Is eBay starting to dry up?

Does anyone here know how ebay france work? I see mostly fixed price listings without much information about posting overseas.

Originally Posted by SpooPoker

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I dunno - I start 99.9% of my auctions at $9.99 with no reserve and let the market determine the value - and I really havent taken any bad beats in the past few years.



You had/have some great deals....got a great TF sportcoat from ya. You seem to list things pretty conservatively condition-wise though...my coat was 8.5/10, but I see no flaws whatsoever. Just trying to protect yourself?

Originally Posted by Macallan9

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You had/have some great deals....got a great TF sportcoat from ya. You seem to list things pretty conservatively condition-wise though...my coat was 8.5/10, but I see no flaws whatsoever. Just trying to protect yourself?

Thanks! Which one did you get? PM me the deets - I dont think you mentioned you were a SF member when you won. Ill refund you the shipping (free shipping for SF members - always).

Yeah, I always try and undergrade the condition. Much as I can see, someone will usually bust my chops about a loose seam, etc. and say it wasnt as described.

Originally Posted by XeF4

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Is anybody else noticing that there have been less and less good auctions every month for the last year or two?

As a "niche" seller on the bay, I see no pay off in subjecting my inventory to auctions. Back in the day when I did, I found myself, more times than I care to remember, vacillating between coddling and cajoling auction winners who either didn't expect to win or didn't really have the cash to complete the deal. Items would get hung in limbo land for a couple weeks at time until the old time frames for resolution would expire and the thing could get relisted.
From the buyers standpoint there still are great deals to be had, but you have to be willing to spend the time ferreting through the crap, fakes and flakes. I think the sheer volume of bullshit surrounding that site has driven buyers and subsequently sellers away.
It seems like the direction that site is headed is away from the "clean out your junk" auctions, where the deals are to be had, and into a more manageable (from ebays standpoint) Big River realm.
Top Rated Sellers have an incentive (20% invoice discount) to provide good service to their customers and therefore less headaches, read customer service costs, to Ebay.
For the seller, it costs more to list an auction than a BIN, you can't be assured you are going to get paid the value for your item or for that matter get paid at all. I don't doubt running all those auctions gets expensive for ebay as a whole. The real money is in the FVF and that's the same regardless of method of sale. So why bother at this point?
Don't get me wrong I love the concept of the electronic garage sale/auction house, but I think ebay has become way to big to pull it off. Just look at their current rep., neither buyers or sellers are happy there anymore.

And to corroborate, sales in July and August have been the pits.
Anybody need a new pair of shades...http://stores.ebay.com/The-Eye-Shop
SF members always get a discount. Just ask

The bigger problem is that eBay desperately wants to be an Amazon-type e-commerce site even though it was the niche, "stuff in the attic" type of goods that made the site so attractive a decade ago. They're catering to mass sellers now who list thousands of items easily found at Best Buy, Amazon, etc.

It's an already saturated market that eBay, for some reason, seems determined to shoehorn itself into.

Its about making bank for ebay. Amazon not only plays the behemoth broker for online and B&M mom and pop's but also slings their own wares and along with buy.com take up the lion's share of online sales worldwide.
With their already established infrastructure ebay is trying to position itself as part of the big three, big box future of online sales. Small eshops and their customers are the big losers in the online world where a few companies are able to control product exposure.

It's just not worth it for me to sell most things on Ebay - a $20 Criterion DVD, minus their 9% fee, minus Paypal, minus the $.20 or so I usually lose on shipping thanks to their $2.99 shipping limit. Or I can go sell it for $8-10 at a used media store.

I've sold a lot over the years for a non-store owner (almost 400 feedback at 100%, probably 2-3x that many auctions total), but their fees and emphasis on people getting cheap **** from China drop-shipped here is driving me away.

I don't even bother looking for things I want to purchase.

I think the fees are killing sellers. I have a few items on eBay which I also have on B&S, but I have to charge much more on eBay to cover the fees, which in turn drives away eBay buyers.

Ive been selling on eBay for the last 8 yrs or so and in the last year I've had more heart ache than ever. With the new fee structure and feedback changes it make it hard to really do any profitable selling. I've been selling old bicycles and parts for ages and at this point, I just go to like minded forums and turn my product there. The profit margin is slightly lower, but minus the fees and bs, I break even.

I'm new here so if I needed to make an into forgive me.

Originally Posted by taxgenius69

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I think the fees are killing sellers. I have a few items on eBay which I also have on B&S, but I have to charge much more on eBay to cover the fees, which in turn drives away eBay buyers.

+1

I have a feeling Ebay will be replaced in due time, they can only push fees and seller restrictions/buyer privilege so far until more people stop and think, "wait a second, is this really worth it?"

Originally Posted by APK

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The bigger problem is that eBay desperately wants to be an Amazon-type e-commerce site even though it was the niche, "stuff in the attic" type of goods that made the site so attractive a decade ago. They're catering to mass sellers now who list thousands of items easily found at Best Buy, Amazon, etc.

It's an already saturated market that eBay, for some reason, seems determined to shoehorn itself into.

If you look at the numbers its pretty obvious why ebay is trying to squeeze into the River model. Online sales continue to improve (up 16% worldwide y/y) with amazon and buy leading the way. Ebay's numbers are flat, and their share price is in a steady decline. Its not about providing people a marketplace to off load their junk, its about corporate profits. Unfortunately, the other auction style sites still haven't caught the name recognition to make them viable selling sites.

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Eye-Shop

yeah fees are getting ridiculous

I've been an ebayer since the late 90s. It has been less and less attractive as both a place to buy and a place to sell, esp. in the last five years. Part of this is ebay making bad choices. Another part is the rest of the internet growing up around ebay.

i still shop ebay, though it does seem like there's a lot more chaff these days. i don't have much luck on B&S because I'm an odd size (42S), but there's enough on ebay that i'll occasionally find something good in my price range. and there's the occasional great score ... i recently picked up a loro piana horsey jacket for $200 ... too bad it turned out to be a woman's!

Ebay keeps raising there fees. They are very greedy.