I first joined eBay in 1997. Up until 5'ish years ago I was still checking eBay 5-6 times a day and was still buying and selling all the time. Now, with the search engine being jacked up, the museum prices, high (IMO) seller fee's, and the fact that eBay not only allows but forces me to accept ridiculous returns, I've completely stopped selling on their platform and my purchases have gone from an average of 1 a day to 2-4 a month. Like others have said, you can still find quality items at fair prices at times, but I've found this to only be through the auction format. I never really use the Buy It Now feature anymore.
With REA now doing the Encore auctions I'd rather consign to them, ship one box, and have ZERO headache.

From what I can tell, based on the things I look for and buy, and talking to my friends who also are into these old things, eBay is taking something that worked and ruining it. For a multitude of reasons. No one I know buys or sells there much anymore. I am the last of the holdouts, but even I admit it's become difficult. Nothing lasts forever.

I will add that the cards I have bought lately have come from sellers who do have an eBay presence but also have their own web sites (such as Kit Young Cards) and from sellers on this forum.

I feel like there’s a Yogiism somewhere in there. Something along the lines of: “no one goes there any more…it’s too crowded.”

Seems almost uniamous. Being a seller on ebay sucks and their return policies terrible. Why they even have 14 day returns when they offer a bypass. 30 day return ( plus 15 working days to ship back) . Just push the button that says "doesn't match website description, or bought by mistake." Allowing bidders to withdrawal bids on auctions is outrageous. All this an ebay customer service claim is they trust their buyers to be honest. Seriously?

As a buyer the difficulty to search has taken the fun out of looking at ebay. There still are hidden gems amongst the countless overpriced items

eBay
 

Wow, reading the comments is a little eye opening. While I have bought on there, I haven't sold on there in years. I didn't realize it had gotten that bad.
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Maybe it has for prewar baseball or even baseball in general, but for other card categories it remains the go-to place. You simply cannot beat the audience.

Memorabilia has simply dried (been collected) up some over the years, I think, totally apart from the other issues noted. But there's really no alternative on that side, either, so good stuff still pops up from time to time, and bargains still to be had.

I bought a lot of pins on ebay for $39.00 and they're worth probably $300. Well, the seller canceled the sale and refunded my money. He told me he "misplaced" the pins. That didn't sit well with me. I looked at his feedback and saw there was someone who left neutral feedback because he canceled that guys auction too within the last month. I looked at the item he canceled and it was a zippo lighter worth probably $120 or so but sold for $45 in an auction. I looked at his other sales and he was getting top dollar for everything. He knows the values, he's an antique dealer. He wanted to get full value for his items. He knew those two items went too cheaply, so he canceled the sales. That's a violation of ebay's selling policies. It's also just a very weaselly thing to do.
I reported him. People who do that shouldn't be selling on Ebay.

This is the message I sent him:

I don't believe for a second that you "misplaced" those pins. You feel like you didn't get enough for them so you cancelled the sale. Maybe you should start them at a price that's more acceptable to you to begin with, that way you don't have to cancel sales. Not that hard to figure out. Personally, my reputation is worth more than a few dollars so I would honor the sale even though I know I could get more for the item. But, that's me and apparently not you. I'm guessing you also "misplaced" that Vietnam lighter that you cancelled the sale on earlier this month too. You've earned the negative feedback I'm about to leave. This is my first time leaving negative feedback after thousands of transactions. Learn to do better.

In defense of eBay
 

Ouch. This story really hurts. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous dealers on eBay, however, I don't really think that this is the norm.

I buy and mostly sell on eBay, and I love the platform. I make about 100 sales each week on eBay and 70% of the sales are from repeat customers. I can see where it is difficult to find great buys on eBay. The search engine is not easy to set up to look for deals, and the prices are mostly at full retail. So, if you are looking for bargains on prewar cards, eBay is probably not for you. But there are a lot of collectors, that don't have the access to card shows. Or they don't want to buy large lots of cards and then try to sell the cards that they don't want. They are willing to pay more to get exactly what the card they want. These are the customers that eBay is catering to. We would have a lot less people enjoying the hobby if eBay was not available.

As a seller, it does take some effort to create listings and deal with the occasional problem buyer, but for the most part if you treat the customer the way that you would like to be treated, you don't have many problems. Overall, eBay's fees are reasonable for what you get. They do allow you to display thousands of items in your store for a small monthly fee. You are only charged the final value fee if the item sells. The fee structure does make it difficult to discount off the listed price when you take in the actual cost of selling the item. I don't sell at shows, but I'm sure that the vendors at shows have to deal with the costs of travel and setting up a booth. In any case, people always complain about the high cost of cards at shows, too.

In my opinion, although eBay is not perfect, I'm happy that eBay is here, and doing well.

Best regards,

Joe

I list a lot of $50-$500 cards on eBay. My take on things currently is if you are priced at and keep up to date with recent comps, you stand a good chance of moving a good percentage of your stuff within a few months of listing it. If you price at 2021 levels, you sell next to nothing. But, that is no different than the current state of card shows either. No one knows better than me what it is like to grudgingly list your cards for sale taking significant losses but if you are in that position, that’s what you have to do. Otherwise, don’t blame eBay/buyers for your lack of sales, it’s your own fault.

Funny that (the other) Rob just started this thread today. Before I just saw it, I had discussed my ebay frustrations earlier today with two other collector friends…

As a seller, ebay’s fees are ridiculous. They could cut their fees by 75% and still be rolling in the dough. I don’t sell enough to deal with the tax reporting but the fees are enough of a detriment.

As a buyer, my biggest beef is the proliferation of 24/7 trolls either jumping on every underpriced BIN within seconds or “getting to” sellers with offers that end auctions. I understand that some of the trolls buy and then sell as a way of making a living but others seem to be borderline hoarders. As a collector without the time to constantly be on ebay, it frustrates the hell out of me. I would love to see no BIN’s (at least on anything “pre-owned”) and an all auction format that would give us all a chance at the good stuff that comes up with ever decreasing frequency. Do the high end auction houses have BIN’s? I don’t think so. :p I just long for the days when collecting was a leisurely pastime and not a cutthroat business

As I recited (in excruciating detail in my article on eBay seller punishment fees), I spent a year in the surcharge doghouse and basically sold next to nothing on eBay. That ended on the 1st and I started selling immediately. My sales absolutely exploded after I started listing again. There is nowhere else I am aware of where I could have turned out a mix of items like this and had them sell quickly and for top dollar:

--1977 Topps Star Wars sets, display boxes, stickers
--Sports cards
--1st edition hardcover of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
--1959 NBA program
--1950s-1960s Oldsmobile postcards
--Mutoscope pin-up cards
--Academy Awards tickets
--WWII photos
--Rock and roll memorabilia

Yes, the fees end up as high as AH fees when it comes to lower end items, and it is annoying as hell to pay a final value fee on sales taxes and shipping costs, but if you have good items and price them well, it is a hell of a marketplace. I sell a lot of esoteric items and cards that would be lotted into 'shoeboxes' in most auctions to generate the minimum per lot that AHs like. Some were even turned down by AHs. There is also the friction of it; some eBay buyers are dweebs and others are obviously need major mental health care, but dealing with the occasional non-paying bidder or jerk is worth it.

I have never understood how it is within their legal right to profit from this.

I'm a big believer in don't sweat the stuff you can't control and that would certainly include other buyers' behavior.

Also the auction industry in general is starting to use BIN's in conjunction with the auction method. It's not everywhere yet, I haven't seen it in the sports collectibles category, but it's gaining traction overall. (I am not a fan)

Ditto!

eBay sucks for all the reasons stated, but it also seems to be the only place left where I can still close deals without bending over backward. I suspect it's a combination of much lower traffic on other sites and Facebook algorithms burying some posts.

Here are the shipped prices for all my eBay sales going back to last month, with what the same items were listed for on Facebook and other forums:

1500 (highest offer 1000) --> eBay 1803
3650 (highest offer 3400) --> eBay 4475
4300 (highest offer 3500) --> eBay 5083
2200 (tirekickers, no takers) --> eBay 2508
340 (no offers) --> eBay 434
415 (tirekickers, no takers) --> eBay 499
750 (no offers) --> eBay 1076

Outside eBay, most of the offers I receive come from high-volume resellers, and the negotiations generally involve them pointing out why my card looks worse than another card that sold for the same price two years ago.

And the prices speak for themselves. Collectively, eBay buyers spent $15,878 on my items, which they could have had for $13,105 if they simply knew to where to look. But they don't know where to look (or don't want to bother), so they pay a 21% fee.