Sorry I’ve been away. Sorry to both of my loyal followers (thanks Mom & Grandma). I’ve been busy trying to get rid of my stuff on the garage sale of the information superhighway, otherwise known as Ebay. Not the porcelain doll you gave me for Christmas though, Grandma! I will keep that for always.
Folks (mom and Grandma), Ebay ain’t what it used to be. Previously, you could sell any old thing on this fabulous website without needing to know a thing about it. Buyers were flocking to the site in search of a good deal, looking for things like ‘1976 alien ashtray’ or ‘used Palmolive dish soap’ – there was little marketing, gimmicks, or internet salesmanship required. In a 2-month span in 2004 when I was unemployed, I made enough money to live off of, just by selling the stuff I already owned to ravenous buyers in search of a good deal.
Now, however, the buying public has come to expect too much. Online giants like Buy.com have joined the ranks, and sooner or later, Ebay will become just another website that helps you spend your hard-earned cash without any chance of snagging a good deal. Let me start off by saying that out of 450+ transactions, I have received 2 negative feedback comments - one from a guy who never shipped my stuff (and gave ME a negative), and one from a Canuck that didn’t get their $5.99 book from me (after I faithfully shipped it using USPS) and was unhappy that I “only” refunded the entire purchase price plus half the shipping cost. Other than that, I’ve done pretty well feedback-wise as both a buyer and seller.
I currently have about 30 auctions listed, rotating through some 1st edition books and other items I’ve accumulated. It’s relatively cheap stuff as far as auctions go (not quality-wise) – everything I sell is less than $15 plus shipping.
I cannot even begin to describe the questions I get from idiotic buyers, but I’ll try.
- You mentioned in your listing that the zipper is slightly “stuck” when you try to zip it up, but that it still works just fine - can you send me a video of you zipping and unzipping the [$8.50 name brand] down vest you’re selling?
- Just wondering if you can tell me how many color illustrations are in this [550 page illustrated] book? You mentioned that there’s at least 1 illustration on every page, but I want to know exactly how many. Thanks.
- [Background: Person bids on item Day 2 of auction for $25 (including shipping), emails me Day 4] Hello, I wanted to know if you’d end your auction now and sell me this item for $20, shipping included?
- Why $6 [shipping] to Canada? I want this [$2 coffee mug], but not at that price!
- Hello [my Ebay username], Sir. We see your auction and thought you might be interested in knowing that you can to purchase the items wholesale at [sketch-O website] and sell them to customers anywhere in the global. Just kind regards to fill out the online form and send us a money order for the price initiated, and we then will ship your items complete to your customers without any further actions needed from you…
The thing is, I have faithfully answered every single one of these dumbass questions (declining the video portion of the “zipper” question and instead offering a more descriptive verbal illustration and marking the last question as “Spam” in my inbox)… but not ONE of the above mentioned culprits have actually bid on my items. I’m friendly, I’m honest (including the history of where I acquired the item), I use Auctiva so I can list my items with multiple pictures free of charge, I sell things at prices I consider very reasonable (again, less than $15), AND I sell things that I personally think are worthwhile (mostly, new or like new clothes from reputable manufacturers or vintage/antique books from notable authors). Why are people willing to shell out half their paychecks at cheap quality Christmas Tree “Made in China” Shops or Big Lots “of Crap” and not buy used, older, Already Manufactured And Not To Be Replaced on the Store Shelves Immediately items instead? I will never understand.
On top of all of this, Ebay has upped their already-substantial fees. I won’t get into the details of this (check out any of the Ebay forums if you’re truly interested), but basically you can list items at a cheaper price (a.k.a., more crap available), but Ebay takes a bigger cut out of the items that actually sell (a.k.a., getting punished if you’re offering items that people actually want to buy). Add in the cut that Paypal takes, and it’s increasingly harder to make any money off the “retail website that’s changing the face of the economy,” as it was previously called.
At times I wish I were smart enough to create my very own Ebay website, where I would personally get to pre-approve every item that was auctioned off; though if I did, I’d probably be sued for copyright infringement and end up writing a blog about my time in prison. On second thought….. I know I’d lose my core demographic (mom & Grandma), but maybe gain a whole new following of readers….? Any other casual Ebay sellers out there? What are your thoughts?
