Ebay?

[TennJed]

The last stuff I sold on ebay (recently, this year), ebay fees accounted for over 10% of the final value. Paypal takes it's percentage too, on top of that. (3 to 4% or so?). 14% is more than the margin on a lot of things, I don't know how the people with ebay stores do it. I was just selling off some things I don't use anymore, so it's not a big deal to me, but if there fees were better, they would make more off me based on the volume, as I'd sell 20 items a month instead of 10 a year.

Where are you currently selling your 20 items a month? eBay had allowed me to sell items for a lot more than I would elsewhere. Items that go unsold or lowballed offered on Craigslist or local classifieds most often sell for more than expected on eBay.

Also as far as fees go, how many business spend money on advertising just to get their product in front of people? eBay is actually one of the cheapest ways to leverage the most opportunity

 

[76shuvlinoff]

I buy many motorcycle items and machine repair parts on ebay. Never tried gun stuff. I have seldom sold anything on ebay.

Paypal has been great for ebay and non ebay items. At times I've used it to send money to friends in need as well.

 

[kimbershot]

ebay? depends

i have used ebay to sell gun related items for more $$ than i could have ever expected. you have to be careful on how you list stuff--ie. don't list items as ar-15, show the item as dpms, colt, bushmaster, black rifle etc otherwise it may be flagged and deleted.

i had 2 uzi sight adjustment tools. the first went with no problems. the second--pulled--assault related accessory. go figure? i called and spoke with dan (haji) and they said first auction slipped by. i've seen other sellers selling the same thing--multiple units (a power seller)--and the guy never had a problem.

i've also seen 30 rd. mags with false descriptions going for $$$. bottom line, it's all about money.

 

[Terrapin88]

I remember Ebay when it was far less gun shy. I remember buying guns on there back in the day. Ebay has changed exponentially over the years and as it's profits and size grows I imagine so does it's amount of lawyers on staff. Let's not forget Ebay is based in liberal CA too.

A week or so back there was someone trying to sell a CZ-75 "parts kit" which according to the pics was the complete gun, just field stripped. It lasted 3 days before the Ebay police bounced it. A bunch of us on another site had our tin foil hats on wondering if it was an ATF trap or something. lol

A lot of people bash Ebay for their rules and restrictions. I'm certainly not a defender, but I'm not going to bash them either. I look at Ebay as a tool I can use at times. Some times it's just not the right tool for the job. Sometimes it isn't.

I've been a buyer and seller on there for years and I can tell you from experience you have a lot more rights as a buyer on Ebay. If anything Ebay is making it harder on sellers all the time. I do have to give props to Ebay for the way they've streamlined the checkout process with paypal. I would prefer it if we weren't basically forced to use paypal. Ebay has a pretty good search engine too. Gunbroker should take note of it.