Does Ebay suck now or am I just unlucky?

Discussion of anything other than the stuff that goes in the Joes forum. However, off-topic is not synonymous with stupidity. Try to keep this interesting to the rest of us please.
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by MarkM

I've been trying to pare down my collection over the past month or so, mostly MIB Transformers from early 2000's to the past few years ago. Of all the auctions I've done in the past 4 weeks, 5 have completed with successful payment. All the others are some scam accounts for some reason bidding my auctions up then not communicating and Ebay won't do anything about it. They just say block the bidder and relist.

I hadn't used Ebay in a while but I'm trying to move enough items that trying to keep up with B/S/T threads on message boards or Facebook would be a nightmare but I guess that's what I'm going to have to do. Is anyone else having issues like this or does anyone even use Ebay anymore?

by 2DARK2C

i had a very short run selling on ebay 3 or so yrs ago. even then 1/5 things i sold was a problem in one way or the other. either no pay or outright lie. one person said " i didn't expect it to go that high", lol YOU bid that high. he asked if i could wait till payday and i said sure. 1wk....2wk....ok....ghosted.

i buy stuff on ebay still, but mostly something like a cheap lot.

by MarkM

Yeah. I had one guy do that. "I get paid Friday, can you wait until then?" (that particular Friday was 4 days after the 'you can cancel for nonpayment' date that Ebay sets). I waited and nothing. Messaged the guy and nothing. So I had to cancel and relist. But at least he initially messaged, so maybe life just happened or something. But I really don't get the game of the guy(s) who bid up several auctions so they're on the hook for hundreds of dollars then just disappear. They're not getting anything out of that. All it does is cause me a hassle.

I turned on the thing limiting how many auctions somebody can bid on and the other very limited features Ebay offers but they don't help much. And of course, once you relist, especially a 2nd or 3rd relisting, you get people messaging, "So why do you keep relisting this? I'll give you this lowball number for it just so you don't have to list it again." I know the relisting has hurt me because some of the items aren't getting any bids or traction now, which means people are skipping it, probably, ironically, thinking I'm a scammer.

I only did Ebay because it'd been decent enough in the past and much easier than other options for selling but it's not feeling like that anymore.

by MJTanner

over the last year I sold on ebay a lot--first prepping for a move and then after the move, being unemployed for 7 months. My list of blocked bidders went from 0....to 11 in that amount of time. It's a lot of hassle and ebay fees are ridiculous, but there just isn't a better system for small scale sales.

by Suntzu

Long ago I turned on a lot of available options to keep my listings as straight forward and stress free as possible.

Buy It Now only i.e. immediate payment.

Free shipping with tracking built into costs.

Only certain types can bid.

Paypal only (back then).

I haven't had a single problem.

by Mysterious Stranger

Have you looked into Mercari? My wife has sold a few things on it with no issues.

by MarkM

Suntzu: I have those features on, except BIN only, but somehow these guys have just enough positive feedback that they get around the blocks. The other weird thing is, they'll have a few positive feedback saying things like "great buyer. fast payment" then walls of "doesn't pay doesn't answer messages. Scammer". But their feedback will be 100% positive.
I had actually forgotten about Mercari! Thanks for suggesting it; I'll be looking into it. I have a lot of stuff I'm wanting to offload and I don't want to deal with this every time.

by Goldbug

eBay is getting pretty bad
mostly because they won't do anything to fix the problems
I think they even made it so the seller can't give feedback anymore hence the ones with the 100% feedbacks

by Suntzu

MarkM wrote:Suntzu: I have those features on, except BIN only, but somehow these guys have just enough positive feedback that they get around the blocks. The other weird thing is, they'll have a few positive feedback saying things like "great buyer. fast payment" then walls of "doesn't pay doesn't answer messages. Scammer". But their feedback will be 100% positive.
I had actually forgotten about Mercari! Thanks for suggesting it; I'll be looking into it. I have a lot of stuff I'm wanting to offload and I don't want to deal with this every time.


I take it you prefer not to use Buy It Now?

It reduces the back and forth between the 2 parties.

by MarkM

Yeah, I only ever seem to get the lowballers on TF and GI Joe stuff so BIN just doesn't work for them. I sell other stuff occasionally and do great with BIN, but the toys, I seem to get the 'tire kickers'.
Suntzu wrote:I take it you prefer not to use Buy It Now?

It reduces the back and forth between the 2 parties.

by sgcaper

I’ve basically stopped selling on eBay.

The fees are too damn high. They expect me to ship before payment has cleared. It’s just a total snot show.

Every once in a while I’ll post something and get low ball messages. That gets an instablock.

I haven’t tried other methods but people seem to love Whatnot.

https://www.whatnot.com

It’s live selling rather then post and wait. I haven’t tried it yet but I’m aquatinted with a couple guys that use it a lot


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by alleyviperelite

I've contemplated getting dealer tables at all of the conventions east of the Mississippi just to be less hassle than eBay.

by sgcaper

alleyviperelite wrote:I've contemplated getting dealer tables at all of the conventions east of the Mississippi just to be less hassle than eBay.


I've started doing that. They've been hit or miss (much like ebay). Unlike ebay I can lose out on quite a bit of $ when I factor: table costs, gas, tolls, other expenses, and time. I've been lucky enough to generally break even. Last con I did I ended up losing about $100. Still I plan on doing another one in December.

by alleyviperelite

sgcaper wrote:
alleyviperelite wrote:I've contemplated getting dealer tables at all of the conventions east of the Mississippi just to be less hassle than eBay.


I've started doing that. They've been hit or miss (much like ebay). Unlike ebay I can lose out on quite a bit of $ when I factor: table costs, gas, tolls, other expenses, and time. I've been lucky enough to generally break even. Last con I did I ended up losing about $100. Still I plan on doing another one in December.



I would be happy with that. I enjoy the conventions and selling would give me an excuse to be there and offset the money I'd spend anyway. And you'll get early access to the sales floor.

by dropshipbob

I haven't sold on there in a couple of years, and after what I've heard about them now wanting your social security number so they can charge you tax.....no freaking way.

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