I appreciate everyone weighing in, always good to hear what you guys think 👍
I still think the fees are the best bargain for the worldwide audience and over the top retail prices realized.
Always good to hear the other side of the argument, thank you for weighing in. While I was speaking more on the buying side of things (the sales tax), I’ll gladly address the fees, as well. While I agree with you that eBay once offered our items the best exposure to a national audience, there was no platform that could compare, I believe that with the rise in popularity of Instagram pages and Facebook groups and other such outlets with over 25,000 members with common interests that eBay is no longer such a bargain. I find this doubly so when every year new fees/taxes/whatever are enacted, taking more and more money out of both the buyer’s and seller’s pockets as this exposure becomes less and less impressive.
In addition to this, these other platforms allow for relationships to build with collectors, not only from around the States, but around the world. I find this as important, if not more important, than dwindling exposure. As eBay charges more and and more every year, they also restrict more and more of our communication. Meanwhile, the amount of American and foreign collectors I’ve met, become acquainted with, traded with and bought from or sold to and actually formed a relationship with because of Instagram and FB is mind-blowing. eBay, on the other hand, shuns all forms of communications between buyers and sellers that would result in an actual relationship forming and forces one or the other to go through hilarious loops just to exchange emails or phone numbers. If that isn’t sad enough, a member here has recently reported that eBay will end up charging the selling fee if they suspect you sold an item listed on eBay outside of it, even if you did no such thing. In my opinion, a passiveness that shuns discussion is what has allowed eBay to do as they please and why we see more and more of this kinda thing enacted every year. I think it is important to, at the very least, talk about these things and not just accept the fate eBay chooses for us.
Now, as far as prices realized on eBay being over the top, a platform that encourages shill bidding would naturally become subject to outrageous hammer prices. These fees/taxes and other add-ons we speak of cause sellers to find workarounds. This means list prices go even higher, shill bidding becomes more common, shipping costs increase (I’ve never agreed with sellers getting charged 12.5% plus $0.50 on shipping charges they pay through eBay, not only does that seem unfair as you can’t cheat the postage, that additional cost is, again, being put on the buyer) and the whole experience becomes unrealistically inflated. Nekbe, the infamous eBay shill-bidding seller, has bid his own items up for years with no penalty realizing some laughable prices for common items. Don’t get me wrong, there’s always a bidder out there that wants an item unreasonably bad and will drive up prices to get what they want, but that is in no way something unique to eBay. Free, fee-less offer and auction pages on FB have also seen some of the highest hammer prices in the hobby. It’s when these high prices are realized on eBay on some of the most common items in our hobby that it becomes painfully obvious what is occurring and why. We’ve all spoken for years about the “wonders” of eBay as a seller, but I’m more concerned in this instance as the buyer is now becoming more and more prone to being on the receiving end of eBay’s ***** storm
