Selling had died on its rear end

[ady9701]

Is it just me or is selling stuff on eBay a waste of time as of late. We are having a clearout and my wife put some bags on and I am putting a few models cars on that I no longer want . I swear wouldnt bother again because of the sellers fess but they kept sending me messages about it being free to sell. Ive been on eBay since 2004 and back then you could put a bag of fresh air on eBay and it would sell. These days hardly anyone views anything and you might get 1 or 2 watchers and if you are lucky you end up selling for what you started the item off at. Then you post the item and have to wait until somone decides it has been delivered before you see the loose change you got for it. Then you get a message from packlink who says an item your sent three weeks earlier was over weight even though you weighed it before sending so you end up with basically nothing. The only people benefitting from all this malarkey is eBay .  Yeah feels like we are being played these days.

[andha-21]

There's actually a specific thread about Packlink. Never dealt with them myself but it seems like the may be running some kind of scam and authorities are already aware of it 

As for the rest, I'd agree with you. 

[andha-21]

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Postage/Packlink-parcels-the-big-rip-off/m-p/7760560#M57340

There's a fair amount of advice in it too.

[ady9701]

Also excuse my spelling mistakes. My phone has a mind of it's own .

[ady9701]

Ive bid on items from business sellers and won them for peanuts and it makes me feel  a bit guilty.It's not my fault I know , but it's obvious may other people are having the same problems. No one seems to be selling anything for a decent amount . The only changes are the ones eBay have forced upon us and they are the only ones making any profit . I think eBay has become a bit of a scam .

[moldosgifts]

 swear wouldn't bother again because of the sellers fess but they kept sending me messages about it being free to sell.

What seller fees if YOU choose promoted listings that's a different fee and additional, but you can remove those and it's free to sell. You can choose listing enhancements but again that s a choice. If you remove those again its free to sell.

Pack link never used them they doe seem a bit dubious but they are separate from ebay.

And from what I've heard a pain to deal with.

When i get an over weight charge from royal mail i send photos of the item on a set of scales i then get a credit note may work with pack link but as ive not used them maybe not worth a try though.

[andha-21]

If my intent was business I could have made alot of money over the last few weeks. My area took a nose dive and Warhammer models are an incredibly stable market. Most hold value, rare pieces increase and there are a few specific lines that are losers. From the auctions I've been watching, depending on seller, the market crashed between 20-40%.

That is the time to buy. Because it's still stable everywhere else I've checked.

[ady9701]

The stuff we put on lately , we have sold about three items for the starting bid. The rest just sits there relisting over and over. Years ago you would sell everything no problem . I don't care what anyone says between eBay and the couriers , online selling is dying . What's the point of going through all the motions taking pics , doing a description , wrapping it up , posting it , waiting for it to be marked delivered to end up with 2 pounds.   I think I am going to give it another week and then find a car boot nearby and go back to doing it the old way. You are right buying off eBay is good at the moment but when sellers are only getting 1 or 2 pounds profit for items it won't last long and they will give up and I don't blame them. Maybe it's what needs to happen . People just stop using eBay period.

[lucy_farmer]

'Ive been on eBay since 2004 and back then you could put a bag of fresh air on eBay and it would sell. These days hardly anyone views anything and you might get 1 or 2 watchers and if you are lucky you end up selling for what you started the item off at.'

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Well, the whole online world has changed hugely since 2004 (which was when I started selling here too)

There wasn't a lot of competition then,  now there's e**d, e**y, vin ted, farce book  etc. and those really cheap chinese tat websites like t**u (which are just as cheap/cheaper than 2nd hand stuff )

And the 'wild west' is long gone. There's now a whole load of regulation about online selling that platforms like this have to try and balance : between making it easy, attractive and profitable for sellers. And secure, legal and confidence-inspiring for buyers......

It's a different world. 😑

[th_sled]

One thing I did recently. I had an item which just couldn't get arrested. It was a good deal but in a very crowded field. It often wouldn't even show up in search. 

So I just jacked up the price 50% to cover additional costs, offered 'free' postage and used the 'promotion' thing (rate was about 7% I think) and sold it fairly quickly. Probably ended up doing slightly better out of it too. 

Funny old world. 

[lucy_farmer]

'.......offered 'free' postage and used the 'promotion' thing (rate was about 7% I think) and sold it fairly quickly. Probably ended up doing slightly better out of it too......'

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Hmmm, yeah... 'promotion'. It's getting very difficult to sell much at all without 'promotion'.

'Free to sell' is turning into 'free to list' again 😑

[ady9701]

Pay to promote or you won't sell it is the vibe I get . My wife has a purse on at 2.99 , they want me to pay to promote a 2.99 bag . Postage costs over 3 pounds offering free postage

would mean spending more on promotion and postage than what we might get for it . The other bags we sold , we got the starting bid for them because people just arent buying like they used to. Probably because of the 75p dumped on top of whatever you sell for. eBay have lost the plot. They should just let us post for free and take 10% of the final amount.  Simple effective , everyone knows where they are.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

depends where your car boot is!  I go to one every sunday during the summer season and quite honestly you have to practically give stuff away and even then they try to get it for less!  That is one of the reasons i am trying to sell so much at the moment (normally i only do so much at a time as it is such messing around photoing and measuring and then listing).  When SD comes in i will be going,  so until i find another site that i am willing to try car boots will be my option but i know the higher priced stuff (not that high either) will not sell.   Most of my stuff is from relatives who have not the time or inclination to do either and i have always enjoyed both e baying and car booting,  a couple of them are youngish and have that dreadful habit of buying and then not wanting and cannot be bothered to return.......