Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Archives of the best of past topics For Sale Archive, Non-Petro Indian/Norton Sign & Harley Sign

It all boils down to using eBay to get their customer then screwing eBay out of their deserved fee.

Actually it's eBay that's been screwing sellers. It costs a seller about 18% now to sell something. I know if I could sell something off of e-bay I would do it in a minute.

I don't believe it is 18%, but if it is it is still a bargain for the buyers you reach.
It is the same as Insurance and Shoplifting, the innocent are the ones that get the higher rates and fees because of a few that don't play nice.JMO

...the same seller did the same thing with his Pan-Am sign: ran it on eBay starting at 99¢ with no reserve, yet reserved the right to end the auction early...he said eBay got their cut even though he ended the auction early after canceling the legitimate bids...the resultant conversation was deleted by one of the moderators...

I am using 18% ebay fees as an average, let me illustrate.

I just sold a large thermometer on e-bay, it was 36".

The item sold for $31.00

The "final value" fee was $3.10

The final value on my shipping charge was $1.60 (yes, they actually charge a fee on your shipping.)

The pay pal fee was $1.66

Total Fees $6.36

On an item that I sold for $31.00 I paid exactly 20.5% of the selling price to sell it.

Here's a smaller fee example. I sold a sign for $230.00

My "Final Value" fee was $23.00

The "final value" fee on shipping was $1.00

The pay pal fee was $7.26

Total fees $31.26

To sell a $230.00 sign I paid over 13.5%.

The bottom line is that in the "old days" these items used to cost a couple of bucks to sell on e-bay, therefore a lot of cool stuff was being sold by a lot of sellers. Everyone benefitted including e-bay which became a multi billion dollar company in the process. Like most corporations they got greedy over time, figuring out more ways to raise "revenues", a.k.a. PROFITS which were passed along to the seller. The result is that a lot of sellers said screw it and stopped selling stuff. I am sure there are A LOT of people on this very site that are x sellers. Now you have guys like the individual in this thread (and myself) that will yank an item in a heartbeat to sell it offline. Is it "right?" I don't know or really care. You are NOT going to see a lot of sympathy from me or many others directed in e-bay's direction. I also play the game as a buyer. If it's an item that my competition is going to make me pay up fro I e-mail the seller and ask them if we can work something offline. A good 30% of the time they agree. Boom, everyone wins again. Learn how to play the game.

Oh I play a great game and sleep flawlessly every night.

I sleep great too.

...or, learn how to cheat...

Good looking signs.

i don't sell much on eBay anymore, not because of the fees, just haven't. I don't think eBay's fees are that bad. When you compare them to buyer's premiums at other auctions and on line fees. one of the reasons eBay charges the fees on postage is if you remember there used to be many auctions for a dollar with $100 dollar shipping. i don't like additional fees, but if it weren't for eBay I wouldn't have half of my collection because of a wide seller base. I also used to sell die cast toys on eBay and that money was used to buy other oil and gas items.

I like the for sale section here on Oldgas best....but there isn't the volume of items. Good stuff though. And by bidding through Oldgas on ebay, Oldgas gets a small commission that helps to keep the lights on here. Give the devil his due.....

I don't sell much on eBay, especially larger items, because I can't seem to get the knack of shipping and shipping costs. I just don't do a good job at it. For example, I have a couple of 18" x 54" signs that I would put on there for the exposure they get, but it's a hassle to try and find/make a box to use for shipping them. I see sellers listing shipping costs in the $12-20 range for the same size signs, but the estimates I get from USPS/UPS are much higher. Don't know how they ship so cheap. I think high shipping costs keep the bids down and of course then eBay charges more. Shipping for me is the biggest hassle through a site like eBay. CL isn't bad, but it's tougher to hit the right audience that way.

Honestly I have ate shipping before. I hate doing it but if you put shipping at more than 30$ people think you are trying to rip them off it seems like so I just equate it into the starting bid.

Yeah, I understand. Just the last time I mailed a sign (I think it was about 16" x 30" or so), I had lost too much $ by the time I had paid fees, for shipping materials and USPS. I think I had estimated half of what it actually cost to pack and ship it. At least it made it to the buyer safely.

Halehouse, the SAME thing has happened to me several times now. The cost of shipping has gotten insane.