Giving up on Ebay?

smtjoy · #1 03-19-2010, 09:50 AM

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 · #2 03-19-2010, 12:50 PM

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 · #3 03-19-2010, 01:10 PM

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 · #4 03-19-2010, 01:18 PM

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 · #5 03-19-2010, 03:28 PM

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 · #6 03-19-2010, 03:33 PM

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.

Leon · #7 03-19-2010, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

Just as mentioned above....the way the fee structure will be for sales vs BIN's is the way you get people to act in a certain way. For the most part people (myself included) are coin operated. We do what makes the most fiscal sense for us. Matt and I are discussing ways to make it fair for everyone. We certainly don't want the museum approach of ebay but at the same time we need to have an environment that is conducive to selling any way you want to.
There has been one late 1800's womens baseball cabinet, listed at $4200, for about 3 yrs (so it seems) on ebay. The thing is probably worth $50-$100. If it was cost prohibitive to list it, after the 50th time, the seller wouldn't do it. One other thing.....Matt informs me that after the beta that we hope to do soon, we might have to close down the site again for a short period of time, to do some updates. No doubt it will be well tested when we get to production. regards

Fuddjcal · #8 03-19-2010, 03:32 PM

Quote:

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.

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