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There have been numerous threads and posts about eBay pros and cons. I think most of the cons stem from misconceptions about eBay and retail in general. I had a huge post that I typed out in Word a couple of weeks ago, but have since "lost" it somewhere on my computer before I could post it. I would like to examine what I have seen.
Many people claim the eBay fees are too high. This simply is not true in the real world of retail. The most it would cost you to list an item on eBay without a reserve or fixed price is $2, and that is only if your starting bid is set at $200 or more. $2 is only 1% of $200. The seller's premium is 9%. Which is very little in the real world of auctions or even brick and mortar. In a brick and mortar store you have lots of overhead. Rent, lights, water, gas, phone, advertising, and the list goes on and on. Where do you get the money to pay for all of that? From the items you sell. On eBay, you do not have all of that overhead. Other "reputable" auction houses will charge you 10-20% seller's premium, which is higher than the 9% from eBay.
Now comes the complaint about PayPal. They charge 2.9% to process the payment paid for your item. Someone please show me any other payment processing that is cheaper than that, where there is no monthly fee or minimum transactions. Every single processing company i have explored charged more than 2.9% or you had a monthly fee of at least $50 or had to have a minimum of $1000 or more a month or you were charged a "penalty".
Bottomline: for a mere 12% you have an opportunity to reach an audience of over a billion people worldwide. The misconception that eBay does nothing to earn this is erroneous. They have paid a lot of money to market themselves as the #1 place on earth to find and buy anything your heart desires. They have taken all the risk out of accepting stolen credit cards. They provide you an easy to use interface in which you can upload items for sale. They have integrated a payment process so that you can get paid immediately. They have done all of this from your 12%. Show me where you can accomplish all of that on less than 12% of your total sales. It is impossible. This is coming from someone who has been involved in retail for25 years now. I have been doing online sales BEFORE eBay even existed. I held online baseball card auctions on the Prodigy message boards some 20 years ago, before websites even existed. I remember paying $25 a month to access the internet, and that was only for 30 minutes. You were charged for every minute over. My bill came to over $200 each month. Thank God for the internet. Thank God for eBay.
Many people claim the eBay fees are too high. This simply is not true in the real world of retail. The most it would cost you to list an item on eBay without a reserve or fixed price is $2, and that is only if your starting bid is set at $200 or more. $2 is only 1% of $200. The seller's premium is 9%. Which is very little in the real world of auctions or even brick and mortar. In a brick and mortar store you have lots of overhead. Rent, lights, water, gas, phone, advertising, and the list goes on and on. Where do you get the money to pay for all of that? From the items you sell. On eBay, you do not have all of that overhead. Other "reputable" auction houses will charge you 10-20% seller's premium, which is higher than the 9% from eBay.
Now comes the complaint about PayPal. They charge 2.9% to process the payment paid for your item. Someone please show me any other payment processing that is cheaper than that, where there is no monthly fee or minimum transactions. Every single processing company i have explored charged more than 2.9% or you had a monthly fee of at least $50 or had to have a minimum of $1000 or more a month or you were charged a "penalty".
Bottomline: for a mere 12% you have an opportunity to reach an audience of over a billion people worldwide. The misconception that eBay does nothing to earn this is erroneous. They have paid a lot of money to market themselves as the #1 place on earth to find and buy anything your heart desires. They have taken all the risk out of accepting stolen credit cards. They provide you an easy to use interface in which you can upload items for sale. They have integrated a payment process so that you can get paid immediately. They have done all of this from your 12%. Show me where you can accomplish all of that on less than 12% of your total sales. It is impossible. This is coming from someone who has been involved in retail for25 years now. I have been doing online sales BEFORE eBay even existed. I held online baseball card auctions on the Prodigy message boards some 20 years ago, before websites even existed. I remember paying $25 a month to access the internet, and that was only for 30 minutes. You were charged for every minute over. My bill came to over $200 each month. Thank God for the internet. Thank God for eBay.
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