did you tride to buy or sell something on ebay

[zest1818]

how many people tried to buy or sell on ebay in this business forum?:|

 

[robwoollen]

I used to be in construction and bought a hell of a lot of tools on ebay - always got great deals. However towards the end, I found that the market was saturated by buyers for top end tools (£300-1000 range) and I couldn't get any good deals.

I recently sold most of my kit - again on ebay, and made a killing so it still stands true - in that particular sector the market is saturated with buyers.

I still use ebay quite a lot - for sports equipment etc. It is good, but no longer the bargain store it used to be.

I have a good friend who makes an absolute fortune selling high-value watches on ebay. That's all he does and he is minted!

 

[FantasyCouriers]

Few years back we sold antiques & furniture on ebay, we got powerseller status (in the days before they invented all those new easy to acheive levels!!)

 

[Shay]

Recently got some stonking deals on kids toys, like Lego and Knex.

Sold a few bits and pieces, nothing major.

 

[Matt1959]

I buy and sell on Ebay in connection with my business. Someone told me once that Ebay is as good for general exposure for your business as it is for selling the products. He was right - get it right and you end up with doing alot of deals off Ebay (as a result of Ebay) and also making business contacts UK wide that you would not normally have made. Ebay is good value whichever way you look at it. I love it and have never had any hassles.

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

I have used Ebay occasionally for both buying and selling, but only if I can't find what I want elsewhere, or if I want to get rid of surplus stock cheaply. A lot of the stuff you find there is cheap junk and I regard it as an internet based car boot sale. The time involved in selling lots of stuff on it is better spent and more profitable on a proper website, I feel.
Barrie

 

[RayB]

Someone was trying to sell a couple of CD's on ebay the other day, boring stuff though, data or something.................................

 

[Joyous]

Successfully got rid of a load of children's clothes on there a couple of years ago. It's often my first port of call when looking for CD's, that and Amazon.

Not had any bad experiences so far.

Regards

Joy

 

[zibulsky]

ebay? a nightmare we sell 100-200 items a day get about 300-400 emails a day of stupid questions, customers from hell ebay volume selling products useless we do get good prices and sell volume but hoping to reduce soon and sell through other channels
i have been doing figures all week and i sell in 3 ways
trade 30% of retail cost
ebay 55% of retail cost
webb 48% of retail cost
taking into consideration manpower, fees, postage return fees etc to sell these volumes guess what?
i end up with 30%!!!!!!!!!! trade webb and ebay!!
so im going to replace all web based sales with traders if possible
so anybody want to buy some stock??
website also going cheap soon (i hope)
one fed up ebay seller!

 

[zest1818]

Thank you all!

Seems everyone doing very well business on ebay. So did some one lose money on a business on ebay? Did some one had any bad experience with that (even buy or sell)?

What's your business? Could give any suggestion? May I have a look at your account? Or get some idea from there.

I can't think how can "sell 100-200 items a day ", so what is the value of each item? How many manpower you spend on it?

 

[CmyC5]

In response to the origin of topic raised, Yes I did once some many years ago... to buy several unused and new large toys for my growing pet companion dogs to play with. The result was very good, I have to drive 60 odd kilometers to settle a nice deal, met a stranger who was polite and a gentleman, and we parted after being served two cups of good tea, I paid only 6 (six) Euros for 4 large animal cushion toys (estd. new value @ abt 90 Euros).

After that, I usually ordered thru Amazon for the original and new CD & DvDs, I'm a buyer and not a seller type, to make it clear here although I did succeed once in selling my Scrabble set as a collector's item... that went well fortunately to a lady who showed extreme delight after I saved her from driving across the border with a registered package post, so that went well for my testimony!!!

 

[CmyC5]

I have a good friend who makes an absolute fortune selling high-value watches on ebay. That's all he does and he is minted!

...for that pointer on ya good friend Rob, perhaps it's time I clear up my collection of watches, do you have his details for me to outsource to? Thanks in advance if you could on his behalf.

 

[SillyJokes]

I'm loving all these comments about ebay.

Recently a big party supplier, Smiffies have tried to ban people from selling their goods through that channel because it is negative to their brand and I suspect their core market of shops is hacked off people flogging the costumes ect for next to nothing on there.

In the past we used to flog off discontinued goods and mended goods and we used to make commission on sign ups as a result as money on what we sold, but the admin was too much. Time is better spent on your proper business.

 

[Page]

I'm loving all these comments about ebay.

Recently a big party supplier, Smiffies have tried to ban people from selling their goods through that channel because it is negative to their brand and I suspect their core market of shops is hacked off people flogging the costumes ect for next to nothing on there.

A development not just with Smithies and ebay - all suppliers are having to consider where their long term supply chain and brand image is.

 

[robwoollen]

I had a chat to my mate last night who sells almost exlcusively by Ebay.

He still does well, but says it has become harder and harder to sell on Ebay.

He also tells me that it can be very hard dealing with the Ebay clientele as they often want a silk purse for the price of a sow's ear.

There are a few things to watch out for: -
1. Ebay customer service is almost non-existent.
2. The feedback system is indiscriminate. I could go nd bid on an item, win it and then not bother paying for it. Because I won, I still have the absolute right to leave negative feedback on the seller (who has done nothing wrong) and it is a huge task to get Ebay to remove it and there is no guarantee that they will.
3. Paypal as a payment method is fraught with problems. Google "Paypal problems" and you will get a lot of info.
4. You get a lot of timewasters botheirng you for no sale

 

[SillyJokes]

Interesting comments regarding the effort involved in dealing with eBay customers. This ties in with other threads here on whether it's a good idea to sack high maintenance customers.

If you are selling just a few lots per week this level of customer care is fine but to really shift hundreds of orders there just isn't time in the day to answer a lot of queries, although I suppose the way the product is listed would reduce these.

I also think eBay is a bit like a car boot. I'm not happy with it at the moment because my little son has been ripped off for £10 of his hard earned pocket money recently. It's the second time one of his presents has been a failure from eBay and we don't shop there much.

If you shop with a proper online store you have so much more protection and come back. You are far less likely to buy from someone who couldn't care less because they can just open another account if the feedback goes bad.