Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

tjb1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 26, 2010
1,999
0
Pennsylvania, USA
Anyone else notice that ebay sucks nowadays...a simple search for something like apple bluetooth keyboard brings up hundreds, maybe even thousands of listings for $.99 keyboard covers and its takes you hours to find anything you want. Also the $.99 ads that state "-DO NOT BID - INFORMATION ONLY-" which often leads to some sort of spam or *free* item website. I dont sell on ebay because it is a pain, they charge you to sell anything and the chances of a large group seeing your item is almost nonexistent now with all the chinese spam items. Many of these items are from the same company, just posted 100s of times...and I KNOW there is an option to say "X Amount Available" when posting your item. Someone needs to buy ebay and rid it of the crap and spam.
 
I dunno,
I just did a search on "apple bluetooth keyboard" and got 238 hits, all of them were keyboards/keyboard covers and what not. Nothing that I'd say is unusual. I did not see any of the things you mentioned about "do not bid" etc
 
The problem with eBay is they're trying to become like Amazon, offering a high quality, seamless checkout experience. Despite the fact the company is pushing little sellers out, it was started to connect people who wanted to sell granny's old clock or whatever.

They've implemented several changes that basically give buyers absolute power; they monopolize the payment method and then charge you very heavily for using PayPal (after you've already paid heavily through eBay itself); and many of the changes they've implemented in regard to selling they've left off the Adult section of the site (since they make a huge amount of cash in there).

On top of this, the eBay selling AND buying experience is dreadful and you still have to deal deadbeats both ways; and then when sellers leave they increase fees to keep profit margins intact.

I wouldn't do anything on eBay, unless it's like a rare item you can't possibly find elsewhere have to have.
 
Narrowing down your searches can help get you more accurate results, although I can imagine that it could get annoying.
 
I recently got an apple bluetooth pro keyboard on ebay for twenty five bucks. Why don't they make the new bluetooth keyboards with number pads?
 
Absolutely agree - I've stopped selling and buying off eBay for many of the reasons mentioned. If I need to sell anything now it goes on Craigslist or Amazon.com marketplace.

Der
 
Whats wrong with ebay?

1) It is a "buyers paradise". The cards are basically stacked against sellers in ebay. Basically all a buyer has to do is say lodge a complaint against you and your out the item you sold AND your money.

2) expensive as heck to sell, so much so that it is almost not even worth it. Once you get done paying all the fees and shipping your item, your probably out close to 20% of the selling price.

3) It is a racket. Ebay owns paypal. Ebay says you HAVE to use paypal to accept a payment. So not only do you have to deal with ebay fees, you have to deal with paypal fees. Basically ebay ends up collecting money twice for every item sold.

4) Sell an expensive item on ebay? Think your going to get your money right away??? Wrong. Ebay/Paypal holds your money in limbo for what is essentially an unspecified period of time..

Burn in hell Ebay/Paypal....

Signed,

Someone out hundreds of dollars due to ebay/paypal fraud.
 
Ebay is usefully for some items but for the most part it is gone to hell in a hand basket.
I have used Amazon market place a few times to buy and after talking with some others students I have learned it is a great place to sell text books.

now Amazon will take a 10-15% cut but a lot less trouble and no fees for listing. I put a book on there and just forget about it until it sells.
 
Yep. eBay was the best back in the early 2000's. It really kind of sucks now. Though, I still use it only for buying...but I hate that they always force you to use PayPal for payment. It's a PITA sometimes. Overall, none of the changes they have made, over the years, has made the process or experience better for either the buyer or the seller. Absolutely nothing.

I wish there was a better (which includes having almost as many active users) alternative to eBay.

and many of the changes they've implemented in regard to selling they've left off the Adult section of the site (since they make a huge amount of cash in there).

As a frequent browser of that section, I figured you would know. :D
 
Ebay is usefully for some items but for the most part it is gone to hell in a hand basket.
I have used Amazon market place a few times to buy and after talking with some others students I have learned it is a great place to sell text books.

now Amazon will take a 10-15% cut but a lot less trouble and no fees for listing. I put a book on there and just forget about it until it sells.

I bought a wrong book on eBay...book I needed just wrong year...but I went to amazons textbook buyback store and they surprisingly pay the most out of ANYONE but they give you an amazon gift card which isn't really a problem since they are basically the online wal-mart.

And I get tired of trying to look through apple electronics and 20 pages are iphones cases or generic usb plugs...
 
Ebay is usefully for some items but for the most part it is gone to hell in a hand basket.
I have used Amazon market place a few times to buy and after talking with some others students I have learned it is a great place to sell text books.

now Amazon will take a 10-15% cut but a lot less trouble and no fees for listing. I put a book on there and just forget about it until it sells.

I frequently use both sites to sell items and I have to say, Amazon is THE ABSOLUTE worst for sellers. I say that for these three reasons:

1. Shipping fees, unless you open a seller business account plan on paying out money for every item you ship. Example: I just sold my Xbox 360 last weekend and Amazon's default shipping rate is $3.99. How much did it cost me to ship it UPS? Around $21. Yeah, I lost more than $15 right there on shipping.

2. Feedback system, the system is an absolute joke. I have sold 20+ items on Amazon and have received 4 feedback. I mostly sell my textbooks after a semester and have yet to receive feedback for any. Why does this matter? See my next point.

3. Due to the piss poor (pardon my French, I am just fuming over this) feedback system my account is now getting reviewed every other month. When I log into my account I see this message, "Alert * Amazon is reviewing your Seller Account. To learn details about this action, click here: Read more." Google Amazon seller account review. What essentially happens is your account gets automatically flagged in their system because you have received very little feedback for the volume of sales. When this happens Amazon "reviews" your account and holds your account balance for 30 days. Yes, they hold your money for a month. Of course, you can appeal the review. Amazon actually states they will respond to your request within 24 hours. That is certainly a promise they don't deliver on, I appealed last week and have not heard a thing. So now that my account is getting reviewed once again (this is now the second time) because no one leaves me feedback I have to wait 30 days before I can access the money in my account. THIS IS TOTAL B.S.

Another example of how Amazon selling is a joke is when I sold a book for $0.01 just to get rid of it. Instead of throwing it away I figured I could pass it on to someone else who can use it. It sold and on top of the massive .01 price I received $2.99 for shipping. Amazon then charged me $2.51 for commission. Are you kidding me? I just paid $2.51 to sell a book for $0.01? That is ludicrous. Amazon needs to make serious revisions to their selling system. Is it a great resource to sell items? Yes, it is very easy to add items and set your own price. It is great in that aspect. However, they absolutely stick it to all of the sellers on there.
 
You guys should seriously just use there textbook buyback merchant...they pay for shipping and everything, all you do is put them in a box and ship them and get your amazon giftcard about a week after shipping.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.