ebay is a joke

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I practically gave away a 100 dollar calculator for 19.00 on ebay the other day. From now on I'm just going to sell stuff on craigslist. Honestly I could have gotten proably (sic) $40.00 for it on craigslist.


How do you figure the calculator's value is $100, when you can only sell it for somewhere between $19 and (your Craigslist guess) $40? Even many of the high end Texas Instruments calculators are around $50 new.

One man's trash is sometimes...just trash.

 

[NormanBuntz]

I think eBay seller fees are too high, same with Paypal. But I still use both. As a seller, it usually pays to start your selling price at a minimum price you will accept, and also add 10-20% to the shipping weight of your item so you don't get burnt by the shipping calculator.

Another thing that hurts: offering flat rate shipping when your buyer ends up 2,500 miles away. eBay serves its purpose well--making more money itself than the sellers do.

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I was hoping more people would bid on my item at the last minute or so and sell at a higher price .


There is the joke.... the fact that you didn't CYA.

 

[beanoil]

I don't sell on ePay after bad experiences 10 years ago. I grateful for those that do though, because with some projects I do, that is the ONLY source for parts. I recently found a pair of NOS rare Klipsch speaker badges for a pair of KG-4's I'm restoring. They have not been in production for over 20 years.
I've had good luck with CL for selling. Just meet in a public place for the transaction, and understand that sometimes, your buyer will back out at purchase time. Buyers are like city buses... wait long enough, another one will come along.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

I've thought about selling on Ebay, but I keep hearing about bad experiences by others. It's just that I have all this fine junke that has to be worth something. We have been hauling loads of good stuff to Goodwill and loads of other stuff to the recycling center. Idunno....

 

[KD0AXS]

 

[GaleHawkins]

I am an eBay buyer not a seller. Now I mainly only use Buy It Now sellers unless I could care less where I get the item or not.

Shipping can be a major concern for both the seller and buyer.

The seller had last time set $299 Buy In Now with $113 shipping and handling but the new listing was for $249. Photos showed the 11 year old stock wheels to me in mint like condition and that was what I found when I got home last night.

To the door they were $20 less on the set than a local junk yard priced me for 'less than mint' set of Ford factory wheels. The eBay deal came with ' centers' that was mint like too.

Perhaps the seller is fast at it but I would have spent 2 hours getting them ready to ship the way the seller packaged them in two packages. Two wheels were taped together in the center, wrapped in cardboard with hand cut tabs going over the rim edges with round cardboard circles on the top and bottom of each set of two wheels.

It will get the seller a nice comment because it was more like I would have expected a $4000 set of wheels to to shipped. I was fine with the $113 shipping/handling charge in this case.

 

[turtlevette]

EBay is one of the best things ever for creating competition in retail. You can find almost anything. I've used eBay to find all the little missing parts and pieces for my cars. I think many of these sellers sell some low end things at a loss to pad their feedback score. I love it.

If you're trying to restore an old car with all OEM parts, eBay is essential.

Oh, and I listed an item and they gave me a $100 fitbit for becoming a new seller.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I think of Ebay as an online flea market or garage sale. If you're looking for something rare as hen's teeth or ridiculously obscure,you'll find it there. I shop on Ebay all the time.

 

[RazorsEdge]

Walmart is a JOKE,fixed it for you.

Thanks to Ebay,Amazon,and Aldi's I never have to step foot in a
Walmart store,thats a win for me!

 

[spackard]

Originally Posted By: grampi

I'm surprised you got $19 for it. Most (if not all) cell phones have calculators on them these days, not many people need a stand-alone calculator...


See the $3295 watch deal on Slickdeals, that made the Frontpage,
that is wound by hand.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: grampi
I'm surprised you got $19 for it. Most (if not all) cell phones have calculators on them these days, not many people need a stand-alone calculator...


This.

Unless it's a super expensive high end scientific calculator or something,I've seen basic calculators in a basket for $1 at the checkout stands in grocery stores.

 

[dishdude]

I just assumed OP had a graphing calculator. The time to sell one of those would probably be at the end of summer when kids are headed back to school.

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I was hoping more people would bid on my item at the last minute or so and sell at a higher price like the rest of the calculators.


If it didn't get near the average closed item for that type, there's a reason or reasons. Such as:

Your rating is less than 99.5% (anything less than that is awful).

It closed at a bad time. If it's a consumer item and it closes during the workday, you get a lot less money. Saturday and Sunday evenings are best.

Poor photography (blurred, in motion, hand blocking product, glare, dark, grainy, 10 pics of front and none of the back, etc.)

Poor description (sound broken, grammar, spelling, etc.)

Poor policy (as-is, no returns, etc.)

Occasionally it's something out of your control, such as:

Someone just dumped a dozen gov't surplus items 12 hours ahead of you.

eBay sometimes has technical issues. Let's call them product visibility problems. However this is a lot less common than years past.