Selling on ebay vs. selling on VF.com

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:01 pm

So I just read this entire post......

viewtopic.php?t=23788&highlight=

It is the one about VEI Reborn getting ripped for the Harby #1.

It is stuff like this make me so weary of selling on ebay.

I know the fraud and attempted fraud and cheesy-ness is rampant on ebay. (on both sides) I have read many accounts of some of you dudes getting jacked by buyers on ebay.

Now I am always watching ebay for price points for books.

I know I could get much more for some of the books I've sold on the site (in private PMs and for sale threads), but I am not sure if it is worth the headache and hassle.

When I deal with dudes here....... %98 it is all good. And if I make a mistake , well it is my mistake.... and I do whatever I can to make it right. And there is times someone that I have bought from has made a mistake...... and then it gets fixed. Here, of course, most of the members I have good history and rapport with.... so if something goes bad, it gets fixed. I can not count the number of times I have sent books before I have gotten paid for them. %100 of the time I have gotten my cash. Maybe that is a bad habit to get into (and really, I know that I should not do it..... but, whatever...)

I have thought to myself at least 20 times..... that I have got to start selling on ebay. But for some reason... I have not started yet.

I guess sometime I will have to...... but, to me it just seems so sketchy.

I would love to hear form the dudes here that are ebay sellers about the pros and cons of doing it.

In all reality...... I HAVE TO start selling on ebay. But, I wish I could get some advise on potential pitfalls to avoid.

Thanks

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:16 pm

Well, all I am going to say for now is this - with all the changes eBay is going to make come October, I'm getting everything I want sold through them done before then. I already didn't like it when they kept pulling my auctions because I said "I accept cash" but soon they will accept ONLY PayPal, as well as the search standards and way they show listings, it won't be worth it to me anymore.

-slym

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:49 pm

The pros I see with selling via eBay are this:

You're reaching a MUCH wider audience, so hopefully you will realize a higher selling price.

and...

...that's really about it. Everything else about selling on eBay is really not of any value and often a detriment.

I sell the things that I feel will do well here as much as I can, since I like dealing with people I know, and I don't have to deal with eBay's fees and all their other crap. Unfortunately, there are only so many people here, and only so many of them are looking to buy.

nutflush76 · Post by **nutflush76** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:44 pm

I have sold on ebay on and off for 6 years or so.

I did try Yahoo auctions back in the day but nothing ever sold there.

ebay is the best way to sell online if you don't have enough inventory to put up a dedicated website or open up a bricks and mortar store of your own.

Yes, there are aggrivating things on ebay as there are in any endeavor that you hope to make money from. Everybody complains about the ebay fees but just try to open up a real store or your own website to sell books on and see if you can do it cheaper. (you may be able to open your own website for less money, but again you need to have a good amount of inventory) . Not to mention that you won't have the potential market share that you have eith ebay.

Case in point:

Harby #0

I sold this Harby zero last week. If you go down to the auction counter you will see that this particular auction got 81 hits. That means that this auction was viewed on 81 separate occaisions by people who were at least a little interested in this particular book in 7 days. Do you think I would have had that kind of exposure if I just had this book sitting on a wall in a comic book store? Or if I had my own website?

Also, a 7 or 10 or whatever amount of days that you choose auction creates a sense of urgency in some buyers. They are thinking: "Will it still be available after the auction ends?" "will someone else pay more than me?" etc. You don't really have those thoughts in other avenues of selling.

I am not as upset as some people seem to be about the changes that are coming up. Sellers who don't accept Paypal always have irritated me and getting paid from people who don't is always a pain in the *SQUEE* no matter how good they are about it. If you think Paypal fees are expensive just wait to see what kind of havoc a returned check can have on your bank account!

Are there scams on ebay?

Sure. You just have to keep your eyes open for the potential scams and try to avoid them. You are protected from monetary loss through eBay and Paypal regardless of the faults that they have in their systems.

So, jump in. don't be afraid, just be smart about what you do and ebay will be a good way to sell some books. You probably won't get rich but you will move your books a lot faster than you are now.

Escaflown4 · Post by **Escaflown4** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:21 am

The biggest problem I see with Ebay currently are the fees. Simply put, Ebay is not as fun or enjoyable as it used to be back when the fees and overhead charges were at a minimum. Back then you could have thrown literally just about anything on Ebay and make some $$ by just letting it run its course. Nowadays most of your profits get eaten up by the fees (roughly 12-15% on average) and you have to literally sit down and calculate how much the item needs to be sold in order to break even or to make a profit. The only benefit and the sole reason why I am still on Ebay is the traffic they get. Other then that, I would not hesitate to jump ship as soon as another venue that shows promise comes along.

As far as just selling Valiants, I always come here first before putting them up on my store. Even though I know I could probably get more $$ selling it on Ebay, I rather check to see if anyone on this site needs it first. If you're really considering to sell on Ebay, make sure you have the spare time to devote to it. Trust me, Ebay will suck up all your time just by having you list up each item, take pictures or scans of the item, researching and calculating the selling price, packaging the items after it's sold and shipping them out. Not to mention that you will have to be there to answer questions and deal with "problem" buyers. I'm not here to discourage you or anything, but if you think you have the time for it, then by all means go for it. It'll be an experience whether you like it or not, but at least you can say you tried it.

siren3-4 · Post by **siren3-4** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:44 am

Well stated by everyone else here . . and yes, it does take time . .

If you are going to be selling with any kind of regularity I would suggest downloading Turbo Lister as you can duplicate and edit potential listings a lot easier.

It's free on ebays site . . .

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:37 am

another thing that sucks about eBay, I just had to file two non-paying bidder claims, which seems to be happening a lot more frequently lately. Since eBay did away with negatives for buyers, it seems buyers think they have no responsibilities to the sellers anymore.

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:09 pm

I've sold stuff every once in a while on ebay and have not had problems. I'll be putting some stuff up there again this month, but I've got to put more thought into what I'm selling and the prices they might / might not get since the fees are higher now.

As far as selling here compared to ebay.... For what I've sold, the mid grade and low grade stuff seems to sell well here for some reason, but I haven't had much luck selling rare and slabbed books here.

I've put rare / slabbed books up here at what I feel is a lot less than I can get from ebay and no one shows interest. Then I put them up on ebay for double the price and they sell to board members.

So I probably won't bother selling any high grade / rare stuff here when / if I sell more Valiant stuff.

superman-prime · Post by **superman-prime** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:50 am

rare stuff go's well here, but esposure on the bay is great, but npb are a killer and cost YOU money till the claim is filled and time in a relist

I want a competitor for the bay

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:00 am

Brother J wrote:another thing that sucks about eBay, I just had to file two non-paying bidder claims, which seems to be happening a lot more frequently lately. Since eBay did away with negatives for buyers, it seems buyers think they have no responsibilities to the sellers anymore.

Well, at least one of the NPB's paid today. The other is a board member (a noob, but still a board member). He hasn't been on the board in over a week, so I'm wondering if he isn't having internet problems.

TKWill · Post by **TKWill** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:05 am

Brother J wrote:
Brother J wrote:another thing that sucks about eBay, I just had to file two non-paying bidder claims, which seems to be happening a lot more frequently lately. Since eBay did away with negatives for buyers, it seems buyers think they have no responsibilities to the sellers anymore.
Well, at least one of the NPB's paid today. The other is a board member (a noob, but still a board member). He hasn't been on the board in over a week, so I'm wondering if he isn't having internet problems.

Maybe some of the storms that have hit the US lately are causing a disruption, depends on where that member is located.

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:08 am

TKWill wrote:
Brother J wrote:
Brother J wrote:another thing that sucks about eBay, I just had to file two non-paying bidder claims, which seems to be happening a lot more frequently lately. Since eBay did away with negatives for buyers, it seems buyers think they have no responsibilities to the sellers anymore.
Well, at least one of the NPB's paid today. The other is a board member (a noob, but still a board member). He hasn't been on the board in over a week, so I'm wondering if he isn't having internet problems.
Maybe some of the storms that have hit the US lately are causing a disruption, depends on where that member is located.

It's a fellow PA person, so I don't think it's the weather in this case. Maybe just a bum computer.

Escaflown4 · Post by **Escaflown4** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:20 am

Brother J wrote:
TKWill wrote:
Brother J wrote:
Brother J wrote:another thing that sucks about eBay, I just had to file two non-paying bidder claims, which seems to be happening a lot more frequently lately. Since eBay did away with negatives for buyers, it seems buyers think they have no responsibilities to the sellers anymore.
Well, at least one of the NPB's paid today. The other is a board member (a noob, but still a board member). He hasn't been on the board in over a week, so I'm wondering if he isn't having internet problems.
Maybe some of the storms that have hit the US lately are causing a disruption, depends on where that member is located.
It's a fellow PA person, so I don't think it's the weather in this case. Maybe just a bum computer.

Nevertheless, the ball is still in the buyer's court with all the new policies Ebay have implemented the past year. There's pretty much no protection for the sellers.

kikitwitme · Post by **kikitwitme** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:36 am

Slightly OT - I'm came late in the game to eBay. I've only started buying from there about 2 years ago. When I first started purchasing items, I saved all my favorite sellers that I had good communication with. I only managed to get a handful. After about 22 months I never really looked back at the sellers list until last week... and lo and behold - Brother J was one of them!

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:47 am

kikitwitme wrote:Slightly OT - I'm came late in the game to eBay. I've only started buying from there about 2 years ago. When I first started purchasing items, I saved all my favorite sellers that I had good communication with. I only managed to get a handful. After about 22 months I never really looked back at the sellers list until last week... and lo and behold - Brother J was one of them!

awesome, good to hear. I haven't been selling regularly as I'd like, but I'm going to try to list stuff at least every other week and see how that goes. It's good to have a week in between to handle any issues and get all the stuff out via mail.