Ebay as a selling platform going down the tubes?

onlyfreeman said:

If anyone is interested in selling on eBay is there anything they can do to minimise the risk?

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I've bought and sold quite a bit of camera gear on eBay ( I have a 329 100% feedback profile), & can honestly say that I've never had a single problem, the last couple of weeks I've been selling off one system, and have been pleased with the results, the sales and paypal fees are heavy, but nothing, NOTHING like the heavily depreciated pittances that big online camera stores will give you for trading in gear.

As far as protecting yourself as a seller, take Paypal as the only form of payment.

I'm in the US, and will only ship to US and Canadian addresses. Ignore the messages that you get from people asking if you will ship to another country.

Be very accurate in the item description, if there are any scratches or scuff marks describe them and post a pic as well.

I always insure anything I sell that is more than I would care to lose, the over - under for me is $100, and I eat the insurance cost. But it's worth the peace of mind when sending out a $700 lens - like I did yesterday.

When a sale is made, you will get a confirmation letter from eBay & PayPal - make sure that the money is actually in your account before sending it out.

The sellers fees do suck, but eBay gives you a huge platform .

--
Kristian

kristian2000 said:

onlyfreeman said:

If anyone is interested in selling on eBay is there anything they can do to minimise the risk?

Click to expand...

I've bought and sold quite a bit of camera gear on eBay ( I have a 329 100% feedback profile), & can honestly say that I've never had a single problem, the last couple of weeks I've been selling off one system, and have been pleased with the results, the sales and paypal fees are heavy, but nothing, NOTHING like the heavily depreciated pittances that big online camera stores will give you for trading in gear.

As far as protecting yourself as a seller, take Paypal as the only form of payment.

I'm in the US, and will only ship to US and Canadian addresses. Ignore the messages that you get from people asking if you will ship to another country.

Be very accurate in the item description, if there are any scratches or scuff marks describe them and post a pic as well.

I always insure anything I sell that is more than I would care to lose, the over - under for me is $100, and I eat the insurance cost. But it's worth the peace of mind when sending out a $700 lens - like I did yesterday.

When a sale is made, you will get a confirmation letter from eBay & PayPal - make sure that the money is actually in your account before sending it out.

The sellers fees do suck, but eBay gives you a huge platform .

Click to expand...

Hi, Kristian:

Say I buy a $4,000 camera from you. You ship it. I get the package and say you sold me a rock.

I tell ebay you shipped me a rock. Ebay does what, now? What is going to stop ebay from reaching in and refunding my money?

onlyfreeman said:

If anyone is interested in selling on eBay is there anything they can do to minimise the risk?

Click to expand...

Investors are familiar with this problem: risky investments should have high returns to offset the risk: this is called the risk-return tradeoff.

Basically, if you find the transaction risky, charge more. You aren’t the only seller making the same calculus either.

--
http://therefractedlight.blogspot.com

I like ebay. I buy a reasonable amount of stuff there and even sell a few things.

It does seem that it i s less attractive for sellers. I still search for things to buy on ebay and occasionally find a good deal. I consider browsing ebay to almost be another hobby for me. I have a few things I'm going to list to sell on ebay but they aren't high dollar items and would be more difficult for someone to use as a scam.

If a person wants to sell a used item, they can go to their local store and they won't get a very good offer. They can offer to KEH or someone like that. They might get a better offer but it still won't be up to full value. Ebay gives a large market to see your item and a chance for a higher price than other options. I read that the fees and risk are higher than before. I suppose if you want less risk you go to your local store and accept a lower price.

For ebay buying I look at the feedback from the seller and I study the item listing carefully. I pass by deals that seem too good to be true. I think this lessens risk for the buyer. The seller has less opportunity to pick a buyer.

Mark Scott Abeln said:

onlyfreeman said:

If anyone is interested in selling on eBay is there anything they can do to minimise the risk?

Click to expand...

Investors are familiar with this problem: risky investments should have high returns to offset the risk: this is called the risk-return tradeoff.

Basically, if you find the transaction risky, charge more. You aren’t the only seller making the same calculus either.

Click to expand...

Sure I understand that for regular sellers. If they feel eBay is risky they can charge more for their products, and if they do fall victim to some sort of buyer scam then it won't be such a big deal in the long run.

The issue is for occasional users who just want to sell off their old gear, how can they take the risk knowing that they could potentially lose that item and the money? Assuming such a thing is possible.

I’ve long since stopped buying from Ebay, and nearly everything comes from Amazon, and occasionally Walmart.

Problem with Ebay is that their fees have now made many items quite a bit more expensive than elsewhere.

What does it mean when you post an item and immediately get offers? If you get an offer from someone that has very low feedback would that be questionable? If you get an offer from someone with high feedback should that be considered likely legitimate?

abe4652 said:

kristian2000 said:

onlyfreeman said:

If anyone is interested in selling on eBay is there anything they can do to minimise the risk?

Click to expand...

I've bought and sold quite a bit of camera gear on eBay ( I have a 329 100% feedback profile), & can honestly say that I've never had a single problem, the last couple of weeks I've been selling off one system, and have been pleased with the results, the sales and paypal fees are heavy, but nothing, NOTHING like the heavily depreciated pittances that big online camera stores will give you for trading in gear.

As far as protecting yourself as a seller, take Paypal as the only form of payment.

I'm in the US, and will only ship to US and Canadian addresses. Ignore the messages that you get from people asking if you will ship to another country.

Be very accurate in the item description, if there are any scratches or scuff marks describe them and post a pic as well.

I always insure anything I sell that is more than I would care to lose, the over - under for me is $100, and I eat the insurance cost. But it's worth the peace of mind when sending out a $700 lens - like I did yesterday.

When a sale is made, you will get a confirmation letter from eBay & PayPal - make sure that the money is actually in your account before sending it out.

The sellers fees do suck, but eBay gives you a huge platform .

Click to expand...

Hi, Kristian:

Say I buy a $4,000 camera from you. You ship it. I get the package and say you sold me a rock.

I tell ebay you shipped me a rock. Ebay does what, now? What is going to stop ebay from reaching in and refunding my money?

Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't know exactly how eBay handles something like this, I do know that there is a dispute process, so they aren't going to yank the money without getting you're side of the story.

I'm not here schilling for eBay, I do assume that there might be some risk, just like there is a risk in meeting some dude in a dark parking lot in a craigslist deal. I do think the horror stories, and I'm sure thy're legit , but you know, nowadays things, especially the bad things get all the attention. I'm sure many of millions of eBay transactions get completed just as the buyer and seller intended.

bjn70 said:

What does it mean when you post an item and immediately get offers? If you get an offer from someone that has very low feedback would that be questionable? If you get an offer from someone with high feedback should that be considered likely legitimate?

Click to expand...

Use your common sense. If I very quickly got an offer from someone with low feedback, I would just wait to see how the rest of ebay reacted. 48 hours for instance. But I probably wouldn't sell to low feedback people that have been there under a month, little feedback and never as a seller, for example. If you have no rating to ruin, you're more likely to behave badly.

fishy wishy said:

bjn70 said:

What does it mean when you post an item and immediately get offers? If you get an offer from someone that has very low feedback would that be questionable? If you get an offer from someone with high feedback should that be considered likely legitimate?

Click to expand...

Use your common sense. If I very quickly got an offer from someone with low feedback, I would just wait to see how the rest of ebay reacted. 48 hours for instance. But I probably wouldn't sell to low feedback people that have been there under a month, little feedback and never as a seller, for example. If you have no rating to ruin, you're more likely to behave badly.

Click to expand...

It is the easiest thing in the world to run up high feedback as a seller.

jonikon said:

I don’t disagree with anything you have stated. eBay was a lot of fun back in its early days, but it has totally changed for the worse. Bad sellers and bad buyers seem the majority now. Besides what you said, eBay is also used for money laundering as well. It seems like nothing is as good as it once was. Amazon has gone down hill as well with fake reviews and unethical sellers. Too late to make America great again, unfortunately.

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At least with Amazon you can ignore the reviews and avoid questionable sellers. 95% of what I buy on Amazon does not use a third party. I find Amazon 100% reliable. I have never used EBay because I'd rather pay more and avoid possible hassles with sellers I know nothing about.

... but it has become a terrible place to sell things.

The OP is absolutely right. Over the years eBay has changed their policies and procedures to favor the buyer. So much so that a buyer can return anything for any reason whatsoever and get a full refund, provided they used PayPal. Even if they simply changed their mind, or just failed to read the product description that clearly emphasized some flaw.

On the other hand, the seller has absolutely no protection today. They cannot even leave negative feedback for a buyer who has scammed them. They just have to suck it up.

When you combine no seller safeguards with escalating fees, other platforms look a lot better for sellers. Especially those small sellers who cannot absorb constant unjustified returns.

Around ten years ago eBay had a pretty good balance between buyer and seller's rights, but today their policy is "the buyer is always right." 100% of the time.

And that makes eBay a wonderful platform to buy from, but a very poor one to sell on.

I really don't know how anyone could complain about ebay. Yes, it costs money to sell on there. However, if you take advantage of their offers just like any other business, you can make out quite well as both a buyer and seller. From ebay bucks to discount coupons for half off seller fees and purchased merchandise- this year has been fantastic.

I do agree that the return policy of three months is ridiculous. I would hate to be on the receiving end of that should someone decide to return something three months later. However, nothing is perfect.

If you want to complain, complain about the ridiculous prices manufacturers are charging for gear. Sure, 10-12 percent is a lot if you are selling but consider how insane the rapid depreciation is these days on new gear. Far more of a hit than any selling fees.

Nothing is perfect and Ebay still has a lot of work to do, but it provides solid services especially if you are willing to take advantage of their offers from time to time. I'd still rather sell a high priced item with some protection through ebay then through craigslist or trade in at a brick and mortar camera store (talked about loosing out on resale value).

abe4652 said:

Hi, Kristian:

Say I buy a $4,000 camera from you. You ship it. I get the package and say you sold me a rock.

I tell ebay you shipped me a rock. Ebay does what, now? What is going to stop ebay from reaching in and refunding my money?

Click to expand...

If I am a seller and the buyer tells that he received a $4k rock; or I am a buyer and I really receive a $4k rock, the first thing I would do is to file a Police Report. If I know I am right, let the police figure out who did what when how.

--
http://www.zodiacphoto.com

ZodiacPhoto said:

If I am a seller and the buyer tells that he received a $4k rock; or I am a buyer and I really receive a $4k rock, the first thing I would do is to file a Police Report. If I know I am right, let the police figure out who did what when how.

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They will file your report and never look at it again. I've heard of reporting these things to the postal inspectors, I don't know how much more attention they give to them.

ZodiacPhoto said:

abe4652 said:

Hi, Kristian:

Say I buy a $4,000 camera from you. You ship it. I get the package and say you sold me a rock.

I tell ebay you shipped me a rock. Ebay does what, now? What is going to stop ebay from reaching in and refunding my money?

Click to expand...

If I am a seller and the buyer tells that he received a $4k rock; or I am a buyer and I really receive a $4k rock, the first thing I would do is to file a Police Report. If I know I am right, let the police figure out who did what when how.

Click to expand...

First, which police? In which jurisdiction? If you live in New York City, you expect them to send someone out to Minnesota, or Bern, Switzerland, or somewhere in China? Or are you going to contact the Bern police, or fly out there?

Second, say that the police have nothing better to do, because there is no crime where they are, and they are willing to suspend their currently understaffed investigations of more minor things like robbery, murder, ****, etc., to investigate your purchase, exactly how are they going to figure out if the seller is lying, because he really sent a brick and not a camera, or the buyer is lying, because he really did receive a camera and not a brick?

Time travel?

DiffractionLtd said:

11.4% plus 3-4% for paypal. So, 15% or so. A lot.

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You forgot that the commission fee on eBay is % of the selling price plus SHIPPING.

The Shipping cost is an expense from the accounting point of view and cannot be considered as a profit. I am wondered how they missed the opportunity to charge listing fees based on time of listing: night vs morning vs day vs weekend or holidays.

Its been happening for a long time.

I now only user Ebay on occasion to purchase cheap little items from chinese factories such as a a USB wall adapter.

Would never purchase any electronics from Ebay, and would never sell electronics there either.

If you look around, there are usually local options for selling gear. In Australia, a site called Gumtree works fairly well for connecting buyers and sellers. I have a cousin in the USA who sells his camera gear on Facebook marketplace.

Just like clockwork here is the once a week bash ebay thread with 99% of the responses coming from people who dont buy or sell there but seem to know all about it.

I make a full time living selling on ebay selling 2500-3000 items a year and can count the number of non petty" issues I have had on one hand. Sure you have a grumpy buyer every now and then but where in life do you not have to deal with someone who may have expectations that are unreasonable. 10% fee is a bargain considering I have access to 25-50 million potential buyers. My local auction house charges 20% and on a good night maybe 100 people show up and I can tell you from personal expirience there isnt a single one there to buy any vintage cameras or equipment.

If you think ebay is bad you can multiply that by ten times on Amazon. I sold there for 2 years before I left and will never return. And just to be clear if you want to know who started the liberal no questions asked return policy for any reason you can look no further than Amazon. Ebay is just following their lead.

abe4652 said:

ZodiacPhoto said:

abe4652 said:

Hi, Kristian:

Say I buy a $4,000 camera from you. You ship it. I get the package and say you sold me a rock.

I tell ebay you shipped me a rock. Ebay does what, now? What is going to stop ebay from reaching in and refunding my money?

Click to expand...

If I am a seller and the buyer tells that he received a $4k rock; or I am a buyer and I really receive a $4k rock, the first thing I would do is to file a Police Report. If I know I am right, let the police figure out who did what when how.

Click to expand...

First, which police? In which jurisdiction? If you live in New York City, you expect them to send someone out to Minnesota, or Bern, Switzerland, or somewhere in China? Or are you going to contact the Bern police, or fly out there?

Click to expand...

You always file at your town. I don't sell internationally on Ebay for this reason.

abe4652 said:

Second, say that the police have nothing better to do, because there is no crime where they are, and they are willing to suspend their currently understaffed investigations of more minor things like robbery, murder, ****, etc., to investigate your purchase,

Click to expand...

I will not deal with Chicago. Where I live, they are not that busy with all the crazy stuff...

They are occupied giving away speeding tickets here.

abe4652 said:

exactly how are they going to figure out if the seller is lying, because he really sent a brick and not a camera, or the buyer is lying, because he really did receive a camera and not a brick?

Click to expand...

abe4652 said:

Time travel?

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How do they solve all other crimes without time travel?