, that I sell nowadays goes overseas somewhere. England and Australia are the two heavy hitters lately. USPS Priority flat rate boxes are a godsend, and I just make sure that my international shipping rate covers what it will cost. I actually just put up a "toy" 1/6 scale west coast choppers car, similar to the new bright stuff, I bought on Craigs List a few months ago. Paid $60, and I planned on gutting it and refitting with RC hobby grade components for fun, but lost interest and threw on ebay a couple weeks ago to hopefully just get my $60 back. It sold, to a buyer in Austria (not Austrailia lol) for $206, plus $70 shipping.

Ebay shipping will take care of the customs forms, etc, so it's really simple to do the international sales.