Is EBay completely worthless or does it just seem that way to me

[cgrutt]

^ I'm paying the full fare at USPS for outgoing packages, because I would rather do as little business with ebay as possible.
All items are sold "FREE SHIPPING", and I simply pad the shipping costs (which are pretty easy to figure when you're shipping most everything in "flat rate" packages) into the selling price.



Respectfully, your math is not connected to the reality of how it actually works.

OK so I let ebay handle the shipping you ship for "free" but "pad" the selling price. ToMATETos ToMOTTos either way buyer is funding the shipping cost.

My math is pretty simple. I sold something for $140 and put $108 in my pocket. $32 went somewhere else. $32/$140 is 23% and was my net cost. Thats a fact no smoke and mirrors.

I'm done with this.

 

[KenC]

^ No idea where that myth came from. Feedback is the same now as it ever was, with a few more bells and whistles.
As a seller, I leave "feedback" for buyers. Here's the "feedback" page for a ratchet I sold about a week ago:



Not sure if there is a way to leave negative feedback for a buyer, but there is an option to "Report Buyer", although in those cases where I had a problem with a buyer I dealt with ebay on the phone and did not leave "feedback" for the buyer - I simply added them to the "blocked buyers" list, where they can never waste my time again.

Not sure why every "Let's bash ebay" thread is so riddled with myth.

* Not sure what the problem is with that one.... Sold on: Feb 14 ... USPS still hasn't delivered it to my customer in Colorado Springs. G

The red part is the change. Negative feedback for buyers by sellers was a thing in the early years. Been using the bay since '98 and remember it well. Lots of 'arguments', like 'not as described', 'is too it's a used gadget' etc. Not terribly useful, but a way for sellers to counter unwarranted criticisms.

o figure.

 

[jd_1138]

We resold auction estate auction items for several years, did just fine, only dying down when shipping rates went up (we never shipped free) and live estates auctions themselves died off.

Our experience was that if the item has value and interest, it sells just fine. A few problems with rip-off puke buyers, happens with any business.

Regarding buying, rarely ever had any problems. Purchased some NOS work boots, that started crumbling and staining dye immediately, maybe from sitting in a closet for 10 years. Seller thought we were scamming them, we just wanted a refund.

I buy stuff at estate auctions sometimes (online -- proxibid). I've made some decent extra cash off of it by selling on ebay. Like with anything, you get more out of it the more work you put in, as in scouring online auctions and buying underpriced items and also searching out closeout items in bulk, thrift stores, gov't auctions, garage sales.

There's a guy on YouTube (Craigslist Hunter) who has like thousands of items listed on his ebay account. He said he sells like 30-50 items a day which if I had to guess I'd say his profit is like $10 on each item. He has an employee to come in daily and pick the items and ship them. So after paying her salary, s/h materials, listing fees, etc I would say he's probably making $10 on average per item or $400 a day.

He also has a buy-sell-trade store so he gets items that way. He showed a bin of a new in package small kitchen gadget (forgot what it was). He said he bought 3,000 of them at an auction for like $500. He sells like 1 or 2 a day on ebay for $20 profit. So that's like $800 a month profit on that one item. He said he will be sad when he runs out of them.

I have a friend who is sitting on a goldmine of old toys (new in package) because he used to own a vintage toy store. He has never sold a single item on ebay. He thinks it's only luck if someone makes a living on ebay. Not luck, just hard and persistent work and knowing general values of things. I know general values of tools, electronics, classic toys, so that is my focus. Also obscure industrial consumables don't sell locally, because most people have no need for it. On ebay they eventually sell.

It's just a PT thing for me, as I work FT.

 

[four.cycle]

There absolutely was. I've used the bay since '98 and remember it well. Buyers that made false claims about products and sellers could and would have feedback with the 'rest of the story', borrowing from Paul Harvey there.

^ I joined ebay Oct 15 2015 and from day one, sellers were leaving feedback on my purchases.

 

[four.cycle]

There absolutely was. I've used the bay since '98 and remember it well. Buyers that made false claims about products and sellers could and would have feedback with the 'rest of the story', borrowing from Paul Harvey there.

No idea what "red part" you are talking about, but a seller CAN enter a comment on a sale after the fact on the feedback page.
What you are describing isn't the way it works currently.

 

[four.cycle]

Perhaps it might help some of you gentlemen if you were currently using the site. It is clear from some of the comments that's not the case.
Both buyer and seller absolutely are free to leave "feedback", as well as being able to respond to each other's messages and post photo images.

FTR: I hate ebay. My relationship with ebay is along the lines of "If your guts were on fire, I wouldn't walk across the street to piss in your mouth." They are, however, the 800-pound gorilla in the used tool market - no matter how you slice or dice it.
Set your prices accordingly and you'll come out okay. If you can't figure out how to make money at it, you're doing something wrong.

 

[The Cobbler]

There absolutely was. I've used the bay since '98 and remember it well. Buyers that made false claims about products and sellers could and would have feedback with the 'rest of the story', borrowing from Paul Harvey there.

so we agree then, sellers can leave feedback

 

[four.cycle]

^ Yes - absolutely. I generally wait for a week or two before leaving feedback on buyers. Many buyers inexplicably leave no feedback for the seller, but that does not seem to have any effect on the "feedback rating".

 

[drtyler]

so we agree then, sellers can leave feedback

Sellers can no longer leave negative feedback to buyers, that is the difference. They can and do leave feedback now. If the buyer leaves them negative feedback, the seller can't "hit back" with negative feedback that would hurt the buyer's feedback rating.

 

[AEAdam]

I gave up on eBay when the search engine started included misspellings. Can't tell you how many great deals I got on "Mitutoya" digital indicators, or "Starett" "machinest" tools.

 

[four.cycle]

Sellers can no longer leave negative feedback to buyers, that is the difference. They can and do leave feedback now. If the buyer leaves them negative feedback, the seller can't "hit back" with negative feedback that would hurt the buyer's feedback rating.

You use the "REPLY" button. (see photo image above)

I gave up on eBay when the search engine started included misspellings. Can't tell you how many great deals I got on "Mitutoya" digital indicators, or "Starett" "machinest" tools.

That's not my experience. I run searches regularly for "industro", "indestreo", "thoreson" and "thorson". You have to put the "real" name in the "words to exclude from search" box. Easy peasy.

 

[bwringer]

I gave up on eBay when the search engine started included misspellings. Can't tell you how many great deals I got on "Mitutoya" digital indicators, or "Starett" "machinest" tools.

I've scored some EPIC deals on fleaBay (and CrackList) by looking for misspellings.

Even though the search engines now attempt to idiot-proof by including misspellings, the world will always invent a bigger idiot, and there are still a lot of lonely misspelled goodies out there.

You have to be smarter than the search engines, yet able to think like an especially dim *****. Then you have to figure out whether you're dealing with a bad speller who will actually deliver the goods vs. someone who's actually a ***** through and through.

As one example, if the widget you're looking for involves a part number or model number, try searching for listings using the letter "O" instead of the actual numeral zero (and vice-versa).

 

[four.cycle]

^ I haven't tried that one yet!

Yes, search result returns WILL cough up "Indestro" when you search "Industro", so you have to either use the "Advanced Search" feature (and enter into the "exclude from search" box: Indestro light lamp lighting vacuum motiv), or click "search instead for Industro" - and you'll come up with a mess of stuff. Same with Thorsen, but it requires multiple searches because there are so many creative ways in with "Thorsen" can be misspelled.

 

[KenC]

so we agree then, sellers can leave feedback

I have a feedback score in excess of 1500, and cannot leave a negative feedback for a buyer. That was removed years ago.

this is copied from ebay:

Leaving feedback for buyers​

Leaving feedback for your buyers is a great way to say thank you.
We recommend you leave feedback for your buyers as soon as they’ve paid — they’ll be more likely to leave prompt feedback for you in return. As a seller, you can only leave positive feedback for buyers. If you think a buyer has breached any of our policies, please report a buyer - opens in new window or tab to let us know. Bear in mind that leaving a positive feedback rating with a negative comment can cause confusion for other members and will therefore be removed.

see red part above. So, as a consequence of that a seller cannot always tell the truth leading a lot of us to just not leave feedback.

 

[KenC]

No idea what "red part" you are talking about, but a seller CAN enter a comment on a sale after the fact on the feedback page.
What you are describing isn't the way it works currently.

In my reply you are responding too had a phrase was changed to red in my quote of it. In an earlier reply I posted a quote from eBay stating negative feedback about a buyer is not allowed. Even a negative comment inside a positive feedback is subject to disciplinary action by the bay.

Edit to add: Thanks for posting the sample feedback. Please note that there is ONE choice of feedback quality. Check the positive box. Even if the buyer paid late, posted negative feedback that was incorrect etc.

Even with all the issues they have, eBay is far better for small sellers than any other venue I've found. Much cheaper commissions than local auctions and attracts higher bids. The only place to sell rare stuff IMO. Do I wish the wouldn't charge commission on tax and shipping, sure, but that was a reaction to sellers cheating. I do wish they would make fewer changes though. I hated having to redo templates when I was selling a lot.

 

[zendriver]

I buy stuff at estate auctions sometimes (online -- proxibid). I've made some decent extra cash off of it by selling on ebay. Like with anything, you get more out of it the more work you put in, as in scouring online auctions and buying underpriced items and also searching out closeout items in bulk, thrift stores, gov't auctions, garage sales.



It's just a PT thing for me, as I work FT.

glad it works out good for you.

Driving 20-30 miles to look at an item, go home bid online/win then drive back to pick up the item, was too much work for us. Most of the stuff we got at live auctions were priced really well and we had no (or no more than 10%) buyers premium. It was getting too hard to make real money when there were less auctions, which meant more people attending, thus higher prices. Plus the auctioneers wised up and were pulling and selling salable items on eBay themselves.

Mostly, what we liked was going to a live auction, digging through someone else's stuff, sometime for hours, seeing thing we have never seen before.

I miss it.

 

[The Cobbler]

I have a feedback score in excess of 1500, and cannot leave a negative feedback for a buyer. That was removed years ago.

the original post said seller cannot leave feedback on buyer, there was nothing referencing negative feedback, nor did I say anything about neg feedback

 

[The Cobbler]

Sellers can no longer leave negative feedback to buyers, that is the difference. They can and do leave feedback now. If the buyer leaves them negative feedback, the seller can't "hit back" with negative feedback that would hurt the buyer's feedback rating.

there was nothing referencing negative feedback in the post I replied to. sellers can leave feedback is accurate. and I know that sellers cannot leave negative feedback now

 

[KenC]

the original post said seller cannot leave feedback on buyer, there was nothing referencing negative feedback, nor did I say anything about neg feedback

Not explicitly, but the original post in this thread was about a seller failure. So some of us assumed one thing. Some another.

So we're both half right.

 

[Firebrick43]

I gave up on eBay when the search engine started included misspellings. Can't tell you how many great deals I got on "Mitutoya" digital indicators, or "Starett" "machinest" tools.

I found “brown and sharp”(e) to be the cats meow. Along with some tesa.

I have several digit-mike ‘s t coworkers were just amazed I could afford. Don’t thing I paid over 50$ for any of them and they were all unmarked and like new in condtion

I also have half a dozen vernier B&S calipers in different places. It’s priceless when a coworker would ask to use my calipers the first time. The absolute look of confusion on there faces!

 

[jd_1138]

glad it works out good for you.

Driving 20-30 miles to look at an item, go home bid online/win then drive back to pick up the item, was too much work for us. Most of the stuff we got at live auctions were priced really well and we had no (or no more than 10%) buyers premium. It was getting too hard to make real money when there were less auctions, which meant more people attending, thus higher prices. Plus the auctioneers wised up and were pulling and selling salable items on eBay themselves.

Mostly, what we liked was going to a live auction, digging through someone else's stuff, sometime for hours, seeing thing we have never seen before.

I miss it.

I don't do it much. I usually only bid like $5 or less on items on proxibid.com. I don't go there first to inspect. I just bid low amounts on a bunch of items. I only win like 4 or 5 items and then I go pick them up.

And I only bid on estate auctions that are within 10-15 miles. I don't wanna go driving too far. I probably only make $150 month profit. Most of the sales are from FB marketplace. The smaller more pricier items go on eBay where I have like 10-20 items listed.

That Craigslist Hunter guy on YouTube; he does all the right things and in larger volumes. He has a passion for it.

Oh a lot of the stuff I keep for personal use or I give to friends, family or coworkers. That's another moneymaker in that I buy an item for $1 or $2 that would cost me way more in a store. Plus it's usually a better made item instead of modern stuff. Our solid oak dining table set with 6 chairs was a whopping $1 at a local estate sale. It's probably $1500 at a furniture store.

Ever try proxibid.com? It's where some estate auctioneers list their items. They also do live auctions too, some are online only. A friend told me about it. I like to bid and win a lot of tools then pick through them and keep some of it. Rest goes to flea market or fb marketplace.

 

[four.cycle]

Even if the buyer paid late, posted negative feedback that was incorrect etc.

^ that's what the "report buyer" button is for.

 

[four.cycle]

just a note:
There seems to be a couple recurrent themes in every one of these "Let's bash ebay" threads: (1) buyers are all scoundrels who don't pay, or say they didn't receive the item, blah blah, and (2) sellers are all scoundrels who are just there to stick it to you and they're going to ship you a brick in a cardboard box.

Over the course of ten years, that has not been my experience.
Just like any other game - you gotta know how to play.

Certainly there are soundrels, just as there are in retail, just as there are in wholesale - I did both for decades, and I don't see the actual portion of scoundrels any greater on ebay than my experience on a retail parts counter or in outside sales.
There will always be scoundrels - dealing with them can be challenging, certainly. And maddeningly time consuming. And sometimes expensive. You just have to build it into your business model.
Raise the price.

 

[lbhsbz]

Chiming in again because I'm going over some reports.

For this month so far, 83 sales totaling $4,600 sold (gross) on eBay, and my total deductions (shipping labels, tax, fees) are 22% on the nose. Shipping labels make up about 1/3 of that and fees make up the remaining 2/3s. Not too bad, considering the platform and the advertising they do.

 

[yatg]

ebay today

Earlier this year (Feb?) ebay recently changed the final value fee from 13.25% to 13.6%
The per order fee is 0.40 (40 cents)



in 2025, ebay will issue 1099's for over $2500 in gross sales
Gross sales is the sold item amount plus shipping charged, does not include sales tax collected by ebay.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-24-85.pdf

"For calendar year 2025, a TPSO is not required to report payments in settlement of third party network transactions with respect to a participating payee unless the gross amount of aggregate payments to be reported exceeds $2,500,"

 

[Bert_]

The vast majority of things I look for on ebay or Amazon are under $35. It's true that not everything is free shipping - but most is

Do many people actually order just one thing at a time?

The few times when I want to order from Amazon and the item is less than $35 I just add it to the cart and wait a week or two until I think of other things to bring the total over $35.

 

[whateg01]

Do many people actually order just one thing at a time?

The few times when I want to order from Amazon and the item is less than $35 I just add it to the cart and wait a week or two until I think of other things to bring the total over $35.

I might place 4 or 5 orders between the time I lie down in bed and go to sleep.

 

[CJM8515]

i gave up selling on there when they went to 1099 bs. i sold very little and the hoops you had to jump thru now arent worth it. buying stuff is still sometimes worth it, but you gotta watch out for the fakes. beware buying any tool batteries, snap on tools and other such items as sellers may not even realize they are selling a fake. i dont trust amazon either for things like that.

another factor is shipping for the seller-post office went nuts with costs. 10 years ago i sold 4 wheels for 40 bucks shipped a box (2 boxes), now 1 wheel would be 100 bucks probably.

 

[lbhsbz]

i gave up selling on there when they went to 1099 bs. i sold very little and the hoops you had to jump thru now arent worth it. buying stuff is still sometimes worth it, but you gotta watch out for the fakes. beware buying any tool batteries, snap on tools and other such items as sellers may not even realize they are selling a fake. i dont trust amazon either for things like that.

another factor is shipping for the seller-post office went nuts with costs. 10 years ago i sold 4 wheels for 40 bucks shipped a box (2 boxes), now 1 wheel would be 100 bucks probably.

1099s are not BS.....technically, you should be filing with garage sale income, if there is any....which there likely is not. This is an electronic format and everything gets recorded and reported and there's no way around that. Don't hate eBay, hate the IRS....they're the ones who made the rules, eBay has a choice to follow them or get shut down.

 

[CJM8515]

1099s are not BS.....technically, you should be filing with garage sale income, if there is any....which there likely is not. This is an electronic format and everything gets recorded and reported and there's no way around that. Don't hate eBay, hate the IRS....they're the ones who made the rules, eBay has a choice to follow them or get shut down.

cmon now, isnt it bad enough they tax the hell out of us already? I mean i could understand if your making a profit and selling on there for a living. but if your selling junk from your grandparents house..cmon.

i get its the irs, but this is what keeps people from utilizing the site to sell these days. if anything we need to do away with the irs

 

[whateg01]

cmon now, isnt it bad enough they tax the hell out of us already? I mean i could understand if your making a profit and selling on there for a living. but if your selling junk from your grandparents house..cmon.

How do they know which it is? That's kind of the point of the $600 threshold, isn't it?

 

[four.cycle]

huh?

 

[four.cycle]

Do many people actually order just one thing at a time?

all the time.

 

[PickUpFixUpHank]

I ordered auto parts all the time with no problems

I don’t remember the last time I ever ordered any tools maybe about 12 years ago use Lincoln wire welder

People that look for lowball prices on stuff like Milwaukee, then are shocked when they get burned

Agreed, its good for auto parts. Amazon gouges you on shipping. You have to be sure to get the correct part #. Filter out vendors outside North America.

 

[whateg01]

Agreed, its good for auto parts. Amazon gouges you on shipping. You have to be sure to get the correct part #. Filter out vendors outside North America.

Not if you have prime and use it!

 

[yatg]

anatomy of this ebay sale

sold something for 26.99 (subtotal + shipping)
paid 4.34 in fees
ebay took 16.1% of the sale (4.34/26.99)
received 22.65

but wait, there's more
ebay charges 13.6% on sales, so how did we get from 13.6% to 16.1% ?

you pay the final value fee of 13.6% on item+shipping+tax and a 40 cent order charge
26.99 * .136 = 3.67
1.96 * .136 = .27
order fee 0.40
trans fees total 4.34
that extra 67 cents of ******** fees is 2.5% of the sale

a few cents here, a few cents there
it adds up over time, out of your pocket and into ebay's

shipping was included, and not specified, so the net profit on this item is
22.65 - (shipping) - (original cost of item)

work with the ebay system
can't blame ebay if you don't price your item accordingly
can't blame ebay if shipping was more than expected
can't blame ebay if you lose money on an item

its still less than some online auction houses which charge an 18% buyers fee and/or credit card fees and/or pickup fees

 

[whateg01]

anatomy of this ebay sale

sold something for 26.99 (subtotal + shipping)
paid 4.34 in fees
ebay took 16.1% of the sale (4.34/26.99)
received 22.65

but wait, there's more
ebay charges 13.6% on sales, so how did we get from 13.6% to 16.1% ?

you pay the final value fee of 13.6% on item+shipping+tax and a 40 cent order charge
26.99 * .136 = 3.67
1.96 * .136 = .27
order fee 0.40
trans fees total 4.34
that extra 67 cents of ******** fees is 2.5% of the sale

a few cents here, a few cents there
it adds up over time, out of your pocket and into ebay's

shipping was included, and not specified, so the net profit on this item is
22.65 - (shipping) - (original cost of item)

work with the ebay system
can't blame ebay if you don't price your item accordingly
can't blame ebay if shipping was more than expected
can't blame ebay if you lose money on an item

its still less than some online auction houses which charge an 18% buyers fee and/or credit card fees and/or pickup fees

That's a far cry from the 25% ish that somebody else claimed they stole!

That buyer's premium always has to be part of the calculation when figuring out how much to bid. I wonder how many people over pay because they forget about it.

 

[lbhsbz]

cmon now, isnt it bad enough they tax the hell out of us already? I mean i could understand if your making a profit and selling on there for a living. but if your selling junk from your grandparents house..cmon.

i get its the irs, but this is what keeps people from utilizing the site to sell these days. if anything we need to do away with the irs

If you're not making a profit, then a 1099 is of no significance...I don't understand what the big deal is. If I bought 150K worth of stuff and sold it for 100K, the 1099 would reflect that, but I still owe no taxes

 

[lbhsbz]

anatomy of this ebay sale

sold something for 26.99 (subtotal + shipping)
paid 4.34 in fees
ebay took 16.1% of the sale (4.34/26.99)
received 22.65

but wait, there's more
ebay charges 13.6% on sales, so how did we get from 13.6% to 16.1% ?

you pay the final value fee of 13.6% on item+shipping+tax and a 40 cent order charge
26.99 * .136 = 3.67
1.96 * .136 = .27
order fee 0.40
trans fees total 4.34
that extra 67 cents of ******** fees is 2.5% of the sale

a few cents here, a few cents there
it adds up over time, out of your pocket and into ebay's

shipping was included, and not specified, so the net profit on this item is
22.65 - (shipping) - (original cost of item)

work with the ebay system
can't blame ebay if you don't price your item accordingly
can't blame ebay if shipping was more than expected
can't blame ebay if you lose money on an item

its still less than some online auction houses which charge an 18% buyers fee and/or credit card fees and/or pickup fees

Shipping costs are not in there....lets call it a minimum of $5.00

 

[oscarsnapkin]

I love eBay. Love it. Just checked, I’ve been a user since ‘99. Most of my eBay usage has been as a buyer. I’d say over 90% of my tools were purchased on eBay. As far as I know, it is the only place where I can look for some obscure Snap-On tool specific to an old VW, and find several different options from multiple sellers. I love hunting and finding a deal on eBay. If it’s something that I don’t “need,” a lot of times I just add it to my saved searches list, and whenever one of those items is listed I get a notification. It’s an easy way to see what things are going for, and if someone lists one cheap I get a jump on its Within reason, you can buy anything you can think of. One of my favorite things about it is the fact that you’re (for the most part) buying from an individual or a small company, instead of Amazon where you’re dumping more money into Jeff Bezo’s pockets. The past couple of weeks I’ve been selling some things there as well. Basically tools that I have doubles of. My dad owned a trucking company and I worked as a mechanic for awhile at his shop. I had a set of tools there and a set of tools at home. No longer doing it, so I sold off a bunch of stuff and been buying more tools. Mostly stuff that I’ve “wanted” more for the collection than as something that in need. I’m new on this site, but once I get the chance I was going to make a thread showing the tools that I purchased all with money from tools I sold. eBay, love it.