I've noticed an interesting trend on the morning news shows and women's magazines:
They all recommend selling things on eBay to raise extra funds in these tough economic times.
I have dabbled in eBay. I've bought and sold about two dozen items in the last year - mostly Minnesota Twins gear and baby stuff. And while I've made slightly more money from the sales than what I would earn from selling the stuff in a garage sale, I've found it to be more work than I need right now.
I'm finding that the eBay market is a bit flooded... and the fees are a little spendy. Now this isn't true with every category, but it has been my experience. I've had a few items that despite being listed at rock-bottom prices, did not sell despite numerous listings. And when I do a search of similar items, it seems other folks are selling them for literally pennies.
It's an interesting situation. Hundreds of thousands of people are listing things on eBay in an attempt to raise some extra cash... and none of it is selling because no one has any money.
I'm not going to write-off eBay forever, but I am going to hold off listing things there for awhile. I've been having better success with my local children's clothing consignment shop and other online classifieds, so I'll stick with those for now. I've also been donating things I don't need. If I can't sell it, at least I can feel good about helping others.
On the other hand, if you do have a little spending money, now is a great time to find bargains on eBay and elsewhere. It's definitely a buyer's market.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
eBay: It's a Buyer's Market
10 comments:
I totally agree. Ebay is a buyers market. I've had trouble with buyers lately because of the new feedback system. I think they might have too much power!
I've found that it takes a lot of time to list things on Ebay, so unless I have a large item or several items to list at once, it's not very worthwhile for me.
I totally agree. I have an eBay store & my Power Seller status comes and goes depending on the season. Having an eBay store is a tremendous amount of work. Because of recent changes on eBay, I've tweaked my store and am now only selling in limited, specialized categories. Any household items and clothing items go straight to charity.
I see a lot of Ebay sellers mentioning the 25-30% Microsoft Live Search Cashback in their titles or descriptions. In fact, most people selling gift cards are selling them ABOVE face value by mentioning this promotion!
So if you're selling on Ebay, particularly for bigger-dollar items, be sure to mention that promo. It may help you convince buyers who might otherwise be on the fence about buying. It's only available on BINs, so be sure you include that as an option when you list.
I have more info on how the Live Cashback thing works on my website if you want to read more: http://www.CompareRewards.com
Hope this helps! I agree, Ebay is definitely a buyer's market right now!
I totally agree! I used to be a power seller. I sold on ebay for 4 or 5 years. At the beginning of this year it seemed like nothing was selling for me and then they made all the rule changes and I decided it was time to give it a rest for now.
I have always had a perfect feedback rating and, I seemed to always stress about keeping the customer happy. With the new buyer rules I knew I would be stressing all the time.
Amber
I, too, have sold on ebay over the years - literally thousands of dollars just by selling things I no longer needed. But, I agree that the fees have gotten too high. We have another batch of items to sell and for the most part, we are putting the information on Craig's List, donating it (and taking the write off) and we are looking into Amazon.com - at least then you item can stay online until it sells - not just 7 days.
I don't sell on ebay but do make the occasional purchase. Like everyone else I find the prices on ebay to be really cheap and I'm unwilling to possibly lose money on an item with shipping.
I use Etsy.com to sell any items, they have to be homemade or craft related. it cost twenty cents to list an item for 90 days and if it sells they take a very small commission. Very nice site although lately even it seems to be getting a bit crowded over there as well.
~Meg
I stopped using Ebay, because it was so expensive. I use Craig's List now, there is no fee, and they are local, usually. Just go to www.craigslist.com and put in your city and state information in, and you may find a bargain. I have had much better luck on Craig's List than I have had on Ebay....
Just my 2 cents!!
I agree about e-bay- We have an E-Bay store (we've had it for 5 years) and the fees have become too high and the new feedback system is a real pain to deal with. I'm spending more and more time with each sale. We will be pulling our store at the end of this month.
Ebay is getting expensive for buyers, too, because sellers seem to be way over charging for shipping fees.
That being said, however, you can still get really good deals on things, like i bought 12 vanilla beans on ebay for $1 and $3 shipping. The envelope they came in had a .53 shipping tag, so i know $3 was still a lot, but $4 for 12 vanilla beans is actually incredible. At Cub one vanilla bean is $4.
i'm going to get some vodka and make vanilla extract and give it as gifts at Christmas.
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