Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

eBay sucks

Americanaaa Mark

A-List Customer
Messages
443
I'm selling some clothing and jackets on eBay and it is so annoying.

Everyone there lowballs or sends you messages which are easily answered in the item description.

The site runs like crap and the cut eBay takes is kinda big.

Why isn't this site dead yet? Why hasn't something better come along?
 
Messages
17,508
Location
Chicago
I've had fairly good experience with eBay but yeah as of late it's awful. The problem is they are constantly changing listing formats and fees in a way that really only benefits the buyer and eBay. It's not a seller friendly outlet unless you are, as Big J mentioned, a crapatorium with a million fidget spinners etc...
You really have to work hard to build in all the costs they hit you with and the tedious tire kickers that will flood you with questions a 10 second read of the description will answer. Thankfully I've been at it long enough that I have a few buyers I sell to that constantly come back and we have a solid history so there's no BS.
 

Stand By

One Too Many
Messages
1,741
Location
Canada
eBay is great to buy stuff off.
But selling? I give my stuff to sell to a pal's wife and she flogs it for me and charges me a >20% fee for her trouble, depending. And sometimes it is trouble with all the listing and fees and packing/posting. More trouble than I'd care for with tyre-kickers and oddballs with a hundred tedious questions. Who has time for that?!
 
Messages
17,508
Location
Chicago
eBay is great to buy stuff off.
But selling? I give my stuff to sell to a pal's wife and she flogs it for me and charges me a >20% fee for her trouble, depending. And sometimes it is trouble with all the listing and fees and packing/posting. More trouble than I'd care for with tyre-kickers and oddballs with a hundred tedious questions. Who has time for that?!
At a certain point eBay should provide a canned response for "read the listing". Sometimes there's a language barrier and that I understand but other times it's just incredibly lazy buyers. Size always goes in the title for me. That cuts about 40% of the ?'s out.
 

shadowrider

One of the Regulars
Messages
258
Location
Italy
I don't know, I feel answering questions about the stuff they sell is part of the duty of a good seller.
Several times I got black-listed and blocked by sellers for asking (reasonable) questions about their items. I guess they felt I was too nit-picking for their tastes. Screw 'em!
 
Messages
17,508
Location
Chicago
I don't know, I feel answering questions about the stuff they sell is part of the duty of a good seller.
Several times I got black-listed and blocked by sellers for asking (reasonable) questions about their items. I guess they felt I was too nit-picking for their tastes. Screw 'em!
Details are one thing but asking for clearly posted measurements or condition or vague "will this fit me?" Is another story.
It is a sellers responsibility to put as much info out there as possible but it's also a buyers to actually read it. Intricate detail I'm happy to answer. That means the buyer isn't a clown.
 
Messages
17,508
Location
Chicago
eBay abandoned sellers. No more. Like the others said, it used to be awesome. Now it's crap and crap times rules and crap buyers. Scammers.
It's sad and true. As a seller you are wholly at the mercy of a buyer. eBay does absolutely nothing to protect sellers against unscrupulous buyers. When they canned a sellers ability to leave real feedback for a buyer...that was the beginning of the end.
 
Messages
17,508
Location
Chicago
I will say I was burned horribly as a buyer once. Bought a really cool cop coat of a guy, a Passaic NYPD. One sleeve was literally glued on. Of course when I put it on it came unhinged in the back. It literally just peeled off the jacket. When I filed a case with pics to eBay...they sided with the seller and claimed I damaged it. That one shocked me and I had the sleeve sewn back on at my expense but man it pissd me off. I even sent copies of our correspondence where the seller said he's been wearing it that way for years...all to no avail. I sold the jacket after having it repaired. Couldn't get rid of it fast enough as the taste it left was so damn bitter.
Nevertheless my saved searches are checked regularly.
 

Hammerklavier

One of the Regulars
Messages
284
Location
San antonio
As buyer I have good experience, last week I got my Buzz Rickson A2 refund by eBay step in. As a seller, I successfully sold my 3 Indiana Jones jacket for fund my first Lost Worlds horsehide jacket. I was lucky, no one bothered me by using Ebay buyer protection, that's why I will not list anything on eBay anymore.
 

totallyfrozen

One of the Regulars
Messages
250
Location
Houston, Texas, United States
I'm selling some clothing and jackets on eBay and it is so annoying.

Everyone there lowballs or sends you messages which are easily answered in the item description.

The site runs like crap and the cut eBay takes is kinda big.

Why isn't this site dead yet? Why hasn't something better come along?

Oh, my friend! You should try what I do for a living.
You're selling things. You're dealing with the public. Anytime you deal with the public, you should expect to have to repeat yourself constantly and defend your stance and decisions (in this case, your prices).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Bushman

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,138
Location
Joliet
As the others have mentioned, eBay is great if you're buying (I buy all the time off them), but selling has become atrocious. EBay takes a big bite out of your pie, to the point where your price has to be high just to make it worthwhile, which i don't like doing to buyers because then the prices go up when I want to buy.
 

Americanaaa Mark

A-List Customer
Messages
443
I agree that it is good for buying.

Just sucks if you have some stuff to offload and you want it gone quickly. It can take months to sell your clothing on here and related sites.
 

ProteinNerd

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,902
Location
Sydney
I love the low ball offers combined with a sob story and how much they love your jacket but can't afford that much right now.

Another one sent at least 10 questions asking for detailed info about Cafe racers in general after the tenth with no offers or questions around price I asked if they were interested in buying. Turns out they weren't, but just wanted some info on leather jackets in general lol

I sell there only because there isn't a decent alternative [emoji30]
 

Peter Mackin

One Too Many
Messages
1,098
Location
glasgow
My son put me on to gumtree...selling site in the UK..worked a treat ,Had been trying to sell some stuff on ebay as I'm moving home.Ebay was waste of time ,All items on gumtree sold within a week & best of all no commission or paypal fees...result.Gonna see how it goes selling a jacket or two next.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,248
Messages
3,077,209
Members
54,183
Latest member
UrbanGraveDave
Top