Ebay, Is it good or bad?

I won't say I LOVE ebay but it sure has been a great resource over the years, not just for radios. Its difficult to keep up with all the rule changes but they've yet to impact me negatively.

So I'll give the site a thumbs up.

It used to be fun, but will never be the same again.

For buying yes, for selling no.

Ebay used to be great!~ I could go on there and find all kinds of cool stuff! Now eBay has JACKED with the pricing, the feedback, every part of the system to the point where it just isnt worth it to sell on there!~

Browsing my usual catagories a can see a huge difference. not nearly as many postings as there used to be!

Ebay is fine, but sellers have to price their items realistically. i.e. a used computer part sells almost as much as a new one.

Used to be great. With all the trick hockey now it's not worth the hoop jumping, at least as far as $ales go.

Our Beloved Old Radio category on Ebay carried for a couple years around 6700 to 7000 listings all the time... a little less during the summers and yes down Xmas week etc... but since all the changes
they have made this last year... it now runs in the 5500 to 5700 items range and that includes maybe 20% is these 30 day fixed price or make offer listings. most of which have of course totally outta sight prices listed. Sure has taken a lot of stuff off the markets and a whole lot of the fun out of looking at ebay. And this opinion is from both the sellers standpoint as well as a buyer. I am and have been
both. The current mgmt of FleaBay is attempting to turn it into another Amazon.com operation. Hope they all get in the unemployment line one of these days!
John k9uwa/w4

My theory...and its not completly thought out....

eBay changed a lot of things. Literlaly changed the selling market in the US. even Businesses started there own eBay sales departments etc. Then suddenly a big change.

I suspect, the goverment or the IRS or both said "wait a minute, we are not set up for this" and started putting pressure on eBay to put the brakes on and put proccesses in place to they can get there share/cut/have control of...something....

That and the Original CEO leaving has changed a lot.



I seriously hope eBay is feeling a big crunch from these changes. I can only hope they take notice. change is going to happen I understand but i hope they realize that have taken away waht was good about eBay.

Epay works great for me in both directions. The one time someone tried to scam me Paypal took care of it and I won the case and was reimbursed.

Prices may have changed over the years, but I know how to buy and sell to avoid the bad stuff.

I get world-wide exposure and access for cheap.

When I see so many horror stories here I know that sometimes someone is not paying attention.

ds

eBay is good, but far from perfect.

I live in the deep South where it's nearly impossible to find quality radios. Most of the established collectors are naturally unwilling to sell off any of their nicer sets so eBay is the only alternative to spending a week driving to an Estes auction or one of the bigger swap meets elsewhere in the Midwest / northeastern states. For buyers and sellers, eBay has created a worldwide marketplace. As a result, eBay has become the "official price guide" for many collectibles. Lastly, eBay is a fantastic educational and research tool.

The big negative? eBay, much like Microsoft and Google, have established a near monopoly in their respective markets. They have strong, visionary leaders who create jobs and deliver results to their shareholders. BUT....they're becoming increasingly greedy and arrogant in the process. The lack of competition stifles ingenuity and will ultimately cost consumers. With few exceptions, it's not a sustainable long-term business model.

eBay is all there is in the way of online auctions for radios and phonographica. I wouldn't have a tenth of the collection I now have had it not been for eBay. It's where I find everything. I can live with the rule changes as long as I can keep finding my toys.

I will say that ebay has been very good as far as presenting us with a lot of items we would never even have dreamed were still available. That's why it's such a shame all this recent rule changing and "urging" to jump through more hoops & to use paypile has soured the deal for some of us.

I'm with Mikhail and Moses... most, just about all, of my SS radios came from Epay-without it, I'd only have a few. All of my Trans-Oceanics came from there except 1 Royal 1000 and a G500.

Tube radios have been coming to me locally and that's good-I want to avoid tube/wood/glass shipping hassles. So that's my rule-SS from Ebay, tube locally.

My big beefs are greedy sellers w/crack-smoking prices, shipping ripoffs and too few BIN's. Auctions are for those that like that kind of thing. (not me) It's like when I go to a store-walk in, buy it, leave. If I want something really, really bad and it's affordable, I'll use Esnipe. Set it and forget it.

And sellers need to be called to account on shipping charges and (especially) poor packing.

Rich

Ebay??? Where else can I sell with worldwide coverage, make extra cash ++ and get rid of things I'm tired of looking at.
Regardless of rule changes its still a must have with me. JMO

The good electronics items these days are generally in the hands of collectors. You simply don't find much anymore at flea markets or antique malls. And when a collector decides to sell some of his nice collection, where does he sell it-- on eBay.

Ebay was good for picking up Junkers for cheap .
Was another source,but since The No money order policy, I now have a No Ebay policy, Because Using paypal was always out of the question to me.

People trying to make a living on eBay might be upset with the changes but as a hobbyist I've found things on eBay that I would'nt have locally.

For over 30 years I kept an eye out for a record player that I had as a kid. I have bought 3 of them on eBay, kept the best one for me, the worst for parts and sold the third on eBay for enough to pay for them all two times over.

It takes time to go to garage sales and flea markets. It's fun once in a while but not on a regular basis. I like eBay.

Well no question about this one... its correct... just that I keep seeing a significant reduction in radios, parts,chassis,speakers as the seller base is dwindling away... due mostly to the higher cost of selling.

I don't understand the guys that are buyers complaining about paypal. Its cheaper for a buyer to do paypal than it is to do either a money order or a personal check. There you have the MO cost plus the 42 cents to send it... with the paypal you have zero cost. You don't have to keep any actual money in your paypal account and can send them an E-check for free from your personal checking account. Yes the seller has to wait a few days for the e-check to clear before he can spend it.

Now as a seller... in some cases ... taking paypal is rather expensive. If its an incoming from outside USA they get 5% for the conversion to USD and the 3% normal commission for the money transfer. The other side of that as a seller is. More people will bid more money on your auctions that offer the paypal since they can charge it on their card and pay the bill next month.

As to the current ebay format... some of it sucks... take our radio category.. some say they like the fixed price format... but.. if you look at radio category I now have to wade through about 80 listings from Stevie the Thief aka catalinradios dot com that are all overpriced fixed price BINs.

Compare that to the auction format. I have item like Hoffies says. I am tired of looking at it. I don't have to decide what price to put on it. Its WORTH is the MARKET TODAY if I put it up as an auction. Simple low start price may the best man win. It is GOING to get a new deserving home. I am rid of the item. My paypal account goes up so I can then find something I do want. and blow the money on more electrojunk of my liking.

Better that they leave the fixed price stuff in the ebay stores. That stuff shows up at the end of the search and I can look if I want or not bother if I also don't want.

John k9uwa/w4

OK, let me rewind about 5 years (when I joined ebay). At the time, I thought ebay was great. I also live in the deep south and finding semi-decent radios and other electronics at flea markets, yard sales, etc. was becoming harder and harder. Oh, I might find that prized 1966 GE clock radio with a cracked case and missing knobs priced at $85; but, that was about it. Ebay allowed me to find some decent radios and other items that I'd probably never find around here. And, I could do all of this without going all over creation. I was also able to sell some of my electronic finds for decent $. These same items could not be given away around here.

The only complaints I had were sellers that didn't know how to pack properly and sellers that charged rip-off S&H charges.

Now, fast forward to a few months ago when ebay made the "no money orders and no checks" policy. Ebay claims they care about their patrons; but, they could care less. All they want to do is line their greedy pockets with more money. By doing away with paper payments and forcing paypal (which they own) on everyone, that means they can rake in more paypal fees (or, so they hope). As long as I own an item, I will accept whatever payment I choose. It's because of these new rules that I closed my account.

I have started hitting flea markets again. Fortunately, there is one flea market vendor here that lets me pay what I want for his items. The other flea market still has the same overpriced radios that have been sitting there for the past 8 years.

I will admit that I miss ebay as a buyer as I was finding some items not available in this area. The only way I'd consider opening a new ebay account would be as a buyer only. And, I would open a seperate bank account just for paypal; just in case something went wrong. Due to new ebay rules, I'd never sell there again. I'd have to think long and hard about even buying there because ebay would still benefit from an increased final value fee due to my bid. I just hope another auction site opens and gives ebay some competition!