Any ebayers here?

I have some kind of interesting data here (though not enough data to be meaningful in a scientific sense). I had two nearly identical items, one I listed at 1 cent and one I listed at $1.49. The $1.49 thing sold for $1.49. The 1 cent thing sold for $1.75.

I don't sell, but I do buy, and maybe I buy to much but I do enjoy doing it. I go by LittleMissHolly. Holly is the name of my female pug. You can add me to your list.

Linda

I just set up an email group for those wanting to sell plants directly without the hassle of Ebay. If anyone wants to join, dmail me for the address. It is a free group.

I am brand new to DG but have an 1800 positive feedback on eBay and would be very willing to help someone new on eBay especially as a trade for Butterfly Garden plants cause we just retired to Florida 9b and it is too costly for me to purchase what I want. Thanks, Karen (nursestherapies on eBay too).

I am an ebayer too kareoke5

Ibuy and sell on ebay as (imagine this lol)
"woofens"

Happy Thanks giving All!

Janis

My Ebay name is tahdah.....Budgielover

This message was edited Nov 24, 2005 7:56 PM

anyone see the special on cable yesterday about EBAY.... it was pretty interesting and it talked about why they've raised fees in the last year, while still making a huge profit. They even had some unhappy sellers and buyers adding their comments...... I didn't realize they were going global and that they have all these special events for sellers.....

I understand the sellers are paying high fees and they need to recoup with shipping and packaging fees... but most times the item price plus those fees puts the item out of my budget..... I've really cut back on my ebay purchases in the past year. I'd love to buy plants and seeds from someone directly - I could buy more and they'd make the money not ebay...... my ebay id is vvsseess..........

The trouble with selling directly is that buyer and seller have little or no protection. If you buy on E-bay and you pay, but the seller never sends your item, you can report it to E-bay and get your money back. (It happened to me.) If you sell on E-bay and the buyer never pays you, you can report it and get your sellers fee refunded. (That has happened to me several times.) I think there is supposed to be some sort of protection if you buy something and it turns out to be not as advertised, but fortunately, I've never had to look into that. Knock on wood! Apparently E-bay and Paypal also spend some time going after people phishing. (I get about 3 phishing e-mails a week.)

So with the fees, the seller is paying for some protection (no mafia connotations implied, LOL), but I still think that the fees should be lower if the starting price is below $1 and I would graduate the selling fee based on the final price. I'd do it something like this -

Starting price 99cents or less, listing fee - 5 cents.
Starting price $1 to $2.99 - 10 cents
Starting price $3 to $9.99 - 25 cents
Starting price $10 and above - whatever they currently charge now
Final price (item price + shipping) $20 or less - selling fee, ~1%
Final price (item price + shipping) $20.01 to $100 - selling fee, ~2%
Final price (item price + shipping) $20.01 to $100 - selling fee, ~2.5%

You get the idea and can probably come up with something better.

Overstock.com also has an auction site. Is anyone familiar with selling there? I haven't had the time to look.

Kelli,
I have to disagree with you. Ebay offers very little protection to the buyer or seller except for its feedback system which isn't always used appropriately for fear of retaliation feedback.
I bought some plants last spring from a company selling on Ebay. 3 plants arrived DOA and the company refused to replace them unless I returned the dead plants (at my own expense) and paid more shipping to have new ones sent. It wasn't worth the hassle involved. When I let them know that I would be posting appropriate feedback, they replied that they would post mine afterwards. As a seller with only 1 negative when I first started 7 yrs ago, I wasn't about to risk my reputation and who knows how many others experienced the same situation on Ebay. You see it all the time.
As with any business transaction, there has to be some trust involved. If you are dealing with someone you've never dealt with before, you still have the option of paying through Paypal even if not purchased through Ebay. Also, paying with a credit card offers about as much protection as you're going to get anywhere. Who isn't taking a chance when buying something from anyone online. Just look at the feedback on watchdog and you will see what I mean.

I've never received anything defective, so I don't have experience with trying to deal with that. My negative experience was limited to sellers who don't send anything and "buyers" who don't pay. (I don't buy or sell a whole lot, so my total experience isn't huge.)

I too had a bad experience. I paid for an item (not cheap) and when it arrived it was a cheap thing you could buy at Wall-mart, Ebay told me I had to resolve it with the seller, as usuall saying you will leave bad feedback they replied that works both ways.

Kareoke, a seller is not in the wrong to sell an item that you can buy cheaper at Walmart. As long as they picture and describe the item accurately, it is your job to comparison shop. As long as they deliver the item they picture and describe, they've fullfilled their end of the deal. JC Penney's sells bath towels for twice or three times what Walmart sells them for. It's my job to compare and decide where I want to buy them. If a seller delivers something that doesn't meet their description and picture, then they deserve negative feedback.

I buy and sell a lot on Ebay. I'm too impatient to stand in lines and I love being able to comparison shop and then have the item brought right to me. But I do check to see if I can get it cheaper locally. Often I cannot.

I've only had one bad experience with buying. The seller must have died, I assume. He had about 1000 rating with no negatives. Then all of sudden, when I bought, I and many others got nothing and the negatives came pouring in suddenly. I never did get what I ordered. Nor did I get my money back.

With selling, I had two negatives from people who tried to pay by credit card and their cards were rejected. As stated in the auctions, I couldn't accept cards. So they never paid and when I reported them for non-payment, they left negative feedback. Since then, I upgraded my Paypal account to accept cards and haven't had a problem since.

In addition, you have to remember that Ebay is nationwide and what may be commonly available at one Walmart may be considered a rarity in another location since most box stores cater to local markets. Bananas can be bought in here my Walmart but not necessarily in Alaska but that gardener may have a tropical greenhouse to house it.
I have bought common northern plants like lilac and dahlias and lilies of the valley knowing I will only have them a few months but to me they are worth the treat and definitely not available here. as BC said, it is up to the buyer to know the market and availability.

I was just using Wall-Mart as comparrison, this seller did not show the same thing I got, he then said he uses the same picture since it is in the same catergory, to me that is false advertising.

Well, if he is not using a photo of what he is actually selling without stating that fact, then
it should be reported to Ebay. If he states in the auction that the "item up for bid is similar to the one in the photo" or words to that effect, there isn't anything you can do about it as he is being upfront about it.

I was wondering if anyone else who is selling was finding this Christmas season to be rather slow. (I don't remember how it was last year and maybe last year I didn't sell anything at this time of year. I've only been doing this for about a year and a half.)

My ebay name is the same, "frausnow". I sold a lot of carnival glass and some pieces of Gerold Porzellan, but mostly I buy stuff!

In selling, the only negative experience was that someone who had won a carnival glass dish never paid up. Thankfully, I never send anything before it is paid for so I still have the piece.

On the buyer side, I won an auction for a particular gnome that was pictured, but received a completely different gnome. I didn't want to waste my time, effort and money to ship it back so I kept it. Another time I won a Gerold Porzellan figurine and two months after numerous emails and threats of posting negative feedback, I finally got the figurine!

Kelli, I've done okay this year, but I didn't really put up much for sale. But yes, I'd say it's a little bit slower than normal.

It seems a bit slower this Christmas to me too. New gift-type items are still doing well, as are vintage Christmas decorations and some home decor. My eBay name is mksnana2 for both buying & selling. I haven't listed any auctions this month but will probably resume mid-late January.

If any of you sell caladiums, or other bulbs on ebay let me know what price you want and I will buy them without the ebay hassle. I sure wish we could continue co-ops on DG.
Kathy

I am on ebay.. ZZspurteez.com I've been a seller for a long time, and now I'm buying, buying buying Thankz to DG and my new addiction to brugs.

The one thing that really irritates me is that honest sellers selling at a good price are bumped out by the ones who list for .01 and charge an arm or a leg for shipping. (talking about small items) I quit selling when my $1.99 auctions wouldn't get bids because of this.

I love using ebay to clean out closets or get rid of things too nice to throw away. AND I agree.. starting an auction at a penny for a "true" auction is a great way to do it. I even used to try to include some auctioneer quotes in my auction like... Heeeey Bidder, whatcha gonna give for... LOL

I love buying on ebay.. especially now, since I compare service, quality, etc. to what I could offer.. so as to measure how good of a seller I would be. (or will be again someday)

I hate the sellers who charge a penny and then $40 shipping for an item that can be shipped for $5, like you said ZZ. In fact, I turn them in.

A couple days ago, I almost bid on an auction for 4 ink cartridges for $30. Good deal, huh? I thought so. What would you expect to pay in shipping? They can be shipped for a 1 lb priority mail rate of around $4. What was this seller charging? $40!!!! For shipping! A power seller too, who should know the rules. That's called Fee Avoidance. Didn't wanna pay an extra few cents on commission, so he put most of the price in the shipping costs. And yes, I did report him. I almost bid it on before I caught the shipping costs! $70 for the cartridges is NOT a good deal.

I used to sell on EBay but now go to local sales and make a lot more in one day then I could ever make on EBay. It cleared out the hassle of listing, packing and going to ship out items. I have only bought a few DLs in the last year, I used to buy and deal in glass, asian stuff from the 1800's, and seeds - now only DLs and only from a few vendors I know well. Even then I try to get a few of them to sell outside of EBay. I do use Paypal for a lot of things - I love to find the small vendors on the web who take Paypal it gives me the ok that I can order and have someone fight for me if something goes wrong (yes I have had to use Paypla several times for this!, if a DL blooms wrong and they will not replace it Paypal will give your money back!!!).

My 2 Cents.

Mitch