That's it for me too...I'm off!

[evil_akuma_2002]

Well, after 12 years buying and selling, (albeit in a very small way), I'm off to try other venues like many others.

I've specialized in Fishing Tackle, as it's both a hobby and a passion. Listing items either bought well, or offloading in usually an unused state, I have always enjoyed being a part of the ebay experience. That is, until recently.

Tonight, I've just ended several listings, as they've now been relisted over 8 times, with NO offers, and NO watchers!

Everything I sell is either brand new, or so close to it that you'd be hard-pressed to spot the difference.

Every item listed is priced below comparable sellers, and well below B&M retailers.

Up until the last half of 2014, I've never had a problem offloading superfluous gear, to fund new purchases - that is, until now. Now...you can hear the tumbleweeds.

Not only that, as a seller with a 12 year 100% feedback rating, I've recently suffered ebay's ignominious defects policy.

Since ebay's new policies took effect, I've had 2 defects - 1 for INR, and 1 for SNAD.

The INR was as a result of AP, botching a delivery - they admitted to it, and the buyer retracted the case. I still have to wear a defect.

The SNAD was a n overseas buyer, who i beleive, found that the item did not fit his fishing reel, so lodged a SNAD on the grounds it was damaged.

I accepted the return, as his photos did not indicate any damage, but accepted it in good faith, believing I could challenge it upon its return in needs be. When received, the part was in pristine condition. Exactly as it had left my hands. Was I able to challenge this now that I had my item back in my hands? Nope. Nowhere did ebay give me the option or the right to defend my side of the argument. My only option was to refund - which I did.

Yes, I could appeal them with ebay, and maybe, just maybe, get a CSO who sympathises and has them removed, but...I just don't give a stuff anymore!

So not only do I find a dearth of willing buyers nowadays, I find that my items consistently do not even draw watchers, and I suffer from ebay's ludicrous defect system as do many other sellers.

Not only that, the market I deal in, as with no doubt many other niche markets, is now flooded with cheap Asian imports - absolute rubbish that just will not handle the conditions and targets they are appealing to.

So it's goodbye from another thoroughly disenheartened ebay seller. Unfortunately, there are few other venues left open - Gumtree is proving to be a seller's nightmare, Slowsales is dead in the water, Etsy just doesn't cater for my market, so I'm left with paper-based media.

[evil_akuma_2002]

Funny enough, 2106greencat, markets are where I started selling superfluous household items, around 30 years ago!

I, like many, regularly haunted trash and treasue markets, both to buy and sell - and later made the move to ebay, for the ease of selling it provided. No lumping all your items to a Sunday market, then lumping them home again, no dealing with rude and arrogant time wasters - just sales with a little preplanning (photos and descriptions).

Yes, markets are an alternative, but given that I usually only have a handful of items to sell, often only 5-10, markets would be viable only once I'd amassed enough to justify it.

I guess my original post was a form of catharsis for me, and to vent my disappointment at the way ebay has turned out after being such a fantastic venue for so long. But...I guess that's what happens when corporate greed moves into the picture. It's happened before, across the board, and it'll happen again.

Ebay's active enticing of larger retail establishments can do nothing but harm their platform, but unfortunately for them, the corporate heavies, (blockheads?),  cannot see too far past the immediate $$$$ signs. As much as they try to deny it, and ignore it, it's one of the many reasons that B&M retailers are also struggling. Just look at the proliferation of big brand clearance outlets - they have no choice but to establish same, to offload their surplus wares, not sold in their normal premium stores.

Curiously, I'm old enough to recall times when retail was retail, and ebay meant 2nd hand, or acted as a clearance house - and both aspects thrived.

Oh well...time to be off and start listing in Trader Tag!

[evil_akuma_2002]

Hmm. I'm REALLY looking forwards to the time that Amazon manages to establish a viable prescence here in OZ - and ebay's management start to bleed!

[pickapresent13]

I do local markets as well as ebay, and find most people are selling less at markets as well these days. I think as much as eBays changes suck, its just a sign of the time. There are Facebook groups aimed at specific products that people want to buy and sell. There is also the localised Buy Swap Sell groups on Facebook for people to get stuff locally (which I utilise, and works a treat for me). On top of that, the $2.00 shops sell such a massive variety of stuff these days, at rediculously low prices. Then you have the people that use eBay to build up a clientelle, then direct them to their website (like Deals Direct), and customers head straight to that website if they were looked after and got their item quickly and cheaply previously. Add to that increased fees, increased postage etc, it makes it hard on ebay.

I`ve tried Quicksales, still use it sometimes, but traffic is to small, not enough items for sale etc, so its worse than eBay.

[bimberiretrosystems]

Amazon seems overly complicated with silly things like shipping credits and having to drop off items to their warehouses for postage(a bit like pitney bowes?, although things might have changed

[i-love-my-sheep]

Most of what I'm selling I'd bought to do something with, then sell it at the Sunday markets (ours was run by Rotary). As it turned out, my plans never eventuated, so I decided then to just sell it at the markets as is. It cost me $15 for a stall, which included insurance.

The first few weeks I sold absolutely nothing. Then I sold one thing to the value of $5. Then I sold nothing. By the time I threw the towel in, I had sold 3 things, yet paid a few hundred in stall fees. I couldn't see the point in continuing. At least with eBay, if I don't sell anything, I don't pay any fees, so I started selling it all on here.

Not long after I shut up shop at the markets, they shut up shop permanently. When I first moved here in '98, the markets was THE place to be on a Sunday morning. You couldn't move for all the people and stalls were hard to get. By the time they decided to pull the pin, they'd be lucky to get 20 people go through between 7am and 12pm and stalls were few and far between. No-one knows where all the people and stall holders went, but both disappeared.