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First answer to your query is that after deduction of fees and postage margins on many eBay sales are rather slim. Worse still for those still using Paypal as they get hit with fees *twice*, once when payment is made, and again if request funds be deposited in bank account. Only way to avoid latter is to leave money in PayPal account, but then you're giving them use of your money for free.
Remember eBay accesses final selling fees on *entire* bill sent to buyer, this includes shipping. While USPS, FedEx and other shippers have entered into agreements that give discounts, you're still paying more for shipping than say a decade ago.
Two, eBay has become crowded with everything from stolen/fenced goods to "power sellers". Thus you have plenty of people selling the same GD things. Only way for anyone to make money is two ways; sell a few things at higher prices, or take a loss and sell more at cheaper prices.
However on balance have long observed same as yourself. Who is buying bottles of Tide detergent at 25% to nearly 50% mark-up when you can get the stuff locally cheaper. This *and* not have to pay shipping.
Tide detergent is on sale in my area some where nearly on a weekly basis. So stock up then wait for next sale.
I buy a lot of things like detergent using Amazon Subscribe and Save.
Because (in my observation) nothing on the interwebz can ever stay what it was successful at - it has to become all other successful things, too. Look at the blurring and spreading of features in social media - they all do much the same things now, just with different cute logos and user interfaces.
You can add Facebook, AOL, and many others to that list.
Ebay faces huge competition not just from Amazon, but Etsy, Offerup, Facebook and countless other sites that have created marketplace platforms.
Don't forget Craiglist, which is where more and more people are turning in order to skip the middleman. Many eBay sellers list things on CL at same time warning that item may be "sold locally".
I agree EBay has gotten much more expensive. And I hate the trickery of advertising a low price on the listing and then jacking up the shipping charge to 3 or 4 times what it should be!
I find many of the listings on Ebay to be deceptive, regarding size, weight, etc. of the item. Also Ebay sellers have ways of keeping their seller rating high when they may, in fact, be a crap seller. Some of them will extort the customer to get positive or neutral feedback. Seeing a 98 or 99% seller rating on Ebay (or Amazon, etc) is now somewhat meaningless to me.
I find many of the listings on Ebay to be deceptive, regarding size, weight, etc. of the item. Also Ebay sellers have ways of keeping their seller rating high when they may, in fact, be a crap seller. Some of them will extort the customer to get positive or neutral feedback. Seeing a 98 or 99% seller rating on Ebay (or Amazon, etc) is now somewhat meaningless to me.
That's the main reason I buy a lot of things on Amazon, it is so easy to return anything with no hassle and no return shipping, you get your money back right away. I once sent them a photo of a case of Almond milk I bought that had been poorly packed resulting in the milk cartons having dents and dings all over them. They sent me back an e-mail telling me they were refunding me but letting me keep the milk anyway, which was about $40.
I am still wary of electronics and expensive purchases on Ebay as it seems to be up to individual sellers, or they tell you to go through Paypal or other hoops. My brother once bid on and won a comic book that was never sent to him, and they made him run in circles contacting the seller so many times, Paypal, etc and in the end he gave up and never got the comic or a refund. I don't think Amazon would let that happen. I know that was kind of the "bad old days" of Ebay, but that kind of stuff stays with me.
I actually sent the wrong thing back to Amazon last year. I bought a land line phone for my mom and was returning it. I asked my bf to mail it for me as he was off that day. Instead of the box with the landline, he took a box with a brand new Jitterbug cell phone (also for my mom) and mailed that to Amazon, even though I didn't buy it there! I got refunded for the landline and no one noticed. I had called right away but it got past the warehouse receiving people. It took 3-4 phone calls over a couple of weeks, but in the end they found it and mailed it back to me.
You can add Facebook, AOL, and many others to that list.
Ebay faces huge competition not just from Amazon, but Etsy, Offerup, Facebook and countless other sites that have created marketplace platforms.
Don't forget Craiglist, which is where more and more people are turning in order to skip the middleman. Many eBay sellers list things on CL at same time warning that item may be "sold locally".
They definitely face competition from Amazon, and Craigslist, and probably Facebook too. I don't know about Offerup, but Etsy is irrelevant to eBay. eBay is the 10th or 11th ranked website in the US. Etsy, doesn't even make the top 50.
I find many of the listings on Ebay to be deceptive, regarding size, weight, etc. of the item. Also Ebay sellers have ways of keeping their seller rating high when they may, in fact, be a crap seller. Some of them will extort the customer to get positive or neutral feedback. Seeing a 98 or 99% seller rating on Ebay (or Amazon, etc) is now somewhat meaningless to me.
I agree that eBay's feedback system is a joke. I don't pay much attention to it. Recently I had to leave negative feedback on a canceled order. First I had to go to the community forum where somebody gave me ink to a hidden URL where I could leave the negative feedback, because there was no link for it on the My eBay page. Then I had to wait seven days. Because you can leave positive feedback right away, but you have to wait seven days to leave negative feedback. Then of course I had to deal with the messages from the seller begging me to revise the negative feedback. Then I get a message from the eBay Resolution Center asking me to reconsider my negative feedback of the seller. The seller was trying to scam eBay out of their fees, but they were asking me to reconsider my negative feedback? I guess eBay's goal is that every one of their "Power" sellers have 100% positive feedback. Because that is so helpful to buyers.
Two, eBay has become crowded with everything from stolen/fenced goods to "power sellers". Thus you have plenty of people selling the same GD things. Only way for anyone to make money is two ways; sell a few things at higher prices, or take a loss and sell more at cheaper prices. .
Tons of stolen goods are sold on eBay. Also, lots of fake stuff is sold on there. I bought a bottle of designer cologne and it was simply rubbing alcohol. The seller tried to claim that I was wrong, that it was the real thing. Um, no it's not. He's likely one of these sellers who thinks the public is stupid and doesn't know cheap goods from quality. I mailed it back to him and he refunded the price but did not refund the shipping charges. That was my last bad experience with eBay as I cancelled my account with them. I can't believe the kind of crap that people try to sell on eBay.
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