Over the past 5 years, I have found eBay to be less of a bargain. The fees are higher, the site is deluged with stuff so selling an item is harder to do, and you practically have to pay for a PayPal account to successfully transact.
The only success I have any more on eBay is selling the kids’ clothes. (I buy good brands off-season at deep discounts, leave the tags in, take care of them, and can usually recoup 50% of the purchase price.)
Anyone know of eBay alternatives or strategies?
I agree with you that eBay has become more cluttered; but I have actually had a very pleasant experience using Paypal. My eBay earnings through Paypal earn a small amount of interest and I have a handy Paypal debit card. I consider the fees acceptable as a trade-off for the swiftness and ease.
Hello,
We use http://www.half.com to sell used items and books. It works great for us.
Randal, Editor of The Frugal Life News
There is a site : http://www.etsy.com
its kind of like ebay – not exactly
it’s focus is hand-made / home made items or vintage…. not commercially produced items.
But it’s got great items made by artists and crafters , a lot of them are not expensive, and they are more likely to be original, one of a kind or few of a kind….
If you make items yourself, art, crafts, even beauty products that are home made…. you can sell there. I believe the fees are less expensive than ebay.
It also has some intresting “search” tools that help you look at thier items / search for items in a different way, its kind of fun. check it out.
Ebay is a funny thing. I think that you can still find good deals, but you really have to watch out for the high shipping costs on some items.
My husband and I still sell on Ebay, but mostly just small items. The insert fee is getting pretty high if your item is worth very much.
Garage Sales are definately a better way to sell things in my opinion. Unless you are trying to make a business out of it.