Are People Still Trying To Make A Living Off Ebay?

by salegurus

Posted: 14 years ago 15 replies

OFF TOPIC

I Recently needed to sell my wifes old Nikon DSLR so i listed it on ebay. (I used to be a eBay powerseller and made some money selling mostly consumer electronics so i'm used to selling on ebay.)

I contacted ebay help desk as i needed a answer on a question i had had, well i was not shocked to see ebays support was still as pathetic as i remembered it. You are left more confused and frustrated after they reply to your question.

Anyway i headed off to the seller forum just to browse the threads, and the topics were almost identical to when i last logged in 18 months ago:

1) Sellers still pleading for help from eBay
2) Numerous threads about poor sales (could be poor economy)
3) Sellers being threatened with neg feedback if they did not give in to
buyers demands
4) Sellers quitting or thinking about quitting
5) Buyers bidding and then not paying
6) Sellers being harassed and verbally abused by buyers
And the list goes on.

Now there are probably still people making loads off eBay but IMO it's not worth the headache. I am much happier now with my IM business, i don't have to answer to those EGGHEADS over at Ebay HQ and i don't have to deal with some of the worst buyers on the internet.

Rich Struck

14 years ago

We used to sell a lot of stuff on eBay but it sucks bad right now and it is getting worse by the day. I just had some stuff listed that only a year ago would have been snapped up but no bites even at 99 cents. If I'm ever able to unload my leftovers I'll be grateful and then I'll be done with eBay entirely. And it's not just me, I've checked a lot of completed listings and stuff is just not selling. They should have left it as it was back in 1999 or so, damn, it was awesome then.

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White Dove Creative

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Rich Struck

Ebay's CEO is running for California Governor, and purchased a 30-minute infomercial, to talk about herself and about what she can do for California. In the talking about herself part, she mentions that over a million people make a full-time living on eBay. I find that hard to believe, and in fact I recently saw a conflicting statistic, that said a million people make a sole income or second income on eBay--some have a job, others don't.

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White Dove Creative

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Rich Struck

If the problem is not enough Buyers verses Sellers, then eBay can always equalize things a bit by raising their Seller fees (ugg!) without disrupting the seller-heavy marketplace.

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KimW 14 years ago

It really depends on the products and demand.
I haven't sold on EBay in years, but I still buy if I can get the right deal.
I just recently picked up a bag of 50 items that normally sell for $5 each for about $20 with shipping. I now have a rest of my lifetime suppy.
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BH_Winchester 14 years ago

Ebay has become a hellhole after the economy and all but it was mostly the addition of paypal that caused so many payment issues - it is what got me off of ebay. However, some people still make a living there; there is a store in my city still that is a "sell your stuff on ebay" store and she makes a decent enough living. So it is possible I suppose if you have a merchant account and a good base of products
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KimW 14 years ago

We had a "Sell you stuff on Ebay" store here and it went bankrupt.
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- Alessandro Zamboni 14 years ago
  
  I was making a living some times ago, I think two years ago.
  I was selling artistic candles about flowers, animals, famous people and so on.
  
  But every month that pass, is eBay that makes a living with me.
  
  So I decided to delete my ebay shop with all my 250 products, because I was getting about 1 or 2 orders a month.
  So I started saving the 90€ I was paying monthly for the eBay Shops.
  
  Now I'm focusing on other national bidding services, here in Italy.
  
  Thanks and goodbye,
  Alessandro Zamboni
  
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BH_Winchester 14 years ago

Hmm national services are good as well - has anyone here converted to just their own personal online shop?
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salegurus 14 years ago

Alessandro Zamboni
"But every month that pass, is eBay that makes a living with me."

You are 100% correct, plus they own Paypal now so they hit you with double fees when you get paid as well.
The fees are daylight robbery and are set to increase again soon, if you sell items with low margins you basically work for the bloodsuckers over at eBay.

BH_Winchester
"Hmm national services are good as well - has anyone here converted to just their own personal online shop? "

That's the only thing eBay provides, traffic to your listing. If you setup your own ecommerce site you have a few problems to overcome:
1) getting traffic/buyers to your site
2) establishing trust with the buyers
3) setting up a secure site for payment

But with enough effort i'm sure it can be done.
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Steve Ranger 14 years ago

The first money I ever made was on eBay - but those were the days when they actually valued sellers - these days with all the fee's involved and new rules it's seriously hard. Everything has to be sent Recorded Delivery now as well otherwise buyers can order something then claim the money back via PayPal.
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Winlin 14 years ago

I used to do very well on E-bay. But I had a packaging design lab available to me 24/7 back then.

I have a good friend that still makes a living off e-bay, but between the fees, the lower bids and the hours invested in packaging. He says he doesn't make near what he used to.

It sounds to me as if E-bay is ripe for competition...
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- Liesel 14 years ago
  
  My friend just went to an eBay event in Dallas last weekend. She said there had 4 powersellers on the panel. All but 1 of them store inventory in their homes or a warehouse. The other person uses a dropshipper. That person did not reveal who they use, of course. The event was OK but she didn't learn anything new except that more changes are coming. She started her eBay business a few months ago and she has been researching other auction site options where she can build her business. eBay just isn't the same anymore for sellers.
  
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Lou Diamond 14 years ago

Hello,
I sell on ebay and I do well with it, I have adapted over the years with it.
I use the word ADAPT as that Is the only way that you can survive there.
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- White Dove Creative 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Lou Diamond
  
  I use the word ADAPT as that Is the only way that you can survive there.
  
  ...and the ADAPT concept applies to business in general
  
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  Kay King 14 years ago
  
  Amazon ate ebay's lunch - we predicted it a while back - ebay got sloppy in allowing fake products (where the sellers were pimping their feedback) and cheap low-quality import copies - and buyers left. I was one of them - seldom sold there but bought a lot. Don't go there now at all.
  
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Are People Still Trying To Make A Living Off Ebay?

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