Over a week ago @BiancaLaureano asked me why I said “eBay sucks”. YES, it took me this long to sit down and type this up. I figured it would be easier for me to post to my blog instead of send a lot of tweets or DMs.
I started selling on eBay two years ago in 2006. Back then the listing fees and selling fees were much cheaper than they are now; and it seems as if eBay increases their fees yearly! $0.05-0.10 extra to list each item might not seem like much but it definitely adds up when you are an active seller. Sometimes the listing price will be as low as $0.10 to $0.25 for an item starting at $9.99 or less but the Final Value Fee is about 8.75%!! (or at times they will give a sale on the listing price but up the final value fee) Am I the only one that thinks that these fees are insanely high?
At the moment I am mainly selling DVDs and with time I will hopefully start selling new clothing and cell phone accessories… I’m sure I might have similar problems as I am having now.
A DVD that sells for $20-$25 in stores will sell for $8-$13 if I am lucky. Buyers expect to buy items at more than 50% off from stores, other sellers list these items at low prices so I must also lower my prices or no one will purchase, and yet eBay also wants to charge an arm and a foot for selling fees. Click Here to see the current fees.
You can ship out an item the same or next day; first class mail takes between 2-4 days and if the buyer receives it 3-4 days later some already want to give a not so great feedback. This wouldn’t have been a problem back in the day because if they are satisfied with the item(s) you will still get your star/point. Now there is also a new way for buyers to leave feedback; the five stars Detailed Seller Rating. Buyers give you stars in communication, item description, shipping time and shipping and handling charges. If 1 or more of those categories get less than a 4.1 average rating your account gets a “hold” and you cannot list any items until your rating goes up. This is no problem if you have items that are listed already or have people who have not left their feedback.. BUT if there is no buyer left to leave you positive feedback you are done. When you purchase an item they can leave you feedback but NOT with the five star detailed rating. How else does eBay expect you to raise your rating if you cannot sell any items?? Go Figure.
This is my current rating and I ship quickly, an email goes out to the buyer when I ship an item WITH a tracking number and I always respond to any questions the same day. I also only charge $3 for shipping each DVD sometimes less depending on how many DVDs and ALWAYS much cheaper than in stores and my rating is nowhere near perfect. oh well. That’s eBay.
I wanted to become a power seller (sell $1000 a month or 100 items a month for 3 months in a row) by the looks of my stars I might not be able to sell as many items as I hoped. eh.
In all.. eBay is good because it DOES let you sell your item without having to meet in person; but if you do not have a good whole seller (which I do not) or original or expensive (iPod, iPhone, xbox, etc) items you probably will not make much money.
I am a single mom and am currently unable to work so eBay is what I have for now until after I earn my degree. I like it because it gives me a chance to make some money; but it’s not much after paying for the item, selling fees, PayPal fees and all the buyers trying to be super CHEAP and not bidding much, etc. I would go to other auctioning sites but lets face it; when people think about auctioning sites eBay is probably the first to come to mind.
It’s already November and 2009 is soon approaching; hopefully eBay will NOT raise their fees once again.
