What happened to people making offers and asking questions on ebay?

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by gunboat82

I can't even imagine what the spread is like for someone who has overhead and does this for a living. In this ecosystem, the auction houses and eBay are the real winners.

If you are trying to make money, it is imperative to carefully choose where to sell. Some things are best sold on eBay, others on consignment. eBay and AH costs have been converging for some time, so much so that in some cases eBay is just as expensive as a consignment. As an example, here is the breakdown on a recent eBay sale of mine:

What your buyer paid
Item subtotal $99.00
Shipping $6.00
Sales tax* $10.15
Order total** $115.15

What you earned
Order total $115.15
eBay collected from buyer Sales tax -$10.15
Transaction fees -$22.57
Shipping label -$3.96

Order earnings $78.47

eBay takes a cut of the shipping and the sales tax, so my effective 'commission' was 22.57%. However, this is an item of the sort that an AH would bury in a big lot so the extra 3% cost is worth it to make the item a retail item instead. I probably netted 2x-3x what I could have gotten on consignment.