Deadbeat bidders - eBay does not care

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by Tony Gordon

I'll take a card show over eBay every time. I sell at card shows every weekend (I'll be at Two Hearts in St. Louis on Sunday) because I make much more money at shows than on eBay and I find much better buys. If you factor in PayPal fees, I pay more to sell on eBay than I do in table fees.

I really dislike eBay. I've been on the site for 11 years now and in that time I've had to buy two computers, countless system software upgrades, and a new scanner and printer just to be able to continue to sell on the site. It's also sooo time consuming, i.e., searching my inventory for stuff to sell, scanning, filling out the sell form, dealing with questions/offers, packaging items and going to the post office every day.

As far as deadbeats go, I just had a guy stiff me on 14 items. I closed all 14 cases and the guy (I Bleed Dodger Blue) is still in good standing. I usually get several non-paying bidders a month. Also, eBay is constantly changing the site and its rules -- none for the better in my opinion. Now eBay wants me to give delivery confirmation on every item I sell or I lose my fee discount. Well, I sell a lot of post-war $5- $10 cards. I'll lose my shirt if I purchase delivery confirmation for every card. I may just have to finally throw in the towel and stick with shows. Did I say I dislike eBay?

I grew up at Two Hearts shows.

You talk like ebay is an inconvenient, yet you seem to leave out having to make a drive to the show with your entire inventory. If you are going out of town you have to get hotels (unless you have family/friends to stay with in each town) and you are still only hitting a certain market in your area.

I have a lot of complaints about ebay, but to act as if one is FAR superior over the other is a hard case to make.

There are definite pros/cons to each. I like going to shows for the interactions and seeing things first hand, yet I rarely buy at shows because I don't like trying to negotiate prices. Some people are comfortable doing that, I am not one of those people.