eBid.net A Genuine Alternative to eBay ??

[Astral]

wurzel wrote:
You can choose NOT to accept Paypal when selling an item, it's NOT compulsory.

...but you don't HAVE to have a PayPal option.

Actually you do have to make it a payment option due to recent eBay changes. You may also not "discourage" buyers from using a particular payment method...

[dannyp1]

I just saw the other day that starting next month a seller will be limited to charging a maximum of $3 for shipping and handling of a CD.  I have charged $3.75 S&H for the last 2 years.  Postage is right around $2 and then you have to buy the shipper.  I guess there is no expense involved in buying paper for receipts, ink for the printer, and gas to get to the PO.  When I mentioned ink as an expense once to a buyer, he said that was really not much of an expense.  I said that I agreed with him most of the time, but not the once every 4 to 6 weeks when I had to pay $55 for a pair of cartridges.  It seemed like a very real expense then.  What the $3 maximum shipping fee boils down to is that ebay isn't collecting a big enough selling or listing fee from the places that charge $6 or $7 shipping for a CD.  They will try and pass this off as a protection for the buyer, when all it is is a way to make millions more profit each year.  The sellers will still make their money but Ebay will be getting a bigger cut.

[Daedalus]

Hmmm... I'm not sure if it's the same crowd, but years and years ago, before eBay had the monopoly, there was an Irish site called eBid.ie. It worked well for a while, but then descended into a pool of scams and cheats, most of which couldn't be caught due to indifference on the part of the site and lack of a refund/dispute system like PayPal's. The reason for this I don't know, but it went downhill quite quickly and I, along with most genuine users, moved to eBay.

Maybe it's a different company, maybe it works a lot better now, and is a worthy alternative, but back in the day (I guess around 2001) it wasn't to be trusted...

[spirantho]

A small point... the fees charged by PayPal for Credit Cards are the fees paid BY PayPal usually. Every time you use a credit card in a shop, the shop are paying the credit card company, usually about 2.5%-3.5%; of course you don't see this happen, but happen it does.

It's exactly the same for PayPal.. and as a seller you are responsible for the Credit Card fees.
The reason they don't allow people to charge extra for paying by Credit Card is because then people would associate PayPal with the surcharge. Common business sense. I'd do the same.

Remember, PayPal isn't there for us. It's there for PayPal. And therefore eBay. Same as any other company.

Simple solution - don't like it then don't use it. But don't forget PayPal and eBay are companies same as any other, and are perfectly entitled to ask for whatever they want. You are buying a service from them. Complaining about how evil they are for their fees is like shopping at Harrods and then complaining how they're more expensive than anywhere else.

[countzero]

this ebid crap doesn't work for me (cause I'm in japan). probably it won't work in china too. well that makes half the world  :lol:

[dannyp1]

We realize they are companies (really one company, Ebay bought Paypal years ago).  But the people you buy your home heating oil or Natural gas are companies too but there are laws to prevent them from price gouging.
If you think back companies that make a good profit and are satisfied with it and try to maintain it stay in business forever.  Companies that are always looking for ways to make more and more and more end up imploding and soon they are gone.  
They are really walking the line when it comes to some of the anit-trust laws and their time will come.  It's sad about their greed because they really have a neat thing going that everyone can enjoy.  But soon sellers will see they are making little or no profit and will move elsewhere or start doin something else.

[countzero]

Hmm, I haven't noticed google checkout before. wow, it looks nice and dandy. I guess google is aware of the lucrative auction market and will challenge ebay's dominance in the future. that should bring some sense into ebay's policies.

[kvasir]

Just logged in and took a look at it, my first impression of the site is pretty good, a bit heavy on javascript, though. (Might just be my system, IB on my machine tends to choke when using JS+HTTPS) I was still able to use the site with Javascript disabled, however. I'm going to set up url prefs to do this automatically for the site. Not sure if you can register for it with no javascript (I had enough errands to do @ the time I let the Amiga do what it had to do and came by every few minutes  :-D ) When I actually have some money (At the rate i'm going, this will be about the time OS4.1 has new hardware to run on :-D ) I'll have to make a bid or 2 and see how that works. Unfortunatly, as I like having fewer buttons on my browser, this sites has kicked mobygames off of my fastlink buttons. :-D

[arkanoid]

My impression from looking at eBid when I started this thread was that the _system_ itself looks fine. I'm pretty sure you could have a nice buying and bidding experience using it - no probs.

Sad thing is, it is very sparse on Amiga items. If somehow it could take a hold in the Amiga community and we began using and directing people to our bids listed a eBid, instead of evilBay, then I can't see why it couldn't work for Amiga items. But it would have to be some kind of concerted effort amongst us all...so I can't really see that happening.

oh yes, and by the way, just to rub salt in the wound. eBay are hiking up thier listing and final value fee charges YET AGAIN on the 25th of this month (September). You have to admire their drip drip/stealth tactics tho, most people wont notice when they're at 40-50% combined PayPal/eBay fees.

So basically, sell you items while you still can on eBay.

[WotTheFook]

Well, considering that we started AmiBay last December and we have just under 500 members now, I think that says that there is a movement away from auction sites. Auctions aren't everyone's cup of tea and only serve to drive prices higher unless you are lucky.

That's why Amibay isn't and never will be an auction site; if the asking price is too high, no one buys it, simple as. This keeps prices sensible.

WTF aka Merlin

[arkanoid]

WotTheFook: AmiBay is a great site and a lot of things seems to sell there at "community spirit prices".

The trouble is, most of us didn't buy our items at those community spirit prices. I certainly have never purchased any of my recent collection at a "cheap" price. Most people today buy rare Amiga hardware from eBay and pay the going rate. Whether we like it or not, the final bid value of items on evilBay *IS* their real "market value". Those Amiga auction items arn't artificially high, they're the prices people want to pay for them. And they're often around or close to what the seller originally paid for them.

The only problem I have with selling on eBay is with what I consider extortionate fees. others will disagree but most ppl selling on eBay are getting are feeling ripped-off.

[fatboy]

I am seller on e-bid and some of you guys have bought from me! http://uk.ebid.net/stores/Zoogamer

I like it because I am a private seller and list individual items on there...it's too expensive on ebay!

OK I don't sell a ton of stuff but for a 'hobby' the COST of sales to me is much lower on ebid.

I now only tend to do bundle auctions on ebay and have to put a bit on postage to cover the charges (some of my stuff only sells for 99p!!!)

I always state that I accept cheques or PO's, but most still pay with paypal! (greed seems to be an UNDERSTATEMENT when it comes to ebay/paypal!!!)

BUT....if you can accept that for now it's a fact of life, and want to sell to the widest audience then ebay still gives you that opportunity?....although I HATE them with a passion, as with ANY FAT GREEDY CASH COW GRAVY TRAIN POT BELLIED PIG!

[orange]

it seems ebid.net is much much WORSE than ebay, all I get is this message:


Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.

Apache/1.3.34 Server at www.ebid.net Port 80



bah

[arkanoid]

orange: I've had countless 404's from eBay's site over the years.

fatboy: couldn't agree more. it's the small-guy (as usual) who gets screwed over more. yet it's the small guy selling his odds and ends that has built eBay and made it so sucessful. I've actually heard rumours that eBay has long-tyerm plans to actually squeeze small sellers out of selling, so that they can make eBay more attractive to commercial retail outlets.

nice

[countzero]

it's not a 404, it's 403 forbidden. It seems they've put a ip check and blatantly block people from unserviced countries. what an amateur job.

[Lemmink]

Happy to state that I have neither a credit card nor a PayPal account.