It used to be good fun to look at all the stuff on there, much like a car boot sale. Now it's far too commercial with loads of people all selling the same items at "buy it now prices" and pages and pages of the stuff. The auction part was half the fun. I loved trying to out-do someone by like 3p or something. Anyone agree?
2006-08-22 03:13:28 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Internet
Are there any alternative sites that I might like?
2006-08-22 03:19:35 · update #1
I am an e-bayer who both buys and sells. I understand your point fully and agree that - as a buyer - I often used to pick up bargains, but now I browse store and retail sites because - when the postage charges are added on e-bay - the items are often cheaper to buy new!
From the point of view of a seller though, I must say that e-bay charges absolutely hammer you. This is possibly the biggest reason for a shift to the e-bay shop rather than an auction. For example, I sell collectable playing cards - which I sell for around £4 per pack. Obviously, this is a low profit - high turnover business, but when charges from e-bay are: 67p for a weeks auction or 8p for 30 day buy it now, you can see why it is not worth taking the risk on auctioning something so small. On top of that, ebay then take a percentage of the sales price and charge a percentage on the payment if Paypal is used. As you can see, selling something for a small price actually ends up costing you money! This, I beleive is the problem, as I now sell a few items on the auction as a means to draw people into my retail site. Sorry guys! I am one of the people you are all moaning about, but I hope you can understand why.
Apart from that - I am glad I finally found the culprit who outbids me in the last seconds of an auction. You git!
2006-08-22 03:40:50 · answer #1 · answered by kingofclubs_uk 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ebay have got too big for their boots. They never respond to questions, or attempt to help the users- because they know fine well they are the biggest and most used auction site there is.
They've got thousands of Chinese and Far-Eastern sellers listing duplicate items, with extortionate postage costs- listing for FREE! They make no attempt to stop the scammers bidding on items. Yet again, they've put their fees up. Listing visibility is about zero.
There are many alternative sites, but many have tried to be anti-ebay with little or no listing fees. This is great, but people just list rubbish, so sometimes it's even worse than trawling through ebay. Google are rumoured to be bringing their own out. Try www.ebid.co.uk or www.tazbar.co.uk
2006-08-22 04:27:14 · answer #2 · answered by Crystal 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am new to EBay so I don't know, but you are right it is too commercial, I have only sold one thing and I only got a fifth of what it was worth. I believe you can only put a reserve of £50 on things. If that is true people are not getting the real value for their goods. I emailed EBay and asked them how to put a reserve on small items but they did not reply.
2006-08-22 03:26:40 · answer #3 · answered by ladybee5 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ebay sucks. From a small sellers point of view there is way too much competition out there now. The site is flooded with stuff. The fees they charge really get you. I sold 16 hard back books and with the fees and shipping and handling made nothing. I sold 2 pieces of 8 pieces listed of pottery - collectible. but I got snipers on my sale so I had to close it down and relist. other wise I wouldnt even get any bidder. They charge you every time you relist and I made nothing there either, and that was selling collectibles.( snipers are the people that watch and wait until the last second to bid to get it at the lowest price possible) So. I found out the amazon.com allows you to sell stuff there and so does a site called half.com. I wont list anything else on ebay again. To me, they rip you off. Typical corporate America - Give me mine and screw you.
2006-08-22 03:28:53 · answer #4 · answered by psstoffagain 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
eBay is just going to get worse.. While the days of bargin hunting may be over, eBay is forcing smaller non-dropshipment storefront owners to look elsewhere to sell. Before too long you won't be able to find the small trinkets such as costume jewelry, trading cards, and other low priced quality items on there.
2006-08-22 03:23:28 · answer #5 · answered by escaped_mental_case 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For your info. even car boot sales have gone the same way !
BUT ...
You can still use eBay, and choose only to see, auctioned stuff, and not see " Buy IT Now" ones and keep the fun.
Mind you though, technology has made it difficult for you to easily out bit, the pros.
There are websites , that for a subscription, allow you to bid your maximum amount, 2 or 3 seconds before the end of the auction, automatically !
2006-08-22 03:51:24 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
E-bay has gone way down in my estimates over the years, I have been loyal to E-bay for about 5 years now, and would always have a look at e-bay no matter what I brought, but it has not been until recently that I have been able to find better bargains online and twice in the past month somebody has tried to con me out off money, a once great auction site now the home to many cons and to many shops with buy it now prices.
2006-08-22 03:27:25 · answer #7 · answered by Loader2000 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it is very possible that thieves sell stolen goods on ebay. I have heard numerous reports of people seeing goods stolen from them ending up on ebay. I would be most wary of buying from a scammer tho.
2016-03-17 01:00:24 · answer #8 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
So true. What sucks the most is on smaller priced items people are making the money on S&H.
Craigslist is more like ebay was a few years ago.
http://www.craigslist.org/
2006-08-22 03:19:49 · answer #9 · answered by Securegeek 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I totally agree. I loved Ebay when it first started. Now it is not much different than all the other online stores.
2006-08-22 03:19:37 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋