Featured Do you ever feel like eBay doesn't want you?

I've been selling coins on eBay for years and I've always relied on the free listings promos because otherwise the fees just wouldn't make it worthwhile for me. The free listings have always come pretty reliably, usually 2-3 times a month in different quantities. But twice in the last month or so the free listing promo that I received has excluded coins. It's ridiculous because every other item excluded is a huge ticket item like RVs, houses, submarines, and private islands. I might have made a few of those up, but honestly coins are totally different from everything else excluded. I just don't understand why coins are excluded from these deals. Before you say it, yes I know that they're not obligated to give me anything, but they've been doing this regularly for years, and coins have never been excluded until this year, and it has now happened at least three times. It's just so frustrating. Why don't they want me selling coins? Collectibles make the most sense to sell on eBay, unlike other things like clothes and consumer goods. And other collectibles like stamps or baseball cards aren't excluded. And if you're wondering, I've dabbled in selling on alternative sites and they get no traffic at all.

 

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I haven't notice a fee for listing coins yet, but what I don't like is when you list at a fixed price there is no option but "until item sells". Use to you could post for 7, 14 or 30 days. If someone has their filter set on "ending soonest" while searching, they will never see your post.

 

I got the freebie email this morning for 100 free listings but have not checked the details yet. IMHO they are leaning away from the smaller dealers looking for larger revenue. My sales have slumped so badly I'm not even listing anything new. And I consider myself to be fair. They are also undergoing changes, like Pay Pal has been subbed out to Synchrony Bank. And the need to upgrade a lot of items to a 30 day refund period is ridiculous. I've been able to maintain 100% feedback for the entire time I have been there but that does not mean a lot when you can't sell anything. The way things are going, I'm glad I did not do a subscription, it never would have paid off. 2012 was my last great year and downhill from there.

 

Not a very good offer either, only good for 4 days.

 

My guess is the algorithms on fleabay have been updated to determine what you've been selling, fee free repetitively, and they have targeted you with the coin exclusion.

 

I don't sell on eBay but if you are correct that large ticket items are excluded, like RV's, houses and a few other items you mention I would suggest you look at the prices on some of those coins. Insanely overpriced.

 

A lot of people complained about this change. I would be fine with it if they didn't charge you a new listing fee every month. Otherwise it would be great if I could list once and keep it active until it sells. Now I need to make sure I end the item before I'm hit with a bunch of unexpected listing fees.

 

It's always buried in the fine print. The easiest way to tell is try to list something and if you see "35 cents" at the bottom for the fee, you know it doesn't apply (assuming you've used up your 50 monthly freebies already). My sales were doing great when I actually had things for sale. I was getting repeat buyers and selling multiple coins at once. But then for about a week last month I had zero active listings, and now I just have the 50 that everyone gets. My items do best when I have at least 200-300 because people like to bundle to save on shipping.

 

So what's the point of giving someone a promo that only covers things they don't sell? They're trying to get me to sell something different? It's like they think everyone just has 50 iPhones sitting around waiting to sell. I have coins. I'm not someone who sells things as my day job. It's a hobby.

 

Sure, coins can get pricey, but anything can. I'm sure plenty of other collectibles sell for hundreds or thousands too. And it just covers listing fees. They still take their 10% final value fee, so eBay is getting paid anyway.

 

Maybe it's time to migrate to an eBay alternative?

MA Shops is opening in the States. There is another site that someone mentioned ( @ToughCOINS ?) where he moved his coin selling activity.

Why hasn't one of the TPGs set up a "numismatics only" auction site? They're going to run out of coins to grade someday, won't they? They should get into other business...

However, profit margins must be really tight with such an enterprise, and the listing fees would probably be steep. Perhaps it's "go big" (like eBay) or don't do it at all...

 

With the time "Good Until Cancelled" eBay has changed options on the mobile app; they have a "quick sell" listing which they oddly only seem to limit the term options.

I ran into this myself too selling some stuff, including coins. If you google it you find out there's many complaints.

If you go to the full blown web version you can "fix it". But I've found sometimes you have to End the existing auction and start a complete new one. Although, it's varied from the 5 auctions I've tried fixing; one I wasn't able to fix at all and I just ended it and it sits in my unsold bin.

 

You don't sell anything on the eBay alternatives. I've tried it with the same coins I sell on eBay and nothing. Not a single coin sold. And the coins I sell aren't valuable enough to sell on one of the prestige sites. We're stuck with eBay and probably always will be. It's unfortunate that literally ever change they make, makes things worse for the seller.

 

I’ve always found the 10% fee to be a tough pill to swallow. How does the selling price affect the service that eBay provides anyway? I think a set selling fee is fair but then again I’m not a dotcom gazillionaire wannabe.....I’m surprised Bezos hasn’t launched a competing site. As long as they have no real competition it is what it is....

 

I started noticing that about 8 years ago. I haven't sold anything important or expensive since. And I've noticed LOTS of changes since!

Shoot.

What if I want to start selling some of my collection?? And the problem with us niche collectors is that we will need niche buyers when the time comes to pare down our collections.

In this situation, I've thought that perhaps using eBay as an "advertising platform" is the way to go? What I mean is this: Place all coins you want to sell together as a lot, with some insane initial bid of say $8,000 for coins that would collectively sell for (even if sold individually), at most, $1,500. An eBay listing gets the "most eyes" on your coins, from all over the world. Interested buyers see your coins. Then the real price negotiations take place outside of eBay, and when someone meets your "price comfort zone," you can settle with the buyer the sale of any, or all, of your coins however you wish. And the best part (and the whole point!) is that the seller doesn't have to worry about giving eBay its vig! He only pays the listing fees (if that!). The beauty of this scheme is that some dummy may just come along and place a bid of $8K and pay it!

I'm not saying that this is a good idea, or that I would do it. However, I think I've seen this kind of activity on eBay.

Would this work?

 

You need to figure it into your asking price. Same with free shipping. EBay strongly encourages all sellers to offer free shipping, but the seller has to still pay for it so they need to get that money somehow. They'll just charge $3 more for the item and then offer free shipping. I guess some people might be fooled by that. Amazon used to have auctions a long time ago I think. Seems like it wasn't worth it for them. Now eBay actually is trying to be more like Amazon. They're encouraging people to sell newer consumer goods instead of being the online "garage sale" that they started as.

 

I think most people when they see a seller with an insane asking price just assume that person is hard to deal with and move on, but it's hard to say if you might get some people who would try to deal with you on the side. Of course eBay doesn't allow that but it still happens. I actually had a really good repeat customer who I met by selling on eBay who I then sold a lot of coins to privately.

I'd say if you have really good coins that are in demand it probably would pay for you to either just sell 50 a month or get a subscription and list them as an auction and make sure the price is high enough to protect yourself. I mostly sell coins that are fairly common but that some people still want, so it can take awhile to sell them. I do better the more I have listed because it makes it more likely people buy a bunch of them together to save on shipping.

 

The best way to get around ebay is by using them to their disadvantage. Meaning, you offer something on their site and when you find that niche buyer and they buy something just once, you have all the contact info you need without breaking any rules of ebay online. No ebay cops to catch you that way.

 

I'm not sure if it's been enforced, but eBay is apparently trying to crack down on that.

With your scenario, I'd be worried that some tire-kicker contacts you, no sale is made, but eBay sees it as a violation and charges you $750 in final value fees (which is currently the max fee; for accounts with no store, it's 10% up to a max of $750 per item).

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/offers-buy-sell-outside-ebay-policy?id=4272

"Sellers are liable for fees arising out of all sales made using some or all eBay Services, even if sales terms are finalized or payment is made outside of eBay.

Sellers are also liable for final value fees if they offer or reference their contact information, or ask for a buyer's contact information, in the context of buying or selling outside of eBay, even if the item does not sell."