PaulAA Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Evening, fellow wizened ones I had the sobering experience of my first ebay auction this month and I'm wondering what I failed to do right. I stuck up my old 22D distributor and it went (second time round) for £102 + £20 postage. Buyer paid by Paypal and hey presto, the first charge appears - £5.57 listed as 'charges', followed by an offensively unfavourable conversion rate from GBP to PLN. The money takes nearly three weeks to be released (well, shit happens), then a bill arrives today from ebay in PLN for - give or take - £12.50. So, the charges on the actual purchase price amount to 18%, plus a crap exchange rate. Did I do something wrong or is trading on ebay really this shite? I only stepped up to the 'bay because there is patently no market for a 22D in Poland, but our e-trader equivalent (Allegro) offers a flat 10% on the sale price (not sale + postage) and no bullshit from Paypal. Cheers Mr Grumpy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtuckunder Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Yep that's about the cost of it, you can of course "ask" if your buyer will pay you direct (although they may prefer the protection that paypal offers), so you could save the PayPal charges and get a better exchange rate, but the ebay fee's you are stuck with. I usually work on the theory that a lot of times you will get a better price via ebay as a lot more people see it, so I just grin and bear it! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorkshire_spam Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 I think it's the unfortunate cost of selling on ebay. I've given up - low value stuff just goes to the tip now, I can't be arsed with the time wasters and paypal/ebay charges. (Unless it's car stuff and I can offer it on sites like this) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 This is why although I do buy on ebay reasonably often, I almost never sell. Mind you, our local auction house makes their charging structure look very reasonable........ Your original selling price seems quite good though? Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zetecspit Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 I had a recent result when I was given the heads up on a £1 fees day (but plus paypal fees of course) Bit of a result, sold a set of wheels for £250 and a roll bar for £85, so a substantial saving. On top of that the lovely wheel buyer (German) bought an extra wheel, and without asking payed extra for packaging. A delightful buyer, far removed for the horror stories I hear. But I rarely sell on fleabay, but ought to get my arse into gear and list stuff as it is does have a big audience, but high charges. Hopefully another offer will come up.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprint95m Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 I don't use ebay to sell stuff, in fact, thinking about it, I don't sell stuff very often anyway. However I do use ebay to buy stuff, the option to collect at Argos being particularly useful. For instance, I was able to buy a pair of seats from Demon Tweaks that way without incurring some surcharge for carriage (because the carrier only had to deliver to Argos in Lancashire, Argos then do the rest). Several times I have bought from ebay sellers who don't actually offer delivery to Scotland, using the Argos route. Once I tried to buy a set of wheels and the seller wanted an additional £46 on top of what I had paid because my address was in Scotland even though the wheels were going to Greater `Manchester! Even though I don't have an account with them, UPS would have collected and delivered they wheels for £42 rather than the £65 I was being asked for. Needless to say I went to another seller for the wheels.... Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattius Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 (edited) I spent years trading mobile phones and parts on ebay, The trick is as has been said to list your stuff when its "free" listing days or £1 fee days, otherwise it gets ridiculous. If you put a reserve on it, or a buy it now, or make it gallery featured or even just in the gallery they charge you extra, plus the charges are loaded in such a way it penalises people selling stuff under £100. From memory reserve and buy it now are the worst things to put on as they are a percentage of the sales price, others are fixed fees. So the only real way to list anything is with no reserve and low price, which is why you see so much cheap tat on ebay nowadays, its just not worth people listing more expensive stuff (i think premium sellers get better rates). I rarely use the place these days, ebay have been too greedy, Amazon love them or love them have changed the way business is done these days, i mean is it just me that finds my self paying a couple of quid extra just to get something next day? Edited April 20, 2018 by mattius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted April 20, 2018 Share Posted April 20, 2018 If you have something worth a significant amount, or want to canvas a wide market, try eBay, but sometimes there are things that are worth little, but may be valuable/useful to a few people, like Triumph parts. Rather than bin them, if I've found a 'buyer', say through here or another site, I've been happy to send it, for the promise of a donation to charity. You lose a little, but consider it as part of the donation? OR, there is the Buy & Sell forum, here: http://sideways-technologies.co.uk/forums/index.php?/forum/30-wanted-or-sale-cars-parts-and-spares/ JOhn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulAA Posted April 20, 2018 Author Share Posted April 20, 2018 24 minutes ago, JohnD said: If you have something worth a significant amount, or want to canvas a wide market, try eBay, but sometimes there are things that are worth little, but may be valuable/useful to a few people, like Triumph parts. Rather than bin them, if I've found a 'buyer', say through here or another site, I've been happy to send it, for the promise of a donation to charity. You lose a little, but consider it as part of the donation? OR, there is the Buy & Sell forum, here: http://sideways-technologies.co.uk/forums/index.php?/forum/30-wanted-or-sale-cars-parts-and-spares/ JOhn Or you could follow up on a conversation in a forum similar to this one with a PM and offer some needy fellow the part or solution for which he has canvassed for help. There are many ways to kill the same cat. But in some instances, there is a degree of relief at recovering some of the cost of indulging the ambitions of an over-ambitious member of the classic motor trade. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Could be worse. Put a AAbuggered 2.5 engine on fleabay - in description: Buyer must collect, weighs half a tonne, will not post overseas! Sure enough, some bids and it sells for £30 and comes the email, 'my shipping address is. xxxxxxxxxx,xxxxxxx, Italy, please box up and arrange courier and bill me. Told him nope, he shopped me to ebay for refusing to deliver goods he paid for! And ebay? Reduced my seller privileges for a week..... grrrrrr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtuckunder Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Me I'd have quoted him £500 for environmental cleaning, packaging and shipping Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted April 23, 2018 Share Posted April 23, 2018 Not enough - at least £ 750! That way you could probably deliver in person and have a short holiday! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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