Selling on ebay be like...

[tworley]

I use eBay far more than any other online store. Like zorba said, if you know what you are looking for its generally pretty good. Ive only had two orders in my 17 years as a member (both in 2021) not show up and eBay gave me my money back. Both items just never shipped and the seller never returned my inquiries.

I hate selling things for all the reasons mentioned above. No-shows, low-ballers, people who clearly dont read the ad, folks who want to have a shipper pick somthing up. Now I either give it away or toss it.

 

[fourpointzero]

Man I feel your pain. I used to love selling on ebay in the early days, now its just another amazon. There are no good options for us small time sellers anymore. Craigslist is all but dead, ebay isn't for small sellers anymore, and facebook marketplace is a sh*tshow.

Is FB marketplace a sh#tshow and why? Ive never sold on it but have purchased items from "regular" people unloading things.

The biggest problem I found with eBay is that some of these younger buyers think a small seller is Amazon, where they can buy, look at something, and then return it for free. F#*king scumbags. Really gets me heated.

EDIT: and Ebay always takes the buyers side, with them asking for you to submit an issue with said buyer AFTER you refund and pay the return shipping. The worst!

 

[Zorba]

I hate selling things for all the reasons mentioned above. No-shows, low-ballers, people who clearly dont read the ad, folks who want to have a shipper pick somthing up. Now I either give it away or toss it.

Most especially people who ask questions that are answered in the ad. I'm getting to the point of being like Blaine - Goddess help me. "Its right there in the Queen's English, if you're too stupid to read it, than I'm smart enough not to sell it to you."

 

[Pokahpolice]

Is FB marketplace a sh#tshow and why? Ive never sold on it but have purchased items from "regular" people unloading things.

The biggest problem I found with eBay is that some of these younger buyers think a small seller is Amazon, where they can buy, look at something, and then return it for free. F#*king scumbags. Really gets me heated.

EDIT: and Ebay always takes the buyers side, with them asking for you to submit an issue with said buyer AFTER you refund and pay the return shipping. The worst!

Marketplace is just the new Craigslist with all the same problems. Just know that going in and you won't be disappointed.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

I recently sold a high dollar Laguna band saw on FB marketplace. First time I’ve used it as I stay away from Facebook. My wife had successfully sold a few things recently so I tried it. The saw was expensive, and I was asking more than I paid for it new, so I expected it to sit for a while. It sold in two hours. Can’t complain about that.

 

[hardtailpan]

Is FB marketplace a sh#tshow and why? Ive never sold on it but have purchased items from "regular" people unloading things.

The biggest problem I found with eBay is that some of these younger buyers think a small seller is Amazon, where they can buy, look at something, and then return it for free. F#*king scumbags. Really gets me heated.

EDIT: and Ebay always takes the buyers side, with them asking for you to submit an issue with said buyer AFTER you refund and pay the return shipping. The worst!

FB marketplace drives me out of my mind! There are these quick buttons that you can send to the seller such as "Is this available?" These get sent constantly, whether by mistake (easy to fat thumb) or not. You respond, then you never hear back. Nobody seems to read the ads (probably because many are bots) and send stupid questions like, "how much?" "where are you located?" "what does it fit?" when its all in the ad. Then you have a whole bunch of people who just divide your price by two and throw an offer out, "will you take (price/2) cash money right now?" The worst of the worst however is the ones that say they are going to show up and never do, which also happens quite often. Oh, and the interface and the way that its designed and works makes it feel like it was a summer intern project. It's very poorly set up. All that said, it's almost the only game in town for us small sellers, at least where i live.

I used to really like ebay, and in some cases it can still be a very good platform, but the small seller auction site has given way to the big sellers and feels much more like Amazon. With things like one-offs, rare items, collectibles and the like, it can still be a good platform. Don't get me started on the fee structure tho! ....and ya, you're right about the always taking the buyers side which has given birth to more scammers on ebay.

If FB marketplace would improve their platform (I'd have to think about how) it could be pretty decent.

Anyway, ymmv....

 

[Chris]

FB Marketplace is full of some of the stupidest people on earth.

I regularly would get messages such as, “What’s the lowest you would go?”.

Well asshole, I’m not in the business of negotiating against myself, so why not make me an offer and see if I accept?

Morons

 

[hardtailpan]

I use eBay far more than any other online store. Like zorba said, if you know what you are looking for its generally pretty good. Ive only had two orders in my 17 years as a member (both in 2021) not show up and eBay gave me my money back. Both items just never shipped and the seller never returned my inquiries.

I hate selling things for all the reasons mentioned above. No-shows, low-ballers, people who clearly dont read the ad, folks who want to have a shipper pick somthing up. Now I either give it away or toss it.

I completely agree with this, I still use ebay to buy stuff fairly often. I can often find very good deals on the kind of stuff I'm looking for. Now selling on ebay is a whole 'nother story.

 

[rasband]

Shit. eBay took a 12.95% cut too!

I agree @tworley - usually I'd rather give stuff away or list it here, but for some higher ticket items there's not a good spot to offload them.

 

[hardtailpan]

FB Marketplace is full of some of the stupidest people on earth.

I regularly would get messages such as, “What’s the lowest you would go?”.

Well asshole, I’m not in the business of negotiating against myself, so why not make me an offer and see if I accept?

Morons

Spot on Chris.
I would just say, "come down, take a look and make an offer."
Then I'd just get radio silence.

 

[Chris]

Spot on Chris.
I would just say, "come down, take a look and make an offer."
Then I'd just get radio silence.

Yep, I do the same thing.

And then you have all the, “Is this still available?” automated bullshit.

I’m usually always negotiable on price but I’m not going to negotiate against myself and I’m also unsure why anyone would want to negotiate when they haven’t even seen it in person.

 

[fourpointzero]

@Chris @hardtailpan Im with you both on every mentioned.

Very stupid people on Marketplace but also spineless. They're cowardly and communicate poorly, or just don't. I chalk it up to a symptom of how things are in a digital world. And the fees with Ebay are just wild. PayPal is raising their take soon too.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

I can imagine common items like a cell phone being magnets for even more of that crap.

I haven't had any issues selling stuff like jeep parts on ebay. Or rather, no issues other than there not being a market to speak of for whatever I'm trying to sell.

 

[Mike_H]

I guess I've been lucky. Of course, I get all the inane automated responses on marketplace, but I've had pretty good luck with it. I think because I sell mostly enthusiast stuff and not general merchandise. I don't sell on eBay anymore, with the suspension of seller protection, but I do buy quite a bit.