EBay

[stewardmmj]

I am not doing well selling on EBay like I used to.  Is anyone else experiencing this?   

[FleaQueen]

I used to make about $2,000 a month on eBay, but over time  the ever-rising fees, the insistence on PayPal (because it's "safer" -- yeah, right), and the fact that there's WAY more competition than there used to be, made it no longer worthwhile for me.

I opened a store on Etsy in 2009 and have never looked back.  The fees are waaaaaayyyy less, the buyers are generally nicer, and there's less competition for what I sell.

If you're interested, here are my shops:

www.etsy.com/shop/necktieparty
www.etsy.com/shop/Crazy4Cravats
www.etsy.com/shop/HarrysHaberdashery

[Big Daddy Audio]

I bailed on eBay in favor of Craigslist - no fees, no packing and shipping, and the buyer can try and see in real life/real time before he plunks down his cash.

It makes for better deals all around.  Granted - some things just won't sell, but most will, and if it doesn't sell, I can always hold on to it until a new venue comes along with national reach that isn't more confiscatory than the US Government.

Just my $.02

[valleythriftshopper]

Ebay is still ok for me, although it is less predictable.  You used to be able to look at the completed listings and know about the price you would get on a certain item, now it is up & down. 

I think Ebay is gearing their policies toward big sellers with stores and buy it now listings.  I prefer auctions for my items and agree that Ebay is making a profit by screwing over the sellers.  I also don't appreciate having my business micromanaged by the new polices.  Also the PayPal & Ebay buyer protection opens the flood gates for scam artists which bring me to my next topic:

If you are a Ebay seller you would be well advised to block all the usernames of a company called "Shop Airlines America Inc." owned by Sekaimon (Ebay Japan).  I won't get into my bad dealing with them but they are a bunch of crooks who are a "allied partner of Ebay and PayPal".  Their usernames are: flight2ams, flight2bid, flight2bos, flight2cdg, flight2cts, flight2fra, flight2fuk, flight2hnd, flight2iad, flight2icn, flight2itm, flight2kix, flight2lax, flight2lhr, flight2nrt, flight2nyc, flight2ord, flight2pek, flight2pvg, flight2sfo, flight2sin, flight2syd

Basically they are a company located in Carson, CA that bids on US auctions for Japanese buyers.  Here are some comments from a forum that sum them up perfectly, you can also google them to see all kinds of bad comments:


Bay Seller Stung by Overseas Buyer Using Mail For
by: Marsha
       
Wed Jun 8 12:21:26 2011
We sold an antique doll to flight2ams, part of sekaimon, and shop airline america.  They said that she was not as described with two small scratch marks on her cheek.  We told them to return her in the original packaging and we would refund their money.  She came back thrown in the box all the packing materials thrown in with her and of course she was broken.  200 year old doll trashed.  Of course EBAY could care less because I am the seller and sekaimon is there new and greatest thing!  We will see how this pans out.  They did not insure the doll for the return either.
    eBay Seller Stung by Overseas Buyer Using Mail For
by: Marsha
       
Fri Jun 10 03:30:59 2011
Thanks for contacting me and for your comment.  I am just so angry that Ebay has this partnership with Sekaimon, Shop Airlines America (SAL), and Yamato Transport.  Sekaimon is the Japan ebay!  I had no idea!  When I listed my items on eBay they automatically get put on Sekaimon in Japan, even though I say no international shipping.  When I called ebay they said that I can wait for the auction to close and not sell the item to the top bidder if they are shipping internationally. It makes no sense.  Flight2ams ( one of the user ids for sekaimon) bid on a 200 year old doll that I was selling (I had purposely not included shipping internationally as the doll is fragile).  They won the auction, I shipped the doll packaged very carefully.  They contacted me 10 days later saying they wanted to return it since there was a scratch on her cheek.  I told them to send her back and I would refund their money.  They threw her in the box with the packaging materials thrown in and not around the doll.  The doll came back broken, of course!  When I told them what happened and that since they were negligent and didn't insure her that the doll is theirs and I would not be refunding their money.  Their response is that they would talk to Ebay about it!  They ARE ebay!  I am waiting to see what happens.  That is my story but there are, I have subsequently found out, many more described on the internet.  The big problem is that if ebay sides for ebay then paypal can just refund the money without your consent!   Leave it to ebay to stick it to the sellers again.  How can they get away with this??  Isn't there a hungry lawyer out there?  Thanks again and hope your interaction with them wasn't too horrible!
    eBay Seller Stung by Overseas Buyer Using Mail For
by: Marsha
       
Fri Jun 10 03:32:29 2011
I received this response to my reply above:

They did nearly the same to me.  I mailed through a pack and ship company a completely bubble wrapped and foam peanuted double boxed Steiff Room box full of porcelain minatures from German, that are only available over there (I lived there when I purchased it).  They claimed two weeks after I shipped it, that two tiny porcelain cups were broken.  I asked them to fill out damage with Fed-Ex since they had the damaged Items in their possession.  They delayed and refused to file claim, I finally had a pick-up request and had them send it back to me, they dumped everything in the box, unwrapped with no care or concern.  By the time it was back to me and I had claim filled out with pictures and items back to the pack and ship place Fed-Ex refused to pay.  The Pack and ship place re-imbursed me all my shipping costs but a $500 irreplacable iem is now nearly worthless to me and they got ALL their money back, I did not even get my eBay fees refunded!  The second time I refused to send to them and refunded the payment they sent me.  I had to pay eBay fees but lost no items or other value.  I also refuse to mail to Japan and if anything Flight2??? ever bids on my items I will cancel the bids.  I had no idea that they were part of eBay, I thought they were just a forwarding service for people wanting to buy from overseas when our auctions said no overseas shipping.  I think we should post and re-post warnings to sellers on the forum.  Let me know if you need my help fighting them.

[Big Daddy Audio]

That sounds to me like fraud and mail fraud.  Bids are being artificially inflated and then the sales are being cancelled by the buyers  for inconsequential stuff.

It is things like this that caused me to stop selling on eBay.  First, my packing supply shop went out of business (and I would buy legit packing supplies and new boxes - no dumpster diving for materials here) so my shipping costs went way up.  Then the fees went up.  The final nail was the sleaze that buys things.  I got taken on a "switch and bitch" scheme (the buyer buys a perfectly good working electronic item, scavenges all the parts he needs, and then complains that it's not working and sends it back).  After that, all my sales were "as is and absolutely no returns" and I spelled it out.  At the end, my disclaimers were about 10 times the length of my descriptions, so I said it's time to hang it up. 

[valleythriftshopper]

With Shop Airlines America you ship the item to them in Carson, CA, then they forward it to Japan.  The sellers obligation should end when it reaches Carson, but if the item is damaged on the way to Japan or the Japanese buyer doesn't want it, then Shop Airlines America comes back after the original seller and sends it back unwrapped.  The way PayPal is set up they win every claim.  I really want to get the word out about this company so everyone can block them.

[FleaQueen]

re: Shop Airlines America

I must be in the minority because I did not have a bad experience with them: sold them two pairs of men's Gucci shoes.  

But of course, had the shoes come short of their "standards," they'd have probably come back intact.  It's kinda hard to break shoes.

I'm planning to put some antique dishware on eBay (that I'm pretty sure won't move quickly on Etsy) so I guess I'll put Japan in the list of countries I won't ship to.  

I'm so sorry what you folks had to go through, but I'm glad you posted it here for the rest of us.

www.fullservicebohemian.blogspot.com

[valleythriftshopper]

Japan is fine to ship stuff to, I really like Japanese customers.  Shop Airlines America is in California, which is the kicker.  They are a third party bidder.  They post Ebay items on their website and bid on it for the Japanese customer.  Apparently the Japanese customer pays them a 15% fee in addition to the cost of the item.  If I had shipped my item directly to Japan it would have arrived there in one piece.  I guess it is confusing but basically put flight2ams, flight2bid, flight2bos, flight2cdg, flight2cts, flight2fra, flight2fuk, flight2hnd, flight2iad, flight2icn, flight2itm, flight2kix, flight2lax, flight2lhr, flight2nrt, flight2nyc, flight2ord, flight2pek, flight2pvg, flight2sfo, flight2sin, flight2syd on your blocked bidder list.

Blocking Japan does not prevent Shop Airlines America from bidding on your item for their Japanese customers.

All the experiences I have had shipping to Japan when people bid directly on my items from there have been great.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I used to have a regular customer in Singapore that used to buy lots of old rotary phones from me, and I never had problems.  All this talk is making me scared of listing on Ebay now.  I had been thinking about putting a couple auctions up to test the waters.

[valleythriftshopper]

I have sold stuff to people all over the world and have had all good transactions with international buyers.  This Shop Airlines America company is different because they are not the end user of the product.  Also while I have  always enjoyed doing business with Japan this Japanese company is very dishonest.  To top it all off they are ultimately owned by Ebay!  Maybe that is why Ebay did away with negative feedback so they could set up a company like this because this company started right around the time that took place.  Basically they know how the PayPal buyer protection works so that they have no liability if they break an item after they receive it. 

If you are selling to a direct buyer you should be fine.  This is the only real problem I have had on Ebay for a long time.  Avoid third party bidders.  Shop America Airlines bids under the 22 usernames I have listed all beginning with flight2  Just block them if you never want to have to deal with them.  They bid on hundreds of thousands of items per year, so I am sure they make a ton of money for eBay so they get away with scamming sellers.

[Big Daddy Audio]

Maybe this is why more than one bulletin board (of which I am a member) refers to them as "screw-bay."

I refuse to sell, although I will buy (rarely).

[Skip]

valleythriftshopper,

  I sell on eBay quite a bit and had "Shop Airlines America" win a vintage camera I was selling about 10 months ago.  They had some weird request that I fill out a document or something so I did some research into them. They seemed to have many happy sellers but also quite a few that had headaches from them. So I requested to cancel the transaction and as my Russian neighbor says,"Thanks God" they agreed to it.  I added them to my blocked buyers list right after that.

  Not sure what all the fuss is about eBay.  Their terms are pretty decent. A regular consignment shop will take 50%-60% of a sale so eBay & Paypal's 12% (approx) isn't so bad.  I tend to think that people who don't like eBay it is because they don't know what or how to sell on it. To be successful on eBay there is basically one rule - be reasonable.  That is, post items that have a good chance of selling (e.g. not an old polaroid camera that nobody wants) and price it within reason.
I like eBay. I had a problem recently and spoke with the Help Desk and they gave me a satifactory explanation of why they removed an auction of mine.

[valleythriftshopper]

You were wise to check them out before shipping your item.  They want you to go to their website and enter the item number because it generates automated positive feedback for you.  They can't be bothered dealing with feedback and if there is a problem they have the whole PayPal system figured out so they will get their money back if they want it.   

The only good thing about them is that they don't leave negative feedback, just the auto generated feedback, so at least there is not insult added to injury with negative feedbacks.  I don't think anyone at their company looks at the feedback because I did see a positive negative that someone left them that they could have had removed if they wanted.  I looked at the item and it was a shirt that sold for $88 so I guess they can screw people over for non-breakable items too.  I will be leaving them a positive/negative for sure to warn others.

[Big Daddy Audio]

Their terms are pretty decent. A regular consignment shop will take 50%-60% of a sale so eBay & Paypal's 12% (approx) isn't so bad.

Yes, but with a consignment shop, THEY are doing all the work.  With eBay, they do nothing except provide a forum.

Tons of people know about Craigslist, and there are no fees at all.  Unless what you are selling is SO esoteric as to require a huge audience to find a buyer, you're better off on Craigslist.

[Skip]

Yes, most of my items need a very wide market in order to command the best price and reach interested parties. For example a broken iPod 80gb which I payed a $1 for I sold on eBay for over $35. Don't think I could've got that from CL.

CL has a big drawback that you have to make yourself available to show the item.

Have a good weekend all!