Ebay. Is it really that bad or am I just lucky?

[spacejam0]

Many times I have read different posts on this site relating to peoples thoughts and experiences with ebay and the large majority are negative.
I must be very lucky as I have been using ebay since September 2004 with over 300 sales/purchases and I honestly cannot recall a single negative experience. Admittedly my pinball related sales/purchases are only around the 20 mark (parts and machines) but all have been great including being introduced to this site by a member here that I purchased a machine from.
Anyone else think ebay is good? Share your thoughts and experiences.

[Homepin]

eBay is great for purchases UNDER about $20

Over that and you get scammers and people off loading their junk

Keep in mind that the fees on a pinball sale (current after the recent increase) are around $250 - YOU, the BUYER will pay that fee

Also the horror stories I could tell you about PayPus - don't get me started there......

[Caveoftreasures]

I have a feedback score of 100% and a trade count of around 450 for both sales and purchases.
Never had a hassle yet, and one bloke who didn't send me a $20 item, I got my money back thru paypal.

Having said that, I would find it very nerve racking if I sold a pinball machine for say 2, or 3 thousand dollars, and some tosser tried doing a chargeback etc.
This is where u can quickly lose all your money because paypal is instantly on a buyers side. So u have to make sure u have support emails, acceptance letters of photos, condition report etc.
BUT, Mike is totally correct about Paypal, all the buyer has to say, is the item arrived damaged, without having to provide any evidence, and u get a full chargeback n lose your money for the pinball machine you sold via ebay with Paypal.
If u can swing a bank deposit for large amounts of $$, u are much much safer.

[spacejam0]

I do agree the seller fees on a pinball are too high (forgot about that). The second last machine I sold had fees of around $50 (which is fair) and a month later when I sold another machine under the new fee structure it was fixed at $100 (a little high IMO). I thought all pinball sales over $1000 were capped at $100 now?

[Homepin]

I do agree the seller fees on a pinball are too high (forgot about that). The second last machine I sold had fees of around $50 (which is fair) and a month later when I sold another machine under the new fee structure it was fixed at $100 (a little high IMO). I thought all pinball sales over $1000 were capped at $100 now?

The changes a few weeks ago put them back up to around $250 for a $3K sale

[Caveoftreasures]

That's about 8 percent of the gross $$ amount.

You could get cheaper rates off the pinball mafia. lol

[spacejam0]

I do agree the seller fees on a pinball are too high (forgot about that). The second last machine I sold had fees of around $50 (which is fair) and a month later when I sold another machine under the new fee structure it was fixed at $100 (a little high IMO). I thought all pinball sales over $1000 were capped at $100 now?

The changes a few weeks ago put them back up to around $250 for a $3K sale

$250 is crazy I'm starting to change my eBay opinion now

[Replay]

 As of May, selling fee is up from 7.9% to 9.9% with the cap lifted from $100 to $250 for the first 100 items per month. I very rarely sell on eBay, mainly use it to advertise. i use Gumtree a lot, got to put up with endless scammers, lowballers and tyre kickers in general, but no fees.

eBay is the only auction I know of where the seller pays the sale fee and the (buyers) PayPal fee. Talk about double dipping.

[Boots]

As of May, selling fee is up from 7.9% to 9.9% with the cap lifted from $100 to $250 for the first 100 items per month. I very rarely sell on eBay, mainly use it to advertise. i use Gumtree a lot, got to put up with endless scammers, lowballers and tyre kickers in general, but no fees.

eBay is the only auction I know of where the seller pays the sale fee and the (buyers) PayPal fee. Talk about double dipping.

This is probably why you see the disturbing trend of an item being pulled at the last minute, probably a deal being done outside of ebay.
Free listings = cheap advertising.
Unfortunately ebay own Gumtree so who knows when selling fees are going to creep into Gumtree.

[pinsanity]

The May fee restructuring closed the loophole I was using to sell high priced items.

Prior to that you could use a Classified Ad with Best Offer listing and only pay $70 total (19.99 listing fee and a final value fee capped at $50 maximum). Plus it still appeared with the regular listings (Auctions/Buy It Now).

Face it, ebay has become more of an advertising medium now than an actual selling medium for high priced items. They are still the best option for advertising only and making your item "known" in terms of coverage.

[Homepin]

Face it, ebay has become more of an advertising medium now than an actual selling medium for high priced items. They are still the best option for advertising only and making your item "known" in terms of coverage.

Yup - look at my listings for boards on fleabay, about $50 higher than from my website, cheap advertising as it draws buyers to my website.

[Strangeways]

The May fee restructuring closed the loophole I was using to sell high priced items.

Prior to that you could use a Classified Ad with Best Offer listing and only pay $70 total (19.99 listing fee and a final value fee capped at $50 maximum). Plus it still appeared with the regular listings (Auctions/Buy It Now).

Face it, ebay has become more of an advertising medium now than an actual selling medium for high priced items. They are still the best option for advertising only and making your item "known" in terms of coverage.

Pinball dealers use this all the time in the hope they attract a newbie to an overpriced machine. The same machines appear on eBay, and what dealer's don't recognize is the fact that relisting a pinball machine for months on end suggests that the dealer cannot move machines. So it has been a great idea to list machines as advertising, but you need to change the titles around, otherwise more questions are raised. I list one game every 2 years, and I get a LOT of work from just the one listing.

I don't accept Paypal as a payment method unless the buyer pays all the fees. Messy situation that no one wants to get involved with.

[ktm450]

As of May, selling fee is up from 7.9% to 9.9% with the cap lifted from $100 to $250 for the first 100 items per month.

That is ridiculous 
add gaypal fees of 2.4% + 0.30 per transaction, absolute rubbish.  The fact that you have to list gaypal as a payment method is just wrong 

[pinsanity]

Pinball dealers use this all the time in the hope they attract a newbie to an overpriced machine. The same machines appear on eBay, and what dealer's don't recognize is the fact that relisting a pinball machine for months on end suggests that the dealer cannot move machines. So it has been a great idea to list machines as advertising, but you need to change the titles around, otherwise more questions are raised. I list one game every 2 years, and I get a LOT of work from just the one listing.

I don't accept Paypal as a payment method unless the buyer pays all the fees. Messy situation that no one wants to get involved with.

We need to start a Top 10 of most repeat listing machines on ebay (particularly ones that have allegedly "sold"). 

That playfield overlay Kiss has to be in there somewhere....

[Homepin]

The fact that you have to list gaypal as a payment method is just wrong 

If you accept PayMate you can opt out of PayPus.

Almost nobody will pay you with PayMate so usually they will just bank deposit.