The Official EBay Discussion Thread

[steveracer]

What are the good alternatives to Ebay to sell stuff these days?  And I am not talking about having to sell out to social media like Fecal book Marketplace to do so.  I want to downsize, and Craigslist still kinda works, as does other automotive forums.  But since Ebay went down, I am not sure where to go.  

 

Any suggestions?

[Bills72sj]

1 hour ago, steveracer said:

What are the good alternatives to Ebay to sell stuff these days?  And I am not talking about having to sell out to social media like Fecal book Marketplace to do so.  I want to downsize, and Craigslist still kinda works, as does other automotive forums.  But since Ebay went down, I am not sure where to go.  

 

Any suggestions?

While they mostly do diecast and 1/64th, you can take a look at https://www.thetoypeddler.com/

 

 

[Straightliner59]

5 hours ago, peteski said:

As I see it, eBay is rife with buy-it-now items with many, many professional sellers selling cheap stuff. Basically a clone of amazon.  It has not been a "large flea market" for a very long time.

Agreed. At least, however, you can still find some rarer stuff, on there. Mostly, though, it's retailers.

[PatW]

We have UPS here alongside numerous others. UPS are the only courier here that can't give a time slot to deliver and can't collect at all.

[Mark]

And, it looks as though the "parts" and "decals" sub-categories have been eliminated and folded back into "automotive kits" along with promos.  The overall listing numbers must be taking a nosedive...

[peteski]

THey seem to really want to become like amazon, and just get get rid of any type of organization of their stuff. Who needs categories anyway, right?

[PatW]

On 11/10/2021 at 11:27 AM, PatW said:

We have UPS here alongside numerous others. UPS are the only courier here that can't give a time slot to deliver and can't collect at all.

I also notice that ebay now has numerous categories for model cars, when I used to just go to 'Auction' for car(automobile) kits there are so many more areas to search. I am also reluctant to use ebay for selling stuff as they are expensive now on charges taking a higher percentage each time I try to sell!

I don't deal with Amazon here in the UK because of their expensive shipping regime.

[Rockford]

It's been said but I have to have a rant. I saw these the other day when I just searched for Monogram truck, if you look under Snap tite or 1/32 they don't come up. Just look at the prices! I like my little Snap tites but over £100 for a built kit? They're just not worth it. Everyone seems to think they can rip someone off. Needless to say, I won't be tempted. £20? Sure, £30? If it's a really rare one and unbuilt, but that's it. I have seen some sensible people, I paid £8 each for two built Aerodyne cabovers and £10 for a built 40ft reefer that needs work but otherwise prices are ridiculous. The box traders are ruining it, they're not modellers, they're just selling anything to make as much profit as they can. 

[Beans]

I noticed that within the last month or so, the average price for models and kits has increased.  It almost seems like everybody worked together.  I think a lot of it has to do with the cost of shipping now.  The idea of listing something at less than the price to ship, I believe, doesn't psychologically sit well with sellers.  

[PatW]

2 hours ago, Beans said:

I noticed that within the last month or so, the average price for models and kits has increased.  It almost seems like everybody worked together.  I think a lot of it has to do with the cost of shipping now.  The idea of listing something at less than the price to ship, I believe, doesn't psychologically sit well with sellers.  

Yes like here in the UK as a pensioner it's not the place to get a bargain anymore, some USA kits are over £100!

[Ace-Garageguy]

I still buy too much through eBay, and every time I'm aggravated by the general glitchiness.

For all the constant fiddling and patching, both the rationality and overall usefulness of the search function continue to deteriorate. Workarounds are often required to get meaningful search results...and in some cases, just to pay for stuff.

It's not helped by idiots who continually post their merchandise in the wrong categories; the search algorithms just aren't smart enough to compensate for rampant human stupidity.

PS: I generally refuse to buy from Amazon (unless there's just no other convenient source) for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that almost everything I've wanted in the past couple of years has been available considerably cheaper through eBay...so I continue to put up with the problems there.

[Mark]

I'm not so sure sellers are listing items in the wrong categories.  When the item comes up, we see it in the wrong category, but I'm thinking eBay is intentionally dumping additional items into random searches, both to prop up the numbers and to keep us occupied longer.  They seem to be operating on the "supermarket" business model, where they figure that "the longer you are in the store, the more you are likely to spend".

[hedotwo]

21 hours ago, Mark said:

I'm not so sure sellers are listing items in the wrong categories.  When the item comes up, we see it in the wrong category, but I'm thinking eBay is intentionally dumping additional items into random searches, both to prop up the numbers and to keep us occupied longer.  They seem to be operating on the "supermarket" business model, where they figure that "the longer you are in the store, the more you are likely to spend".

x2

[Tom Geiger]

EBay recently made a lot of category changes, supposedly to make it easier for people on mobile devices.  What they pretty much did was screwed up everyone’s saved searches.  Mine were very specific and only hit occasionally. Now they turn up gibberish results daily.. like 100s of items.  Sellers are complaining sales are down because nobody can find their stuff. Buyers aren’t invested time trying to fix their searches.

You have to be pretty stupid  to totally screw up a working system!

[Ace-Garageguy]

13 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

...You have to be pretty stupid  to totally screw up a working system!

Perhaps you haven't noticed that's pretty much the universal SOP these days...

[steveracer]

On 12/3/2021 at 12:12 PM, Mark said:

I'm not so sure sellers are listing items in the wrong categories.  When the item comes up, we see it in the wrong category, but I'm thinking eBay is intentionally dumping additional items into random searches, both to prop up the numbers and to keep us occupied longer.  They seem to be operating on the "supermarket" business model, where they figure that "the longer you are in the store, the more you are likely to spend".

Sadly, I rarely go to Ebay anylonger.  Used to be the go to place.  Reminds me of K Mart. 

[BlackSheep214]

I, too rarely go on eBay these days. The only time I go to eBay is if I’m looking for something particular.

[Mark]

I only go there and search particular items and sellers, not the general "look at everything" like I used to do.

[Tom Geiger]

2 hours ago, Mark said:

I only go there and search particular items and sellers, not the general "look at everything" like I used to do.

I remember the days before they separated the model kits by type.. you had to skip by all the tanks, boats and aircraft, but you still could browse that entire category! 

Today I rely on my saved searches or browse the Ending Soon for things ending in the next few hours. 
 

I buy and sell in the stamp collector area because postage costs have pretty much ruined buying models.

[1930fordpickup]

4 hours ago, steveracer said:

Sadly, I rarely go to Ebay any longer.  Used to be the go to place.  Reminds me of K Mart. 

I agree, looks like changes that come from above. Just like K-Mart.   Yes, I am another infrequent shopper on the Bay anymore. Between shipping and the continuous search changes. 

[doorsovdoon]

I think eBay are just screwing everyone. I type my usual searches in and the right items come up, but I started to notice that after I bought an item a cheaper one would appear in recommended based on what I bought! I've noticed now that when you click on someone's item for sale, there is another two rows ON THE SELLERS LISTING! of items "similar" and "related" that are usually cheaper than the listing I originally clicked on! Lol, I wonder if eBay sellers know that eBay does this?! Sellers must lose tons of sales by having cheaper items by other sellers ON THE SELLERS LISTED ITEM PAGE! The absolute cheek of it! Lol

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Here's my recent eBay experience. I wanted to buy three packs of Evergreen half round styrene. I found a seller and decided I would buy the three pieces through their eBay store. I put items in the shopping cart and noticed shipping was $30 in change! Figuring another seller would have a better freight rate, I checked one other seller's store. Same freight charge. As a 'buy it now' the price of each item was around $5.00 with $2.99 shipping. So, I placed three different transactions from the same seller for the items I wanted. It came to about $15 in merchandise and $9 in shipping (I really wish I had a local hobby shop I could just drive over to, but I don't)....

Here's what arrived...

Three big boxes, each with one item in it. As a point of size reference, those packing slips are standard 8" x11" pieces of paper.... -RRR

 

[Len Woodruff]

Interesting.

[TarheelRick]

51 minutes ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

Here's what arrived...

Three big boxes, each with one item in it. As a point of size reference, those packing slips are standard 8" x11" pieces of paper.... -RRR

 

I have received similar packaging from WalMart.  I ordered a package of three magazine holders, the kind that are flat when you buy them, but are folded into holders. A simple sleeve envelope would have been sufficient, however WalMart shipped them in a box much larger than one of those.  Makes you wonder who is in charge of their shipping department.

[PatW]

9 hours ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

Here's my recent eBay experience. I wanted to buy three packs of Evergreen half round styrene. I found a seller and decided I would buy the three pieces through their eBay store. I put items in the shopping cart and noticed shipping was $30 in change! Figuring another seller would have a better freight rate, I checked one other seller's store. Same freight charge. As a 'buy it now' the price of each item was around $5.00 with $2.99 shipping. So, I placed three different transactions from the same seller for the items I wanted. It came to about $15 in merchandise and $9 in shipping (I really wish I had a local hobby shop I could just drive over to, but I don't)....

Here's what arrived...

Three big boxes, each with one item in it. As a point of size reference, those packing slips are standard 8" x11" pieces of paper.... -RRR

 

Yes the same problem we have here in the UK with Amazon. Small items, one huge box!