Fees haven't killed eBay, they've just killed the good deals. How many of those "snap on" items are sockets "on a snap in rail". lol.
Oh, there's a lot of keyword spamming slime around, so you have to watch out, but I still see deals all the time.
Of course, I suppose, a deal is in the eye of the beholder - after hearing that the Craftsman flare nut crowfoots were now being produced in Taiwan/China, I snagged a couple sets each of the SAE and Metric made-in-the USA variety, brand new in the blister pack, for about $35 each, shipped. Set for me, set for my dad. Retail on these is $80/each.
That's a hell of a deal to me - you rarely see a discount higher than 50% off on anything retail from Sears, and I didn't even have to go to the store.
I recently found the spindle assemblies for my riding lawnmower on eBay significantly cheaper than anywhere else online.
The only "deal decline" that I ever saw was when eBay-selling-as-a-business-model really took off. The "super deals" tend not to last long, as someone will buy them up to re-sell for more.
Such is life. Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul and pawnshops all used to be deal havens, again, until the eBay-selling-as-a-business-model took off. Nowadays, you don't find the multitudes of bargains at those places, because if it's not eBay sellers buying them up, the stores themselves have eBay and Amazon accounts to sell their wares.
There's plenty of deals to be had, there's just not as many "steals".
If you've got a Premier account they will charge you fees, if you've got a basic account I think you only get charged if someone pays with a credit card.
I could be wrong, but I think the standard accounts have always been charged to receive money, or have been for quite some time. I have (had? dunno if I've been downgraded or not) a Premier account myself, as I was dealing enough via the system to qualify for the lower fees that the Premier/merchant account gave you.
