WANTED: ALTERNATIVES TO EBAY: I just came back there

[old mark]

after a few years not selling and it already sucks. They have made it really hard to sell, and gouge you for money for any reason possible.
I'd like to collect a list of alternatives, even if they are specialized or not great, so long as they are now eBay;
Any help is appreciated, and anyone is certainly welcome to use this list.
Thanks in advance.

mark

[InvisibleTouch]

1. The problem with alternate sites...

...and there are some, is that there is no traffic. You end up spending your time putting up listings that bring you nothing in return - so even if the listing is absolutely free, you've lost time that you could have used productively elsewhere.

The only alternate site I know of that has a fair amount of activity is AquaBid (www.aquabid.com), which is specialized for aquarium fish, plants, invertebrates, food, and equipment. It's not hugely busy like eBay (which also has listings for live fish/inverts/plants), but there is a decent market. I've bought from there, but have not sold there yet myself. It's free to list, and there's a strictly voluntary final-value fee donation for any listing that sells for over $30.

Other than that, I'm sorry I can't be much help.

[old mark]

2. That's what i was afraid of. I am pretty disappointed with eBay, but

really fail to see an alternative - they certainly have the numbers of people, even if most are just looking.


mark

[grasswire]

3. ah, for the good old days...

...when 70 percent of my listings sold and sold at amazing prices. Wah! It was like having a money tree. Every morning when I woke up I would check eBay and see how much I made during the night.

[Vinca]

4. Those were the days.

My first year there I thought I might actually get rich. HA!

[grasswire]

5. the sky was truly the limit

If you could get the stock, you could sell it well. It was not unusual to sell something bought for five bucks for several hundred. I did it often.

[Vinca]

6. Me, too. One of my first sales was a sheet of Dolly Dingle

paper dolls I found at the dump. $200. Now I'm looking for pine cones with the image of Jesus on them.:rofl:

[grasswire]

7. there's still skanky shoes

Remember we have seen some incredible sales of skanky nasty shoes. Believe me, with a teenager in the house I can easily find that stock. :-)

[Vinca]

8. LOL - I'm still wondering what goes along with the skanky shoes.

Phone calls maybe? YECCCCHHHHH!

[InvisibleTouch]

15. I remember putting up a group of listings...

...and my first items would already have bids by the time I got around to putting up the last ones.

The good old days, indeed!

(edit: typo)

[old mark]

9. Ihave a lot of books - my best book sale was for a little over $20, for

a book I bought for a quarter. I recently sold an old guitar for over $300, but only on the second attempt - the first high bidder didn't pay, and screwed me for nearly 3 weeks before even responding to emails.
That guitar took 5 weeks to sell.
Yet I see more restrictions "for the protection of buyers" from the evil sellers.....makes me mad, but it seems like the only game in town.

mark

[grasswire]

10. it's not the only game in town for books

You can sell on amazon.com, or on abebooks.com. Abe is a great resource. You can either become a professional bookseller there or sell just a few books. You can also use it to check the value of a book at resale -- you just see what other used booksellers are asking for it.

[old mark]

11. Abe is where I get my sale prices - I usually go a few bucks

below the average price unless I have something really interesting. I have been using it for many years now, just to check on my buys. I get most of my books for under a dollar, but still get screwed sometimes. My dad was a book scout/seller, and I started about 50 years ago.

The computer changed the whole world for book sellers.....

mark

[grasswire]

12. It's a noble profession! Bookseller!

I have bought and sold many books but not devoted really enough time to learning certain aspects of that trade -- shame on me. I like the term "book scout" -- it's more poetic than "picker."

I am usually able to spot something that will bring me a big return, though. A book on early radio comes to mind. I found it at an estate sale late in the sale, after the dealers had already been through. Paid $3 for it; sold it for nearly $500 on eBay. Sweet, sweet! The fact that the real book dealers missed it was especially rewarding. :-)

Large book sales make me kinda crazy because the dealers are so aggressive. I've been cursed, shoved, and out-maneuvered many a time. Grrr! What bums me out are the people who come with a handler. They grab anything remotely attractive and shove it in boxes, the handler watches the boxes. Then, after they've plundered the sale, they slowly go through the boxes looking at each book more carefully. Rejecting some, but having gleaned the best of the whole sale with their technique. Kind of takes the sport out of it.

Best of luck! Even if you get "screwed" on a dollar book, you can probably get a dollar for it.

[old mark]

13. I avoid book sales for that reason. I just do this for pocket money,

to pay for my very advanced guitar and gun habbits things beyond the reach of my meager pension, as least till my Socialist Security starts late this summer.
I used to do it for enjoyment, still try to have a good time with it, but I hate all the regulations, etc....

mark

[InvisibleTouch]

14. I use half.com for books.

It's also owned by eBay, but the terms are a lot more user-friendly. No listing fees, and you can leave your listings up indefinitely until they sell. Then you're charged the final value fee at the time of sale, but you also get a shipping reimbursement that usually (not always) exceeds your shipping expenses by just a bit.

It's not the place to sell rare, valuable, and collectible books, but it's perfect for high-volume low-cost items. As an added bonus, half.com and eBay feedback is combined, so if you have a good rep on one, it'll help you on the other.

I hit the Planned Parenthood book sale in this area every November, and come home with a carful of books. (I always end up with stuff for my own bookshelves as well - as though I needed more!) For cost reasons I go on the last day because that's bag-sale day, so the rare/valuable stuff is already picked over - but I'm pretty good at picking the types of common books that will sell for more than I paid for them. Fiction usually isn't so big, but any health- diet- self-improvement categories are usually sellers. It is worthwhile to grab entire boxes of romance novels from garage sales for $1 a box, though. While they're not big sellers individually (the time you'd put into listing them would burn more energy than they're worth), they do sell fairly well in lots on eBay.

And here's a super tool for booksellers:

USB Contact Barcode Scanner

It's ready-to-go when you plug it in, and scans the ISBN number right in, so you don't have to type it out. A big time-saver when you have lots to list!

[grasswire]

17. thanks for that tip

I'll check into it. Is it a store front?

[shireen]

16. for crafts, antiques,homemade stuff

etsy.com

[old mark]

19. Shireen: Thanks for that site! It looks good for selling my

paintings, etc and some old books and silver.

Looks like a good site.

Thanks!

mark

[old mark]

18. Any one tried ecrater? seems like a good deal, but I have no idea

how many people actually search there to buy.

Can't stand ebay anymore- 11 items listed on 7 day auction, 2 sales so far, ends Sunday and don't anticipate any more sales. Between fees and shipping, I am making maybe $10 this week. Not worth the effort.


mark

[old mark]

20. Thank you all for the tips on various sites. This last week was terrible again, made about $10

gross. It is not worth the effort, let alone tha aggravation of eBay's anti-seller policies. I will keep looking and buying on ebay, mostly guitars and related, but if have no plans to sell there again.

If I am not going to make money, I will not make money on ecrater and etsy, where at least I can set my own prices and charges and not pay fees for no result.

Thanks again for your help - I will let you know how this works out.

mark

[old mark]

21. My decision to leave eBay was just validated.

I got paid for 2 books sold last weekend. At the same time, I got the email for my monthly eBay fees. The difference I am left with is $8.84 for the month of selling, minus some small items (guitar strings) I bought using these funds.

Hard to imagine doing worse elsewhere.

EBay seems to be inviting people to leave as well, so I will take the time to close my account there.

mark

[grasswire]

22. thanks for sharing your experience

They ruined eBay. Very sad. Many people loved it and many made their living in a very enjoyable way.

[old mark]

23. In a way, I'm happy to find it was not just me - I made at least

an acceptable return on my effort and time a few years ago, but they seem determined to kill off the small sellers.
A shame. Turning into a mall for Chinese imports.


mark