Selling on ebay: pitfalls?

j.scooter

j.scooter

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I have been on ebay for quite a long time, mostly as a buyer. I have sold a couple things years ago and found that I much preferred selling things locally through Kijiji or on photo forums.

I have a pretty rare camera and lenses that I have not been able to sell at my usual haunts. I will need to expand my reach which means plugging my nose and posting on ebay.

Are there any particular pitfalls that I need to be aware of? How do I get the best price while keeping the fees at bay? How do I avoid getting scammed?

Any advice would be appreciated or even links to discussions that have already happened on this subject ( I wasn't able to find anything in the search).

Thanks for your time.
 
eBay sides with the buyer over the seller 99% of the time, that said I haven't had any horror stories and I have sold my fair share of things there. Clearly describe and photograph the gear, including anything which could be seen as a defect. Expect fairly high fees. eBay does some disingenuous things like including sales tax and shipping in the amount they take their percentage out of. Conversely, their international shipping is pretty reasonable, it takes the headache out of the seller's experience by shipping to a hub based in your country and gets shipped on from there. It may be worth it to pay the extra percentage for promoted listings, but check and see how high of an added percentage they want to add. You can always say no to the promoted listing prompt at the beginning and then, if you decide to go for that later on, the tool allows you to adjust the percentage you pay/level of promoted visibility (doesn't let you do this when first listing the item, as far as I know).
 
Fees are high and bless you hit an 80% off offer that they do from time to time.

Buyers are a bit of a lottery - many good but some shockers and eBay policy ‘protects’ buyers over sellers always.

But, sometimes it’s the best practical choice. Limit sales to buyers with good feedback.
 
I mark non-serialzied high-ticket items discreetly with a UV pen; then shine a UV flashlight and record a picture before shipping. Anything returned, I can tell if they did a switcheroo.
 
I've considered selling on ebay on several occasions, but each time I look at what's involved, it seems more treacherous. I've resigned myself to selling to KEH, and taking a significant hit on what I might make. However, it is utterly risk-free, quick, and simple. That makes it the more attractive option, at lest for me. YMMV.
 
These days I avoid selling on eBay at all costs. A couple of years ago I sold a mint-condition Minolta rangefinder camera on eBay. Transaction seemed to go smoothly, except, literally a month later, the buyer claimed it was broken. EBay sided with him and I was out several hundred dollars. I don't sell on eBay anymore, I also don't buy much there either. There are a lot of places you can sell gear, including local gear sale meetups, Kijiji, Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.
Rick
 
Thanks for the feedback.
I have decided not go the ebay route, I am not willing to take the risk then come out with less than I want after paying high fees.

I will post it to a few more photo forums and see what the KEH will offer.
If it doesn't sell I will keep it, even if it doesn't get much use. Good thing it is nice to look at 🙂
2633824.jpg
 
j.scooter said:
Thanks for the feedback.
I have decided not go the ebay route, I am not willing to take the risk then come out with less than I want after paying high fees.

I will post it to a few more photo forums and see what the KEH will offer.
If it doesn't sell I will keep it, even if it doesn't get much use. Good thing it is nice to look at 🙂
2633824.jpg
Click to expand...
Very nice! If I were flush with cash, and not already buried under a mountain of medium format trinkets, I'd make you an offer. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't this the ancestor of the Norita 6x6? I had one back in the seventies, and, like a fool, sold it. I would love to have another eye-level 6x6 SLR, but show me one that is reliable and affordable!
 
If you really know the right price sell here.

But eBay is still great. I disposed of a friend's camera collection this year, listed everything with clear honest photos and every single item went to a buyer who really appreciated what they received, gave me lovely feedback, and made me feel the items had found an appropriate home.
 
eBay is good at connecting sellers of oddball items with the handful of shoppers, scattered around the globe, who seek them. And by using their Global Shipping Program, I no longer need to fill out customs paperwork and drop off parcels in person at the post office. And because I box up and weigh all items prior to listing them, shipping is automatically calculated, so I no longer have to provide individual shipping quotes.

For maximum seller protections, stick with eBay's recommended practices, don't freelance your own.
 
I have avoided selling on eBay since the last two sales I made of valuable camera gear became farcical messes, thanks to unreliable buyers. Each took months to sort out and involved more than enough stress to not want to go there again.
 
Dear Board,

Ebay is literally an online auction site, right? Being that it's an auction I think it's far better to be a buyer than a seller.

I've bought many things on Ebay, and have done better than I probably deserved to do. But I bought with strong research of the value of product as my guideline. I'm grateful for the sellers that either accepted my offers, or countered and a deal was made. I often wonder after I received some of things I've bought why the seller accepted my offer when clearly it was on the low end of price potential?

I think the reason for that is that feed back counts, for both buyers and sellers.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg PA 🙂
 
I quit from selling on this ripoff platform after they switched to know as been vulnerable payment system with shady registration in Amsterdam.

Make sure to be aware how much they will rip you off.
 
I've written heaps - almost all negatively - on RFF about Ebay, so I've made my share of comments about the aggravations, dangers and pitfalls of dealing with them. When the sales are good, all is fine. When one gets stuck with a troublesome buyer, massive problems can and do arise, as you soon discover Ebay always favors the buyer and doesn't want to know you.

In 2020 after a difficult sale, a blank refusal by Ebay to do anything for me, and a raid on my bank account by Ebay to grab the cash to repay the buyer who then refused to return the camera until I put a lawyer friend onto them (we were both from Melbourne, which helped) and eventually got the camera back (there was nothing wrong with it, the buyer had developed a case of after-sale remorse and fabricated a story to get a refund), I decided to sell elsewhere and wiped my hands of Ebay and their equally sad partner in, well, you know what, Paypal.

I now sell any gear I no longer want on consignment, through a reputable dealer. They are a pleasure to deal with and, for me, well worth the 25% they charge me, they take all the risk and offer a guarantee to the buyer. They are also well-known for selling quality equipment and their clientele are happy to pay extra for good equipment.

My partner now and then uses Ebay for small items (CDs, fountain pens, ink, cat toys and trinkets and other small objects) but always deals with sellers of new items. Word has been out for a long time that many Ebay sellers of small things are from the "desperate housewives brigade" (a literal quote from our local charity shop manager, who knows) who raid and ransack these shops for 50 cent and $1 items which they then try to flog off for 5-20 times more. Best avoided. New or nothing...

Some aggravations are not worth the bother. Ebay and PayPal are the top two on my (amazingly for me, quite small, as I'm really a pleasant and polite sort of old bloke in face-to-face situations) no-never again list.
 
For items below £100 I use eBay. The higher the value, the more the chances of attracting scammers attention. I am sure everyone has a horror story to share about one scammer or another.

For anything of higher value I use shops which will sell it on commission. I use Ffordes in UK- it is not a quick sale but they will absorb the costs of scamming should it ever happens.
 
I haven't felt comfortable selling working/usable items on ebay due to the stories of buyers taking advantage of sellers, so I've been mostly selling broken/sold as parts or repair items that take up space for me and am okay with getting rid of for cheap.
 
I've used eBay as both buyer and seller for many years and have never had a serious problem. However, nowadays I sell my photo gear on consignment - namely at Popflash.com. Although they now take 25% of the sale, it's worth it to me to avoid the potential hassles noted hereinabove.

Especially if you're selling a rare and valuable item, I believe you're better off following this course.
 
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