eBay bidding - is it a con?

Holpil wrote:I sold about 200 units of a product last year and no less than 10 of the first 50 items I'd sent without tracking came back with some banana split claiming it never turned up and opening a dispute. RM rarely lose parcels. The level of fraud on eBay is obscene.

Now my policy is anything sold over £10 goes signed for and factored into the price. You can draw in buyers if you dispatch same day upto a reasonable time, offer to send to argos etc but you still have to deal with idiots whether you're buying or selling.

My eBay sales dried up after Brexit and I was basically breaking even after all the fees so I stopped selling there and put more time on other platforms.

Also Royal Mail cover up to £20 on regular 1st/2nd post, so I don't see the point in signed delivery as it costs you more for nothing extra other than a pointless signature. Just post regularly and get proof of postage to cover any loses.

BID0 wrote:

Holpil wrote:I sold about 200 units of a product last year and no less than 10 of the first 50 items I'd sent without tracking came back with some banana split claiming it never turned up and opening a dispute. RM rarely lose parcels. The level of fraud on eBay is obscene.

Now my policy is anything sold over £10 goes signed for and factored into the price. You can draw in buyers if you dispatch same day upto a reasonable time, offer to send to argos etc but you still have to deal with idiots whether you're buying or selling.

My eBay sales dried up after Brexit and I was basically breaking even after all the fees so I stopped selling there and put more time on other platforms.

Also Royal Mail cover up to £20 on regular 1st/2nd post, so I don't see the point in signed delivery as it costs you more for nothing extra other than a pointless signature. Just post regularly and get proof of postage to cover any loses.

Yep, I sold my Wii U copy of Mario Kart 8 through Amazon for £20 and the buyer claimed it didn't arrive. He got refunded but the Royal Mail paid me the value based on the Amazon order invoice-and refunded postage so I ended up slightly up overall.

Can't say I've had any problems with bidding - I just set the maximum I'm willing to pay and let it auto-bid. If someone pays more than I'm willing to, so be it.

A few recent issues though when I bought things - buying from people with 100% positive ratings, lots of feedback, plenty of photos, etc, but kept having problems with the items not coming with what was in the photos or things otherwise missing/not as described. It's too much hassle, so I'm not sure I'll bother again. Haven't bothered selling on there for ages - fees are too high and too many people trying to swindle you.

BID0 wrote:I stopped selling there and put more time on other platforms.

What other platforms do you use? I have quite a few things I want to sell, but don't want to use eBay or Amazon.

Saint of Killers wrote:

Mafrozen wrote:At least PayPal have that newish thing where you don't actually pay for two weeks.

Oh wow. Ta for the info.

For anyone else wondering: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/p ... ivery-more

Wow, that's actually really strawberry floating decent.

gooseberry fool that sounds great. Sort of like a virtual credit card.

Lotus wrote:Can't say I've had any problems with bidding - I just set the maximum I'm willing to pay and let it auto-bid. If someone pays more than I'm willing to, so be it.

A few recent issues though when I bought things - buying from people with 100% positive ratings, lots of feedback, plenty of photos, etc, but kept having problems with the items not coming with what was in the photos or things otherwise missing/not as described. It's too much hassle, so I'm not sure I'll bother again. Haven't bothered selling on there for ages - fees are too high and too many people trying to swindle you.

BID0 wrote:I stopped selling there and put more time on other platforms.

What other platforms do you use? I have quite a few things I want to sell, but don't want to use eBay or Amazon.

I sell clothing so I use the depop app which is really good, and also I use etsy which is for handmade items. Not really sure that either of those will benefit anyone here.

I've actually started to use PayPal more than my bank, especially since they gave be a PayPal Mastercard (which for some reason you've got to be invited to, and it's been this way for years). Coupled with Quidco, the rewards for shopping this way are much better...the bank usually wants you to PAY THEM every month for these perks.

The item I tried to bid for on Sunday has been relisted so I've got my bid in and so far there are no other bids. On Sunday there were no bids for it but I suspect that just as this auction ends, a mysterious bidder that is in NO WAY connected to the seller will win the auction.

What you need to do is wait and then bid on it in the final 5 seconds.

Or not bid at all.

I'm surprised you rebid. I had exactly the same situation a few years back where I was outbid last second by an obvious 2nd account. The seller contacted me afterwards and said it had fallen through and offered me the item for my bid price. I told them exactly what I thought and wished them all the best.

BID0 wrote:I sell clothing so I use the depop app which is really good, and also I use etsy which is for handmade items. Not really sure that either of those will benefit anyone here.

I use Etsy for my shirts too, what pisses me off is despite them having an Irish subsidiary for tax avoidance the bills are charged in dollars still which has made them about 20% more expensive for me since EU exit which strawberry floating sucks.

Green Gecko wrote:

BID0 wrote:I sell clothing so I use the depop app which is really good, and also I use etsy which is for handmade items. Not really sure that either of those will benefit anyone here.

I use Etsy for my shirts too, what pisses me off is despite them having an Irish subsidiary for tax avoidance the bills are charged in dollars still which has made them about 20% more expensive for me since EU exit which strawberry floating sucks.

Yeh and I bank with Halifax so if I pay those fees from my bank account then I get another £3 or so in banking fees for the currency conversion. I usually pay them off with PayPal or if I have money in my shop account.

Still it’s a pretty good website, the listing fees are low and last months compared to eBay and the site has covered the sales I’ve lost on eBay this year, although I do drive traffic there myself so it’s probably not solely Etsy.

Did you do their Christmas market event this year? I passed some work on from my friend to you too, I think it was about a year ago but I forgot to ask if it went okay

BID0 wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:

BID0 wrote:I sell clothing so I use the depop app which is really good, and also I use etsy which is for handmade items. Not really sure that either of those will benefit anyone here.

I use Etsy for my shirts too, what pisses me off is despite them having an Irish subsidiary for tax avoidance the bills are charged in dollars still which has made them about 20% more expensive for me since EU exit which strawberry floating sucks.

Yeh and I bank with Halifax so if I pay those fees from my bank account then I get another £3 or so in banking fees for the currency conversion. I usually pay them off with PayPal or if I have money in my shop account.

Still it’s a pretty good website, the listing fees are low and last months compared to eBay and the site has covered the sales I’ve lost on eBay this year, although I do drive traffic there myself so it’s probably not solely Etsy.

Did you do their Christmas market event this year? I passed some work on from my friend to you too, I think it was about a year ago but I forgot to ask if it went okay

I looked into the etsy local here, I should have done it but the good spots were just too expensive. The affordable spaces recommended you bring your own light source

I totally failed at the Xmas prep again this year, but I did get snubbed at the last minute after being promised space in return for professional photography duties.

I did make the usual couple few more Xmas orders thankfully, not as good as I had hoped - my YoY is down massively on etsy just because I voluntarily pulled two of my studio ghibli designs over copyright concerns.

And yes, your friend ms W has used me a few times, I even did a portrait of her dad on a shirt that went up Ben Nevis. I got a 1am order on Saturday too for secret Santa lol, ironically that went out today along with mine.

I stopped selling on eBay because of the fees and I thought etsy would be better, it is, because you build a presence and a brand not just a username. But I should syndicate to eBay, etsy, Amazon and my own store. The good thing about etsy is people don't have ridiculous expectations in terms of expedience for a hand made item. I've only had one proper whinge (it was dispatched on schedule) but they couldn't bitch too much as I still got 4 stars.

I think eBay could be hell if I used it more. No wait, the reason I stopped using it was PayPal, it doubles accounting work and their ledger is confusing as strawberry float. I prefer paid or not paid, rather than all these weird intermediary stuff like funds held and currency conversions that all have to be sanitised for my accounts system.

I've also found you can sell a higher average price on etsy. eBay is full of garage businesses with zero, let's say, class. I feel the entire platform just devalues your product instantly because it's all about being the cheapest and bargains etc. Why bother if you won't make any money or likely any repeat sales. I put an irrational amount of work into my goods. So it only makes sense to target the mid to high end market. I could treat some things as loss leaders but what's the point when most people understand you get what you pay for.

To be fair if I use ebay I always try and snipe. Just watch the auction and jump in at the last moment. It's the best way to get a decent price.

Why artificially inflate the price of the item early? Always bid as late as possible with your maximum bid.

Green Gecko wrote:

BID0 wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:

BID0 wrote:I sell clothing so I use the depop app which is really good, and also I use etsy which is for handmade items. Not really sure that either of those will benefit anyone here.

I use Etsy for my shirts too, what pisses me off is despite them having an Irish subsidiary for tax avoidance the bills are charged in dollars still which has made them about 20% more expensive for me since EU exit which strawberry floating sucks.

Yeh and I bank with Halifax so if I pay those fees from my bank account then I get another £3 or so in banking fees for the currency conversion. I usually pay them off with PayPal or if I have money in my shop account.

Still it’s a pretty good website, the listing fees are low and last months compared to eBay and the site has covered the sales I’ve lost on eBay this year, although I do drive traffic there myself so it’s probably not solely Etsy.

Did you do their Christmas market event this year? I passed some work on from my friend to you too, I think it was about a year ago but I forgot to ask if it went okay

I looked into the etsy local here, I should have done it but the good spots were just too expensive. The affordable spaces recommended you bring your own light source

I totally failed at the Xmas prep again this year, but I did get snubbed at the last minute after being promised space in return for professional photography duties.

I did make the usual couple few more Xmas orders thankfully, not as good as I had hoped - my YoY is down massively on etsy just because I voluntarily pulled two of my studio ghibli designs over copyright concerns.

And yes, your friend ms W has used me a few times, I even did a portrait of her dad on a shirt that went up Ben Nevis. I got a 1am order on Saturday too for secret Santa lol, ironically that went out today along with mine.

I stopped selling on eBay because of the fees and I thought etsy would be better, it is, because you build a presence and a brand not just a username. But I should syndicate to eBay, etsy, Amazon and my own store. The good thing about etsy is people don't have ridiculous expectations in terms of expedience for a hand made item. I've only had one proper whinge (it was dispatched on schedule) but they couldn't bitch too much as I still got 4 stars.

I think eBay could be hell if I used it more. No wait, the reason I stopped using it was PayPal, it doubles accounting work and their ledger is confusing as strawberry float. I prefer paid or not paid, rather than all these weird intermediary stuff like funds held and currency conversions that all have to be sanitised for my accounts system.

I've also found you can sell a higher average price on etsy. eBay is full of garage businesses with zero, let's say, class. I feel the entire platform just devalues your product instantly because it's all about being the cheapest and bargains etc. Why bother if you won't make any money or likely any repeat sales. I put an irrational amount of work into my goods. So it only makes sense to target the mid to high end market. I could treat some things as loss leaders but what's the point when most people understand you get what you pay for.

Yeh eBay seems to have been taken over by big business now (Argos etc) and completely flooded the site with factory made crap.

And bring your own light source?!?! where was the venue? a cave? Our one in Essex was at a football club which was a little small really for how many exhibited there. We had about 1,300 customers through the door though which was surprising.

My etsy is up about 75% this year for views/orders/revenue but that's probably down to increasing my listings by about 30%. In fact it's been a crazy year, not sure how I've done it with a full time job as well.

BID0 wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:

BID0 wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:

BID0 wrote:I sell clothing so I use the depop app which is really good, and also I use etsy which is for handmade items. Not really sure that either of those will benefit anyone here.

I use Etsy for my shirts too, what pisses me off is despite them having an Irish subsidiary for tax avoidance the bills are charged in dollars still which has made them about 20% more expensive for me since EU exit which strawberry floating sucks.

Yeh and I bank with Halifax so if I pay those fees from my bank account then I get another £3 or so in banking fees for the currency conversion. I usually pay them off with PayPal or if I have money in my shop account.

Still it’s a pretty good website, the listing fees are low and last months compared to eBay and the site has covered the sales I’ve lost on eBay this year, although I do drive traffic there myself so it’s probably not solely Etsy.

Did you do their Christmas market event this year? I passed some work on from my friend to you too, I think it was about a year ago but I forgot to ask if it went okay

I looked into the etsy local here, I should have done it but the good spots were just too expensive. The affordable spaces recommended you bring your own light source

I totally failed at the Xmas prep again this year, but I did get snubbed at the last minute after being promised space in return for professional photography duties.

I did make the usual couple few more Xmas orders thankfully, not as good as I had hoped - my YoY is down massively on etsy just because I voluntarily pulled two of my studio ghibli designs over copyright concerns.

And yes, your friend ms W has used me a few times, I even did a portrait of her dad on a shirt that went up Ben Nevis. I got a 1am order on Saturday too for secret Santa lol, ironically that went out today along with mine.

I stopped selling on eBay because of the fees and I thought etsy would be better, it is, because you build a presence and a brand not just a username. But I should syndicate to eBay, etsy, Amazon and my own store. The good thing about etsy is people don't have ridiculous expectations in terms of expedience for a hand made item. I've only had one proper whinge (it was dispatched on schedule) but they couldn't bitch too much as I still got 4 stars.

I think eBay could be hell if I used it more. No wait, the reason I stopped using it was PayPal, it doubles accounting work and their ledger is confusing as strawberry float. I prefer paid or not paid, rather than all these weird intermediary stuff like funds held and currency conversions that all have to be sanitised for my accounts system.

I've also found you can sell a higher average price on etsy. eBay is full of garage businesses with zero, let's say, class. I feel the entire platform just devalues your product instantly because it's all about being the cheapest and bargains etc. Why bother if you won't make any money or likely any repeat sales. I put an irrational amount of work into my goods. So it only makes sense to target the mid to high end market. I could treat some things as loss leaders but what's the point when most people understand you get what you pay for.

Yeh eBay seems to have been taken over by big business now (Argos etc) and completely flooded the site with factory made crap.

And bring your own light source?!?! where was the venue? a cave? Our one in Essex was at a football club which was a little small really for how many exhibited there. We had about 1,300 customers through the door though which was surprising.

My etsy is up about 75% this year for views/orders/revenue but that's probably down to increasing my listings by about 30%. In fact it's been a crazy year, not sure how I've done it with a full time job as well.

What do you sell, just out of interest?

Poser wrote:

BID0 wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:

BID0 wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:

BID0 wrote:I sell clothing so I use the depop app which is really good, and also I use etsy which is for handmade items. Not really sure that either of those will benefit anyone here.

I use Etsy for my shirts too, what pisses me off is despite them having an Irish subsidiary for tax avoidance the bills are charged in dollars still which has made them about 20% more expensive for me since EU exit which strawberry floating sucks.

Yeh and I bank with Halifax so if I pay those fees from my bank account then I get another £3 or so in banking fees for the currency conversion. I usually pay them off with PayPal or if I have money in my shop account.

Still it’s a pretty good website, the listing fees are low and last months compared to eBay and the site has covered the sales I’ve lost on eBay this year, although I do drive traffic there myself so it’s probably not solely Etsy.

Did you do their Christmas market event this year? I passed some work on from my friend to you too, I think it was about a year ago but I forgot to ask if it went okay

I looked into the etsy local here, I should have done it but the good spots were just too expensive. The affordable spaces recommended you bring your own light source

I totally failed at the Xmas prep again this year, but I did get snubbed at the last minute after being promised space in return for professional photography duties.

I did make the usual couple few more Xmas orders thankfully, not as good as I had hoped - my YoY is down massively on etsy just because I voluntarily pulled two of my studio ghibli designs over copyright concerns.

And yes, your friend ms W has used me a few times, I even did a portrait of her dad on a shirt that went up Ben Nevis. I got a 1am order on Saturday too for secret Santa lol, ironically that went out today along with mine.

I stopped selling on eBay because of the fees and I thought etsy would be better, it is, because you build a presence and a brand not just a username. But I should syndicate to eBay, etsy, Amazon and my own store. The good thing about etsy is people don't have ridiculous expectations in terms of expedience for a hand made item. I've only had one proper whinge (it was dispatched on schedule) but they couldn't bitch too much as I still got 4 stars.

I think eBay could be hell if I used it more. No wait, the reason I stopped using it was PayPal, it doubles accounting work and their ledger is confusing as strawberry float. I prefer paid or not paid, rather than all these weird intermediary stuff like funds held and currency conversions that all have to be sanitised for my accounts system.

I've also found you can sell a higher average price on etsy. eBay is full of garage businesses with zero, let's say, class. I feel the entire platform just devalues your product instantly because it's all about being the cheapest and bargains etc. Why bother if you won't make any money or likely any repeat sales. I put an irrational amount of work into my goods. So it only makes sense to target the mid to high end market. I could treat some things as loss leaders but what's the point when most people understand you get what you pay for.

Yeh eBay seems to have been taken over by big business now (Argos etc) and completely flooded the site with factory made crap.

And bring your own light source?!?! where was the venue? a cave? Our one in Essex was at a football club which was a little small really for how many exhibited there. We had about 1,300 customers through the door though which was surprising.

My etsy is up about 75% this year for views/orders/revenue but that's probably down to increasing my listings by about 30%. In fact it's been a crazy year, not sure how I've done it with a full time job as well.

What do you sell, just out of interest?

I screen print, it's an old printing technique that goes way back to the early China. It's primarily for large scale printing (like newspapers, mass produced items) but I use it in the opposite way as it's intended and print small numbers

I print on tshirts, but it can be used to print on paper, any type of clothing etc.

BID0 basically does what I do the authentic way that is more labour intensive but less labour intensive for large volumes, for me that takes literally days as it's the same amount of work for every single one. He's better set p to hold and sell multiples ie stock and I'm probably better set up for one offs.

So same thing different recipe. I want to screen print too, in fact I just realised I am getting a tiled basement in my next rental which might FINALLY mean I can deal with a bit more mess!! (Including strawberry float loads of dust from my CNC and sanding).

I find with etsy it definitely helps to have more products, increase visibility, side sells etc. Which for me means actually drawing and getting those designs up, something I still struggle with.