I buy and sell collectibles, and you? A friend called me today and told me that recently eBay has lost over 50% of their sellers. I found that figure quite unbelievable. 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 report in the NY Times on July 10, I found an interesting article that said pageviews on eBay were down more than 30 percent in May from a year ago. That is a significant drop. Then I looked at the number of items up for auction in the category I shop in (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 kind of vendors that have that little antique shop. The items they sell are ‘1-up’. So they continued to raise their fees, forcing settlements through PayPal, and making it harder 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 don’t have a personal problem with PayPal, I know a few people who do, but you have to 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 buying.
Hey, is my check no longer valid?
Many merchants still like to do business this way; They don’t take credit cards for whatever reason. Chances are you don’t want to pay the processor and your bank a transaction fee 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’s selling an item, they want to be paid in 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 searching. Maybe you visit a site that lists different auction sites, like: http://auctions.nettop20.com/
So what’s on my wish list for a site as a collector’s item seller?
How about reasonable fees. Low commissions or even a flat fee. Auctions and put options. A reserve quantity 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 be 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.