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Lately, I have noticed that a lot of eBay's "Buy it Now" prices were comparable to or even higher than Amazon for the same item. In the past there used to be significant savings with buying on eBay, but now that gap seems to be closing. There also seems to be much fewer auction items on eBay than there were in the past, which is where eBay's real savings were from.
I don't shop on eBay as much as I have in the past since I am an Amazon Prime member, however, does anyone think eBay is dying? I am thinking of selling a refurbished MSI motherboard on eBay after no luck on trying to sell it on Craigslist; hopefully I get lucky this time.
Sometimes if you open Amazon and ebay at the same time, the seller is the same. Ebay is having a slow death. OTOH I've emailed sellers on ebay and requested a better price. So even if there is no "Best Offer" icon, you can still try. I don't waste my time with auctions anymore, as there seems to be more idiots now that when the bidding ends the price is within pennies of the buy now price of another seller.
I've noticed that eBay is advertising more on TV again. That usually happens when a company's sales arent doing so well.
And I've also noticed that eBay prices can be much higher than the exact same merchandise at Amazon or other internet stores. Often that happens when eBay sellers drop-ship from Amazon or other internet sites.
If I agree to pay the eBay price, I dont mind drop-shipping but it's irritating when the packing slip shows that my merchandise was sent by Bed, Bath & Beyond. Then I'll go to BB&B and see that the price there is $20.00 less than what I paid.
Ebay is going down the toilet. They treat their sellers like crap.....sorry, but they are truly terrible. When Donovan took over he replaced the unique/vintage/2nd hand items and went to a replaceable mass marketing scheme......its costing them big time, and I have said they will be sold and have to be returned to their original roots if they want to make it. They are trying to copy Amazon, and they just cannot do it. Unreal expectations of a zillion sellers, and they dont support them, except with lip and the occasional action in law making......really self serving, but thats to be expected.
If they dont revert......they are going down the toilet. I had over 10000 positive feedback on one account, then another with 4300......and I quit selling with them due to their lack of firm/fair rules. They allow some sellers to blatantly run up prices with shill bidding(not so much anymore since they have killed the auction market)........and kick small sellers around like pawns. What other selling site limits how much a shop can sell? They do. They force sellers to take the brunt of everything, then keep increasing fees.....without a benefit to the sellers. I used to love them, but they literally ran me off. Me and many, many others.......and it will continue until someone realizes that they had a niche and tried to copy another's model, but it was tooooo late. They lose market share every month....and limit what little traffic is buying to certain seller's....they are just taking some sellers fees and giving nothing in return. Sellers there are starting to see it.....I just happen to see it a long time ago, and that their practices were harming my business in a very significant way. Pretty easy for me to say no thanks.
Sometimes if you open Amazon and ebay at the same time, the seller is the same. Ebay is having a slow death. OTOH I've emailed sellers on ebay and requested a better price. So even if there is no "Best Offer" icon, you can still try. I don't waste my time with auctions anymore, as there seems to be more idiots now that when the bidding ends the price is within pennies of the buy now price of another seller.
I never saw the point of auctions if it's something I really wanted and prefer the items under Buy It Now in my local area.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I use both at times, never auctions, just "buy it now" if it's a better deal or Amazon doesn't have it. Lately I have to be patient with EBay, because many items are shipped from China and take a while to get here.
I use both at times, never auctions, just "buy it now" if it's a better deal or Amazon doesn't have it. Lately I have to be patient with EBay, because many items are shipped from China and take a while to get here.
I always make sure I look for seller who are close to my local area so I won't have to wait too long for the item to arrive in the mail.
Ebay has its ups and downs. Lately it's trying too hard to be like Amazon instead of being true to itself. I don't bother with auctions but I use Buy it Now. And I get great bargains as long as I check the seller's feedback score. It had better be 99% or 100%. If it's less, I read their feedback comments to see if maybe the bad score wasn't really their fault but was caused by some mean spirited buyer.
Clothes are really cheap on ebay because there's such a glut of people selling clothing. I make sure I add up the price AND the price of shipping--free shipping usually means that the item is priced higher to make up for it.
I've even bought shoes on ebay--if you want a shoe that's over $100 and is great quality, you know the size you take in that brand, you can get a good deal. Some men's dress shoes that cost hundreds of dollars new, can be bought in very gently used condition for about $50 on ebay. Take them somewhere and maybe get them cleaned up or re-soled and you have a great bargain.
I mostly buy clothing but my purse came from ebay, Ralph Lauren hat for dh, a vegetable bowl that matches my old set, kitchenware. I won't buy stuff that comes from China though--you can set it so that you will only see things from the USA.
We use the money we save to travel but buy our travel clothing on ebay--seems to work pretty well.
Dunno as if they're dying, but they do seem to be downsizing in certain areas. China has become a large part of them and they have so many ads at the front end of every search. It has become much less user friendly as well as rougher on the sellers, too.
Lately, I have noticed that a lot of eBay's "Buy it Now" prices were comparable to or even higher than Amazon for the same item. In the past there used to be significant savings with buying on eBay, but now that gap seems to be closing. There also seems to be much fewer auction items on eBay than there were in the past, which is where eBay's real savings were from.
I don't shop on eBay as much as I have in the past since I am an Amazon Prime member, however, does anyone think eBay is dying? I am thinking of selling a refurbished MSI motherboard on eBay after no luck on trying to sell it on Craigslist; hopefully I get lucky this time.
I used to be a huge ebayer, both buying and selling. I will not pay retail prices and the outlandish shipping for items offered. As a seller (used to be) you make no money - both ebay and Paypal take a cut, then ebay will NOT stand behind sellers who produce clear listings with a multitude of photos. If little Susie pays too much or doesnt like an item, they will file a complaint against you and PayPal will force you to refund.
I take my stuff to the Salvation Army now. Just not worth the trouble to try selling my stuff.
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