Former eBay sellers, why did you stop?

I have to look over my sales and make some determinations. I have sold coins over $10 and it has worked out. My latest case, is for a Mercury dime I sold for $4 with free shipping, not a big loss if the buyer doesn't get the coin. I am not really running it like a business more a hobby. I am used to service oriented business like software, cutting hair, education, etc. These aren't dependent on USPS with all their blunders and screw ups (I am sure USPS employees don't like hearing that).

 

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HiddenD, I think the unspoken factor is that "now," people are broke. What used to be a fun, random purchase now must be measured against kids' shoes, a new car battery, a medication refill, etc.

I was sooooo lucky last fall to clean out the last of my baseball cards, never again, not even one; I see that our local CraigsList is FULL of cards plus various grossly-overpriced sports memorabilia.

People are desperate and selling off collectibles and not replacing them. I have one last bunch of coins to sell, maybe $500 worth, but they wouldn't sell here. I see lots of CT-er's bailing out.

So I'm heading back to eBay, which is a hard way to clean house. I made a nice buy from St. Louis, and that's the first thing I've bought for months.

 

I sell postcards on ebay at times. my most lucrative one sold for fifty dollars. I had purchased it for 5. Nice profit. But most of my postcards sold in the 4- 8 dollar range, so had a thinner margin of profit. I will gladly put up any I think are salable for over 3.50 or so.

 

There's always some people who are broke, but there are always plenty of buyers too who are doing OK, and I know other people on here say their stuff is selling fine. I thought I noticed a sudden and abrupt change in sales. I couldn't tell you what month it happened but it was in the last year. Certain things I could always count on selling in a few days started sitting around for a few months. And the coins I sell are mostly for a buck or two so it's the kind of things people can find money for. I know that Google constantly changes the way it ranks pages, and I wouldn't be surprised if eBay did something similar. I didn't follow all of its preferences for sellers like using tracking on everything (I'm not charging $2.50 to ship a $1 coin) so they're punishing me in search rankings.

 

I'd be selling $1-2 coins on CraigsList, provided you're near a major metro area. On eBay you're working for 50c per hour.

 

I stopped selling at eBay after I moved from one country to the next.

 

Yes you are out of the money you sold the coin for (which should at least include the cost of the coin, hopefully).

The seller can only be out of pocket by the cost of the coin to them and the shipping cost. If the coin cost $2 and $2 to ship, they are out of pocket by $4 if it is lost even if it sold for $100. They are losing an intangible, potential profit, but I suspect the IRS will not allow intangibles as deductions from your taxes.

The money the coin was sold for came from the buyer and went back to the buyer. It never belonged to the seller because the buyer did not get the coin. This is ultra-basic accountancy.

Otherwise, yes, that is just what I was saying. Loss can be quantified and managed, it must be because it will occour. Without a clear understanding of the process, all is vague and confusing.

 

A US seller recently sent me 6 too many (goodness only knows how) $1 Sacagawea coins from an eBay order - he said to keep them but I decided to relist, sell them and forward the money via Paypal to the Seller.

I have a box of doubles spares (mostly old sixpenny coins) that I considered putting onto eBay and now know how much trouble it is. Taking photos, listing, packing them up, printing receipt, taking them to the Post Office just for a few pence in 'profit'.

To be fair the seller got $12 clear and I had a small warm glow from doing the right thing, but it was a real pain for so little gain. Everyone in the process seems to do better than the seller, eBay and Paypal especially. Unless the numbers stack up, just the time and fuel going to the Post Office removes any gain.

 

Still selling but some buyers make it difficult as more and more catch on that they can do anything....bid on your auctions and win then not pay, claim damage upon receipt to things that are irreplaceable (sometimes USPS, sometimes buyer), and my favorite, claiming fraud on items that I practically gave away so they can try to get it for free...I have beaten all of those claims so far. These things just take the fun out of it all with no recourse on the buyer.

 

I've gotten the short end of the stick a couple times as a seller. I still use eBay for sales, but now I don't offer returns to protect myself better from problem buyers. It's clear that if you indicate you accept returns, buyers can do just about anything and eBay will decide in their favor. I feel bad to have to do that, because there are a lot of good buyers out there too, but if someone had an honest problem I'd work it out with them.

Especially problematic is the whole "free shipping" thing. This is nonsense. Shipping is not free. If the buyer returns an item that had free shipping you then have to refund the entire amount, including the portion you used to pay for shipping.

 

So, if not EBay, where else can you sell that is favorable?

 

BidStart, acquired by Stanley Gibbons Ltd., claims to be about to launch a new website for coins, stamps, and picture postcards. Delcampe has a well-established auction in place, but it's in Europe, and the buyers tend to be European, and postage is of course astronomical.

IMHO, eBay remains the best choice, but I seldom list anything over $20 for the very reasons you cite. Furthermore, they don't care if you get ripped off or not, as long as they make their 9%-10%. And I'd be ecstatic if one of their Help-Zombies spoke English.

The benefit is that they "probably" have over 80% of the market.

 

Jaelus - Not accepting returns doesn't work either - I used to do that.
eBay trumps that by offering the buyer a "No Risk Guarantee" which means that if the buyer chooses to they can open a claim and then eBay freezes your account and Paypal money until you resolve it, i.e. pay for the return shipping and refund the buyer, or in my case, I just let the buyer have it since it would have cost me more to have it returned...

 

I'm surprised so many people have problems selling on ebay and with the USPS. I sold around 2000 items last year, with only one or two returns, no other problems and the USPS got everything to where it belonged.

 

I wonder how much this limits your sales. I know I'd almost never consider buying from a seller that listed "No returns," mostly because of the hassle.

 

Yea but it sets the bar higher. If you offer returns, they can return the item for literally any reason. It's easier for a buyer to abuse.

 

Hard to say, but all my photos are clear and high resolution. 100% feedback for almost as long as eBay has existed.

Personally, the only time I even look to see if returns are accepted is if I'm taking a gamble on a raw coin with really crappy photos. I'm not buying a coin because I want to return it, and I don't expect return privileges anywhere else I buy coins. Besides, most reasonable reasons for returns are covered by eBay's buyer guarantee regardless.

 

Also when it comes to damaged returns...
I used to think that shipping insurance was for the buyer but in eBay's case it is not...it is for the seller and it's up to you to pay for it. eBay told me I could not offer insurance to my buyers; it was against their policy so now I charge a handling fee to pay for the insurance and pass it onto the buyer that way...of course eBay gets a cut of that too since they include shipping costs in the final value fee. They did this some time ago to stop people selling something for 1 cent and charging 50 dollars shipping.

 

I really cut down my ebay selling big time this year. Mainly, as was mentioned earlier, something seemed to have changed, and now it's very hard to sell my coins. I always list my items lower than anyone else, and usually still have to discount it multiple times before it sells. It pains me to see sold auction amounts in the past for a lot higher amounts than what I had to sell it for. I now see items similar to what I sell go for much higher amounts on Heritage, but the fees are sky high. I think ebay is better for buying, if you are patient for the true auctions. I just don't know the best way to sell that is a good deal for both the seller and the buyer.

 

Calling all techies...someone needs to create a new eBay and cut all the bloat out....and it needs to be funded correctly so word gets out. the only thing that will fix eBay is competition!