Is ebay worth it these days?

I've never sold anything on ebay,even though I have bought lots I have a few things I'm thinking of selling but I'm not sure if the fees,and the fact that postage is so high now these days will make it worth it? I know the buyer pays p&p but are people deterred by higher charges now? Any advice will be helpful

I only put stuff on when its a free listing weekend so I dont pay fees. I think as long as you dont go mad with the postage people are happy to pay it. However Im finding more and more that its easier to put my stuff on the local facebook selling pages.

I don't bother anymore. I used to sell clothes that were good quality but worn once or twice and it was selling for silly money. Then people kept leaving me low stars on postage despite me charging only what it cost me!

I then listed a few bits with free p&p but only a couple sold.

Just use it for buying now really!

If I saw a really good bargain I may have bought one extra and put it on eBay, but rarely bother now as even with the free listings by the time both Paypal and eBay have taken their fees it's not worth the effort. I do sell on old stuff of my own though, and agree with backhoe, generally buyers will swallow the postage if that's what it costs to send. It also depends on what you're selling, I've found that buyers will still bid high on certain brands (I've recently sold ghds, Boden clothing, Monsoon stuff) but things like nice new tops that aren't from top end shops don't even attract a 99p bid as the £3 postage does put people off.
I've been eBaying for a while now (including copious amounts of children's 'debris and paraphanelia') and although it's not as good as it was but it sure beats getting up at silly O'clock on a Sunday morning to stand in a freezing cold field littered with sheep dung haggling with scratters who want the entire contents of your car, a couple of your kids and the watch that you're wearing all for 50p

shoppingaddict wrote:I don't bother anymore. I used to sell clothes that were good quality but worn once or twice and it was selling for silly money. Then people kept leaving me low stars on postage despite me charging only what it cost me!

I then listed a few bits with free p&p but only a couple sold.

Just use it for buying now really!

I agree with shoppingaddict over the stars - eBay is studded with A holes.
Ebay themselves also help with nothing if you have a problem as a seller, buyers can behave however they like at the seller's cost and inconvenience as far as eBay themselves are concerned! I have only retained my 100% positive feedback record by being blackmailed by buyers over feedback. I have also encountered a number of eBay users who clearly don't use English as their first language and this can create a whole new set of problems (such as sketchy understanding of the listing for starters). Oh blimey, I think I'd better shut up now!!!!

depends what your selling. I've sold stuff on the facebook local groups recently which has been quick and hassle free (an old chest of draws was sold and picked up within hours last week)
If its a mini business might be worthwhile... as might amazon market place. Before I last went travelling I sold a lot of stuff on amazon marketplace, they take a % rather than charge for listing.

Hmmm, well everyone's pretty much listed all the reasons that have put me off so far! I haven't got loads of stuff,just a few bits of basic school uniforms, Brownie uniform etc,I might just get photos ready etc and wait for the next free listing weekend .
Thanks for the feedback

The brownie uniform should sell well
(Ebayer, Cub and Beaver Leader! Was horrified at the lack of availability and price of Scout uniform for my son)

Good luck!

LoolaBeanbag wrote:I've been eBaying for a while now (including copious amounts of children's 'debris and paraphanelia') and although it's not as good as it was but it sure beats getting up at silly O'clock on a Sunday morning to stand in a freezing cold field littered with sheep dung haggling with scratters who want the entire contents of your car, a couple of your kids and the watch that you're wearing all for 50p

Tilmanstone boot fair?

I've been ebaying for years, had my account since 1999 but rarely sell on there now cos of the high fees and rising postage costs
I still sell the odd thing that i know will go for a decent price and is cheap to post, just so it keeps a small balance in my paypal account for buying things

I agree with Backhoe about the facebook selling pages, must have made £500+ in the last few months selling on there, you get better prices than a boot fair, plus no hassle of posting things and hoping they arrive

Still do the odd bootfair but even they arent as profitable as they used to be. Most charge £10 for a stall and if you've only got low value stuff (20p, 50p etc) you need to sell a hell of a lot before you're actually making a profit.
I feel sorry for people sometimes when i walk around one and see the crap they are trying to sell, knowing they are unlikely to even get their £10 back

To keep your postage costs down consider using My Hermes. If it is under a kilo its only £3, so much cheaper than Royal Mail. Also, the cost for a signature is only £1 or something.

I think I need to investigate Hermes Sal, they get a bit of a bum rap but my Hermes lady is wonderful and I've never had any problems.
And yep Wesker - :Tilmanstone!!!!!

I have used them regularly for the last three months, and they are lovely. I print all the labels off. I take it to the local shop and that is it. No stress, no waiting in line at the post office, and much cheaper.

I have an expensive pair of shoes that I want to flog, I dunno where to do it other than eBay but I've never sold anything on there before. Been putting it off

I am the exact same ladies after eBay and PayPal has their cut it doesn't seem worth it anymore.
Royal mail is getting so pricey, I like recorded delivery so you don't get scammers claiming it never arrived. I want to use the Facebook selling page for some of my larger baby equipment but I can't sand time wasters and don't think I would be happy with people coming to the house.

Whenever I buy from ebay or online, I include the postage costs into the full price of the item. There's been a couple of times where I've seen something that seems cheap, but after adding P&P it can escalate rather quick and seem not such a good deal after all.

I've got an ebay account but only use it to buy. I've got loads of stuff to get rid of (loads of retro video games & consoles and some clothes), but don't know where to start. I also need to take loads of photos and mostly I have a bit of a clingy problem. I'd end up charging too much just so I could keep them

Just gone to list my shoes on eBay but they could have nearly £10 in fees off me if they sell, so I think I'm going to give it a miss.

Really don't know how to sell my shoes though!

I don't know much about it Laura, but ASOS have a marketplace. Might be worth looking at for something like shoes?

Still haven't got round to sorting my stuff out Our ebay acct is in hubby's name and as he's just closed the bank account linked to his Paypal acct, I'm going to have to wait til that's sorted

I sell my nails on eBay, but I also sell on Etsy where I pay a lot less fees. When I sell on ebay I always factor P+P into the price then add free P&P to the listing. That means a guaranteed 5 stars in that section so avoids some of the aggro tbh.

Laura wrote:Just gone to list my shoes on eBay but they could have nearly £10 in fees off me if they sell, so I think I'm going to give it a miss.

Really don't know how to sell my shoes though!

Try your local Facebook selling page.

The people on the selling page for my town are right cheeky sods. These shoes are brand new, never worn, cost £100 and they'd probably say "would you take £10 hun xxx" LOL

I've stuck them on eBay now for £80. I need the money so I'll just have to bite the bullet when it comes to the fees.

Well I finally listed some stuff last weekend when it was no insertion fees.Quite chuffed as my bundle of OPI's has sold for £19.00 and a Joe Browns dress for £12.50 Let's just hope they pay up!