Is eBay worth using with their new structuring?

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by Simple Living

See, this is the kind of stuff that just bothers me. Dishonest people find a way to ruin absolutely everything. I've been scammed in my life, most recently on Craigslist, so I don't want to accept PayPal. I'll look at eBay tonight, carefully, and see what my options are.

My sales are going to be run straight-up and honest. No bogus fees or "handling" charges. The buyer will only have to pay the exact postage amount and nothing else (except the winning bid price). I'm not charging buyers the fees that I incur from doing business because I hate when businesses do that to me. (Which I know happens daily.)

It's more important to me to operate with honesty and integrity than to make an extra $2-3 on something. I like having a clean conscious and sleeping at night.

Everyone's responses have been really helpful to me.

Unless you have enough feedback (I think it was about 100 IIRC) you'll have no choice with their new policies but to accept paypal. You may be able to find a friend/relative with enough feedback who will list things under their name to avoid it though...

[Bazzwell]

Another point to consider is that newbies generally get less bidders offering less money. Call it a trust issue if you will until your feedback goes up. Other avenues are available and I'd seriously suggest those before trying a few things on Ebay.

Shipping and handling. Just one person's opinion here....Shipping should be the actual postal/UPS charge. Handling should be considered your material costs such as a purchased box, packing materials and so on. Fees should be added in as well, you just can't say that in your listing. But they are a sincere cost of doing business and have to be factored in. It would be nice to just charge the "on the box" shipping amount but you'd have to deduct all the associated costs off your profit. An easy thing to do if your item sells for hundreds. A great way to lose money if it goes for a buck and a half.

However, selling with a buy-it-now price with your costs factored in would give you the ability to offer low shipping. You may price yourself out of the market if there are many items such as yours though.

[Simple Living]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

Unless you have enough feedback (I think it was about 100 IIRC) you'll have no choice with their new policies but to accept paypal. You may be able to find a friend/relative with enough feedback who will list things under their name to avoid it though...

If I could rep you again, I would! That's a great idea! I just may have a friend who does this. I would actually rather pay her to sell the stuff for me. This could be an option. Thanks loads!

[bbguy05]

I've been selling on ebay since 2002, and I recently just stopped. With ebay changing their polices, fees, and feedback management, I just can't take it anymore. It's more about the buyer and leaves nothing for the seller. Ebay is trying to gear more toward being a merchant site instead of an auction site.

On the other hand, I tried selling on craigslist and all I get is scammers. Especially when trying to sell jewelry. They come out of the woodwork for jewelry.

[John23]

With ebay, I think your time is much more valuable than the fees they charge. Especially if you're selling more than 50, 75 or 100 items.

I think some sellers on ebay can get too casual when listing. They'll start something at a high price (thus driving away bidders). Or they'll list something with a reserve...going to the trouble of creating the listing, answering questions, but then the reserve is not met. There are so many ways that you can list something on there, spending time and energy to do it, but it ultimately doesnt sell. Or playing around with gallery photos, or no gallery photo. Theres all these little options on there.

Kind of like holding a garage sale, but for 3 or 4 consecutive weekends and nothing sells. And answering questions during the week for the merchandise. And sort of having to be on call every day....you'll check your listing or see how many hits your auctions get.

I dont know...it seems like for the time involved alot of people are losing money on it. I would play it straight, the straight cost of shipping and handling, maybe an extra dollar or two. Straight listings, dont say something in the title, then list something else.

People get so annoyed with that with collectibles, where the condition really matters or theres something unique about the item. Listing it as "mint, untouched" and it's really "very good" or with a crease. People sure do shoot themselves in the foot with that.

And with packing and shipping, I would have it all ready to go when you list something. Its easy to misjudge the size of something. You think it'll fit in a box, but it doesn't. Or you think....I've got a box for that, but you dont.

Alot of ebay is simply too confusing for small time selling IMO. Do you really need all the shipping options and payment options if you're selling something for $10? Real world stores seem to do ok only accepting certain kinds of payments or having certain types of service.

Theres got to be alot of people on ebay that thought it would be a small time service and a way to get rid of stuff. And it turned into a monster, look at all the options on the selling page, geez. And then all the classes and forums and ebay radio. I dont see how people have time for all of it.

But I will give them convenience, you're reaching a world wide audience.

[Simple Living]

So, with all of the eBay warnings and cautions given here (which I appreciate), what are other alternatives? What other auction sites are worthwhile? Please don't mention Craigslist because I won't go near them. There are just as many scams and crimes that go on there as there are legitimate ads. Without ANY precautionary or protective measures in place to protect either buyers or sellers, neither has any reason to trust the other.

[DanBev]

I have used pay pal for several hundred transactions and never a problem,even buying over internet.Much safer and quicker,I will bypass a seller who doesn't use pay pal.I have never been scammed or sent defective item's,if it looks to good to be true or your 6th sense says no,do not buy.