Is Ebay dead?

[Jonleehacker]

From my own personal experience, it is still a great place to buy stuff and sell stuff, but they sure are not treating their affiliates very well.

They may not die from that move, but long term I think there will be a cost to their business.

 

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[Cat Man Du]

Marktwain123,

You are kind of like the guy who busts into a wedding ceremony and yells, "I OBJECT!", only to realize 5 seconds later that you are at the wrong wedding.

Thank you.

Excuse me............I played that part in a play!!

Forget the name of it. I was a kid at the time. All I remember is that I had a top hat which had a loose thread ...that I unraveled while waiting for my BIG on-stage time. Only had a cardboard shape left, when the big moment arrived.

 

[Sparlin]

I've only seen it on TV. I'm sure it must happen though.

 

[hatterasguy]

So not true. It might be a little harder and the margins might be a little thinner. But there's still good money to be made on ebay. Are the fees high? Yes. Works out to be around 10% for me. And when I figure out how to get 26 million customers to swing by my store everyday, I'll stop using them. But in the meantime, I'd rather have 90% of X than 0% of X.

My friend just closed down his marine gear ebay store because other people were selling his stuff, below his cost. The only way to do this since he pays dealer wholesale which is far below retail, would be for the manufacture to sell it direct, or through someone else. Skipping the distributer. It looks like they are selling the stuff at distributer cost.


So when you can get undercut like that you can't make money.

 

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[Jill]

You're talking about a commodity, Hatteras. Something that has a (somewhat) set production cost, with a relatively small potential markup. For this type of product, I would agree. If it is widely available to the re-selling marketplace of the world, then it will be very difficult to compete on price.

If on the other hand, one creates a unique product OR provides a product that is NOT easy to source . . . there is a LOT of money to be made. Is it fastlane? No. Is it a profitable means by which to raise capital for future fastlane projects? Absolutely.

I'm reminded of a quote I heard many years ago: A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with a theory.

 

[andviv]

So when you can get undercut like that you can't make money.

Maybe the manufacturer has just found out a way to sell directly, provide better prices while improving their margins. If I were the manufacturer I'd consider it as well.

sounds like ebay is becoming more and more a great oulet for the manufacturers then... maybe that is their new target audience?

 

[hatterasguy]

Possible, if I were a manufacture I'd be tempted to just sell direct to.


Jill if you can come up with a unique product more power to you.

Whats your ebay store? What have you found thats profitable?

 

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[EastWind]

i have only sold a few items on ebay and bought hundreds. back in the day, i use to buy a lot of things, but lately, maybe 1 or 2 a year. perhaps it's because i'm living the frugal lifestyle, or perhaps it's just that i hate that people are asking for too much for a lot of things and trying to get over with ridiculous shipping prices on top. i can't say if it is dying/dead, i just use it less.

 

[EastWind]

ebay will thrive if they remove those that use it as a store to dump their products. there are products forsale, not even an auction. starting high with a "buy it now" option. get rid of all those things, have true auctions like back in the day. true auctions, no reserves. that's what we need, a no reserve auction.

 

[hakrjak]

Sad to see another great thing come to an end. Just 6-7 years ago I was clearing $5k-10k per month on Ebay sales at least.... Now my Ebay store is still around, but mainly a tax shelter for me, as it sells maybe $150 a month.

Cheers,

- Hakrjak

 

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[hatterasguy]

Ebay needs to change a few things. First they are to expensive, their fee's are nuts. Secondly they will not back you up at all, your pretty much SOL if you run into problems.


Their buy it now retail thing is going to kill them. Why deal with ebay when I can go to Amazon and get better service and the same price? Amazon rules online retail, not ebay.

My favorite auction site is now Gunbroker.com. I love their 15 minute rule and I think ebay should adopt it as well. It makes it impossible to "snipe" an auction. They way it works is if in auction is ending and someone places a bid it gets extended another 15 minutes. This will continue until bids stop being placed.

Works well, people don't play as many games.

 

[Jill]

Whats your ebay store? What have you found thats profitable?

I've talked about it in detail on other threads (as well as 2008 B&P).

But there are other things I do occasionally just for fun. Basic arbitrage. Like for instance, I bought a used pair of skis in January for $239, used them for an 8 day ski trip (in lieu of rentals) then sold them a week later for $305. That would be timing arbitrage. No big demand in late January, really. And lots of people getting rid of "old" skis after getting new ones for Christmas. Late Feb/early March tho has a lot of demand because of all the high-school and college kids going skiing for Spring Break.

I've also bought things from local Craigs list (lower demand, due to lower traffic) and sold them on Ebay for a profit.

My favorite though, is to "REbay" things. Just find things that you know to be nice (by the description, seller reputation, or offline questions) but which have terrible pictures. Take better pictures and write a better ad!

 

[Bobo]

My favorite though, is to "REbay" things. Just find things that you know to be nice (by the description, seller reputation, or offline questions) but which have terrible pictures. Take better pictures and write a better ad!

What's our record on that babe? I think one time we sniped an item that was spelled wrong and rebayed it with better pictures for about a 10:1 (Buy $40. sell $400) did that several times.

 

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[Russ H]

What's our record on that babe? I think one time we sniped an item that was spelled wrong and rebayed it with better pictures for about a 10:1 (Buy $40. sell $400) did that several times.

You guys actually bought the items first, right?

For a minute there I thought you were "flipping" Ebay stuff-- actually doing a better ad for the same item WHILE it was for sale, making your auction end earlier, and only buying stuff that you sold! I wonder if anyone has tried this?! (and yes, I realize it prolly breaks about 3,000 EBay rules).

-Russ H.

 

[Sparlin]

EBAY POLICE

Mr. ...... Russ H.... is it?

You need to come with us and answer a few questions.

 

[Luke12321]

Yeah Russ, they would have had the item in hand before posting it. You COULD do what you were saying, but eventually would end up in trouble because the item you were buying cheap could have a defect or have very slow shipping (as your "flip item" auction has already ended).

But yeah, you can find off peak stuff then sell during the peak season as Jill said about Ski's. Typos, bad pictures (probably the most common) and as long as you are using a sniping program, you are only time invested will be a quick search and then when you repost.

Another way to make money on ebay, though a bit more rare.

You can also buy clearance stuff from retail stores and repost them. For example, I purchased about $800 worth of men's belts. After pictures, item description, and S&H, I would imagine I will make around $500-$600. Probably comes out to $100 an hour. (5 hours worth of work) Can I do this every day? No. But $100 an hour isn't bad in a slow economy.

 

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[Jill]

. . .
You can also buy clearance stuff from retail stores and repost them. For example, I purchased about $800 worth of men's belts. After pictures, item description, and S&H, I would imagine I will make around $500-$600. Probably comes out to $100 an hour. (5 hours worth of work) Can I do this every day? No. But $100 an hour isn't bad in a slow economy.

So proud! My little boy's grown up!! :smxG:

 

[Luke12321]

Watch it!

 

[Sparlin]

You can also go to Liquidation.com and buy stuff by the pallet. Just make sure it's new, not returned so you'll have good merchandise. This is a pretty common tactic I believe.

 

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[Russ H]

Yeah Russ, they would have had the item in hand before posting it. You COULD do what you were saying, but eventually would end up in trouble because the item you were buying cheap could have a defect or have very slow shipping (as your "flip item" auction has already ended).

But yeah, you can find off peak stuff then sell during the peak season as Jill said about Ski's. Typos, bad pictures (probably the most common) and as long as you are using a sniping program, you are only time invested will be a quick search and then when you repost.

Another way to make money on ebay, though a bit more rare.

You can also buy clearance stuff from retail stores and repost them. For example, I purchased about $800 worth of men's belts. After pictures, item description, and S&H, I would imagine I will make around $500-$600. Probably comes out to $100 an hour. (5 hours worth of work) Can I do this every day? No. But $100 an hour isn't bad in a slow economy.

Great advice-- thanks for sharing.

I'm guessing you can also do google alerts for things like "ebay armani" or "ebay pancaldi", and get results sent to you every day. Cool beans. :banana:

-Russ H.

 

[Bobo]

Beware the 'by the pallet' ads - you have to invest times and some shoe leather to find stuff to ebay typically. If that $5K pallet could be rebayed for $25K they'd do it instead of selling it to you.

And yes, we buy, then we repost. Bought 10 items yesterday for $500 on Ebay that we should be able to resell for about 3 times that ...$1000 for 4 hours of work total hopefully.

My unemployment only lasted a month and I go back to work next week, Jill's 14 month hiatus from employment has also come to an end so we won't have to do Ebay fulltime but we are reminded that it is there as a way to earn some extra. I plan to use it for mad money - I want dinner, I pay out of the joint account, I want to drop 2 grand on a new bicycle? I need to go ebay some stuff.

Once we're back to earning decently ebay is a nice supplement. In 2010 I want it to buy me a bike, some custom fitted ski boots, skis and bindings... basically stuff I'd feel guilty spending a few grand on. ...so I can earn my 'mad money' to buy stuff I can't justify buying out of the joint account. Everyone needs a little mad money.

 

[max momo]

As ebay shifted their business plan I shifted my mindset.

Rather than use their site as an expensive retail platform we use them as a very inexpensive marketing tool.

 

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[Melody]

Ebay is horrible and they just rip you off!

 

[nicknite86]

I disagree with BryanC, do NOT use Craigslist to advertise, sell, or buy. I just got scammed this weekend and didn't realise it to the last second when selling an item on Craigslist. Fortunately I was able to figure it out as soon as possible and have filed to have the package recalled.

 

[Ghost]

I don't know about Ebay being dead, nor its situation in the US, but I'm finding as time goes on that more and more suppliers (Wholesalers/Dropshippers, etc.) here (in the UK) will not deal with retailers selling on anything labelled an 'auction site.'

Its not a rule yet, but it is a trend. I imagine the easier it becomes to establish legitimate businesses/storefronts online, the more this will be the case.

 

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[Blue]

I disagree with BryanC, do NOT use Craigslist to advertise, sell, or buy. I just got scammed this weekend and didn't realise it to the last second when selling an item on Craigslist. Fortunately I was able to figure it out as soon as possible and have filed to have the package recalled.

Let me guess, the guy sent you a cashier's check and paid alot for shipping?

Craigslist is fine to do business with locally. I just pay or get paid in cash. I have never shipped or ordered anything to be shipped to me on craigslist.