So, after 14 years on business on eBay as seller, I have come into the conclusion that it's time to unplug the power cord since eBay (especially if combined with Paypal) sucks a lot of money and their international-service is able to violate your rights (especially in UK) since it can force you to refund the buyer even if s/he is a liar.
It doesn't matter a proof of what s/he is arguing (e.g. a photo, a technical report), if s/he claims to eBay that the item is damaged, and you had agreed and then have used their international service then you are doomed: eBay will force you to refund, even if the parcel has arrived not damaged and the goods is perfectly working, according to the description.
Paypal has a similar protection, but it's not so insane!
Also there are so many costs that your final gain is not worthwhile.
I think you'll find about the same experience on any online marketplace. They tend to give the customer the power. I sell on Amazon also and it's the same there, only with much higher fees. The only exception I've seen is Aliexpress, which favors the seller much more, but that's all Chinese sellers from what I can tell. It's very frustrating when you get an unreasonable customer who holds the success of your business in their hands but I do think building confidence in online buying benefits sellers in the end. You'll get the most control by selling on your own website but it can be very difficult to drive traffic. The benefit of the major marketplaces is they do that for you.
I was! January was the last one month of my PowerSeller account.
In 12 years I sold a lot of retrocomputing vintage parts, UNIX workstations and servers (those were my core business), also musics equipments, CDs and records, twenty cars, four truck (those came from a dude who pays me the rent of a garage of my property, I worked like a broker, sold through ebay-motors), and occasionaly also parts and accessories for road speed bicycles by Binachi, Legnando, and Carrera (sold through ebay-sport).
pert:
I think you'll find about the same experience on any online marketplace.
Well, ebay has become very expensive recently! You have to give up to the 10% of the auction's end to them, plus up to the 5% to Paypal, they force you to use Paypal, promoting "Paypal is safe, and blablabla", and if you have agreed their international service then they can force you to refund the customer without any need to see a proof about what s/he is claiming "defective".
Also, if you don't sell, you ave to pay 0.47 Euro for every auction. 20 unsold auctions means 7 euro to ebay.
pert:
They tend to give the customer the power. I sell on Amazon also and it's the same there, only with much higher fees.
Higher than 10% ?
pert:
You'll get the most control by selling on your own website but it can be very difficult to drive traffic.
It depends on which category you sell on. There are a couple categories less than 10% but the majority are 15% and go up to 45% in other categories. On top of that you have to either pay a $40/month or $1/sale subscription fee. The only thing that's better is there's no listing fee so you can have a ton of products and it's not a big deal if some of them sell slowly. So I make less on Amazon but I get way more sales there than the other marketplaces so it works out well for me.
The only thing I know about Aliexpress is the stuff I order never shows up half the time, and when it shows up broken it's impossible to get a refund. On eBay, the same types of things from the same types of sellers almost always arrives and if there is a rare problem they're super good about customer service. So even though sometimes I would get some better deals on Aliexpress, it's just not worth it to me to shop there.
When I checked your profile ballscrewbob, you had written that your location was a secret bunker but you just kinda revealed your location don't you think?
TheUNOGuy:
When I checked your profile ballscrewbob, you had written that your location was a secret bunker but you just kinda revealed your location don't you think?
LOL you seen the size of Canada....Bigger landmass than the USA !
Canada is approximately 9,984,670 sq km, while United States is approximately 9,833,517 sq km, making United States 98.49% the size of Canada. Meanwhile, the population of Canada is ~35.6 million people (291.0 million more people live in United States).
LMAO, another perk of Australia is the entire government can be kicked out for dragging their feet. That happened once back in 1975. We can't do that in US, all we could do is vote different people in and demand impeachment.
wilykat:
LMAO, another perk of Australia is the entire government can be kicked out for dragging their feet. That happened once back in 1975. We can't do that in US, all we could do is vote different people in and demand impeachment.
To miss-quote an advertisement.
"Australia, BEAUTIFUL one day, PERFECT the next"
Each electoral system has its advantages, its just I haven't see any with the US system!!!
Tom....
