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

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

evil_akuma_2002 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 11:38:51 GMT

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.

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

horizon1907 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 12:01:01 GMT

Sorry to hear about all that. You are not alone. Good luck with your new & hopefully profitable venture.

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

kzb888 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 12:11:28 GMT

I've just sneaked a peak at your sales and I honestly don't know how you survived the last couple of months,this place is pathetic,good luck anyway.

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

padi*0409 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 12:43:03 GMT

Up until the new "spring seller release I was seriously going to give selling a go, but with the uncertainty (and probable open door for scamming buyers) that is now a no-brainer for me.

Add to that the fees hike by both eBay and AP, the defect system etc etc it will be a cold day in hell before I even think again about selling here.

I might add that my buying here has also fallen dramatically, partly due to a lot fewer listings in my watch lists, the GSP and knock-off rubbish flooding the market. As an example my watch-list has shrunk over the last year from around 150 plus listings to around 40 or so - and I often only buy a few items a week nowadays, with most of those coming from my regular sellers.

As has been said before on the boards, here's a dream come true for another on-line medium to grab the fading sales/sellers from eBay and run with them - I'm sure there's a lot of disgruntled sellers and buyers waiting for that other viable option for on-line trading.

It's a real shame that eBay refuse to see that they have been very successfully shooting themselves in the foot over the last 6 months or more..................................

Interestingly the last post on the Spring Seller Release board was last Thursday and the one before that was 2 weeks ago, and never has "Joanna" come back with any replies to her recieved posts (surprise surprise)

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

kylies*swap*cards* — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 13:10:47 GMT

Why don't you sell on Facebook? All my second-hand or sometimes new household items went on my local Buy Swap and Sell page on facebook and I sold them all, all picked up and paid cash and gone within hours of listing them! Your type of items would be snapped up so quickly given it's almost Xmas and everyone will be off to the river etc for fishing. Look up your local Buy Swap and Sell page on Facebook, join it and upload. You might be surprised.

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

qball28 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 14:44:14 GMT

I don't even get many views. Do they want as to offer free postage and 1 cent sale or something😒 plenty then. PayPal just took $ 1 and ebay takes $2:70 of a $27 sale, postage was $7:20 then tough bag $1 something, not left with much. I had enough too. Only been doing it 9 months, although I've been with ebay more than 14 years.😀

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

evil_akuma_2002 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 19:48:32 GMT

Thanks for the kind thoughts, guys and gals.

In my disheartened state last night, I completely forgot to mention that the only sales generated from persevering with those listings, were 2 sales of tghe same item to NPB's with a feedback of 0, who'd only recently joined ebay - so all were a WOTAM.

That's 2 (sales), in over 8 X 10 day listings! Absolutely unheard of in my last 12 years!

I'm just so glad I didn't take the plunge several years ago and move into ebay selling fulltime - it's always been just a hobby.

And offers? Don't get me started on offers! i've had an exceptionally nice hunting jacket for sale for all that time, which cost me well in excess of $160 to bring in, but didn't fit. Offering it, in brand new state, with tags, for half what I paid, to turn it over, my best offer was $40. $40? Just adds insult to injury. Unfortunately, business acumen dictates that we are polite to our bidders - and whilst politely declining their offer, I mentally thought what I'd ACTUALLY like to tell them!

And the final nails in the coffin?Ebay's unscrupulous and disgusting charge on postage - a totally corrupt and unforgiveable action, and the ludicrous 180-day MBG. Whether it has the alarming consequences that so many sellers are worried about or not, it's just a despicable act.

I don't care how they spin the truth to attempt to justify their actions - these WILL be the final nails for many. However, ebay, in their semingly infinite lack of wisdom, seem hell-bent of divesting themselves of the smaller sellers, to pave the way for the big boys to step in and offer more ways of marketing their goods and often, questionable after-sales service and guarantees.

Whilst I wish nothing but the best for all the other sellers, and hope that sales either pick up soon, or you all fnd other, more lucrative avenues, I think you can all guess my sentiments for the giant dumping ground that once was ebay!

How does that saying go?

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely!

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

2106greencat — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 21:30:56 GMT

Markets ?

Not knowing where you live I don't know if markets would be an option, but most places have them and most are run by Lions Clubs.

A local one to us charges $20 for a stall (your own setup of course, fold up tables, and gazebo thingy) for a Sunday 6am to 2pm day.

You stuff should sell a treat and you could lower costs in some areas becuase you are no longer dealing with eBay fees, paypal fee's, postage etc, just a one off $20 for the day.

Just a thought, and this close to Xmas, you should do really well.

Good Luck

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

funkyflamingo* — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 21:34:30 GMT

Reading forum after forum, it is so sad, that us small sellers, which made ebay what it is today are leaving!

I know the hours that I put in myself, the photography, the research, answering emails , packaging and posting, and the hard effort to get good feedback. We are not rewarded, but punished by this big corporation, taking cuts from postage, and returning money to buyers, who have decided to change their mind.

I wish there was another site that gets the traffic that ebay gets. Gumtree, I find these buyers to be time wasters, as you have know idea who you are dealing with as there is no address, hence there is no consequence for not turning up and paying for the item.

And yes, there is Etsy, which is great for small or light items, as it is so expensive to post to other countries. I am hoping the Australian public catches onto this site, as I have also been selling there for a year, but I don't sell as many items as I do on ebay.

I also find 99.9% of the buyers on ebay fantastic. They turn up on time for pick ups, they are polite, and some even school me on items I have know idea about.

The problem with Australia, we don't get the competitors, hence keeping the large companies honest. To all that are leaving, I hope you do well, and I hope ebay gets the message, that we "small" business is what is needed. We give variety to what people want and the valued customer service that we provide, will soon be lost and forgotton. Ebay will suffer in the long run.

Good bye and good luck!:)

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

2106greencat — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 21:43:25 GMT

Getting rid of the smaller to mid range sellers..........

eBay to "a wannabe Amazon"

Gumtree to "become eBay"

then what ??

They just can't lose can they ??

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

evil_akuma_2002 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:05:20 GMT

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!

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

evil_akuma_2002 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:08:53 GMT

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!

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

pickapresent13 — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:23:13 GMT

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.

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

bimberiretrosystems — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:31:31 GMT

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

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

i-love-my-sheep — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:42:35 GMT

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.