So I must say... I havent sold anything on ebay in years, and only buy from them. I read lots of posts about people complaining about ebay fees and when I sold years ago, didnt see them as a huge deal.... until now. I went to ebay to check out the fees.... holy batman. 12% of final value on first $50, 6% up to 1k, and 2% over 1k?!?!?! Plus 3% for paypal? All in all that is 10% more for a larger transaction, and 15% for smaller ones... not including insert/listing fees. If you want to do more than one photo another $.25 per each. How are people staying in business, selling fairly low margin stuff on ebay? Like those bullion guys? People complain about paying 1% on managing their assets, yet dont even care about 12% on selling fees on ebay.
Plenty of people care. I am one of them. I was a PowerSeller on eBay for quite some time, but I quit selling because they were taking so big a bite of my action. Not to mention the rule that I considered absurd that I could not leave negative feedback for a buyer. It left me open to fraud, and I didn't want to deal with that. So, some people do care. Other people who, for instance, are just selling grandma's coins, may not care what they get for them. That's how eBay survives. Well, that plus the fact that coins are only a small part of their business and lots of other areas have higher profit margins.
Since the top of the year, I've felt kind of anti-eBay. Not just the egregious seller's fees but also the mandate that you only use Paypal. I'm a guy who had my Paypal account hacked and just barely kept from taking a hit on it. The whole electronic fund exchange stuff is still in its infancy and troubled with potential for harm. So I've bought less simply because of this Paypal requirement. I prefer sending a business check or cashier's check. I'm hoping that people will find this thing presents an opportunity for a rival to eBay, and that a new competitor will arise to challenge the eBay monopoly.
I have recently received an email from Ebay stating that I am in danger of losing my powerseller status, wooo wooooo I'm scared. 11 months ago I started my website to wean from the bay, best decision I have ever made. Shows, my site, and my contacts have made me financially independant from FleaBay, and when ( and if ) I am in need of emergency cash I can always throw up something there and hope it sticks. It is always good for that. As a SELLER right now they can take a long walk on a short dock for all I care, but I do still watch for coins that slip thru the cracks, I use a snipe program and place tons of bids....winning only those that I rip. 2 years ago, I lived and died by the bay. EDIT: I have 3000+ feedbacks, and maintain a 100% 4.9 star rating across the board, could not care less. Ebay did it themselves.
I have been an ebay member since 1998. I haven't sold in quite some time. Pre "you gotta take Paypal" actually. The last time I sold on ebay I was willing to take a loss as I was running "infoauctions". Spoof auctions to point out how unsrupulous sellers rip people off. Actually I didn't lose due to some people here on CT. We sell on ebay at work but only higher dollar stuff for the most part these days. We have 40 years of lower dollar stuff laying around that we could potentially profit on but it's a waste of time. What little I am selling these days will appear on the Open Forum, Coinbug and I'm looking at CoinZip. Granted the exposure isn't there but I'm not selling that much. I'd rather have something sit for free or get a decent offer now and then and it does happen. Should I want to sell something larger I'll just consign it to my boss. He has the contacts and the money is always good. Even giving him a percentage I'd still do better than ebay most of the time. Ebay is becoming increasingly clueless.
