Is there an alternative to ebay?

[Jim Koepke]

I posted a few items for sale on ebay and was a bit shocked to find their fees have risen quite a bit since last time I used them to sell anything.

I think some of the items I have left for sale will be offered here after the turn of the year.

Are there auction alternatives to ebay? It seems now that ebay is getting 15% or more on a lot of items.

I like to include the shipping in my starting bid price. The downside of this is ebay is getting a percentage of my shipping cost. I am not sure if any of the buyers even appreciate this nicety. The shipping is not free, but there is no question that what is bid is what is paid.

jim

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I wish there was. Ebay used to be good, IMHO, but in the last several years, it's turned into a "buy it now!" trash shop. Yuk.

[dan sherman]

Ebay used to be good, IMHO, but in the last several years, it's turned into a "buy it now!" trash shop.


I wish the bad economy would clean out some of those but it now places.

[Myk Rian]

You could always try www.kijiji.com (http://www.kijiji.com) or www.olx.com (http://www.olx.com)
Both are like CL

[Mitchell Andrus]

I wish there was. Ebay used to be good, IMHO, but in the last several years, it's turned into a "buy it now!" trash shop. Yuk.

Yep. Buy it Now... One more example of Chinese trash being sold at razor thin margins squeezing American made goods out of our own market.
.

[Randal Stevenson]

There are a few other auction sites, I have found several, thanks to a Yahoo group, from people po'd that Paypal is REQUIRED now (even MORE fee's).

That said, I looked at all of them and found NONE compared when it came to tools. Craigslist or specific sites, like this one seem to be the only other option, until someone starts (hopefully Google) a decent tool offering, auction site.

[Mike Henderson]

... people po'd that Paypal is REQUIRED now (even MORE fee's).
I for one, am very happy that sellers are required to offer PayPal. In the old days, you'd send a check or some other form or payment to the seller and if they didn't deliver, or delivered something that was not what was promised, you (the buyer) had NO recourse because the seller had your money.

With PayPal, you can file a claim with PayPal and get some recourse.

Same thing goes for the feedback. In the old days, the seller would threaten to leave negative feeedback if you complained about the transaction. It was blackmail, really. Now, the seller cannot leave negative feedback unless the buyer doesn't pay.

So as a buyer, I think eBay has improved significantly.

Mike

[Randal Stevenson]

I for one, am very happy that sellers are required to offer PayPal. In the old days, you'd send a check or some other form or payment to the seller and if they didn't deliver, or delivered something that was not what was promised, you (the buyer) had NO recourse because the seller had your money.

With PayPal, you can file a claim with PayPal and get some recourse.

Same thing goes for the feedback. In the old days, the seller would threaten to leave negative feeedback if you complained about the transaction. It was blackmail, really. Now, the seller cannot leave negative feedback unless the buyer doesn't pay.

So as a buyer, I think eBay has improved significantly.

Mike


I used postal money orders. They DO have recourse and the threat of possible postal fraud charges.

[Neal Clayton]

With PayPal, you can file a claim with PayPal and get some recourse.


good luck with that.

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

your recourse when someone pays you with a stolen credit card, after paypal gets the dispute, is an email that says in so many words "we have stolen the money from you to cover us for accepting a stolen credit card, there is no appeal or alternative, do not call us"

[Mike Henderson]

I used postal money orders. They DO have recourse and the threat of possible postal fraud charges.
As long as the seller has a reasonable position, it's not fraud - it's just a dispute. Most of the time, it's things left out but material to the sale. So the seller says "caveat emptor". It'd be extremely difficult to try to make that into a fraud case.

I've had good experiences with getting money back from a seller through PayPal. I've had to go all the way on two PayPal claims - they found for me in both cases, and I got my money back. Just took time.

I find that some sellers just won't respond to your messages and hope you'll go away. The only thing that gets their attention is to file a PayPal claim. A couple of times, filing the claim got the seller to communicate with me and we reached an agreeable settlement outside of PayPal.

Mike

[I'm looking at the situation from a buyer's point of view. I don't sell much so I don't have much experience with PayPal as a seller. But as a buyer, the new rules are a Godsend and make eBay a lot more attractive and safer to use.]

[Comment about Jim including shipping in the price. I think that's the wrong approach. It seems to me that many buyers bid without considering the shipping charges. And it seems that some sellers use shipping as a profit center - charging much more than the actual shipping costs. So I'd make the shipping charges fair, but I wouldn't include them in the auction price (I wouldn't offer free shipping).]

[Jeff Mohr]

Etsy.com is a possibility if you are making handmade goods or have old vintage goods....other than that...ebay still rules the internet even if some of the policies are less than desirable.

The paypal dispute can go both ways...

In one instance they went in my favor because the travel mugs my wife ordered were defective.

In another case, however, a seller sold me a set of magazines (125+) that was complete...only complete in their terms meant missing several issues. Paypal sided with them.

[Dan Mitchell]

[QUOTE=With PayPal, you can file a claim with PayPal and get some recourse.[/QUOTE]

I've had 2 occasions to challenge a purchase made through PayPal (neither one on Ebay) & they resolved the disputes promptly in my favor both times, returning all of my $$$. I can't imagine another system that would protect the buyer as well when dealing with potentially unreliable individuals.

[Russ Filtz]

You can sell stuff yourself on Amazon.com. I tend to buy most of my things there now, not fleabay. Also a note to some that might care, eBay and Paypal are both EXTREMELY anti-2A rights.

[Gene Howe]

You can sell stuff yourself on Amazon.com. I tend to buy most of my things there now, not fleabay. Also a note to some that might care, eBay and Paypal are both EXTREMELY anti-2A rights.

Have you done that w/Amazon? How does that work?
Thanks,
Gene

[Russ Filtz]

I have not done it on Amazon myself, but they call it "Marketplace". Here's a link to some selling info. No listing fee either and a fixed $.99 fee on most stuff.

http://www.amazonservices.com/content/sell-on-amazon.htm?id=hm1&ld=AZSOAHelp

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_lnav_dyn?ie=UTF8&nodeId=1161234

[Josh Reet]

People have been complaining about ebay for years and years now. It is what it is. I have had a few problems there, but honestly no more than buying through any other system, and that includes mail order or retail. You can have problems anywhere.