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When eBay first started, single people used it as a kind of glorified garage sale, buying and selling their own things, and wonderful bargains were to be had.
Now it seems to be all commercial places offering new stuff from China, etc. If you want to find a good wool sweater, a reed for your clarinet, a gadget for the house, for a reasonable price, eBay doesn't seem to be the place anymore. For example, I used to buy replacement ink cartridges for my printer on eBay, now Walmart's are cheaper. Many things people put on there are actually more than you'd pay to buy them new.
So back to my question: is there a new online place everyone is going to that I don't know about?
For ink cartridges, LDProducts has been who I have used for years. Craigslist and Facebook have marketplaces, there are more that specialize more in clothing. Etsy has broadened out from crafts.
The killer for a lot of online sales is shipping cost - for both buyer and seller. Garage sale used items that might or might not work have largely gone away from the platforms, as return policies now tend to weed out anything that might not work as advertised.
I was once one of those that sold on eBay in the 90s, and again in the early 2000s. It started getting more commercialized sellers in/around 2005 or so.
I still use eBay for used Vans shoes and other stuff all the time. You just have to be smarter than the seller and do your due diligence before making the purchase.
I don't use Facebook marketplace except for local purchases where I met someone I trust in a parking lot. That means the seller has to be linked to a friend I know so that I can check them out. If they don't know anyone I know, I don't risk it. Craigslist in my area doesn't get any traffic anymore. Etsy is too expensive.
My brother sold a knife on ETSY and the guy said they wouldn't take his CC, he wanted my brother to go buy a Am ex gift card, take a pic of front and back and ETSY would take that. WTH, he's getting off ETSY. They take every CC and paypal. My Dad bought some carbon fibre on ETSY with no problems. This is nuts.
I sell on eBay, Mercari, Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, and in the case of clothing, Depop. Anything heavy or unshippable I use Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, OfferUp, and Nextdoor.
Really have to read the recent seller reviews. If not near perfect, then Next.
Even so, on occasion get subpar products - opened container of laundry detergent powder and dried out super glue.
Another disturbing eBay trend for day to day items, drop shipping from Walmart so not know when item will show up at your door. Then this after actual delivery is followed by a fake USPS tracking number. Most often on such items so low priced not factoring in shipping costs. Enen one item not drop shipped with a fake tracking number which not show up in my USPS Informed (package) Delivery for my address, which got refunded as delivered elsewhere in my zip code.
Most often use shipped and fulfilled directly by Amazon and Walmart, both with free shipping for $35+ orders even if not in their membership programs.
I use ebay a lot.
I like that ebay will take care of buyers when sellers mess up. They have refunded money to me many times.
A LOT of ebay merchandise represented as NEW or OPEN BOX seems to be from sellers who buy return pallets from Amazon, Walmart, etc, and sell off the goods without inspecting them.
Among other incidents, I recently bought an "Open Box" coffee grinder that had had the grounds hopper replaced with one that was broken, taped together, and had grounds in it. Seller immediately refunded my purchase price, tax, and shipping.
My only serious aggravation is that I cannot default only to U.S.A. or Canadian sellers. It takes several clicks to determine that sellers are off-shore.
I use ebay a lot.
I like that ebay will take care of buyers when sellers mess up. They have refunded money to me many times.
A LOT of ebay merchandise represented as NEW or OPEN BOX seems to be from sellers who buy return pallets from Amazon, Walmart, etc, and sell off the goods without inspecting them.
Among other incidents, I recently bought an "Open Box" coffee grinder that had had the grounds hopper replaced with one that was broken, taped together, and had grounds in it. Seller immediately refunded my purchase price, tax, and shipping.
My only serious aggravation is that I cannot default only to U.S.A. or Canadian sellers. It takes several clicks to determine that sellers are off-shore.
I have relatives that made their living on eBay twenty years ago, but eBay is very hard on sellers. They were cheated many times by lying buyers who got their money back, and still kept the item.
My only serious aggravation is that I cannot default only to U.S.A. or Canadian sellers. It takes several clicks to determine that sellers are off-shore.
Huh? You should be able to. After the search click on "filters" and then "item location" and then either "us only" or "north america only".
It works for me.
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