eBay parts auctions

[Crosley.In.AZ]

ebay recently had a program where there was no listing fee charged for auctions.  If the stuff sold , there was a 9% value fee added ( up to 50 bux)..

If the items did not sell , no fees ( oh my)

I placed some parts on ebay to sell , if nothing sells the stuff goes into the trash bin.  Parts were Chevy engine accessory brackets, misc pieces I've had 20 - 30 yrs

Some stuff did sell and between paypal and ebay charges . there is 12.5% taken on the sale.

i am not complaining , I knew this going in.

Sure wish I had come up with the idea for ebay and paypal.

[enjenjo]

Last week a guy bought some parts from me for $11. Somehow he manged to send $1,100.   He is still trying to get that straightened out.

I am finding that Ebay is one of the first places I look for parts any more. Lasy year I put together a nodular 9" Ford center with a Strange spool, and Timken bearings, with a Yukon gear, all new parts except the carrier for $300. And I bought a Sanden compressor, still in the sealed box for $87.50

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I visit eBay too for parts many times


i bought a small tool from a trans parts company online.

18 dollar tool

20 dollar shipping and handling  

Response to my email about the  ship charges on a small aluminum  tool was basically :  " do you want the tool or not?"

the company offered UPS  or USPS shipping..  USPS envelop would have been 5 dollars, 5 dollars to pack it ( LOL) and the shipping would have been 1/2 cost to me.

I am sure Paypal payment took the 3.5 % out to the company I paid.

The 20 dollars shipping - handling kinda hit me the wrong way

[enjenjo]

I visit eBay too for parts many times


i bought a small tool from a trans parts company online.

18 dollar tool

20 dollar shipping and handling  

Response to my email about the  ship charges on a small aluminum  tool was basically :  " do you want the tool or not?"

the company offered UPS  or USPS shipping..  USPS envelop would have been 5 dollars, 5 dollars to pack it ( LOL) and the shipping would have been 1/2 cost to me.

I am sure Paypal payment took the 3.5 % out to the company I paid.

The 20 dollars shipping - handling kinda hit me the wrong way

You have to watch that.

[unklian]

ALWAYS find out how much for shipping BEFORE bidding.

The one time you break that rule...   :cry:  :evil:  

[Crosley.In.AZ]

About 3 yrs ago A fellow sent me a payment via paypal for an auction item on ebay..

He sent me an email apologizing if the payment did not arrive quickly as there was some problem on his end with Paypal.

A day later I had "2" payments from him instead of one.  This was two payments of over 500 dollars, so I had over  $1,000.00  in the Paypal account.  

I called Paypal after email messages were USELESS, I was on hold for near 30 minutes.  Finally a human answers, I explain the problem.  She does not understand.  Her English was very clear, she was simply "thinking challenged".

So...  I clearly told her PAYPAL screwed up and there is a 500 dollar mistake  deposit in my account that is NOT my money.

Oh.... a manager comes on the phone. I explain it again.  The mistake  was cleared up

:?

[paul2748]

The big freight charges are nothing but additional profit some of these sellers add on.  It has no reality to cost of shipping.

[zzford]

The big freight charges are nothing but additional profit some of these sellers add on.  It has no reality to cost of shipping.

This is so true. Often times I will find what appears to be a good deal. After figuring in the freight and handling, I can get it a lot cheaper locally, plus, I won't get my money stolen.

[BFS57]

Hello;
Reality setting in!!! I'm thinking that the same situation that had Frank tell us about shutting down RRT is happening to EBAY! Lack of participation!!
I just purchased a Weed Waker on Epay and I got a really good deal! Home Depot price was $200.00 Seller on line had a $125.00 plus Free Shipping! PLUS NO TAX!!!
This purchase was out of necessity not anything else. I have looked and looked and found a LOT of things I want but even though I am working, I'm not buying any car related things unless necessity comes into play!
I think Epay is having a hard time also because of the economic melt down and is trying to draw new blood to it's site. I think that they are
hard hit as well as everyone else!!!

Bruce

[Crosley.In.AZ]

eBay got too far away from their roots so to say..

eBay started to cater to the folks that peddle new goods at reduced prices, many of the little guy was slowly priced out. Same as the local swap meets we had here in Arizona. They are not swap meets any longer, they are called "Market Places".

We have a large location east of me : " Mesa Market Place" ... vendors all selling new stuff. You can walk thru the place and see the same crap at 10 - 15 locations.  That is fine if you find what you want or need.

I miss the old  real  swap meets and the stuff you could find at them. Now days you have to drive around to yard sales for the same thing.  Many yard sales are vendors trying to get around license requirements of the local gubmints.

[Uncle Bob]

Summer has always been a slower time for the bay.....good time to buy, bad to sell.  That being said, all the promos they're running would indicate that this one is slower than usual.  I watch certain kinds of cars just to see what the market trends are, and sales suck, or at least prices/bids for the seller, just like locally.  The market is awash with rods for sale.  Our annual GG event is this coming weekend and I expect even more for sale signs than usual.

Like Frank, I buy quite a few items, and often use ebay to establish a good buying price.  The inflated shipping is an annoyance, but you should always make sure you know what it is ahead of time.  One alternative I've found for certain items, e.g. consumables like sanding discs, cutoff wheels, and so on is Amazon.  Often times the prices are the same or similar to the best of deals on ebay and then shipping is no charge if you're willing to wait for the slightly longer cycle.

[Carnut]

unoh, I"m one of those lowball sellers on ebay now.

When I started out last october on ebay selling off my old magazines, they just seemed to take off all on their own.

I was getting god awful good prices for them, sold for so much and so fast that I made Top Rated and Power seller on ebay.

Then in January magazine sales just tanked.

I got to thinking that I also have these large 11 x 17 photo calendars by Paul Oxman that I've been buying for 20yrs or so, and the pics are really wonderful and really are high quality enough for framing if you like the particular image. I had Aircraft, Sports Cars and Hot Rods to sell. They started selling fairly well for a month or so, made money with them.

Originally I started out listing 2 or 3 magazines per week and then went to 2 or 3 per day as selling kept going well. Still the sales more than paid for the listing fees, I had visions of being a ebay mogel with visions of catching up with my bills, until after December.

Then when I went to the calendar prints I started listing 10 to 20 a day and the sales were ok, but most were selling for my low listing price and it kinda started looking like I was getting close to just covering the listing expenses.

Both the magazine sales and the calendar prints sales were just cleaning out junk in my basement and I could see running out of stuff to sell eventually and thought maybe I ought to look into something with a bit of staying or growing power.

That's when I came up with 8.5 x 11 photo prints of some of the images on my site. About the same time ebay went to lower listing fees for auctions. 100 free auctions per month and $.10 per auction after that for $.99 or under auctions. Buy it now price was an additional $.05 per listing.

The photo prints seemed to also take off for a month or so but since I priced them so low at $.99 auctions it took a lot of sales to cover fees. Also since I don't have any idea what photos might sell and what won't so I started listing a bunch of photos and when a photo of a particular type would sell, I would then put out a bunch more.

Eventually I was up to over 400 listings per day both 8.5 x 11 prints and 11 x 17 calendar prints. and for the last couple of months my sales have been less than my total listing fees. Now my conundrum is that I don't know how to figure what to not list and what or how many should be listed. My simpleton thoughts where the more you list the more folks would see and the more I would sell, that ain't happening.

Anyhow my sales have been down for a couple of months now and I've lost both my Top Rated and Power seller ratings, which mean I don't get the discounts I had been getting.

So yes I think times are tough on ebay right now, though I am still comparatively knew to the business, I do have close to 580 positive feedbacks and several return buyers.

I really do hope sales pickup soon because right now my ebay selling is more of a hobby for me now, where it's actually costing me money instead of a business of making money.

heh, heh, guess I am just whining. heh, heh, actually I have all my magazines listed on my website and I've been selling more from there for more money and no listing fees than I have on ebay. That was really a surprise. Unfortunately the photo prints haven't started selling off my website yet.

Heh, heh, an update of my life on ebay I guess.