I buy and sell collectibles, and you? A friend called me today and told me that eBay has recently lost over 50% of their sellers. I found that number quite incredible. I think some of them might be sellers who have more than one account. But then I started to think about it some more and decided to do some research.
In a NY Times report on July 10, I found an interesting article that said eBay page views were down more than 30 percent in May from a year earlier. That is a significant drop. Then I looked at the number of items up for auction in the category I buy from (oh my wife would criticize me for using that word), which is Militaria and the number of items available is at least half what it was a year ago. So what is the correlation?
Could it be that eBay wants to get rid of all the little mom and pop sellers? these are the type of vendors that run that little antique store. The items they sell are ‘1-up’. Therefore, they continued to increase their fees, force settlements through PayPal, and make it more difficult to resolve disputes. It certainly seems that way. Since they have a stake in Craigslist, that might be where they want these people to go; I see rates from this site soon.
Nothing against PayPal.
I have no personal problem with PayPal, I know of a few people who do, but you should look at each site that uses it, or in some cases the seller that uses it, whether on eBay or other sites, and check the terms and conditions of purchase before you buy.
Hey, my check is no longer valid?
Many merchants still like to do business this way; They don’t take credit cards for whatever reason. You most likely don’t want to pay the processor and your bank a fee for the transaction and reduce your profits. I do not blame them. Many people aren’t businesses, so they can’t get a merchant account anyway. That’s where PayPal and other companies have come in. But as individuals, they want to do business as individuals and that is to sell an item, they want to get paid by cash, money order or check.
So maybe it’s time to branch out and find other sites where you can buy, sell and auction. Do some searches. Perhaps visit a site that lists different auction sites, such as: http://auctions.nettop20.com/
So what’s on my wish list for a site as a collectibles seller?
How about reasonable fees. Low commissions or even a flat fee. Auctions and put options. A reserve amount for the auctions of my choice. A site that simply puts buyers and sellers together. I can carry out commercial transactions with the client. Then I establish my terms, how and the method with which I want to get paid. That will be a good start.
Business is a bit slow even on eBay, but I’m in it for the long haul. I just need to find some new places to sell my stuff, I have to go!
Copyright 2009, R.Coalter, InterNet Partners, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
