Giving up on Ebay?

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by iggyman

Okay, I let it slide the first time and I almost agree with everything that Scott, Barry, and now Jimmy said. But, I do take exception to one little itsy-bitsy-thingy.

Once eBay fees (starting on March 31) start hovering around what an auction house would charge. Then from my standpoint as a seller, that venue is "dead as a dodo bird!!!" It's a no brainer, because to sell on eBay I have to...................

grade cards,
create lots,
take pictures,
pay for image hostings/templates/scheduling,
write descriptions,
update listings,
reply to questions,
sweat it out waiting for a sniper(s) to rescue me,
send invoices,
create shipping labels,
answer "do I combine shipping" questions,
securely package cards,
go to the post office,
make small talk with a burly postal worker with bad breath,
answer "why have my cards not arrive" questions,
track lost packages,
issue full refunds,
issue partial refunds,
accept returns,
deal with non-paying bidders,
re-list items,
deal with eBay's resolution center,
explain to my wife why I spend so much time in front of the computer,
keep records of all my transactions for the IRS,
balance my books to to see if I am in the red,
purchase bubble mailers
purchase top loaders
purchase bubble wrap
purchase/find boxes
purchase six-pack and/or heart medication.

For now, the beer is working, but in a few more years the only thing left would be the heart medication. Thus, do I want high blood pressure or for the same fees and profit margin will I now send my stuff to auction houses for 90% less agravation? I might not look like Einstein, but after March 31st, me and him will have alot in common.

Lovely Day...

You don't have to do any of those things Iggy. Either you choose to, or not to, do them. Now if you are trying to do this as full time employment, just remember this...when going into business for yourself, you get to choose ANY hours that you want to work! Any 14 hours a day.

Best, Jimmy

And BTW... Yes, it is a lovely day here in in Pasadena

[smtjoy]

While I do sell a lot on ebay I have many cards that when I do decide to sell them, they will go to an auction house as i think that is the best way to maximize my revenue.

Even with the fee increases I just feel ebays sweet spot is cards in the $1-$200 range, thats a range many auctions do not sell in and/or want to combine them into lots. I also feel that ebay has tons more low end bidders than auction houses, just goto the CU boards and see how many posters there buy all the time from ebay but have never bid in an auction.

[iggyman]

Look it, I'm not arguing that eBay isn't a great place to sell stuff or that it is too much work. The new changes, actually make it a little bit cheaper to sell cards under $25. But my point is simple, starting March 31th eBay's fees will reach the 12% threshold and at that point, from my perspective as a seller, the rewards are not worth the work. At least, not when I have other options.

Lovely Day...

[DaveW]

I have to say that as a guy that buys mostly under $100 cards, I love EBay. I do think there's way too much overpriced BIN stuff, but I just filter that out and look at the cards I'm interested in. I can usually find something interesting to buy. Now if I were a seller, I'd probably be annoyed with all the changes but where else would I sell all the low priced stuff? Maybe on the BST here where you have a pretty good pre-sorted audience.
- Dave

[teetwoohsix]

It sounds like ebay needs to appeal more to the sellers again,lower the fees and please both sides-sellers & buyers.

It sounds like only the sellers have negative issues with ebay.And without the sellers,what do you got?

[smtjoy]

To me BIN's are one of the biggest issues with ebay and I hope it's something Leon and Matt are looking into on their site. It's a tough area thou as BIN's have their place and I have done very well with mine on ebay but I also hate to see them over and over for years.

I think a lot of it goes with the fees charged, I was putting anything extra I had as a bin when it was $.03 a month, now that bin prices are going up I am removing all cards priced less than $10 or marking them lower to sell. Im sure this will clear up a lot of the low priced BINS but im not sure what can be done with the expensive overpriced ones as I'm sure many dealers dont mind paying $2 a month to list a $6000 card for $9000.

[barrysloate]

I don't know how Leon and Matt can prevent those BIN's, even though I agree they clutter up a site. The only thing you can do is make them prohibitively expensive.

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by teetwoohsix

It sounds like ebay needs to appeal more to the sellers again,lower the fees and please both sides-sellers & buyers.

It sounds like only the sellers have negative issues with ebay.And without the sellers,what do you got?

you have dealers buying the very very few nice items at auction and then putting them in their store for double & triple the price. That is the environment that EBAY created for themselves. It just takes all the fun out of it for the buyer. As a part time seller for fun, it doesn't take too many beatings at auction for it to lose it's luster, so part of me can understand the Buy it nows. Most of them though are just are a great place for people to have a private showing of their collections because they can't sell anything at outrageous prices, when they don't deal and want "ALL THE MONEY" on every deal. The over inflated buy it nows are so funny they make my side hurt.

Thanks E-bay for chasing all the buyers and sellers of auctions away with your feedback polices (hated retaliatory negatives so at least they stopped that) and your ever changing fee structure that I would need to be an Actuary to figure out.