E-bay anyone still use it? Buy or sell?

[Fury 440]

I closed my ebay account three days ago after many years,They asked why, I told them. Then they tried to get me to reconsider, by telling me I would be forever banned from buying on Ebay,with no chance of restarting an account.

Fine with me,,,,

Is that not some form of BLACK MAIL? Wow, what a way to treat someone. Can't this be reported to some oversite group/agency?
I do use them, but less and less it seems. The shipping up here to Canada is just becoming TOO crazy. I wanted to buy about 12 small items from one place (nuts, bolts, fasteners, etc...) and the shipping turned out to be almost TRIPLE the cost of the items. It all could have been packed in a small shoe box. When I contacted the seller, he said there was nothing he could do because of ebays "Global Shipping Program", in which they get to keep any extra shipping money, with the seller getting zero. I never minded sending a seller a few extra bucks shipping money for his time, but I won't just give it to ebay! The end result was that I cancelled the order. Too bad.

 

[monaco66coupe]

Not only unable to buy, but of course never sell. If I see something I need from a company or whatever, I just call them directly to purchase, like running boards for the truck, tires, etc. Thankfully some vendors are now posting addresses and phone numbers.

it has been helpful as well to meet members here that need parts, and avoid all the control freaks on Ebay and Paypal.
The managed payments platform also led me to cancellation of my account. I recommend members read it thoroughly, as there is no opt-out feature in place.

 

[barbee6043]

I'm not gong to sell on FeeBay. I will look for a part there and pay or offer what I feel it is worth and worth to me.
I agree I look for a certain Mopar part and the idiot thing brings up Chevy and VW parts!!

 

[Hey-O]

I also buy obsolete and hard to find parts/items on Ebay and based upon fees they're charging, don't know how long small sellers can remain profitable/viable.

Ebay's greed may kill them and government taxes will force sellers to go "underground" once again.....

Also, doesn't help that States are collecting taxes at point of sale using Ebay to collect taxes. IRS also using Ebay to report sales.

Small sellers don't have a chance - sad.........

Very true!!

 

[monaco66coupe]

This should help Inform buyers here about how Ebay now works:
a good friend is restoring a camaro, and bought parts on Ebay. a Month later, no parts, and they have his money.
so He calls who he thinks is the seller inquiring as to where the parts are.
However, he was informed that they don't have anything to do with that deal, as he bought it thru Ebay. He has to complain to them, as they are now responsible for any parts ordered on Ebay.
The seller told him when he ordered the part thru Ebay, they took the buyers money, then bought the part at a lower price, then adds all the fees, and resells the part to the unsuspecting buyer.

Thus a possible explanation as to why sellers have been waiting for funds, and Buyers have been waiting for parts.So, Ebay for a time has the buyers money, the money due to the seller, and the part.

 

[vintage chromoly]

I buy and sell on EBay regularly.

I sell a lot of obsolete electrical components. They sell quite well on eBay. No real other venue to sell on (I need to reach a worldwide audience).

I buy all kinds of stuff on eBay.

Is it as good as it once was?
Nope
Is it still my best option?
Yep.

 

[Budnicks]

In a word NOPE
not anymore, not one red dime

 

[themechanic]

May trustworthy companies also have eBay store fronts. I shop on eBay but never sold on it.

 

[Don selleck]

I just bought some dodge brothers emblems on there for my present build hard to find anything like that. never sold anything anywhere but in person too many crybabies out there.

 

[Nate S]

I sell a variety of stuff you’d just never find a local audience for. Lasers, laser power meters, reloading stuff whatever. They do suck and they continue to suck more. Fees, tax forms, sales tax, might as well give the stuff away pretty soon. No wonder inflation is high.

 

[monaco66coupe]

The clincher is they demand your checking account number and credit card as backup, so they can pass it around to all their affliated companies. A paypal organization imbedded in the greater Ebay group.

 

[fratzog lover]

They were great in the beginning, used stuff at fair prices. I dont even lurk there anymore.

 

[monaco66coupe]

After reading all their policies, in a nutshell they have become a broker for everything they list for you, ,,,,they list your product(seller), then buys it from you in order to sell it when another buyer agrees to purchase it, and sells it again making a profit along with shipping,fees, etc nice racket.
I can see huge profits for Ebay

 

[BrianS]

Used ebay for over 20 years and for the most part has worked fine, locating some parts I needed and couldn’t find elsewhere. I’ve sold a lot of stuff too. BUT, the site has become more user unfriendly and fees have gone up. Biggest hassle is friggin shipping costs. I no longer sell larger stuff that requires take it in da *** costs. More stuff I sell I includes the shipping costs in the price and often lower the 'want to get for it price'.

I’ve used craig’s only a few times because I never want anyone coming to my house. I’ve set up a meeting place at a busy gas station near me having surveillance cameras. I’ve heard good things about FB market place; but never been on FB and still don’t like the idea being on it. As such more trips to Goodwill and the scrapyard.

We sound about the same I have been selling and buying on Ebay for 20-25 years and have become increasingly disgruntled with the way they treat sellers. After Covid hit it seemed the idiots really ran to ebay to buy items. I would have guys lowball the heck out of me on a $20 item or buy something and then make some stupid reason to return it so I get burned for shipping. Finally I had someone buy something for $90 bucks decide they didn't like it so in an effort to keep my 100% rating I authorized the return. Long story short he burned me for the item and the return money and ebay just said oh well. I no longer sell on ebay but will occasionally buy hard to find items on there only. As far as Marketplace goes they suck. With ebay I could at least make a little on shipping but with Marketplace they pocket the excess in shipping-pretty much a scam. I have ran into more flakes and lowballers on marketplace than anywhere. I have sold $300-$400 worth since the first of the year but when my current listings are up I will go to local pickup only. Selling locally can be tricky, meeting is always best-I will meet some guys here at the house but it depends on the person-I do sell quite a bit of Harley stuff and I will typically always meet those guys since it can be a mixed bag of buyers. They are both reporting your "earnings" to the IRS now so there is no dodging that unless you do local PU only or use CL.

 

[padam]

I am in the same boat, sold stuff for years, but when they went to the new payment scheme I dropped out.

It's hard to believe that since it used to be so good, nobody has come up with a replacement.

 

[Runcharger]

I remember in the 2000's I probably bought and sold 5-10 times a week. I think the start of Pay-pal was the beginning of the end though. I think I removed myself from there about 7-8 years ago. Probably got screwed out of $1000 over the years but made a bunch of okay deals as well.

 

[Ron H]

I think ebay got too big for their britches and have been riding on this for years now. It’s evident they’ve studied how they can keep squeezing their sellers out of more dollars. Friend of mine said he’s sold stuff on FC market place and has been happy with it; but one story. I’m not on FC (or twitter) and never have been so whatever other selling platforms are out there besides CL is a mystery to me. Ebay has the national spread and 99% of what I’ve sold over the years has been to out of state buyers.

 

[Roadcuda]

I don't sell anything there and occasionally buy off it. But if they keep adding fees and playing other games with people's money, people will just use Fleabag less and less and eventually it will drive them out of business.