Ebay alternative?
OhioGuy
ever since they jacked their fees up about a year ago, and then again 4
months ago or so.
I looked at a couple of promising websites that had a lot of things
listed, only to find when I did a search for some popular items that had
actually sold over the past year, only 3 or 4 came up. (I would have
expected at least dozens) So while many things are listed, few are selling.
Can anyone recommend a place that folks are actually checking out?
JR Weiss
> I've been looking for an alternative to Ebay to sell some things on, ever
> since they jacked their fees up about a year ago, and then again 4 months ago
> or so.
>
Craig's List. www.craigslist.org
Dave
"JR Weiss" <jrw...@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:gl7riu$pdl$1...@news.motzarella.org...
I second that. Other than some really small items that can be sent Priority
Mail AND fit in a regular sized mailbox, ebay is useless. Use craigslist
for everything else. -Dave
OhioGuy
local listings on Craigslist rarely result in a sale, even when priced
40% below going prices on Ebay.
Wish Yahoo hadn't dropped Yahoo Auctions - that was a great place to
buy and sell coins.
Rod Speed
I havent found any operation that comes close to ebay volume of
transactions wise except one operation they took over years ago.
Presumably your problem is that their fees dont suit the type of thing you are selling.
Dave
"OhioGuy" <no...@none.net> wrote in message
news:gl7s6b$1fnj$1...@news.ett.com.ua...
> Ebay owns a minority stake in Craigslist.
That is troubling news. Very troubling. Craigslist is awesome. Ebay will
ruin it, though.
> Also, I've noticed that local listings on Craigslist rarely result in a
> sale, even when priced 40% below going prices on Ebay.
How would you know? Local listings expire eventually, unless the lister
takes other action to edit and/or delete the listing. I know several items
I've purchased from Craigslist posters...the listing was still active on
Craigslist several days later. SOME Craigslist users will edit their
listing to say "sold" when the item is gone. Most seem to just let the
listing expire after the sale. So if you are going by the listings that say
"sold", you would get the impression that almost nothing ever sells. More
common, unfortunately, is that items sell within minutes of being listed on
craigslist. I say unfortunately, as it's frustrating to see something that
you really want, just posted a few minutes ago, only to call the people and
have them tell you that it's GONE already. -Dave
OhioGuy
Well, I've been trying to use it as an alternative to Ebay for about
the past two years. Despite discounting some items severely compared to
what I've seen them going for on Ebay, usually I still don't get a sale
after 2 months.
The exception to this seems to be computer hardware. I usually seem
to get rid of that within a few days. Coins, stamps, comics and misc.
items are another story.
OhioGuy
>you are selling.
It is not so much that as how I've slowly seen the fees "creep" from
reasonable to unreasonable over the past 13 years.
Yes, I was one of the folks selling things on Ebay back when it was
called "Auctionweb". I also sold on Yahoo Auctions at around the same
time, when they were totally free for a couple of years. Then Yahoo
started charging about 10 cents.
There are several changes over the years that really stick out, though:
1) when they started charging both 'final value' and 'listing fees', to
psychologically break up the fees and make them seem smaller
2) when they started charging fees even when your item did not sell
3) When they said if you advertised Paypal acceptance, you had to
accept credit cards, and "upgrade" from a personal account This would
have been fine and dandy, because I only offered Paypal as a convenience
option in a followup email. However, Ebay's interpretation of their
statement was forcefully different. One person funded a Paypal payment
with a credit card, despite my email explaining that a huge 3 week delay
would be caused if they tried it, followed by a forced refund. My
options were to either accept the payment and 'upgrade' my account, or
totally refuse it.
4) When they told me that my positive feedback of 93 was not "good
enough" - evidently 100 was needed - and I could no longer list any
auctions without Paypal - and credit cards - as a payment option.
Of course, this means that Ebay now gets huge extra fees, even if
someone pays with an existing Paypal balance.
And finally, when I noticed that I was paying over 20% to sell some
of my items lately, it just got to the point where I stopped listing
things, and got a bit depressed. I hadn't noticed it until I summed up
all the little fees spread all over the place.
Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds
Dave
> enough" - evidently 100 was needed - and I could no longer list any
> auctions without Paypal - and credit cards - as a payment option.
OK, as ebay exists now, the feedback rating is useless.
However, before ebay put draconian rules in effect limiting who could give
HONEST feedback to whom...
(essentially destroying what USED TO BE somewhat effective)
93 would be a piss-poor ebay feedback rating, the equivalent of an F- on a
letter grade scale. Someone who sells a lot had to be pretty dishonest
(read: a crook) to get lower than 98 on ebay's feedback rating scale. Sad
to say, but it was true...even the worst sellers on ebay could usually get a
98% or better quite easily.
While I still cared to try to use ebay, I wouldn't buy anything from anybody
with less than 99% feedback. Even then, if the feedback was 99%, I
scrutinized comments from buyers carefully before I'd place a bid or "buy
now".
So no, your feedback of 93 was NOT "good enough". Not excusing ebay's
actions at all, but if they wanted to restrict somebody, then somebody with
a 93 feedback seems like fair game to me. -Dave
Rod Speed
>> Presumably your problem is that their fees dont suit the type of
>> thing you are selling.
> It is not so much that as how I've slowly seen the fees "creep" from
> reasonable to unreasonable over the past 13 years.
I think its more that they are only unreasonable for the sort of thing you are selling.
> Yes, I was one of the folks selling things on Ebay back when it was
> called "Auctionweb". I also sold on Yahoo Auctions at around the same
> time, when they were totally free for a couple of years. Then Yahoo
> started charging about 10 cents.
> There are several changes over the years that really stick out, though:
> 1) when they started charging both 'final value' and 'listing fees',
> to psychologically break up the fees and make them seem smaller
It was more to make the auction system work better, particularly for
those who listed great rafts of stuff that never did get any bids etc.
> 2) when they started charging fees even when your item did not sell
Because so many were listing stuff at prices that didnt attract many and just
leaving them there forever, effectively more like a retail store than an auction.
> 3) When they said if you advertised Paypal acceptance, you had to accept credit cards, and "upgrade" from a personal
> account This would have been fine and dandy, because I only offered Paypal as a convenience option in a followup
> email.
It should be obvious why there werent too keen in that sort of thing.
> However, Ebay's interpretation of their statement was forcefully different. One person funded a Paypal payment with a
> credit card, despite my email explaining that a huge 3 week delay would be caused if they tried it, followed by a
> forced refund. My options were to either accept the payment and 'upgrade' my account, or totally refuse it.
> 4) When they told me that my positive feedback of 93 was not "good enough" - evidently 100 was needed
Presumably you mean 100 feedbacks, not the percentage good ones.
> - and I could no longer list any auctions without Paypal - and credit cards - as a payment option.
Yeah, quite a few didnt like that and my country banned them from doing that.
> Of course, this means that Ebay now gets huge extra fees,
They arent huge at all.
> even if someone pays with an existing Paypal balance.
> And finally, when I noticed that I was paying over 20% to sell some of my items lately, it just got to the point where
> I stopped listing things, and got a bit depressed. I hadn't noticed it until I summed up all the little fees spread
> all over the place.
Clearly hasnt affected most who sell stuff on ebay.
Rod Speed
>> 4) When they told me that my positive feedback of 93 was not "good
>> enough" - evidently 100 was needed - and I could no longer list any
>> auctions without Paypal - and credit cards - as a payment option.
> OK, as ebay exists now, the feedback rating is useless.
Its nothing like useless, just got some imperfections.
> However, before ebay put draconian rules in effect limiting who could give HONEST feedback to whom...
> (essentially destroying what USED TO BE somewhat effective)
Its nothing like destroyed.
> 93 would be a piss-poor ebay feedback rating, the equivalent of an F-
> on a letter grade scale. Someone who sells a lot had to be pretty
> dishonest (read: a crook) to get lower than 98 on ebay's feedback
> rating scale. Sad to say, but it was true...even the worst sellers
> on ebay could usually get a 98% or better quite easily.
> While I still cared to try to use ebay, I wouldn't buy anything from anybody with less than 99% feedback.
More fool you, particularly with those that hardly ever sell anything.
Lou
> >Presumably your problem is that their fees dont suit the type of thing
> >you are selling.
>
> It is not so much that as how I've slowly seen the fees "creep" from
> reasonable to unreasonable over the past 13 years.
>
> 4) When they told me that my positive feedback of 93 was not "good
> enough" - evidently 100 was needed - and I could no longer list any
> auctions without Paypal - and credit cards - as a payment option.
Would you buy something at the local supermarket, shoe store, computer store
or whatever where you were dissatisfied with 3 out of every 10 items you
bought? I wouldn't even think about it without an ironclad guaranteed way
to get my money back, and even then, I'd probably conclude it wasn't worth
the trouble and go somewhere else.
Rod Speed
> "OhioGuy" <no...@none.net> wrote in message
> news:gl86q7$1nke$1...@news.ett.com.ua...
>>> Presumably your problem is that their fees dont suit the type of
>>> thing
>> >you are selling.
>>
>> It is not so much that as how I've slowly seen the fees "creep"
>> from reasonable to unreasonable over the past 13 years.
>>
> (snipped)
>> 4) When they told me that my positive feedback of 93 was not "good
>> enough" - evidently 100 was needed - and I could no longer list any
>> auctions without Paypal - and credit cards - as a payment option.
> Would you buy something at the local supermarket, shoe store,
> computer store or whatever where you were dissatisfied with 3 out of
> every 10 items you bought?
Irrelevant to the ebay feedback system.
I might well buy stuff from a store where 7 out of 100 decided that
they would return items to the store, because quite a few of them
likely never intended to keep them and were just getting a free use
of the item, and plenty more didnt like the item for reasons that I
dont agree with them on.
> I wouldn't even think about it without an ironclad guaranteed
> way to get my money back, and even then, I'd probably
> conclude it wasn't worth the trouble and go somewhere else.
Depends entirely on whether the item was readily available elsewhere.
JR Weiss
I've sold a car, a boat, and numerous computer and electronic items on
craigslist. Time to sell varies with the item and the market...
If you just want to SELL something locally, and not try to "auction" it
nationally, craigslist works very well. No fees, either!
h
"Dave" <now...@nohow2.not> wrote in message
news:gl88kp$9ge$1...@news.motzarella.org...
However, someone who has sold very few items and got one negative could
easily have a 93 or lower feedback score. A friend of mine sells less than
10 items a year. She recently had one non-paying bidder who refused to pay,
claiming that he never placed the bid. She followed all the rules and
eventually filed an unpaid item strike. The non-paying bidder then left her
negative feedback, but, as the seller, she could not leave a negative for
him. So, he still has a 100% positive rating while hers is currently south
of 90%. The new "improved" feedback rules have made eBay feedback less than
useless. Why on earth is someone who chose not to complete a transaction
allowed to leave feedback at all?
OhioGuy
> If you just want to SELL something locally, and not try to "auction" it
> nationally, craigslist works very well. No fees, either!
Yeah, my main idea is to clear things out, plus get a few bucks to go
to the movies or whatever. I've been very surprised that some things I
listed at a buck or two didn't get any answers at all. I guess it all
depends on how large of a metropolitan area you live in, and how active
people are locally.
I wish there was some way to have your postings listed in nearby
markets. For example, I'm only about 35 minutes from the North side of
Cincinnati, but my posts are limited to Dayton/Springfield.
OhioGuy
Sorry, my mistake. I had a 100% feedback rating, but only 93 total
feedbacks. (sales) Ebay decided you had to have at least 100 sales in
order to keep selling without taking Paypal/credit cards. Probably now
they just force everybody.
I just got tired of the higher and higher fees, then forcing me to do
things ways I didn't want.
The 2nd to last straw was when they really increased fees on DVD's.
The LAST straw was when they decided to tell me how much I was going
to be reimbursed for shipping DVD's. Has anyone even looked at that?
It costs me about 20 to 25% MORE than they now allow to ship a DVD,
including the packaging materials. That is for media mail shipping,
which is fairly inexpensive. I have no idea why they think I would take
a loss in order to sell on there.
Dave
What are you talking about? I live in New York State, and I could run a
posting on craigslist for cincinatti, if I wanted to. -Dave
Dave
> >93 would be a piss-poor ebay feedback rating,
>
> Sorry, my mistake. I had a 100% feedback rating, but only 93 total
> feedbacks. (sales) Ebay decided you had to have at least 100 sales in
> order to keep selling without taking Paypal/credit cards. Probably now
> they just force everybody.
Well yet one more reason to avoid ebay. I haven't sold anything on ebay in
quite a while. My feedback is just shy of 100, and I'd NEVER accept paypal
as a payment method. I'd never accept credit cards, either. -Dave
JR Weiss
>
> I wish there was some way to have your postings listed in nearby markets.
> For example, I'm only about 35 minutes from the North side of Cincinnati, but
> my posts are limited to Dayton/Springfield.
You'll have to stagger your ads so the "multi-listing police" don't shut you
down, but you can list alternate weeks or alternate "stuff" on the Cincinnati
board.
h
"Dave" <now...@nohow2.not> wrote in message
>
> Well yet one more reason to avoid ebay. I haven't sold anything on ebay
> in quite a while. My feedback is just shy of 100, and I'd NEVER accept
> paypal as a payment method. I'd never accept credit cards, either. -Dave
So how on earth would you get paid?
JR Weiss
>>
>> Well yet one more reason to avoid ebay. I haven't sold anything on ebay in
>> quite a while. My feedback is just shy of 100, and I'd NEVER accept paypal
>> as a payment method. I'd never accept credit cards, either. -Dave
>
> So how on earth would you get paid?
Cash; Postal Money Order...
Brian Elfert
> I wish there was some way to have your postings listed in nearby
>markets. For example, I'm only about 35 minutes from the North side of
>Cincinnati, but my posts are limited to Dayton/Springfield.
What stops you from putting an ad on the main Cincinnati Craigslist?
Considering the number of ads I see for stuff not local on Craigslist I
don't see why you couldn't post something on another Craigslist that is
actually local.
Brian Elfert
> The LAST straw was when they decided to tell me how much I was going
>to be reimbursed for shipping DVD's. Has anyone even looked at that?
>It costs me about 20 to 25% MORE than they now allow to ship a DVD,
>including the packaging materials. That is for media mail shipping,
>which is fairly inexpensive. I have no idea why they think I would take
>a loss in order to sell on there.
Only a guess, but I assume Ebay got sick of people charging inflated
shipping to get around final value fees. Things like Buy It Now for $1 on
a $15 item, but charging $19.95 for $4 worth of shipping.
I think a better answer would be to charge final value fees on shipping
since Ebay doesn't seem to know how much it really costs to ship
something. The real cost to ship can also vary drastically depending on
the size of the shipper and the volume discounts they might get.
h
"JR Weiss" <jrw...@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> "h" <tmc...@searchmachine.com> wrote...
>>>
>>> Well yet one more reason to avoid ebay. I haven't sold anything on ebay
>>> in quite a while. My feedback is just shy of 100, and I'd NEVER accept
>>> paypal as a payment method. I'd never accept credit cards,
>>
>> So how on earth would you get paid?
>
> Cash; Postal Money Order...
>
>
go to the post office, buy a money order, mail it, and then have to wait for
it to arrive and be cashed before the item can ship? You're kidding, right?
And a personal check would take even longer, since it can take 10 business
days to clear. And how do you handle foreign transactions and currency
exchange?
If I can't do the entire transaction from my keyboard I don't want any part
of it. I think most buyers are like that, at least most of mine.
JR Weiss
>
>>>> Well yet one more reason to avoid ebay. I haven't sold anything on ebay in
>>>> quite a while. My feedback is just shy of 100, and I'd NEVER accept paypal
>>>> as a payment method. I'd never accept credit cards, ither. >>>
>>
>> Cash; Postal Money Order...
>>
> Umm, ok. You can't mail cash and you really think buyers would be willing to
> go to the post office, buy a money order, mail it, and then have to wait for
> it to arrive and be cashed before the item can ship? You're kidding, right?
> And a personal check would take even longer, since it can take 10 business
> days to clear. And how do you handle foreign transactions and currency
> exchange?
As I said earlier, sell locally and use craigslist. For buying, use a real
store.
> If I can't do the entire transaction from my keyboard I don't want any part of
> it. I think most buyers are like that, at least most of mine.
Most of my buyers are more than willing to come to the house and pick up the
stuff. On occasion I'll deliver to theirs...
clams_casino
The trick is to ship via <calculated cost - varies by buyer location>.
You can add a S/H to achieve any total S/H you want. For items < lb,
you can also simply add a few ounces to the input weight.
clams_casino
For me, Paypal is the only way to go. I'd never buy anything off eBay
without a credit card funded Paypal payment. It's the only way to
guard against crooked sellers.
clams_casino
It worked for causal sellers, but those selling numerous items soon
realize money orders and checks really cost more in the long run with
respect to time.
clams_casino
I've had a few pick up items, but due to the time involved with setting
up appointments, etc, I soon realized it was a very time consuming
inconvenience. Along that line, it amazes me that someone would drive
10 miles to "save" $3-5 in S/H. For large items not easily mailed, it
obviously makes sense, but for smaller, mailable items, pickups
typically make no sense for the buyer or seller.
clams_casino
>In article <gl7qud$1ecc$1...@news.ett.com.ua>, OhioGuy <no...@none.net>
>wrote:
>
>
>
>> I've been looking for an alternative to Ebay to sell some things on,
>>ever since they jacked their fees up about a year ago, and then again 4
>>months ago or so.
>>
>> I looked at a couple of promising websites that had a lot of things
>>listed, only to find when I did a search for some popular items that had
>>actually sold over the past year, only 3 or 4 came up. (I would have
>>expected at least dozens) So while many things are listed, few are selling.
>>
>> Can anyone recommend a place that folks are actually checking out?
>>
>>
>
>http://www.craigslist.com
>
>
If there is an ample market within a relatively short distance,
Craigslist makes much sense. However, eBay can provide potential
buyers from all over the US or even the world, if you so choose,
provided the items are mailable with a minimum of work to package /
shipping cost.
BigDog1
> "JR Weiss" <jrwe...@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>
> news:glaa2u$bn0$1...@news.motzarella.org...> "h" <tmcl...@searchmachine.com> wrote...
>
> >>> Well yet one more reason to avoid ebay. I haven't sold anything on ebay
> >>> in quite a while. My feedback is just shy of 100, and I'd NEVER accept
> >>> paypal as a payment method. I'd never accept credit cards,
> >>> ither. -Dave
>
> >> So how on earth would you get paid?
>
> > Cash; Postal Money Order...
>
> Umm, ok. You can't mail cash and you really think buyers would be willing to
> go to the post office, buy a money order, mail it, and then have to wait for
> it to arrive and be cashed before the item can ship? You're kidding, right?
> And a personal check would take even longer, since it can take 10 business
> days to clear. And how do you handle foreign transactions and currency
> exchange?
>
> If I can't do the entire transaction from my keyboard I don't want any part
> of it. I think most buyers are like that, at least most of mine.
I think you're right. When I'm shopping on eBay I won't even look at
listings if the seller won't take PayPal. And when I'm selling, you
can't bid without a PayPal account.
Dave Garland
> You can't mail cash
Sure you can, though that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea.
> and you really think buyers would be willing to
> go to the post office, buy a money order, mail it, and then have to wait for
> it to arrive and be cashed before the item can ship?
Some will.
> And a personal check would take even longer, since it can take 10 business
> days to clear.
It can. But if the items aren't big ticket items, I'd go ahead and
ship them when I received payment. I never had a payment bounce.
> And how do you handle foreign transactions and currency exchange?
Just a guess, but with an International Postal Money Order? You can
cash it at the post office, when you go to ship the package.
> If I can't do the entire transaction from my keyboard I don't want any part
> of it. I think most buyers are like that, at least most of mine.
Instant is always good for sales. But not everybody has a PayPal
account and/or a credit card, either.
Dave
Gary Heston
>Cash; Postal Money Order...
FYI, Ebay stopped allowing payment by cash or money order late last year
for most items. I think the only options are credit card or paypal unless
you do local pickup.
Gary
--
Gary Heston ghe...@hiwaay.net http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/
"Behind every successful woman there is an astonished man"
General of the Army (four stars) Ann Dunwoody
Gary Heston
Gary Heston <ghe...@hiwaay.net> wrote:
>In article <glaa2u$bn0$1...@news.motzarella.org>,
>JR Weiss <jrweiss98155a...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>"h" <tmc...@searchmachine.com> wrote...
>>>> Well yet one more reason to avoid ebay. I haven't sold anything on ebay in
>>>> quite a while. My feedback is just shy of 100, and I'd NEVER accept paypal
>>>> as a payment method. I'd never accept credit cards, either. -Dave
>>> So how on earth would you get paid?
>>Cash; Postal Money Order...
>FYI, Ebay stopped allowing payment by cash or money order late last year
>for most items. I think the only options are credit card or paypal unless
>you do local pickup.
Excuse me, _checks_ or money orders. They only recommend cash if doing
local pickup.
Oddly enough, I saw an article indicating that their profits were down
for the last quarter...
clams_casino
>In article <glaa2u$bn0$1...@news.motzarella.org>,
>JR Weiss <jrweiss98155a...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>
>>"h" <tmc...@searchmachine.com> wrote...
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>>>Well yet one more reason to avoid ebay. I haven't sold anything on ebay in
>>>>quite a while. My feedback is just shy of 100, and I'd NEVER accept paypal
>>>>as a payment method. I'd never accept credit cards, either. -Dave
>>>>
>>>>
>
>
>
>>>So how on earth would you get paid?
>>>
>>>
>
>
>
>>Cash; Postal Money Order...
>>
>>
>
>FYI, Ebay stopped allowing payment by cash or money order late last year
>for most items. I think the only options are credit card or paypal unless
>you do local pickup.
>
>
>Gary
>
>
>
They only stopped allowing the advertising of accepting money orders,
etc. Sellers can still accept them if the buyer asks.
Dumb on the part of the buyer, but to each his own.
clams_casino
>
>Oddly enough, I saw an article indicating that their profits were down
>for the last quarter...
>
>
>Gary
>
>
>
Profits were down, but ahead of street estimates. Margins fell in the
fourth quarter to 22.3% from 28.7% a year earlier, as revenue dropped 7%.
OhioGuy
that I'm not actually in Cincinnati, and that it wasn't technically a
"local" post.
> Umm, ok. You can't mail cash and you really think buyers would be willing to
> go to the post office, buy a money order, mail it, and then have to wait for
You would be surprised. Prior to them forcing Paypal acceptance on
anyone, when I would send a followup email after auction end, about half
the people turned down paying by Paypal, and preferred to send out a
check or money order. Some folks considered it easier to whip out a
check and stuff it in an envelope than to get online, log in to Paypal
and transfer funds that way.
OhioGuy
> shipping to get around final value fees. Things like Buy It Now for $1 on
> a $15 item, but charging $19.95 for $4 worth of shipping.
"Get Around?????" I think you meant to say "make more transparent" the
ever increasing fees Ebay was adding on.
In fact, for every auction, I think Ebay should have an itemized list.
Item cost: $____
shipping cost: $____
Ebay fees: $_____
People could see that, and decide what to bid on
Brian Elfert
>> Only a guess, but I assume Ebay got sick of people charging inflated
>> shipping to get around final value fees. Things like Buy It Now for $1 on
>> a $15 item, but charging $19.95 for $4 worth of shipping.
>"Get Around?????" I think you meant to say "make more transparent" the
>ever increasing fees Ebay was adding on.
These sellers are/were ripping off Ebay. Ebay was only charging them a
final value fee on the $1 price for the item when the seller should have
been paying the FVF on at least $15. The seller charged a shipping fee of
4 to 5 times the actual shipping fee to get around the FVF fees that
are/were not charged on shipping.
This has nothing to do with fee transparency and everything to do with
ripping off Ebay.
I no longer shop Ebay much because a lot of sellers have left and I can
rarely find what I want to buy unlike the old days of a few years back.
No other site has the enough items and sellers to make it worth the time
to look at.
clams_casino
What an item costs a seller makes no difference as to what I'm willing
to pay. In fact, that's true for anything I buy.
Are you willing to pay more for something just because a seller has a
higher cost structure?
The Real Bev
>>What stops you from putting an ad on the main Cincinnati Craigslist?
>
> Well, I tried it a couple of times, and they pulled it after noticing
> that I'm not actually in Cincinnati, and that it wasn't technically a
> "local" post.
>
>> Umm, ok. You can't mail cash and you really think buyers would be willing to
>> go to the post office, buy a money order, mail it, and then have to wait for
The post office is a crook and it gets no more of my money than I have to give it.
> You would be surprised. Prior to them forcing Paypal acceptance on
> anyone, when I would send a followup email after auction end, about half
> the people turned down paying by Paypal, and preferred to send out a
> check or money order. Some folks considered it easier to whip out a
> check and stuff it in an envelope than to get online, log in to Paypal
> and transfer funds that way.
My paypal account only uses a credit card -- NOBODY gets to play with my
checking account. I don't understand what the problem is; you can complain to
your credit card company if things down't go right -- what could possibly go
worng? I haven't had any problems buying stuff on ebay, but I've never bought
anything expensive, either.
--
Cheers, Bev
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I'm pretty sure omnipotent entities don't need
middlemen to get their message to the people.
The Real Bev
> OhioGuy <no...@none.net> writes:
>
>>> Only a guess, but I assume Ebay got sick of people charging inflated
>>> shipping to get around final value fees. Things like Buy It Now for $1 on
>>> a $15 item, but charging $19.95 for $4 worth of shipping.
>
>>"Get Around?????" I think you meant to say "make more transparent" the
>>ever increasing fees Ebay was adding on.
>
> These sellers are/were ripping off Ebay. Ebay was only charging them a
> final value fee on the $1 price for the item when the seller should have
> been paying the FVF on at least $15. The seller charged a shipping fee of
> 4 to 5 times the actual shipping fee to get around the FVF fees that
> are/were not charged on shipping.
>
> This has nothing to do with fee transparency and everything to do with
> ripping off Ebay.
A lot of sellers/businesses are happy to refund the purchase price if the item
doesn't work, but the shipping fees (both ways) are gone forever. The good news
is you probably don't have to pay sales tax on shipping fees.
> I no longer shop Ebay much because a lot of sellers have left and I can
> rarely find what I want to buy unlike the old days of a few years back.
> No other site has the enough items and sellers to make it worth the time
> to look at.
It turns up when you do google searches for stuff you want to buy, and mostly
you can get a better price than non-ebay, providing you can find it on ebay.
--
Cheers,
Bev
=========================================================
"If you watch TV news, you know less about the world than
if you just drank gin straight from the bottle."
- Garrison Keillor
Brian Elfert
>It turns up when you do google searches for stuff you want to buy, and mostly
>you can get a better price than non-ebay, providing you can find it on ebay.
The problem is finding the stuff on Ebay. Most of the stuff I used to buy
on Ebay is no longer sold there.
A lot of the stuff I was buying was unique and somewhat obscure like
explosion-proof parts and parts for buses. New explosion-proof parts are
gold plated expensive and hard to buy for the average person.
hal...@aol.com
take time off, sell under another name while the bad feedback ages out
of the system.
had 2 really bad seller problems in the past, both never returned
phone calls to me or other buyers. no excuse for that.......
both quit selling with feedback in 80s, now both are happily back near
100% which they gt byt their horrible feedback aging.......
just a few days ago they involuntarily changed my home page, which i
prefered.
i have just about had it with e bay.
having sold in the paST SELLERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO LEAVE NEGATIVE
FEEDBACK FOR BUYERS
h
<hal...@aol.com> wrote in message news:383b9834-44af-4799-be50->
> i have just about had it with e bay.
>
> having sold in the paST SELLERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO LEAVE NEGATIVE
> FEEDBACK FOR BUYERS
Oh yeah. I had a non-paying bidder (claim he never bid, refused to pay,
threatened me) leave negative feedback for me when he was the one who
refused to complete the transaction. The frosting on my cookies was my
inability to leave him a negative while he ruined my 100% positive after 9
years on eBay. I was eventually able to get eBay to remove the feedback (the
guy was suspended for too many unpaid item strikes in his first 30 days with
eBay) but it was a royal pain. Sellers used to be able to leave negative
feedback, although this was the first time I ever wanted to do it.
clams_casino
So which do you prefer - leaving a negative or having the negative removed?
My only negative in ten years of selling was also by a non paying
bidding, but in years past, eBay would do nothing about it.
Truly Stunned
> I've been looking for an alternative to Ebay to sell some things on,
> ever since they jacked their fees up about a year ago, and then again 4
> months ago or so.
>
> I looked at a couple of promising websites that had a lot of things
> listed, only to find when I did a search for some popular items that had
> actually sold over the past year, only 3 or 4 came up. (I would have
> expected at least dozens) So while many things are listed, few are selling.
>
> Can anyone recommend a place that folks are actually checking out?
Samatha Hill -- take out TRASH to reply
> Ebay owns a minority stake in Craigslist. Also, I've noticed that
> local listings on Craigslist rarely result in a sale, even when priced
> 40% below going prices on Ebay.
Craigslist was never meant to be a poor man's Ebay -- only as an
alternative to a local community bulletin board that you put cards up
on. CL does what it does very well -- being Ebay is not something it
was meant to do.
h
"Samatha Hill -- take out TRASH to reply" <sam...@TRASHsonic.net> wrote in
message news:4980301b$0$95540$742e...@news.sonic.net...
Craigslist is great when you have something that can't be shipped and must
be picked up locally. I've sold several items on CL that would never have
sold on eBay, especially now that you MUST specify some sort of shipping
option. That's really hard to do when it's industrial equipment weighing
hundreds of pounds and you don't know quite how much and you only want a
couple of hundred $ for it.