I've been looking for a few bike-related bits and bobs lately having not done much riding for a couple of years or so: bought some new bits, stuff off here, a bit from Ebay…

Now, I used to buy and sell a lot of components on Ebay – I've over 700 feedbacks, mostly bike related – and it used to be a vibrant marketplace for stuff like this. Lately I'd kind of got the impresion that the range of choice was down on what I'd been used to, but because I tend to look for very specific things I couldn't be sure.

Until now… I want a bog-standard Deore chainset: 175mm, any BB, chainrings don't matter. I expected my search to return literally hundreds, but no… 20+ matches max, most of which are impressively poor value for money compared to an equivalent Google search.

What the f*** has happened? Has the naked greed of the recent fee rises and the gelding of the feedback system scared off your average amateur punter (which was the whole point of Ebay, remember)? Is it like this with other areas on Ebay, and if so are they f***ed? Or are Deore chainsets not what they once were?!?

should have gone to specsavers…

Sellers and eBay getting greedy.

Ebay and Paypal charges are a p1sstake now. I never use it any more.

What is needed is an auction site like what ebAY used to be. Ebay is a department store these days, it's all B-I-Ns.

ive found crc or on here is better than ebay 😉

I agree with Mike's point about the change in sellers.

For a couple of years I was buying and selling on ebay, and generating some extra funds for Uni.

No chance I'd be doing that with the same regularity/scale these days.

So where does Joe Public, MTB rider, sell his surplus kit these days? Judging by the Classifieds it's certainly not here!

Has the naked greed of the recent fee rises and the gelding of the feedback system scared off your average amateur punter (which was the whole point of Ebay, remember)?

Yup pretty much. It's certainly dominated by trade sellers now.

Think more swaps are going on!

I've given up on Ebay too because the charges have gone through the roof. STW classifides us the best ace to sell pretty much anything right now, for me anyway. I still buy some stuff if eBay, but I'm in dispute over a non recieved item now, so I can see me jacking it in totally soon…… Shame really……

We always needed some competition for ebay, but the good thing about having one behomoth auction site was always that everyone goes on there. I think your goose related analogy is very accurate.

Here is the US we have http://www.craigslist.com seems to be all owners of stuff not shops

I think it depends what you're trying to buy, but I'd agree there's so much BIN/trade that it's not what it was.
On the other hand, my OH's bought lots of clothes – Laura Ashley, Monsoon etc – for next to nothing, so there are bargains to be had elsewhere..

you can just filter for "used" items to get rid of all the retailers.

There's definitely less on there these days. I reckon its a combination of the recession, meaning people are holding on to their old stuff, and rising fees which stops people chopping and changing bikes all the time.

People are asking too much for a lot of things on the classifieds here too though, so perhaps it's not eBay that's the problem.

Maybe new component price rises are making people take liberties with the price on s/h stuff.

Agreed Ebay not what it used to be. Not many bargains to be had unless in January (eg my Campervan half price). And as a seller factor 25% costs plus silly postal charge because of the item not received if un-insured scam…

Still fools and their money etc, jJst sold an inbred saddle and stem for £20+ each. Waited until they were out of stock at on one before listing though! 😉

No chaka, if something is priced too high it won't sell – there's no difference between Ebay and the Classifieds in that regard.

Ebay used to earn its fee by providing a means of selling stuff at a level set by the market. It doesn't do that now, in curtailing supply it is both limiting choice and artificially driving up prices as a result. It can only be taking a larger chunk of a smaller pie. What good is it?

Ebay/paypal charges did it for me, its no longer a cheap way to sell bits.

I haven't used Ebay for a few years as i've moved to New Zealand where they have 'trademe' I used to use it a lot to get rid of my old bike stuff.

What are the charges now? Has it gone up loads in the last few years?

Ebay and then paypal fees are far to big these days.

Some needs to put up an auction sight and ban traders all together, run really low fees, workout import and export taxes etc. Only probelm is the payment system.

If someone had the cash to do it it would take off. Ebay fees have gone up yet the cost of running an online business has gone down relatively speaking, go figure!

I haven't sold stuff for a while but I'm often on the lookout for some bike bits and pieces and I'm amazed at the prices they go for, used stuff almost reaches new retail prices, I know people get carried away with having to win the auction but don't they ever do a search to see how much they can get them for new, same with some used BIN prices, there was a used XT wheelset recently that was the same as I could buy them for new!! Eh? So very rare to buy stuff on there now, I'll pay an extra £10 to £20 and buy new…

Non-bikey stuff still seems reasonable though?

never again. sold a road bike recently and once paypal and ebay had had their cut it was hardly worth it.

It's interesting that complaints about ebay fees are pretty universal.

But… the few items I've sold on ebay have sold for well over double what I'd consider reasonable (more than I paid for the stuff new in some cases).

I have sold a lot of stuff on Ebay in the past, but only use it as a last resort these days. The Ebay and PayPal fees are extortionate.

Incidently, I have a set of Tune wheels and DT Swiss rear shock for sale here if anyone is interested…

I tried Ebid for a while but not a lot of users so prices werent great. I have found a lot of Ebay prices to be higher then CRC or Merlin and dont really bother even looking at Ebay anymore when buying.

Lets see:

Silly fees and a really complicated structure
Compulsory Paypal (and their fees)
Dodgy new feedback system
Very much marketed towards "business sellers" and businesses

Paypals T+Cs are bound to be challeneged in the next few years, as is the way that Ebay and Paypal work so closely together and pretty much prop each other up.

Sellers are getting more stupid too as my last few items have shown. As I could not leave negative feedback I chose to email the f**kwits after the sale was completed 🙂

SSP

Fees on e-ebay are silly i'm sure ive read on their site they are 10% of the final sale value. Doesnt sound a lot but when coupled with payla charges and listing fees it is. To give people an Idea around a year ago i sold my stumpy on there and got almost £800 paypal and took combined £30 + £5 for listing it. More recently sold a camera Lens which went for over £450, £38 combined fees, God knows what the charges would have been if it was the same price as the bike.

Think i got stung around £30 selling my old brakes on there too 🙁 Here is better IMO look at prices of what you wish to sell on e-bay to give you a guide, knock £20 or so off stick them in the classifieds, Save you some fees 🙂

oldgrump08 – Member

Sellers and eBay getting greedy.

eBay – yes
Sellers – not really

Well definitely not if you are a private seller!

Using eBay and Paypal to sell an item, you pay a whopping 14%. Also, you may never get paid after being forced to send goods before you have received payment. If the buyer chooses, they can slate your ratings, but you can't leave any negative feedback (even if they have badly let you down etc).

Now you try complaining about anything whatsoever. What a complete waste of time that is! They are a bunch of faceless greedy slopey shouldered crooks! For what they charge in fees, the OFT should insist that they have call centres for customer service and deliver some sort of reasonable standards of consumer protection.

In effect, eBay rendered my account closed!

As I have said before, eBay/Paypal no longer want the people who made their business – private sellers.

Most sales are by commercial sellers who most often charge more than elsewhere on the internet. Why? Because of eBay/Paypal fees.

In my opinion eBay is going to loose market share after taking such an arrogant stance!

People like eBid have a one off joining lifetime fee of £50 then you can sell as much as you like. Now, if they were smart, they would allow sellers to pay fes under their normal tariffs until they hit this £50 threshold and from there on there would be no further charges. This would give them a chance at building up a substantial audience. I will not be holding my breath on this seeing as eBay has such dominance.

Down with eBay! Vote with your feet!

Ebay charge an insertion fee – which I consider is the same as paying for advertizing – which seems ok to me.

The commision charged on completion is 10%(so with VAT taken off EBay make just over 8%) which considering the coverage and amount of likely viewings, I don't think is bad either. PAYPAL is crap and expensive.

There are loads of things wrong with ebay that make me rarely use it, but it's not the charges.

I would agree there seems to be too many BIN traders now that are often expensive. Also loads of scammers/dishonest people and counterfeit goods. EBAY do not seem interested in tackling these problems

I am going to list a bike today – there is no other place I would consider selling it. I bet it sells for more than I could hope to get for it anywhere else (fingers crossed anyway!)

No chaka, if something is priced too high it won't sell – there's no difference between Ebay and the Classifieds in that regard.

I didn't say overpriced stuff was selling on ebay or the classifieds.

When I do a completed searches listing on ebay there's usually more unsold, overpriced stuff than things that have actually sold.

As others have said, ebay is really unpredictable, most often I get a really good price for things, but sometimes the buyer gets a complete bargain.

The high average selling prices generally make up for the high fees, I'd say.

I just wish more people would start their auctions at a reasonable price and not put unrealistic reserves on things. It's got to the point where I don't even follow auctions with reserves.

The fees are high but I still reckon with a good ad and a good item, it's worthwhile- I've bought and sold a lot of bits over the year and I expect to get more there than I would in classifieds here.

Theirs a recession on people are riding kit into the ground and some people are thinking twice about blowing money on unnecessary kit.
Making what you've got go further….
That coupled with the comedy price increases recently so companies are just taking the piss.

Well I have just replaced my XT rear shadow mech (bashed and wobbly) with a really cheap SLX of Ribble – Can't be bothered about the few grams and I go through mechs like butter 😉 So We are all making cuts and I am sure people who normally sell and upgrade are making do at the mo esp with ridiculous ebay fees etc. Dont sell anyting on ebay – I always try classifieds and then try and try again.