Forget ebay !

[Lord-Chaos]

I usually sold a lot of games on ebay, but in the last months I wasn't able to sell many games - last auctions I sold absolutely NOTHING.

 

I offered the same games on Bidiots.com for free and sold some of them after a few days.

 

I think I will give up ebay, won't pay anymore for this service and only use it on free-listing days in the future, because nobody seems to buy here anymore - even if the prices are really low.

 

I once was a silver statuts powerseller and have thousands of positives, only about 60 negatives in the last 5 years.People seem to prefer buying from low-score sellers.

 

I hope others will join and stop supporting ebay and their insane fees which are ridiculously high for low-price items , items that sell for $1-$10.

 

Bidiots is a good start and Germans should check www.hood.de although this auction is spammed by stupid sellers with overpriced items.

 

I cannot recommend ebay any longer and will only use it when it's for free in the future, because the buy-rate is too low and it's not the problem of my items, since they sell on bidiots, which is a lot smaller than ebay.

 

RIP ebay.

 

Thimo

[holygrailvideogames.com]

I have seen a major drop in prices and sales on eBay. Right now it is a buyers market.

[ATARIPITBULL]

I hope it continues, I am getting very sick of Ebay myself!!!!!

 

[Susuwatari]

It's a good time if you're buying bargains. Maybe someone should snap up bargains from eBay and then sell on Bidiot for profit?

[Lord-Chaos]

It's a good time if you're buying bargains.  Maybe someone should snap up bargains from eBay and then sell on Bidiot for profit?

 

I think this would make sense - although ebay is bigger now than it was years ago, you seem to sell less.I don't know why, maybe too much stuff in some categories?

 

But lots of games , at least on ebay.de and ebay.uk (other European ebays are as good as dead) and console systems get insane prices - usually, even for junior systems, 32 in 1 plus a few other games.

 

Best is looking for free listing days - auctions usually get far more bids since some categories are spammed by auctions on such days.

 

Or look for sellers who offer items in wrong categories.I got a 600 Xl with 2 games for about 6 Euro (ca. $7) because it was in the ATARI 2600 category and the system is in great shape (these usually sell for a lot more).

 

Hunting for cheap lots and reselling them on bidiots seems to be a good idea, because free listing is important if you sell common games for fair prices of less than $5.Ebay makes this impossible because of the fees.

 

Thimo

[Mindfield]

HEh... you're not the first to have defected to Bidiots. It seems to be a growing trend -- eBay is collapsing under its own weight -- the entire eBay market is saturated with idiot buyers and sellers that rape on shipping.

 

Viva Bidiots!

[Lord-Chaos]

HEh... you're not the first to have defected to Bidiots.  It seems to be a growing trend -- eBay is collapsing under its own weight -- the entire eBay market is saturated with idiot buyers and sellers that rape on shipping.

 

Viva Bidiots!

 

Exactly.Sometimes ebay is too full, browsing can be painfully slow and bidding, too.

 

Too much stuff is not always good and with all the promotional free listing days (now on ebay.uk for first time sellers), more and more will be listed.

 

And although my shipping is high - it's overseas (insured) air mail , thousands of miles, some sellers want more for shipping Canada to USA or shipping inside the USA , I already saw such auctions.

 

Thimo

[Stingray]

sellers that rape on shipping.

 

That's the number one reason why I rarely bid these days. Almost everything has stupid high shipping prices quoted.

 

-S

[Whisper]

Shipping fees can be insane, also within European countries. For Atari stuff I now only bid on items within The Netherlands as the UK Pound is a bit high for me to get a good deal and over all, a lot of German sellers try to screw you with postage. And no, I do not mean professional sellers like Lord-Chaos here, they're ok, they know what they are doing. I could almost take the train to Germany and pick it up myself for the fee some sellers on ebay.de dare to ask! Don't even get me started on the lack of understanding on payment methods. "What the hell are these weird things called PayPal or IBAN bank transfer?"

 

I did get some nice deals off of eBay recently though, Look here

 

The reason these things didn't get much bids is because you have to pick them up at their store in Amsterdam, but I can travel for free with public transport due to my student pass So I got myself 18 games (mostly common, but who cares if you haven't got them yet ) for 23.50 Euro.

[bcprs1]

I haven't bought anything off ebay in a while, but I have noticed that prices have been dropping. Maybe it is because everyone is spending their extra money on gas?

[Mindfield]

I can certainly see overseas shipping quotes being high -- it costs me an arm and a leg to ship anything large and/or heavy across the pond. Shipping from Canada to the US however is only marginally higher than shipping out of province within Canada. Shipping within the same province is actually somewhat reasonable. (Unless we're talking single carts; they still cost as much as somewhat larger parcels) Sadly, Canada Post don't have any "budget" shipping methods like the USPS. There's no Media Mail, and our "large letter" rate dimensions and weight are FAR more restrictive than USPS. (You can ship up to around 3 carts large letter in the US for a buck or two because USPS' large letter rates allow for what in Canada would be considered parcels, which cost us a minimum of C$5.65)

 

Canada Post sucks.

 

But I've seen US sellers charging like $5 or more for single carts, or rediculous combined shipping rates -- I absolutely hate sellers that state "Add $2 per additional item" in their "combined" shipping rate. For me, that's a complete disincentive to buy more than one cart from them, which really should make no financial sense to the seller either: One person buying, say, 5 carts means much lower PayPal fees, since only one payment is made. 5 people buying 1 cart means payment fees are applied to all 5 payments, which is less money for the seller.

 

Even adding $0.50 per additional cart is a little over the top, but I can stomach that, at least. I'm much more inclined to bid on sellers who really do "combine" shipping by figuring it all out at the end of the auction based on package weight, dimensions, and destination.

 

The problem is that eBay makes it way too easy to rip people off on shipping -- and too many people are _far_ too willing to let it happen, which encourages more sellers to do it because it's so damn profitable. I can't tell you how many positive feedbacks I've seen left for sellers that absolutely hate-raped them on shipping. It's that permissiveness that has made it such a pervasive practise, and it's sick.

 

That's my rant.

[conda]

The problem is that eBay makes it way too easy to rip people off on shipping -- and too many people are _far_ too willing to let it happen, which encourages more sellers to do it because it's so damn profitable.  I can't tell you how many positive feedbacks I've seen left for sellers that absolutely hate-raped them on shipping.  It's that permissiveness that has made it such a pervasive practise, and it's sick.

That's true, but most peeps are not going to risk the retalitory feedback for a slight over charge in shipping. I was overcharged about three times so far this month, and if I left three negative feedbacks about it, I would have three negatives myself.

 

If ebay required sellers to leave feedback first, I bet you would see alot more honesty.

[Mindfield]

This is true. I think sellers should be required to leave feedback within a certain period of time after the item(s) have been paid for. I mean, frankly, once you've paid for the item and provided accurate shipping information, you've met your obligations and owe the seller nothing more. It is then upon the seller to do what's required of them to uphold their end of the bargain, and that should include leaving feedback for the buyer's conduct during his end of the transaction.