Ebay has me depressed...
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Ebay is no longer a place to sell things for a fair market value. Buyers have learned how to snipe items and they don't bid at all until the closing few minutes. If you don't set a reserve price you'll give your stuff away for next to nothing. I predict Ebay won't last 2 more years the way it's currently running. You *can* sell things but at such a low price it's absurd. Guess I'll try craigslist. Any other suggestions. Ebay just completely stinks...:sigh:
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
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Ebay is no longer a place to sell things for a fair market value. Buyers have learned how to snipe items and they don't bid at all until the closing few minutes. If you don't set a reserve price you'll give your stuff away for next to nothing. I predict Ebay won't last 2 more years the way it's currently running. You *can* sell things but at such a low price it's absurd. Guess I'll try craigslist. Any other suggestions. Ebay just completely stinks...:sigh:
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
I agree with you completely - I no longer sell stuff on eBay as preceisely the same thing happened to me one too many times*; and then when I tried setting a reserve, nothing would sell and I'd still end up having to pay the listing fee to eBay. Plus there's the outrageous PayPal fees on top of all that... *I will admit to sniping myself now and then as it seemd to be the only way to actually get something you want.
"It was the day before today.... I remember it like it was yesterday." -Moleman
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Ebay is no longer a place to sell things for a fair market value. Buyers have learned how to snipe items and they don't bid at all until the closing few minutes. If you don't set a reserve price you'll give your stuff away for next to nothing. I predict Ebay won't last 2 more years the way it's currently running. You *can* sell things but at such a low price it's absurd. Guess I'll try craigslist. Any other suggestions. Ebay just completely stinks...:sigh:
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
Try selling baby formula coupons. There are idiots out there who will pay almost full price for the coupon.
Mike Lasseter
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Try selling baby formula coupons. There are idiots out there who will pay almost full price for the coupon.
Mike Lasseter
To be fair I find the exact opposite to be true a lot of the time. I often want to get a bargin on ebay but then it turns out if I hunt about I get things cheaper in the shops. I guess it depends on what you are selling/buying.
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Ebay is no longer a place to sell things for a fair market value. Buyers have learned how to snipe items and they don't bid at all until the closing few minutes. If you don't set a reserve price you'll give your stuff away for next to nothing. I predict Ebay won't last 2 more years the way it's currently running. You *can* sell things but at such a low price it's absurd. Guess I'll try craigslist. Any other suggestions. Ebay just completely stinks...:sigh:
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
I personally don't have a problem with sniping. It's just like at a real auction. You have to be on your toes if you want the item badly enough. Last night I snagged some Bose noise-cancelling headphones that sell at Target for $180. I got them for $115. Makes me wonder if they 'fell off a truck.'
_____________________________________________ Flea Market! It's just like...it's just like...A MINI-MALL!
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Ebay is no longer a place to sell things for a fair market value. Buyers have learned how to snipe items and they don't bid at all until the closing few minutes. If you don't set a reserve price you'll give your stuff away for next to nothing. I predict Ebay won't last 2 more years the way it's currently running. You *can* sell things but at such a low price it's absurd. Guess I'll try craigslist. Any other suggestions. Ebay just completely stinks...:sigh:
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
One of the trends I have seen are higher shipping and handling fees as sellers try to offset the ever growing ebay and paypal fees. There are a lot of hidden costs with eBay selling. I tend to list items at the lowest price I would want to sell them. But that does not always work. Relisting is an option however there are the additional fees. I'm also a 'sniper' via esnipe.com. I've had too many times where someone has upped my bid just for the sake of it. Sniping tools also give you the flexibility to lower or cancel your bid should you have a change of heart.
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Ebay is no longer a place to sell things for a fair market value. Buyers have learned how to snipe items and they don't bid at all until the closing few minutes. If you don't set a reserve price you'll give your stuff away for next to nothing. I predict Ebay won't last 2 more years the way it's currently running. You *can* sell things but at such a low price it's absurd. Guess I'll try craigslist. Any other suggestions. Ebay just completely stinks...:sigh:
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
Craigslist has worked great for me. I have only sold a handful of items but the responses were good. On a similar note, if any of you are looking for free stuff, or just want to give stuff away, you should try http://www.freecycle.org/. Like re-cycle, but just giving your junk away. I say junk, but there is some good stuff there... Hogan
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I personally don't have a problem with sniping. It's just like at a real auction. You have to be on your toes if you want the item badly enough. Last night I snagged some Bose noise-cancelling headphones that sell at Target for $180. I got them for $115. Makes me wonder if they 'fell off a truck.'
_____________________________________________ Flea Market! It's just like...it's just like...A MINI-MALL!
How noise cancelling are they? I got a set for about £15 ($26) that, with my system case open, can cut out the noise from the CPU fan. When it builds up during gaming sessions, I can hear the fan from upstairs, almost 30 feet of distance away. OK, I'm playing music through them, but - they were 8 inches away from the fan. Not to make you think you were done, but I doubt it. Bose rings a bell as being some high quality lot. Mine will probably fall apart in a year or so (Dynamode DH-660mv).
Need Another Seven Acronyms...
Confused? You will be... -
I personally don't have a problem with sniping. It's just like at a real auction. You have to be on your toes if you want the item badly enough. Last night I snagged some Bose noise-cancelling headphones that sell at Target for $180. I got them for $115. Makes me wonder if they 'fell off a truck.'
_____________________________________________ Flea Market! It's just like...it's just like...A MINI-MALL!
I think it depends on a few things:
- Is the seller a professional Ebay seller? Do they have over 1000 Ebay transactions and do they get reseller discounts on their goods and just want a few cents above since they have 1000 for sale?
- Is the seller a home seller trying to move something they value (one item only) for a fair market price?
- Is the buyer looking to make an Ebay SCORE purchase or are they looking to pay a fair price for goods?
It used to be that on Ebay the huge sellers were few and far between. Now Ebay is mostly dominated by Ebay Store Operators who have so much inventory and can sell at such a huge discount that it's not possible for individual sellers to sell their valuables for a reasonable price. Ebay has become flooded with merchants and that's going to cause Ebay's demise in a few years tops. That's the problem I have. It's now a bunch of merchants pedaling wares at such a low cost that the seller wanting to sell an equivalent single item is going to lose too much money. Ebay either needs to fix this or they face demise or at least a serious shrinkage in activity. Ebay was way better when the majority of people were "mom and pop" types just wanting to sell one or two items.
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
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Ebay is no longer a place to sell things for a fair market value. Buyers have learned how to snipe items and they don't bid at all until the closing few minutes. If you don't set a reserve price you'll give your stuff away for next to nothing. I predict Ebay won't last 2 more years the way it's currently running. You *can* sell things but at such a low price it's absurd. Guess I'll try craigslist. Any other suggestions. Ebay just completely stinks...:sigh:
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
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Ebay is no longer a place to sell things for a fair market value. Buyers have learned how to snipe items and they don't bid at all until the closing few minutes. If you don't set a reserve price you'll give your stuff away for next to nothing. I predict Ebay won't last 2 more years the way it's currently running. You *can* sell things but at such a low price it's absurd. Guess I'll try craigslist. Any other suggestions. Ebay just completely stinks...:sigh:
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
Oh, it gets much worse. For various fad and new-to-the-market items, you'll find them being sold for FAR above the fair market price. Case in point: The latest stuffed animal fad is called Webkinz. These are stuffed animals that come with a code you can enter on the Webkinz website and get a virtual pet free for a year. When the company came out with trading cards that come with additional codes, the first two days the boxes of cards were out they were selling for over 2.5x the retail price on ebay. Oh but it's much worse. Now that the market for those cards, and the stuffed animals, is flooded, you can't sell them for a reasonable price. My girlfriend wanted to resell some of her extras and thought she could get a good price for them. What did she get? $5 freakin bucks for 4 of the animals. They retail for $13 each. Why? Snipers. Nobody wants to bid a fair price on them because they know they can snipe the price at the end. So basically, yeah, eBay has pretty much become a waste of time. I used to go there all the time to find stuff I wanted, but now I just have a list of good online retailers that charge good prices for what I want. And I've given up selling things on ebay, I use CraigsList exclusively now.
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I think it depends on a few things:
- Is the seller a professional Ebay seller? Do they have over 1000 Ebay transactions and do they get reseller discounts on their goods and just want a few cents above since they have 1000 for sale?
- Is the seller a home seller trying to move something they value (one item only) for a fair market price?
- Is the buyer looking to make an Ebay SCORE purchase or are they looking to pay a fair price for goods?
It used to be that on Ebay the huge sellers were few and far between. Now Ebay is mostly dominated by Ebay Store Operators who have so much inventory and can sell at such a huge discount that it's not possible for individual sellers to sell their valuables for a reasonable price. Ebay has become flooded with merchants and that's going to cause Ebay's demise in a few years tops. That's the problem I have. It's now a bunch of merchants pedaling wares at such a low cost that the seller wanting to sell an equivalent single item is going to lose too much money. Ebay either needs to fix this or they face demise or at least a serious shrinkage in activity. Ebay was way better when the majority of people were "mom and pop" types just wanting to sell one or two items.
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
code-frog wrote:
Ebay was way better when the majority of people were "mom and pop" types just wanting to sell one or two items.
Incidentally this is also why the IRS is now interested in people's income on eBay for tax purposes. When it's just you reselling your old items, that sale is not taxable. But when 98% of the sales are new items sold through resellers, oh you better believe the IRS is going to want a piece of that.
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I personally don't have a problem with sniping. It's just like at a real auction. You have to be on your toes if you want the item badly enough. Last night I snagged some Bose noise-cancelling headphones that sell at Target for $180. I got them for $115. Makes me wonder if they 'fell off a truck.'
_____________________________________________ Flea Market! It's just like...it's just like...A MINI-MALL!
leckey wrote:
Last night I snagged some Bose noise-cancelling headphones that sell at Target for $180. I got them for $115. Makes me wonder if they 'fell off a truck.'
While I realize that's good for YOU, it's not good for the eBay market as a whole. If this was a large reseller who can afford such a discount, they're further pushing out the individuals who can no longer resell their items for what they consider a fair price. If it was an individual selling their item, they just got screwed. Now, neither of these really are your concern, and I'm not saying it should be. All you care about is the price you pay, which is how it should be. I'm just saying that the market forces themselves have become seriously imbalanced.
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One of the trends I have seen are higher shipping and handling fees as sellers try to offset the ever growing ebay and paypal fees. There are a lot of hidden costs with eBay selling. I tend to list items at the lowest price I would want to sell them. But that does not always work. Relisting is an option however there are the additional fees. I'm also a 'sniper' via esnipe.com. I've had too many times where someone has upped my bid just for the sake of it. Sniping tools also give you the flexibility to lower or cancel your bid should you have a change of heart.
rollei35guy wrote:
I've had too many times where someone has upped my bid just for the sake of it.
Whenever I see someone doing that, I increase the bid on purpose just to spite them. I hate that behavior and if they're going to engage in it, they'll pay for it. I've had several instances where it was the seller themselves signed on under other accounts increasing the bid. Yes, that's illegal and against eBay's rules, but good luck getting them to admit it's happening more often than they'd like.
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How noise cancelling are they? I got a set for about £15 ($26) that, with my system case open, can cut out the noise from the CPU fan. When it builds up during gaming sessions, I can hear the fan from upstairs, almost 30 feet of distance away. OK, I'm playing music through them, but - they were 8 inches away from the fan. Not to make you think you were done, but I doubt it. Bose rings a bell as being some high quality lot. Mine will probably fall apart in a year or so (Dynamode DH-660mv).
Need Another Seven Acronyms...
Confused? You will be...I tried them at Target and even with no music, being a busy store, I could hear nothing. I am tired of cranking up my music to drown out the Chatty Cathys. The sound quality is amazing. I listen to a lot of music so for me it's worth the investment (although we are calling it my birthday present).
_____________________________________________ Flea Market! It's just like...it's just like...A MINI-MALL!
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I personally don't have a problem with sniping. It's just like at a real auction. You have to be on your toes if you want the item badly enough. Last night I snagged some Bose noise-cancelling headphones that sell at Target for $180. I got them for $115. Makes me wonder if they 'fell off a truck.'
_____________________________________________ Flea Market! It's just like...it's just like...A MINI-MALL!
leckey wrote:
Makes me wonder if they 'fell off a truck.'
Did they come with a warranty registration card? :confused: If not, they fell off a truck. :doh: If so, mail it in and you will find out. :rolleyes: <disclaimer> Curiosity killed the cat. </disclaimer>
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I tried them at Target and even with no music, being a busy store, I could hear nothing. I am tired of cranking up my music to drown out the Chatty Cathys. The sound quality is amazing. I listen to a lot of music so for me it's worth the investment (although we are calling it my birthday present).
_____________________________________________ Flea Market! It's just like...it's just like...A MINI-MALL!
[odd noises] uhhh WOW! I had my friends impressed because I'll be using them for music (I get withdrawal symptoms without it), but also for the Church - I run the sound equipment for the band. I reckoned I can stand at one end of the hall and not be able to hear the drummer, who is too loud. That, however, is 20 metres of space, 2 speakers pointing my way and with some speaker output on the headphones too. That said, I'm a student so I don't get to spend £60 ($110) on headphones. Although, I saw a set on a website, for $1000. If you can get them for 110 bucks I'll buy a pair as well...:laugh:
Need Another Seven Acronyms...
Confused? You will be... -
A fad is 3/4 of the way to fade - and when the TV gets old, the picture fades.
Need Another Seven Acronyms...
Confused? You will be... -
To be fair I find the exact opposite to be true a lot of the time. I often want to get a bargin on ebay but then it turns out if I hunt about I get things cheaper in the shops. I guess it depends on what you are selling/buying.
el_dude wrote:
I guess it depends on what you are selling/buying.
It definitely depends on what you're looking for and how fast do you need it. If you're willing to wait for a good auction you can get a good deal out of it. However, it is true that many of the times stuff sold on ebay is just as expensive or priced just slightly below of what you can get it for in real store. So I usually shop on ebay for stuff that cannot be found in retail stores anymore (old out of print games or rare DVDs) or very specific hardware - ebay has tons of dell rebranded hardware for 50 percent off what non-branded version would cost. I bought Pentium 4 mobile celeron for $12 and two dual gigabit server level Intel NICs for only $35 each. If you look for example for Adaptec 2610sa raid card, it's selling on ebay for $100-130 whereas retail version costs at least twice as much. There is stuff selling on ebay at good prices, it just has to be "right item" like intel NICs I bought and you have to be patient enough to wait it out for a good auction nobody bid on.
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Ebay is no longer a place to sell things for a fair market value. Buyers have learned how to snipe items and they don't bid at all until the closing few minutes. If you don't set a reserve price you'll give your stuff away for next to nothing. I predict Ebay won't last 2 more years the way it's currently running. You *can* sell things but at such a low price it's absurd. Guess I'll try craigslist. Any other suggestions. Ebay just completely stinks...:sigh:
What I am up to: ReadyToGiveUp(Not!)[^] What friends are up to:SQLServerCentral[^]
I've heard people bitching about it lately but I'm not sure what the problem is. We've sold stuff off an on over the years and as recently as 6 months ago and no issues at all. We set the minimum bid fairly and the rest is automatic. If you start your price at 1 cent then you will likely sell it for 2 cents. If you set your minimum bid at a fair price for yourself and the buyer you can't really go wrong. It's also a great place to buy more obscure stuff, I rarely ever bid on anything anymore, I almost always use the buy it now links for the "stores" that are there.
"I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon