Murder - EBAY is DEAD!!!

I think they really need to do something to get people back... one of the best things would be to actually lower their fees.. no lowering fees on one thing and increasing them somewhere else.

They are getting so much profit it is obscene... Tell you what, I would love to be a shareholder of that site.

But I think I'd be considering selling about now... before share prices started dropping dramatically.

If I had the money I would buy in to one of the smaller sites now, if they had public shares that is.

There are plenty of alternatives out there if you want to look. I sometimes list classifieds on http://www.craigslist.org They are completely free to list, your listing stays active for 45 days and there are no fees when the item sells either.

Alternatively, you can check out one of my blogs at http://www.I-hate-ebay.blogspot.com

There are several alternative sites listed on that page... including whether they charge listing fees etc.

Someone else who is very cynical about ebay I see.

Yes, the only winners on Ebay are ebay themselves... and like you say Paypal supplies to icing to the cake.

Buyers get a good deal though of course sellers increase prices just to cover ebay and paypal fees so even buyers end up getting shafted.

But the sellers are the main ones to be shafted. At one stage I was trying to get an ebay business off the ground and was making about $200 a month... but losing $80-$100 of that in ebay and paypal fees... not to mention when I got scammed by buyers (I lost about $500 through scammers alone)

Reason fees ended up being so high is for relisting fees, low profits in the first place... for example I might have a car dvd player that I could get for $200. I'd be forced to list it at $225 buy it now just to compete with all the other sellers and I'd lose about $17 of that in listing, final value and paypal fees.... earning me a grand total of $8.

After a while it just p*ssed me off and I gave up on it.

It's alright if you have a nice niche... like comic books for example. If you have the time to travel around to all the second hand stores and grab all their old comic books it can be a lovely little niche. Often people don't realise the value of things they throw away like that. You can pick up an old comic for $1 and sell it for $50-$100 on ebay... if it's one that the collectors are wanting. One of the most popular types of comics are the old war comics. I've seen comic books go for well over $250... because there's a bunch of collectors that all want it are willing to enter a bidding war to get it. But not all comics like that will sell for a high price... it's a case of trial and error.

Even so, I wouldn't sell them on ebay... I would go elsewhere to avoid ebays fees.

Or test products at real stores then buy the items cheaply online

I've got some alternatives already though... and they will improve as buyers move away from ebay.

That's very true... the traffic is the one advantage of ebay. That is probably why they feel they can charge through the roof on fees. After all, it's like advertising in a huge tabloid compared to a little local newspaper. But at least you pay up front for advertising in a paper.. there are no further fees.

I understand why people go to ebay, but the same bargains and similar security measures are available at many other auction sites also.

This is very true, there are other alternatives to Ebay. I never thought I could sell my craft items on Ebay and consistently turn a profit, so I sell on Etsy. I already know what the fees will be when I list, because it's a store and my price is already set, no bidding.
When my hubby sells on Ebay, it's sports memorabilia and there is probably no better place than Ebay for him. He knows the collectors are there looking for what he's selling and he only sells what he knows there is a strong market for.
I do buy quite a bit of supplies on Ebay. The sellers for some of my specific supplies sell only on Ebay, and I enjoy seeing if I can can buy at bargain prices!
Plus I get cash back from Ebay when I win an auction, so it does make sense for me to continue to shop there. If the specific sellers I buy from moved on, I would follow them, though.

The problem with stores on ebay now is that they charge a 10% final value fee on items sold... it would have been better to sell them without the store, that way the profit would have been higher. I hope you closed the store before getting charged for it since they get charged per full month so if you open a store on the 2nd you don't actually get charged for it till the end of the month.

Ebay owns the monopoly on auction sites and I think that has made them very arrogant, they feel that because of it they can charge exhorbitant fees and there is no-one to gainsay them.

Your friend who earns $300 per month probably has a lot of sales... or else a good profit on her items which can only happen in niche selling.

No I didn't close the store. I am trying to get it up and going again. For Christmas I made $400 with the DVD's, and that wasn't bad at all. The fees I stated were from Sept - April.

I have spoken with my friend and she helps me from time to time with things on Ebay. I know more than I did before because of her.

She does have brand name clothes in her store. She doesn't spend lots of money on them either. She gets bargains like after Christmas, she got about $100 of clothes (children's) for about $40 and she will make that back and profit from it.

My problem is I can't get around like I want because our van is down right now. I am hoping we will have it fixed in 4 more weeks or sooner. lol Waiting on tax rebate to do it:)

You are totally right on the niche, life and times for ebay as I see it too. Best part said.... It won't be the only game in town. ioffer.com seems to still be holding it's own. It used to be ewanted.com and I always have a hard time getting there. But all this ebay chatter forced me to go find it and I see something I will have to order over there. Oh oh I don't know about their fees for sellers either but I can say they were cheaper in the past. I see they have paypal as a option for the buyer to pay and it is international as far as many sellers/buyers from other countries. 165 I think is the number of countries it had posted on their home site. God Blesses!

The competition from other sites will do them good... as you say, they will no longer be the only game in town.

I believe their monopoly is coming to an end because of their greed.

Perhaps the competition may force them to lower their fees... eventually, they've got to realise that constantly increasing fees will ultimately impact on the bottom line.

Oh, I think the adrenaline rush of trying to win is one of the fun things with auction sites.

I don't let it get out of control though. If I'm bidding on something I set my maximum price and won't go above it. Sometimes I'll place a lower than maximum bid then update later if the price goes over it. Say for example the Coca Cola bomber jacket that I bought for my partner (they are a collectors item that you can't buy in store...they're actually a part of staff uniform). I was willing to pay $80 for it... but my initial maximum bid was only $60. Only when I was outbid did I bother to increase it, and then right at the end. I changed my maximum bid to $80 about 2 minutes before it closed... ended up paying $75.50 since the previous high bidder had placed a maximum bid of $75

Oh yeah, Christmas is the best time to sell anywhere. Your sales increase by heaps because everyone is looking for bargain christmas presents.

That sounds like a wise thing to do fanfreluche... have some listing elsewhere so you're not giving away all your profits to FEEBAY.

Would you mind telling me what the collectibles auction site is, please? I am currently looking for a Tiny Tim troll doll. (He has a tulip in one hand and a sign in the other that reads, "Tiptoe thru the Tulips with Me," and has very long fluffy hair - I think the hair is made of mohair.)

I also know someone who owns over 11,000 comic books, dating back from the early 1900s and is looking to sell them.

Thanks!

One of them is stampwants (you guess,it is for stamps mostly, but also a bit of coins, postcards,
paper money).
The other is the biggest european auction site: delcampe.net . For collectibles: stamps, coins, money, postcards,
and a bit of everything.

But for your friend with the comic book collection, I think ebay will still be the best place...or he can post on usenet forums (there is I think a comic book marketplace).