Damned eBay! Now what?

[tomjasz]

So I sold stuff on eBay for 21 years. I decided to list all my duplicate spares and unused parts.
However these days they're asking for more bank information than I'll ever share. I was happy with eBay and PayPal but it seems I can no longer use my PP account or PP debit card. ADD all sorts of rules advantage eBay, I'm done.

But NOW WHAT??

I haven't been keeping up with which other selling services are being used these days.

Ideas? Site for selling eBike parts and accessories?

 

[6zfshdb]

I gave up on eBay a couple of years ago after the shipping rates went nuts. The shipping was often more than the items I was selling.

These days, I use Craigslist for mostly local transactions. I share no personal information and arrange a mutually convenient place to meet the buyer for a cash only transaction. I don't mind driving a reasonable distance if the buyer pays for the gas.

 

[AHicks]

Been thinning out my garage using ebay. Had the same thoughts about my providing my bank info. but I believe they have me bent over. There is the thought regarding opening an account strictly for this purpose, and keeping it pretty much empty....

In the last 5-6 weeks, I've shipped highly specialized (and often very old!) radio control stuff to both coasts, the mid west, and Argentina - after receiving top dollar - in many cases more than I thought it was worth.

Bottom line, they are a pain to deal with, they are expensive, they offer guarantees that are going to be at YOUR expense, but they are very good at moving the kind of stuff I need to sell - for top dollar that I would never get anywhere else.

As far as shipping, my stuff is mostly small. I've been using the USPS one price ships any weight anywhere, and that seems pretty reasonable?

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

I gave up on eBay a couple of years ago after the shipping rates went nuts. The shipping was often more than the items I was selling.

These days, I use Craigslist for mostly local transactions. I share no personal information and arrange a mutually convenient place to meet the buyer for a cash only transaction. I don't mind driving a reasonable distance if the buyer pays for the gas.

I've done hundreds of CL deals, both buying and selling. I share a little info as possible. Recently I've been using a GoogleVoice number instead of my regular cell phone. That's been working fine. I don't mind driving a distance for stuff as long as it's a good deal. Today I picked up a large marine cooler to add to the collection. I think the furthest I've driven was 3 hours, and that was a great deal with that trip.

Ebay is not what it once was. Finding the deal on the oddball stuff is gone. It's nothing but a "power seller" marketplace. They've driven out the small guy and left only the chinese sellers and the mega drop shippers. It's rare to find anything but that anymore. I'm betting these new rules on ebay are due to the IRS's desire to track any transaction of $600 or more. There's money being made out there and they're not getting their cut.

 

[PedalUma]

$600 or more

$600 Per year! As a consumer, I still use eBay, by the way, the name came from East Bay, in the San Francisco, CA area. If I can get a new cadence sensor in two days for a 2017 bike, that is great for $8 with free shipping.

Side note: I replaced a hub-core yesterday. The bike still didn't work. The Mfg. said it would. That was the recommended factory fix. After core replacement I tried Walk Mode. It worked! Meaning the motor is good and also likely the controller. Then I checked all controller connections, good. I opened the brake lever connections, no change. But I found buried within the HB harness that the throttle was slightly disconnected. I reconnected it. It worked! So now it is just an eBay cadence sensor away from fully functioning. Thanks eBay.

Sub side note: It is a $C.C. fat folder. Riding it five miles while pedaling with the twist throttle was horrid.

 

[John from Connecticut]

So I sold stuff on eBay for 21 years. I decided to list all my duplicate spares and unused parts.
However these days they're asking for more bank information than I'll ever share. I was happy with eBay and PayPal but it seems I can no longer use my PP account or PP debit card. ADD all sorts of rules advantage eBay, I'm done.

But NOW WHAT??

I haven't been keeping up with which other selling services are being used these days.

Ideas? Site for selling eBike parts and accessories?

Hello,
I've been selling on eBay for 24 years and like you, I liked the initial eBay - PayPal buy /sell relationship as well. It was neat, tidy and very 'cozy'....
but then eBay sold PayPal. I'm assuming the information you're referring to that eBay is requesting is to setup your account in order to do business
on and with eBay ?

If so, I wasn't thrilled with the initial bank info setup request either, but I wanted to remain on eBay. No online portal has the drawing power worldwide
of folks looking for whatever it is someone might be selling of value or is unique. Once I got past my childish whining, I realized the new eBay
payment procedure with my personal bank was very well thought out and from a book keeping perspective very helpful. I'm lazy when it comes to book keeping.
Craigs List has a place and serves the local market well. For the Items I sell, I would not do well at all because of the collectability of my items. I need the eBay 'exposure'

I hope this was helpful,
John

 

[chunk]

I buy on eBay all the time, don't sell there though, I use CL for sales. I use PayPal for incoming payments and purchases but only link a Credit Card with their service, not a bank account. I won't link a bank account with any company, just to risky. Since I don't require much credit anymore I also have my credit reports frozen to thwart bogus accounts being opened in my name even if my info is hacked. I recently changed mobile phone carriers and had to unfreeze for the credit check for the first time since I'd locked them, and I found it was just a couple of mouse clicks to unfreeze, and then 2 hours later refreeze the reports. A good option for some.

 

[PedalUma]

Anything with a password is unsecure by its very nature. Does a neighborhood garage sale with several Girl Scouts selling cookies and some moms out front with balloons, require a password? You paid sales tax when you bought those tighty boxer shorts that were the wrong size and never returned, still in the original packaging. Why not sell them, along with some other stuff you purchased? eBay should be like an online garage sale.

 

[tomjasz]

This sucks. i’m not whining i’m just not willing to put my bank account up for eBay to help themselves to fees. i just looked and i’ve been there since 2002. Forum sales are crazy slow to nonexistent. i never even use a debit card. i do all business by credit card. i have a separate account that i transfer money to to pay off the credit cards every month. taking full advantage of points and protection offered by the CC being used. The CC company does have access to any bank account. Guess i’ll dig around for an alternative.

 

[tomjasz]

There is the thought regarding opening an account strictly for this purpose, and keeping it pretty much empty....

i already do that for managing credit card and some other payments. but there are times when there’s significant dollars in the account. for several days. Making them vulnerable.

 

[AHicks]

i already do that for managing credit card and some other payments. but there are times when there’s significant dollars in the account. for several days. Making them vulnerable.

Yup, not denying there's some risk involved. I've weighed that risk with the options I have to market some of the stuff I'd like to sell.

Sure, I'd LOVE to use Craigslist or one of the others (like Facebook Marketplace) to do what I need to do, but there is NO WAY I could

1. Have as big a market seeing my items
or
2. Get the money I'm getting for these items. We know it's about supply and demand. Ebay pretty much assures the demand will be there if you have anything marketable. In my experience, they simply have no competition. That's the ONLY reason sellers put up with them!

I was selling refurbished 35-90 Hp Honda outboards for several years. A super niche hobby I developed. I made a killing with them on Craigslist! Point being, I'm very familiar with how easy they are to deal with. Pretty much the exact opposite of ebay. My thought, FWIW. -Al

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

One solution could be to go to another bank, open an account just for use on Ebay. Only keep the money in there that is needed to operate. Transfer money out to your other account as necessary. At least then you don't have to worry about Ebay draining your primary account.

 

[tomjasz]

One solution could be to go to another bank, open an account just for use on Ebay. Only keep the money in there that is needed to operate. Transfer money out to your other account as necessary. At least then you don't have to worry about Ebay draining your primary account.

As I wrote, maybe you missed it. I have an account I use for paying credit cards. An additional eBay account would also have times when there were significant dollars and eBay has access.
Call me paranoid! I got into a problem with them years back and it took weeks and a lot of money was tied up until there was a resolution. It cost me even though in the end after scores of hours of BS I finally recovered my $$.

Thanks, all for the advice. Guess I'll ad another account for eBay.

 

[AHicks]

I've been hosed too, big time! I sold a tow bar that had seen better days (we had used it to pull a CRV all over creation behind the motorhome), saying it was in "fair" condition. Sold it for about half of what it was worth (600.) This thing weighed like 75lbs, so it had a pretty fair amount of freight to ship it. Long story short, it got there and the buyer wasn't happy with it, saying it was not "as advertised". That was all he had to do. I had to pay the return shipping (90. if I remember right) or loose it. They wouldn't even let me leave a bad review!!! Took 2-3 weeks, but ended up selling it on Craiglist, to a guy that only lives about 15 minutes from here, and he was absolutely tickled with it, even after I showed him the worn parts..... -Al

 

[m@Robertson]

I do the just-for-online transactions (more than just ebay) bank account thing. EBay tells me I have been a member since 1999. I didn't sell there often, but when I did it was usually for quite a bit of money, per-transaction.

If you read the fine print on their buyer protection, things are stacked up in favor of the buyer to the point where a seller has to give refunds in advance of receiving the merchandise back, the seller has to pay for shipping said mdse back and the buyer can allege pretty much anything to reverse the transaction. The grace period is something like 90 days. I'm all for protecting buyers but what EBay is doing nowadays is over the top. I stopped selling there. Try Facebook Marketplace... and suffer thru a massive drop in eyeballs viewing your stuff, and a big increase in BS lowball inquiries.

 

[tomjasz]

I've been hosed too, big time! I sold a tow bar that had seen better days (we had used it to pull a CRV all over creation behind the motorhome), saying it was in "fair" condition. Sold it for about half of what it was worth (600.) This thing weighed like 75lbs, so it had a pretty fair amount of freight to ship it. Long story short, it got there and the buyer wasn't happy with it, saying it was not "as advertised". That was all he had to do. I had to pay the return shipping (90. if I remember right) or loose it. They wouldn't even let me leave a bad review!!! Took 2-3 weeks, but ended up selling it on Craiglist, to a guy that only lives about 15 minutes from here, and he was absolutely tickled with it, even after I showed him the worn parts..... -Al

I sold antique door stops, a Willis and Gieger wardrobe, technical climbing gear, dirt boats, trailers, dog trainers, and more. All were top-tier quality. Never buying and flipping goods. I was generally happy in the first 10 years.

 

[tomjasz]

And there isn't a company that came in to compete with eBay? Seems I remember someone mentioning alternatives. Facebook sucks for sales IME, and then there's the receiving and sending payments securely.

 

[Kayakguy]

I sold antique door stops, a Willis and Gieger wardrobe, technical climbing gear, dirt boats, trailers, dog trainers, and more. All were top-tier quality. Never buying and flipping goods. I was generally happy in the first 10 years.

I assume a dirt boat is for use in a dried up lake. Should be handy for future droughts.

 

[AHicks]

I assume a dirt boat is for use in a dried up lake. Should be handy for future droughts.

Think ice boat w/wheels.

 

[AHicks]

And there isn't a company that came in to compete with eBay? Seems I remember someone mentioning alternatives. Facebook sucks for sales IME, and then there's the receiving and sending payments securely.

I'm pretty good with using PayPal for sending/receiving payments. Agree with m@robertson though. You take a huge hit on the size of your audience when using the Facebook Marketplace