Peoples views on the bay

[Jameshow]

Together with everlasting rear brake pads

Doesn't bother me as I have plenty of spares in the parts pin in fact the brakes wheels and shifters will go.

 

[Pabs]

I've had some bad experiences recently trying to sell three bicycles (nice ones). Despite being collection only the winning bidders lived in Poland, Algeria and Kent.
All of them expected me to wait around for some private courier after a 'family member' who was supposed to collect them 'couldn't make it'.
It was suspiciously like a scam so I ended up pulling them and selling locally on Gumtree and through Facebook and work.

I hadn't sold anything for a long time but eBay doesn't seem to be as seller freindly like I remember it to be

 

[artie]

Hi all

Been having a sortout and thought of shifting some stuff on the bay, had not used it since they were part of paypal and things have changed but for better or worse ? My initial thoughts are that they give you free listings but then want you to buy promotions in order to increase audience and still charge on a sale. What do others think and anyone have any thoughts or are there now better alternatives?

I've not read through the replies so if someone has already made a similar comment then here it is again.

I quit selling off my unwanted items on the bay because mostly they sold for a pretty mediocre price, then take selling fees, paypal fees, time and stuff to wrap, time and fuel to go to the post office. I finally put some items in the bin rather than go through all that for buttons.

I moved to FB market place where I have unloaded lots of unwanted "treasures". I find if I wait, sometimes for quite a while, someone will pick it/them up at the door.

So no charges or inconvenience.

Gumtrees not bad but nowadays I prefer market place.

 

[TRITON]

I finally put some items in the bin rather than go through all that for buttons.

I periodically hand a bunch of parts to the local bike charity. I know what you mean the almighty faff trying to sell things till you give up in frustration, so handing them to the charity gets shot of it all and makes you feel good that somethings going to benefit someone else.

 

[Keith 66]

I dont use ebay anymore, costs too much & too much grief. Preloved used to be quite good but seems to have died off. Marketplace is good if you are selling local but is infested with scammers.
It all depends on what you are selling. Targeted sales are best, If its engineering stuff Homeworkshop.org or Mig welding forum, If woodwork homeworkshop or UKW, Boats its Apollo duck.

 

[Kayen]

I've had some bad experiences recently trying to sell three bicycles (nice ones). Despite being collection only the winning bidders lived in Poland, Algeria and Kent.
All of them expected me to wait around for some private courier after a 'family member' who was supposed to collect them 'couldn't make it'.
It was suspiciously like a scam so I ended up pulling them and selling locally on Gumtree and through Facebook and work.

I hadn't sold anything for a long time but eBay doesn't seem to be as seller freindly like I remember it to be

You can make your listing only show in the UK - there's probably a workaround, such as VPN, etc., but if you make it clear in your blurb that it's for quick and local collection only, it should help.

 

[Pabs]

@Kayen good point about UK only. that may have stopped the Algeria and Poland bids!

Alas I had made it very clear about pickup and one of the buyers even messaged prior to the end if the auction confirming he would collect. what ensued was a 2 week long unpleasant liturgy of him changing plans until he'd tried to convince me to take a day to wait around for a courier. I refused and he then attempted to extort the cost of the courier from me. I reported him to eBay and that was the end of it but the amount of time wasted has put me off using eBay to sell anything of significance but YMMV

 

[Spectric]

I think a lot of you have just highlighted my own concerns, the risk, the higher fees, the time involved in packing and sending plus the higher cost really make some items just not worth selling on the bay. My own problem is that I really hate just throwing stuff away because I know there is someone out there who would appreciate it and I would rather sell for a token gesture than bin it. I dare say this is a problem for many in later life as they want to move on surplus stuff.

 

[woodieallen]

As in all things, there is no hard and fast rule. I've used eBay - both buying and selling - and haven't really had any problems either way. If it's a large and awkward or heavy item then I'll usually stick it on Gumtree (I don't like Facebook...they are heavily pro-Putin in the posts that they accept and the ones they delete..ie anti-Putin).

One thing to watch with Gumtree are scammers who say that a relation is 'interested' and 'please can you send details to them at xyzetc@gmail'. It's a scam. And Gumtree have no objection to you telling the scammer to Foxtrot Oscar.

Wood stuff I'll try and sell on the forum first. BTW have we changed the rules ? I thought that we weren't supposed to advertise both on the forum and on eBay at the same time.....Jacob mentioned that he did...unless I misinterpreted what he said.

Ditto delivery people...depends (usually) on the local guy doing the delivery. Most of ours are pretty good, TBH, although I did have one relief muppet on DHL who 'left your parcel in a safe place' aka in a 'snowdrift in a field.'

 

[woodieallen]

Well that reply certainly tempted fate.

1) Bought a case for my new phone. Really poor quality and malformed. Raised a return. Got a Royal Mail return label which in itself was a pain as it's a major round trip for us as we rarely go out. Lying toe-rag of a seller said "Damaged in the rain" and deducted 50% ! That's been raised with eBay

2) Ten days ago ordered a new Milwaukee battery and remembered today that I'd not received it. Checked the order details..."We're posting your order" ...that was Jan 18th with expected delivery 19th. Sent an "Item not received" message ...guess what...got an email from DPD saying that they're expecting it. Awaiting for any reply from seller before deciding what feedback to give.

22.09 update....ref (1) eBay took the hit and gave me the other 50%

 

[heronviewer]

Well that reply certainly tempted fate.

1) Bought a case for my new phone. Really poor quality and malformed. Raised a return. Got a Royal Mail return label which in itself was a pain as it's a major round trip for us as we rarely go out. Lying toe-rag of a seller said "Damaged in the rain" and deducted 50% ! That's been raised with eBay

2) Ten days ago ordered a new Milwaukee battery and remembered today that I'd not received it. Checked the order details..."We're posting your order" ...that was Jan 18th with expected delivery 19th. Sent an "Item not received" message ...guess what...got an email from DPD saying that they're expecting it. Awaiting for any reply from seller before deciding what feedback to give.

Why do you not arrange for Royal Mail to collect the item from your house ? It’s free !

 

[Sideways]

On the other hand, I spent £450 last week on an ebay purchase of some brand new top brand electronics that unluckily had a manufacturing defect. I messaged the seller politely who asked me to send it back and he would replace it. RMSD both ways and another new one came back fully working today without going anywhere near ebay's returns process. It was one of the pricier things I've bought on the bay and worked out perfectly well. I saved at least £200 vs the best street price for my purchase so I'm happy !

 

[stuart little]

You can make your listing only show in the UK - there's probably a workaround, such as VPN, etc., but if you make it clear in your blurb that it's for quick and local collection only, it should help.

But there're 'silly billys' out there who fail to read the listing 'proper-like', they buy it, then when you contact them to arrange collection it's a case of :- "Oh, err, em,, I'm like 150 miles away, didn't realize it's collection only" $%^£& GRRRRRRRRRRRRH! Had it several times.

 

[homeinthecity]

I find eBay good for second hand used tools, but you have to wait for the right auction to come up and prepare to be sniped by 50p at the last minute. Selling is a nightmare, barely worth it once the fees come off.

Marketplace is good but full of scammers, definitely buyer beware. Lots of people take Paypal but don't want to pay the 1.5% fee to have the payment protected, which I would always recommend.

 

[stuart little]

When bidding for something I really wanted, I would decide on the most the item was worth to me & enter it as a late bid, most times I'd get it a lot less as there was not enough time for others to raise their bids. If I missed out it was usually by a 'silly-billy' paying over the odds!

 

[hlvd]

Hi all

Been having a sortout and thought of shifting some stuff on the bay, had not used it since they were part of paypal and things have changed but for better or worse ? My initial thoughts are that they give you free listings but then want you to buy promotions in order to increase audience and still charge on a sale. What do others think and anyone have any thoughts or are there now better alternatives?

There’s an 80% off final fees email every other Friday. If you list on that it’s cheap, especially Buy it Now as it lasts for around 28 days.