I Will Never Sell On eBay Again

[rand1com]

Originally Posted by jingram058

Just sold 7 items of vintage on eBay. Total with shipping, $421. After fees, $337. Spent $55 out of pocket to mail everything out. Now we're down to $282 of net profit. One guy had the nerve to tell me I was unreasonable for charging $10 for Priority Mail, which actually cost $19. This for an item from 1897 that I bought in the 1990s for well over $100 that he snagged from me for $67. On the other hand, one item from 1904 that I think I paid $8 for sold for $167. But since I haven't sold on eBay since 2017, I am a "new seller", even though I have been on eBay since 1998. I have to wait until the items arrive (tracking) in order to receive payments. So all of this...fees, waiting to receive payments, is a total pain. I won't sell on eBay ever again. You guys that sell on eBay, I don't know how or why you do so.

It is a business model just like any other business. The fees, shipping costs, etc. have to be factored into the business. Try to open a store front that has a 12.35% OH that reaches millions of potential buyers. Good Luck!

Bottom line is Ebay is the best marketplace to reach a wide variety of buyers at a reasonable level. Certainly, it can be a headache at times but unless you do a lot of shows, it is the best place to sell.

It has been mentioned on here before as well but after a sale price surpasses $2500, the fee drops to .0235% for any amount above that threshold. So, on expensive items the net fees can be much less than the standard 12.35%.

Auction houses charge the seller 20% on say items expected to bring $500 or less. Yes, they do the work to describe and list the item and start the auction at 40% of the perceived value but with no guarantee of a return amount.

At least on Ebay, if you want $100 for an item, you can price it so that you get the $100 or keep your item. Just list it at a BIN of $120 and the $20 will cover all your costs as long as you charge the buyer the actual shipping costs and you net the $100 you wanted. True, it may sit for years and never sell but if that is the case, you probably have it way overpriced for the market.

[LEHR]

Originally Posted by rand1com

Auction houses charge the seller 20% on say items expected to bring $500 or less. Yes, they do the work to describe and list the item and start the auction at 40% of the perceived value but with no guarantee of a return amount.

I have never paid a sellers fee on a consignment to an auction house, even on lower dollar items. There is so much competition now I believe that's basically a thing of the past for most AH's, especially if you deal with one or two all the time.

[scgaynor]

If you don't have a following already it is going to be very hit and miss. Items are easily missed if people are not already looking at your offerings. Especially if you are selling anything other than cards.

I get the numbers that I do because about 70% of my buyers are repeat customers. I have about 6000 people on me email list. But that is built up over 25+ years of selling on ebay.

If you were to start putting items on ebay on a regular basis, you would see better prices within 6 months as you develop a following.

[Northviewcats]

Originally Posted by scgaynor

If you don't have a following already it is going to be very hit and miss. Items are easily missed if people are not already looking at your offerings. Especially if you are selling anything other than cards.

I get the numbers that I do because about 70% of my buyers are repeat customers. I have about 6000 people on me email list. But that is built up over 25+ years of selling on ebay.

If you were to start putting items on ebay on a regular basis, you would see better prices within 6 months as you develop a following.

I agree. I am up to 500 watchers in my eBay store, and like Scott 70% of my sales are repeat customers. The key is to keep listing new items and refresh the old listings (I wish I was better at this). The fees don't bother me. I think that when you figure the cost to set up a booth at a show it is probably a wash, and you don't have to lug around your inventory.

[rand1com]

Originally Posted by LEHR

I have never paid a sellers fee on a consignment to an auction house, even on lower dollar items. There is so much competition now I believe that's basically a thing of the past for most AH's, especially if you deal with one or two all the time.

If you have an established relationship over the years with an auction house or two and they know you have had really good items that have been consigned, they may well give you a zero seller commission on lesser valued items hoping to get the better items down the road.

However, a new consignor has zero chance of getting a zero seller commission on a few $500 items.

I have a friend who consigned a $10,000 collection to a major auction house as his first consignment and I told him he could get zero but the best they would do was 10%. He certainly could have found another major house that would have done zero if he shopped around with a collection of this value, but he did not. He just settled against my advise.

My original reference was to the type items this seller sold on Ebay. The vast majority of the major auction houses would not take those items even with a 20% seller premium. They have too much of the more valuable stuff to fill their catalog with $100 items. They might lot up a bunch of them into a single lot but no way they do zero commission.

[Touch'EmAll]

eBay has finally pushed up their fees so it closely matches the buyers premium at most auction houses. This is it, they can't push up fees anymore or risk a big drop off in decent listings, which I am sure they don't want if they are even remotely smart. Basically, you now get to keep 80 %. Sigh.

[icurnmedic]

Originally Posted by Touch'EmAll

eBay has finally pushed up their fees so it closely matches the buyers premium at most auction houses. This is it, they can't push up fees anymore or risk a big drop off in decent listings, which I am sure they don't want if they are even remotely smart. Basically, you now get to keep 80 %. Sigh.

Use to be when you factor in PayPal fees it was close to 20% depending on item prices. It is a ripoff but is what it is

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by icurnmedic

Use to be when you factor in PayPal fees it was close to 20% depending on item prices. It is a ripoff but is what it is

No, not really. Ebay raised their fees proportionally when they took over the payment processing from Paypal.....Then they started taking Final value fees on top of merchant processing fees out of the Shipping charges and Sales Tax / Vat Tax collection.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Yeah, eBay really, really sucks now. It's mostly museum listings and junk now.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Yeah, eBay really, really sucks now. It's mostly museum listings and junk now.

Still better than COMC.

I am guessing most of eBay sucking is from when everyone thought they might get a 1099 since many on there are actually running a business they called a hobby. I would love to hear how the audits turned out from those that got them.

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by LEHR

I have never paid a sellers fee on a consignment to an auction house, even on lower dollar items. There is so much competition now I believe that's basically a thing of the past for most AH's, especially if you deal with one or two all the time.

You may not "pay" anything additional as a seller, but only receive 80% of what the auction house collects. I posit that the overwhelming majority of cases, a buyer is not paying 20% over "market". They back out the 20% buyers premium (and sometimes tax & shipping) to land at their final bid. Ultimately netting you in your "favored" status 80% of market value.

[LEHR]

Originally Posted by hcv123

You may not "pay" anything additional as a seller, but only receive 80% of what the auction house collects. I posit that the overwhelming majority of cases, a buyer is not paying 20% over "market". They back out the 20% buyers premium (and sometimes tax & shipping) to land at their final bid. Ultimately netting you in your "favored" status 80% of market value.

I'm not talking about the Buyers Premium the AH tacks on the the hammer price, I'm saying I'm not paying a sellers fee upfront in addition to the BP the AH collects.
I've also had many items sell for 15%-150% over what I expected them to sell for, and so far this has by far made up for the items that fall short of my expectations. Many items sell for more than perceived market value.

[perezfan]

I stopped selling on eBay 5-6 years ago, and have gone the auction house route ever since. Some factors...

Many auction houses will offer you 0% or even a negative commission

You can package up everything at once and send to them in a single parcel (as opposed to packaging/addressing/sending out dozens of eBay parcels).

You don't have the pain in the ass of writing up/listing everything individually on eBay

I realize better prices than eBay, via the Catalog Auctions

There's more, but I deal more in memorabilia than cards, so some may not apply to the bulk of people reading this.

Bottom line... Leaving eBay is the best decision I've ever made, but to each his own.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by LEHR

I have never paid a sellers fee on a consignment to an auction house, even on lower dollar items. There is so much competition now I believe that's basically a thing of the past for most AH's, especially if you deal with one or two all the time.

I'm pretty sure he's referring to the Buyer's Premium, which is 20% pretty much always on lower dollar cards. And yes, the "Buyer's Premium" is a seller's fee regardless of what they call it.

[bmattioli]

EBay gets the most eyeballs. Adjust shipping fees accordingly..