Anyone find people not buying on ebay lately?

[TwixVoy]

I know Ebay isn't exactly a great measure of the economy.... but about 2-3 years ago I was a BIG ebay seller... as far as I always sold electronics/computer components I didn't need anymore for extra money.

Just this past week I listed A LOT of good (modern, as in 1-2 years old) computer hardware about 40% LESS than what you could find the same hardware for on discount computer hardware sites.

NOT ONE BID by the time auctions closed! 2-3 years ago when I did the same thing their were bids like crazy.

Don't know why I am surprised though. I suppose part of me thought 1-2 year old decent hardware at a cheap price might make someone a cheap upgrade. Apparently not many people have such a desire at the moment.

[glinda]

1. Many things have tanked on Ebay. My husband sells on it and has had to

rethink what he sells. I know that some areas have gone by the wayside altogether like Dolls, glassware, things that people do not really need. I notice on some things that people who have a lot of money will bid and buy what they collect but the number of people bidding has totally gone down. Personally my guess is that it will get even worse.

[lefthandedlefty]

2. I have bought quite a bit on E-bay,but

My income has gone down so much I am just afraid to buy anything.With the high cost of fuel insurance and truck taxes food seems to be a luxury.

[BolivarianHero]

3. Cool...

Maybe I should look for a copy of Suikoden 2 now that people aren't able to buy as much.

[TheWatcher]

26. Don't bother.

It's still selling for WELL over $100.00 on average

[Stellabella]

4. I've stopped. Both because of the economy and because I've been burned.

Plus I'm sick of spending money.

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. I stopped more than 6 months ago.

[lpbk2713]

5. I don't Ebay so much any more.

Not after being stung on several electronics purchases. Mostly in PC hardware.

But if I knew it was you, Twix, I would have at least looked over what you had

for sale recently. It helps when the buyer is more comfortable about whose

merchandise they are bidding on. Feedback rating helps but it isn't all that

reliable as far as I'm concerned. The seller could have picked up something

at a yard sale and not even checked it out before putting it up for bids.

[WeDidIt]

6. I don't usually bid on auctions any more

I mostly buy tabletop gaming gear like miniatures and any more I've only been buying from established eBay stores instead of bidding on auctions.

[Xithras]

7. ScamBay is best avoided by those with any sense.

My last three purchases on ScamBay all ended with disputes and chargebacks. My last sale ended with someone trying a chargeback against me for non-delivery (lied through their teeth and claimed I'd shipped an empty box).

Ebay once had a reputation for being a great place to exchange goods. Their changes in fee structures and dispute resolution have chased away many of the smaller sellers, leaving mostly the larger established Ebay Stores (which are no cheaper than regular Internet retailers) and shady scammers looking to make a quick buck. Ebay still has a reputation, but "great" is no longer a part of it.

[DJ13]

8. Besides the other reasons already given

Ebay's recent revamped software makes it harder to search, and makes my eyes hurt after just a few minutes.

Its also so much slower than it used to be that I go there less often.

They should have learned from the Yahoo message board fiasco of three years back (they lost over 50% of their daily users after an "upgrade" that made it more time consuming to use), that if they run a beta version and the users tell them they dont like it, listen to your customers, dont force them to use it.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Not as much as before, plus they've thrown sellers under the bus.

It's been a double whammy for sellers.

Bad economy, plus one-sided rules against sellers.

[KittyWampus]

10. I just made decent money. It depends on your items, photos, descriptions & listing savvy

My issue is how Ebay has fucked over Sellers and made our lives hell.

And the crappy new listing layout.

[Echo In Light]

11. Long time follower of obscure heavy metal LPs...and yes, things are s l o w...

[DemReadingDU]

12. Check in the ebay forum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=403


Personally, I never sold anything, and only occasionally bought a few things.

[ContinentalOp]

13. It's hit and miss.

It seems like things should be bad but I sold a bunch of stuff recently and came out alright. Some things sold for less than I wanted but still a fair price, and others that I didn't think would do well sold for more than I bought them, so it evened out. I've also been outbid a lot lately on things I've been trying to buy so there are definitely people out there bidding and willing to pay.

[Fire1]

14. E-Bay's getting a bad reputation, lately.

[Liberal_in_LA]

16. I didn't like paypal's push to get me to become 'verified' either

[Fire1]

19. Don't blame you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Well I'd say that if I can get a NEW laptop for 200-300 dollars

I think I will not buy a used one

Granted, my needs are filled up with a lappie

[Lorien]

18. Yep. The final bids on many of my items have dropped by half

times are tough no matter where you turn. :-(

[Bryn]

20. I stopped selling on eBay several months ago

I was doing well, making extra money until they changed things and search stuff sucks big time. It was fun and great while it lasted. :(

[hyphenate]

21. I can tell you exactly why I buy very little

on eBay anymore: postage and handling. In order to earn a few more dollars, some sellers will put an item up for 1 cent, and then promptly overcharge postage and handling to make up for a low-ball auction price. Unrealistic postage, vs. the real cost of objects is one of the things which pisses me off as a customer. And the USPS does it one better, by making the price of stamps higher and higher, making sellers raise their "p&h" even higher.

Some things are still worth the buy, but my time spent buying from eBay has become closer to ending altogether. I don't buy anything that has any real weight to it--in the past two years, the auctions I've bid on have been things like coins, photographs and digital camera batteries. Once upon a time, I could have been assured a decent deal on many things that now are scandalously high.

I stopped selling myself some years ago partly because of the increases in USPS costs, but since I have dealt mainly in collectables, it was lucrative because a lot of what I had were unique items. However now, I don't feel that the market is there a lot of the time, as people stop buying collectables when the economy is so terrible.

I always think of how much I save--or don't save--when thinking of making a bid on something: if I can buy something locally that costs close to what it is on eBay with the p&h costs, I'll go for the product locally just for the instant gratification.

[GreenArrow]

22. Ebay's screwed itself

with it's greed-fueled fee system, its dumbfuck feedback system and its choice to try to shove company owned Paypal down ebayers throats. When they stopped allowing personal checks and money orders as payment options, they lost me as a buyer and a seller. They've done everything possible to get rid of the smaller sellers, who tend to offer the most interesting items, and instead pushed bulk sales crap.

[InvisibleTouch]

23. Yes, it's very slow right now, and has been for months.

eBay is my main source of income, but it's a struggle these days. Every now and again there will be a burst of sales all in the same week, and then there's a dead zone in between. Collectibles are hardest-hit, in my experience, because they're luxuries and not necessities. People are still buying household items, but are looking for very low prices.

[Doremus]

24. It's our main income too, Invisible Touch.

We've been fulltime powersellers for 10 years.

It's getting dicey for sure. We're slowly being squeezed to death between the growing scarcity of decent resellable merchandise, higher and higher fees and lower and lower sales prices.

After reading the comments above, it's easy to see how badly ebay has screwed the pooch. :(

[InvisibleTouch]

27. Since the profit margin is so low now...

...the only solution I have come up with is to massively increase the volume. But with my slow old computer that takes TIME that I don't have (since I have a household to care for also), plus it's always a gamble whether the additional listing fees will be worth it. So I keep muddling along.

On the plus side, if there is one, I've found the market pretty good as a buyer. Even factoring in shipping costs, I can usually find necessities cheaper on eBay than I could get them locally.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

25. I've been selling on ebay for 9 years and although I am selling most everything I place for

auction, my gross is down about 40-50%.

[flvegan]

28. Hmm. Excuse me, but I need to go look at the assortment of Tag Heuer

that might be available.

Only because Omega sellers will never come down in price.