primitives discuss selling on eBay

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/102663

Oh my.

This campfire was lit last December, but it's still burning.

xiamiam (4,298 posts)    Mon Dec 19, 2011, 01:55 PM

How many ebay sellers do we have here?

Just curious. I sell on ebay and have 2 stores and one other site. This week has been the worst ever. Just wondering how others are doing ?

Also, for those of you who sell on ebay, perhaps you could post links to your sites.

HopeHoops (46,021 posts)    Mon Dec 19, 2011, 01:57 PM

1. I gave up on selling Christmas stuff after mid-November a couple of years ago.

There are so many damn items listed that it's more likely you'll be struck by lightening than have someone find your item in that mess. I don't bother listing until after the first of the year - most people are too busy or too wasted until then.

glinda (11,472 posts)    Mon Dec 19, 2011, 04:28 PM

2. This is a bad time to sell plus read the chat boards on Ebay since many are complaining that they are getting the shaft with Ebay the way they prioritize certain sellers.

april (1,091 posts)    Thu Dec 22, 2011, 12:00 PM

9. yes I agree

they want you to give free shipping w/ 1 day ship time for a spot ..BS

And the fees are killing any profit margin so what can you do

brer cat (1,586 posts)    Mon Dec 19, 2011, 06:46 PM

3. We are occasional sellers

...just a few auctions a year. Used to be full time but that ebay is long, long gone.

We are in an antique mall, and I sell books on other online sites. I am looking into itsy and may try a small store there in the new year. Our sales tend to be slow this time of year except books do very well through the season.

btw We sell antiques & vintage items with a focus on outdoor living & gardening items, vintage children's things and lots of gently used books (newish as well as old).

grasswire (35,821 posts)    Tue Dec 20, 2011, 12:46 PM

4. very occasional now

I used to make a living at it. It was like a money tree. Wake up in the morning and see how much money you made by selling items 24/7 to every corner of the globe. Literally. I sold to Tasmania, Singapore, remote British Isles, middle east.......everywhere. It was so cool.

^^^the pie-and-jam primitive, in case one doesn't know.

grasswire (35,821 posts)    Tue Dec 20, 2011, 12:52 PM

5. please do not post any links to your pages here

There is a hostile web site made up of conservatives who watch DU and have done harm to DU members in the real world. Be careful about posting personal info.

Hmmmm.

One wonders who those jerks are, who harmed primitives in real life.

quispquake (3,041 posts)   Tue Dec 20, 2011, 03:18 PM
 
6. It's the time of year...

I deal in records, and it's been slowing down a LOT...I'm expecting things to start picking up a bit next week (post gift certificates!). It did the same (slow down) last year too...

Vinca (21,979 posts)    Wed Dec 21, 2011, 08:16 AM

7. Lately I've been running a museum on ebay. Lots of lookers, no buyers.

Maybe you could write me down as an ebay participant rather than seller. I've just about given up on them completely, but thought I'd try a few things over the holidays. What a waste of time. Back to the brick and mortar shop with more stuff.

^^^the vindictive primitive, a notorious re-seller.

april (1,091 posts)    Thu Dec 22, 2011, 11:57 AM

8. I have been selling on ebay until about 2 weeks ago . all of my auctions ended..Do not want to deal w/ going to the PO ..OMG the fees on ebay have been killing any profit!

tavalon (24,311 posts)    Tue Dec 27, 2011, 01:48 AM

10. I quit after Meg Whitman did her "magic"

Ebay is fleecing the sellers. Buyers, OTOH, are golden, though it does confuse me how they think the golden cash cow will continue if sellers continue to leave and they probably will.

Now, if any of you are selling crafts you make, I can't recommend Etsy enough. Neat site.

supernova (38,975 posts)    Thu Dec 29, 2011, 01:34 PM

11. We might be getting into it this year

SO used to sell used electronic equipment over ebay (networking switches and the like) and was pretty successful at it.

This time he wants to sell vintage audio equipment. There is a pretty big market in vintage stereos and anything made with vacuum tubes.

He knows what he's doing as far as the equipment goes, but all the changes I'm seeing to ebay and how PP works are makes me concerned that is just isn't as easy as it used to be to make money this way. We would be doing this to make extra money. 

Doremus (4,949 posts)    Sat Dec 31, 2011, 12:44 PM

12. Fulltime seller for 14 years.

We currently have several hundred items listed in our store. Antiques and collectibles with a few newer things I run across now and then.

This new ebay is not for the faint hearted. More and more, sales are haphazard and inconsistent, though I admit this Xmas season exceeded all previous records for us.

We have Meg to thank for much of today's turmoil. By chasing the quick buck year after year to burnish her short term numbers, she built a rotten foundation for the future. How many (hundreds of) THOUSANDS of neophyte buyers did she kick in the teeth by not only allowing them to be fleeced by crooked sellers but by actively enabling it? How many of those buyers said to hell with ebay and shouted it from the rooftops to anyone within hearing distance? More than we know, I suspect.

Whether they come back to try again remains to be seen. One thing is sure: If ebay ultimately survives the Bain robber barons it will be a blessed miracle.

supernova (38,975 posts)   Sun Jan 1, 2012, 01:59 PM
 
13. What do you see as the biggest pluses and minuses of using Ebay to sell your merchandise? What are the things that ebay really does well. And what are your biggest challenges with using ebay?

After 14 years you must have seen quite a bit.

Doremus (4,949 posts)    Mon Jan 2, 2012, 12:19 AM

14. Despite its considerable drawbacks

Ebay still has the most eyeballs for secondhand merchandise.

That would be its biggest advantage over the myriad of wannabe sites. Amazon seems to be catching up in some categories, and there are probably some good specialty sites for niche items, again depending on what you sell. Craigslist is catching on too but I've found that most CL buyers are ebay sellers looking for inventory, at least in our area.

That's the long and short of ebay's advantages. 

The list of disadvantages would take more time than either of us has to write or read. High fees, buggy software, seller-hostile corporate culture, lack of customer support, few buyers and highly demanding sometimes scamming buyers ... the list goes on. The old (easy, fun) ebay is gone for good I'm afraid.

If you're looking to supplement your income or want to sell as a hobby, ebay would probably be great for you. For anything more, my advice would be to run far, far away and don't look back.

xiamiam (4,298 posts)    Sun Jan 22, 2012, 08:49 PM

17. wow..you have no idea how hard it is

did you know that ebay makes almost 10% on the shipping charges..so if the buyer pays $20. to ship an item which actually costs $20 to ship, ebay takes 9% actually, almost two dollars. On every shipping cost. Trust me, that adds up. Yet the buyer can leave low dsr's for overcharging on shipping . Thats makes it tough because the buyers dont know.

I dont see how ebay gets away with making a profit on shipping charges. I've called them over and over because as a collectible seller, I'm getting killed by them. Now I have 4 dings for overshipping charges and I swear, I don't make money on shipping and usually refund if they live in my state and it ends up costing less. However, 3 dings in a year, even if you have 250 perfect ratings takes away top rated seller status..which translates into a 20% discount on final value fees.

Good for the sellers but since Sept, they started profiting on shipping..plus 10% and making it more difficult to get the discount..so there ya go, they get 30% more at the end of the month and I'm still working my tail off. I dont charge for packaging materials but Ebay says just build those costs into the price but that's bs..at least for the things I sell. How do you raise your prices when people are struggling?

grasswire (35,821 posts)    Thu Jan 19, 2012, 01:56 PM

16. I miss the old ebay so much.

It was fun, it was thrilling, it was profitable, it was educational.

As a seller of (mostly) antique and vintage paper items, I had the fun of researching them to the nth degree to find anything about them that might enhance desirability. Just loved it.

I'm mostly out of ebay now. But I watch a seller who does very well, just to see what she's putting up. She sells vintage and retro kitchen, holiday, figurines, linens, and various other items. She makes a lot of money -- very nice supplemental income. She has a good eye. She also has a mall space. Her SO takes the photos and manages the accounting.

It can be done still if you have a niche and can acquire attractive stock that is profitable.

Paper Roses (4,485 posts)    Sun Oct 28, 2012, 06:08 PM

19. I am not a seller but gave some merchandise to a seller last winter.

His descriptions were fantastic, as were his pictures. I really did not make any money but moved some merchandise along.
It upsets me that I recommended that my daughter give her stuff to this seller. Don't misunderstand me, the seller is doing great with his obligations but there are no or very few bids on some really good stuff. I feel badly to have let her to give her assets to this method of sale.

My family collected stuff for years, no silly, plastic toys on holidays, we gave the kids antiques and taught them about the history of the gifted items.

What is happening is sad. My other daughter was going to sell some things this way. She has changed her mind and will repack her goodies and wait until things look better. Wise decision.

For those who sell on eBay, good luck. I feel badly that this method seems to have passed it's prime. The work is not easy, the effort by sellers is great(mostly) and the return is squeezing them out.

"assets" = junk.

sufrommich (12,607 posts)   Fri Nov 2, 2012, 05:34 PM
 
20. Etsy is getting very popular with vintage buyers and sellers. I sell more there than I ever did on Ebay. The only negative is that you sell for a set price,so if you're unsure of the value of an item and can't find sold prices in completed ebay auctions ,you have to guess. Etsy now offers gift cards, so after Xmas sales should be pretty good, they also offer sellers the ability to accept credit cards. I'm very happy there.

^^^must be a partner with Mrs. Alfred Packer, the now-gone "hippywife" primitive, on Etsy.

That's where Mrs. Alfred Packer sells her earrings.

[GOP Congress]

Let's see if these primitives ever put 2 + 2 together and figure out that economic policies their genius leaders impose on businesses affect their own pot and cheetos enterprises as well.

[Chris_]

grasswire (35,821 posts)    Tue Dec 20, 2011, 12:46 PM

4. I used to make a living at it. It was like a money tree. Wake up in the morning and see how much money you made by selling items 24/7 to every corner of the globe.

I miss George Bush too.

[miskie]

You know why your EBay sales suck ?

They suck because the economy sucks. And the economy sucks because Obama sucks as a president. It sucks so bad that if Elton John wrote a song about it, it would be called the Circle Of Suck.

[USA4ME]

Given the primitives political ideology, I'm appalled they desire to make a profit by selling merchandise and/or services.  They certainly don't want many other industries to make a profit, and they certainly want to tax them to death.  So yeah, I'm saying if they want to make money, they're being hypocrites.  At least they're consistant about being two-faced.

.

[franksolich]

At least they're consistant about being two-faced.

That's the only thing in which the primitives are consistent.

[Delmar]

You know why your EBay sales suck ?

They suck because the economy sucks. And the economy sucks because Obama sucks as a president. It sucks so bad that if Elton John wrote a song about it, it would be called the Circle Of Suck.

High five for Circle of Suck.

[jukin]

Given the primitives political ideology, I'm appalled they desire to make a profit by selling merchandise and/or services.  They certainly don't want many other industries to make a profit, and they certainly want to tax them to death.  So yeah, I'm saying if they want to make money, they're being hypocrites.  At least they're consistant about being two-faced.

.

This is different. Oh and forget about consumer protection when a predatory DUche lowballs someone and they make a windfall profit.

[RobJohnson]

april (1,091 posts)    Thu Dec 22, 2011, 11:57 AM

8. I have been selling on ebay until about 2 weeks ago . all of my auctions ended..Do not want to deal w/ going to the PO ..OMG the fees on ebay have been killing any profit!

Profit is evil, ebay is doing the DUmmies a favor! 

[shadeaux]

Nobody wants to buy jewelry made from rocks in your driveway, paper towel people you molded into figurines, pictures of dragons eating people, chain clothes that look like they're from King Arthur days, big bows for your hair, dresses with peace signs on them.

Plus the DUmmies put their prices so high it's laughable. Like anyone wants that crap.  As if.

The funniest thing I ever saw being sold was a DUmmy selling CDs he made at home of songs with no music.

OMG, I about peed my pants laughing !!!      I laughed so hard I'm surprised I didn't smother. I could not breathe.

$5 each.  I should have bought a couple to play when I'm feeling down.      

 

[JohnnyReb]

....and they all paid the highest federal income tax rates on their profits....right?

[catsmtrods]

I sell things on Ebay that I find at estate sales and such if I get them real cheap. Things collectors might be looking for. Just sold a Rolls Royce hood ornament I got for $1 for $174! That's the only way to make money on Ebay. 

[RobJohnson]

I sell things on Ebay that I find at estate sales and such if I get them real cheap. Things collectors might be looking for. Just sold a Rolls Royce hood ornament I got for $1 for $174! That's the only way to make money on Ebay. 

I used to sell high dollar used cars on eBay for a new car dealership.

I would include a few odd ball things we would take in on trade like older Honda motorcycles. Things that would normally sit in the showroom for a year, would be gone in a week thanks to eBay.

[jukin]

I used to sell high dollar used cars on eBay for a new car dealership.

I would include a few odd ball things we would take in on trade like older Honda motorcycles. Things that would normally sit in the showroom for a year, would be gone in a week thanks to eBay.

Guess what is coming to ebay Dumbasses? SALES TAXES.

1. Sell through ebay.
2. Only pay thru Paypal.
3. Have Sales Tax auto deducted.
4. Working on getting income and medicare taxes on sales within a year.

Just remember that you are being patriotic.

[Tucker]

I sell gun parts and accessories. I do OK.

I use to run 20 auctions a day. Now just 20 a week. Only run live auctions on Fri, Sat and Sun. I ship on Tue and can't get hit with a shipping delay claim. No negative claims means a discount fee and 50 free listings a month.

[miskie]

I buy things off of eBay, because -- TBH.. I don't mind saving money because of other people's misfortune. I just bought two complete Asus 3.4 Ghz Quad core Intel i7 systems including everything down to a pair of Acer widescreen monitors for just under $1100 total (including shipping) from two different vendors.  Even though I am going to tweak them both, they are both plug and play ready as is.