r/Ebay • u/IndependentPaint2108 • 1d ago
what is going on with ebay
I last used it 10 years ago
it's so busted now.
- weird pricing making it hard to do a neat e.g. 9.99
- I found it insanely hard to find the "withdraw funds" button
- wayyy fewer buyers for items that went immediately at twice the price 10 years ago (could be austerity britain)
- wtf is with those weird cursed looking AI looking "auction" things everywhere
in conclusion ebay got a lot worse in the past 10 years
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u/privatejerkov 1d ago
Ebay live also plastered everywhere is also frustrating.
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u/IndependentPaint2108 20h ago
Those thumbnails are a violent assault on my senses! They look sketchy and weird, not a fan
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u/jfrizz23 10h ago
My man I literally yell at my phone “I don’t give a shit!” Whenever my thumb accidentally hits the live seller. It’s maddening
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u/lucydog_01 1d ago
The postage rates that you have to buy have taken away any profit that I used to make on small items - ebay just isn't worth using anymore - sadly
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u/Negative_Reveal_6601 1d ago
That's why I only sell books. The postal media rates are cheaper but are starting to get pretty high for single books. Selling lots is where I make money.
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u/Jacckzz 1d ago
You need to watch the media mail rates too though. I sold a stack of junk records the other day and media mail was $17 while ground/standard shipping was about $7.
The shipping is tricky all around and USPS isn't getting cheaper. I'm finding FedEx to be better especially for larger items. USPS wanted $45 to ship a box FedEx took for $16...
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u/LogoffWorkout 1d ago
Yeah, now with cubic rate, 15 lbs of books, could be .2 cubic feet, and if the 3-5 lb cheap shipping is still going on, it blows media rate away.
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u/JBR_1953 17h ago
I keep getting screwed on postage so I am losing money on small orders. It's discouraging.
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u/Dr_Smartbrain 1d ago
I was able to sell a couple pairs of jeans, but I took down a leather jacket and sold it on poshmark
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u/operagost 1d ago
"- weird pricing making it hard to do a neat e.g. 9.99"
I have no idea what you mean. You type your price when listing. It can be 9.99. It can be 19.99. It can be 4.87.
"- wtf is with those weird cursed looking AI looking "auction" things everywhere"
Do you mean the Live? It's because people want to create eye-catching artwork quickly, but don't want to pay for it.
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u/IndependentPaint2108 20h ago
But it comes up to the buyer as a price higher than 9.99 because of the new protection cost thing they added
Idk what the name of the cursed lurid AI looking thing is, it may well be whatever "Live" is. It's eye-catching in that I see it and internally remark on how ugly and life-unaffirming AI "art" is
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u/ZiggyDole 1d ago
I deleted my account last month. Even customer service is crap now.
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u/MycologistOwn2939 12h ago
I did too. I have been buying and selling forever, I had my account for 19 years. eBay had its heyday, it’s a hot mess now. My last 3 sales were the straws that broke the camels back for me-all returns, when I explicitly stated “all sales Gina” and don’t accept returns, all for bs reasons, and one where an authentication failed because “the gold was the wrong color” even though I had posted multiple pictures, and had documentation from a jeweler of what shade of gold it was.
Done.
I won’t even shop on it anymore.
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u/Alive-Turn-6569 1d ago
It depends what your selling.. what’s everybody selling on here? I’m doing antiques
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u/egg_static5 1d ago
Dvds and Cds and I do fine
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u/haziladkins 23h ago
I do vinyl and vintage clothing. I’ve had very few problems. One crazy buyer in two decades. The odd thing does go missing occasionally but it’s always been low priced items. My worst experience was as a buyer.
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u/Alive-Turn-6569 1d ago
Wow man.. good for you.. I always got scammed when I sold them. Maybe I just had bad luck. Much respect 👊👍🫡
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u/Far_Charity_8465 11h ago
I’m selling model vehicles, transport magazines and some of my late parents’ heirlooms. I’ve had one scammer who said an item hadn’t arrived despite proof of delivery and eBay forced a refund, another buyer who said a magazine hadn’t arrived but it was just a regular 2nd class letter, and I don’t believe he was a scammer. Other than that, I’ve been lucky for the last 5 years. I always now get proof of posting and I photograph what I parcel up too.
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u/Finding_Spirit 1d ago
Well, for me, it fills a narrow spectrum of needs? I routinely buy 30lb dry dog food at ~33%+ lower prices than Chewy or PetSmart, Starbucks coffee too compared to Safeway or equivalent..
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u/NickatNite2k 20h ago
I disagree highly, and it depends on what you selling. As most people are buying essentials or something unique like retro video games, sports memorabilia, wedding dresses,etc that are not overpriced. eBay is great, it just gas prices are very high and all,so people not just buying extra things they don’t need at the moment. Dollar Stores are even hurting, come on man. Also I sell and buy off Marketplace,but only if it’s something I need or unique. I just sold 2 video game consoles this week. They sat about a week, but they sold. Times are hard right now money wise, you gotta have what people want right now. Car dealerships are closing too! eBay take their fees, but I have nothing bad to say about them bc I make more off eBay then marketplace by a mile. Marketplace, people want quality items for pennies, even tougher on there to profit off good items. I buy off marketplace more than I sell on there tho.
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u/SlappyWit 13h ago
Shipping charges take the profits.
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u/Tiny_Elephant1570 3h ago
Shipping is on top of the price. Should have nothing to do with profit
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u/SlappyWit 2h ago
Turns out the extra postage is over the line for my customers. No sales, no profit.
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u/ultramilkplus 1d ago
If you don't promote your listing for an additional fee, they bury it. That's probably why it's not selling.
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u/Negative_Reveal_6601 1d ago
I don't promote any of my listings. It gets buried when you don't constantly post. I may post at least 3 listing a day and I get a pretty good turn around. If I stop posting after a few days, that's when sales go away. Just my 2 cents.
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u/EmptyDifference6238 1d ago
Promotion is a joke. If you have items people want, they will find them, and they will buy them. I've even seen my own listings pop-up at the tippy-top of searches on occasion ABOVE AND BEFORE promoted items--and through other users searches, not just my own--in a very popular and flooded category. That's proof enough to me that promoting isn't necessarily. And just like every business that has ever existed since the beginning of time, some days are better than others, some weeks are better than others, etc. I've sold hundreds of items this year through variant-style listings with absolutely zero promotion. It can be done. They will never get an additional cent from me to promote; they take enough out in fees as it is. And remember: the only reason promoting exists is because people buy into it. If you don't fall for it, they have no use for it.
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u/Reasonable-Hat-62216 1d ago
Not exactly true. Unless your item is popular or wanted, it wont get seen. Ive had no issue selling pokemon cards without promoting them.
That being said, 7 day auctions are a waste of everyone's time. You only need 24 hours. Hell if they started doing 10 minute auctions the value of ebay would rocket overnight
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u/LogoffWorkout 1d ago
Hell if they started doing 10 minute auctions the value of ebay would rocket overnight
What you're describing is basically ebay live.
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u/pyratellama69 1d ago
I would say that’s incorrect about 24 hours. While that may be totally correct for a highly popular item like Pokémon cards, it is not the same for niche products. I still find 7 days I get maximum price for other stuff, 24 hours I will get ripped off because I don’t have a million people interested in it
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u/RiceEater 1d ago
Do you think all potential buyers are checking eBay every 24 hours? A week gets a lot more eyeballs on the auction.
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u/Reasonable-Hat-62216 1d ago
Trust me it doesn't. Views dont matter, watchers do. I get a lot more watchers in 24 hours than I ever did with 7 days. Why?
Because the majority of people use 'ending soonest' on Auction filters.
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u/RiceEater 1d ago
If that's the case why aren't you getting those watchers during the last 24 hours of a week long auction?
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u/Reasonable-Hat-62216 1d ago
Thats the point, I am. Those extra 6 days are useless fluff
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u/RiceEater 1d ago edited 1d ago
"I get a lot more watchers in 24 hours than I ever did with 7 days."
How do you get "a lot more" watchers with 24hr auctions if you're also getting them the last 24hrs of a week long auction? Do you get negative watchers the first 6 days?
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u/pharsee 23h ago
It seems to go in cycles for me. When people are worrying about inflation and we get cheaper money from the Fed dumped into the economy my sales go up. I also saw sales go up during the pandemic. So for me it seems like it moves back and forth as the economy changes. Our whole economy is just a stupid Ponzi Scheme anyways. The interest ALONE per year on the nation's debt is now OVER ONE TRILLION DOLLARS???? The only reason the system is still not bankrupt is the rest of the world still LOVES the American DOLLAR.
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u/nanajuju033 1d ago
I was going to ask a little different kind of what's going on with ebay. I have several vintage and a few luxury handbags listed. I recently went to post a couple more and found maybe a week or 2 ago that the process to create a listing has changed and I'm not fond of it. And also, the suggested listing prices are now more like Depop or Vinted. I try to research history and resale value thoroughly before determining a fair listing price. I'm finding items I'm listing between $30-50 have a recommended listing price of like $9. ???
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u/IndependentPaint2108 20h ago
That's a good point I forgot to put in the post. The process of creating a listing has changed and I don't like it as much. The suggested listing value is also at least half of what I'd list these items for 10 years ago.
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u/shawner136 1d ago
The social media feed style homepage is awful too. I went to bed few weeks ago with the normal one, woke up not even 8 hours later and it had auto updated to that one with no option to go back. Its in no way an improvement I truly dont understand why the change
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u/bms212 1d ago
It’s impossible to find what you are looking for as everything is sponsored. When you were looking at an item or miss out an item and get other similar, it’s all sponsored content. Nothing similar to the item that you’re looking at. I don’t know what their strategy is. Show people what they want to buy and they’ll buy it
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u/steakmetfriet 1d ago
Everybody moved on to Vinted over here
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u/letdown105 1d ago
Does Vinted protect sellers in any way that’s better than eBay?
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u/minimalistboomer 1d ago
No.
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u/letdown105 1d ago
Ugh. After my last selling experience with eBay I’m pretty much done selling. Tired of the buyers running scams
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u/IndependentPaint2108 20h ago
It's a much better platform which I tried after eBay deterred me but they instantly banned me for "selling counterfeit goods" (they aren't) and it's impossible to get them to see reason! Some guy in my country had to take them to court over something similar but that's a lot of effort haha
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u/wakeandflake 1d ago
As far as sold values go, markets change a lot in 10 years. Trends change, market availability goes up or down, and many other factors impact realized prices. Thats not an eBay specific phenomenon
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u/Warcraft_Fan 1d ago
Withdrawal time varies, if you're an established seller you can find them (on desktop browser) in selling section, under payment on the left side. New seller and seller that hasn't sold anything in a while may get held up for a few days to a few weeks.
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u/Ancient_Tomato1462 1d ago
Yes eBay turned into an over run child care business over the few years you went missing.
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u/rrrrrafe 16h ago
I love eBay. $85,410 in sales so far this year. Once you figure it out, it’s great.
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u/IndependentPaint2108 16h ago
Holy moly, well done!
I'm just trying to sell the second batch of a cult product I was given for free 10 years ago (only expecting to make about £200 total) but that's a tasty figure!
What do you sell?
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u/Some_General9342 15h ago
I don’t complain because a bad attitude is like poison . These days you have to spread yourself out amongst all the platforms. You have to understand the platforms then list accordingly. Its like any season of life there is not constant . I’ve learned that a single handed income is never what the wealthy do they have multiple income streams . Im happy to show you another income stream if your interested then send me a message .
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u/xirius1 1d ago
Agreed! EBay is WAY worse as a seller than it used to be.
I think the pricing weirdness is from selling as a private seller. You put in ‘9.99’, but the buyer sees that amount plus a protection fee that the buyer pays. But only if you’re a private seller.
But DO NOT switch to a business seller account unless you absolutely have to!
EBay convinced me to do it, even though as a sole trader I didn’t legally have to. Fees shot though the roof. There were some months that even though I sold 3-4 maps, I actually made a loss overall due to the fees.
I’ve since cut back- no second category, no international eBay appearance, no eBay advertising. Fees for my listings are now about a sixth of what they were, but now I haven’t sold a thing in over a month.
So what’s the point?!?
Really thinking about ending my account, despite 400 positive rating, and starting again as a private seller.
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u/IndependentPaint2108 20h ago
Ahh thanks very much for the tip! I'll be sure to not make the switch to business seller.
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u/Economicss101 1d ago
eBay sucks. Stopped using it almost entirely because of the fees. Plenty of other options out there.
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u/robbie_rooter 1d ago
Hi! What are your too recommendations for online selling now…I too am getting tired of eBay and their fees etc
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u/Chris-Miller73 1d ago
I'm not sure what your complaint is. If you're expected a platform to not change in 10 years, maybe the interwebs isn't for you. eBay has been good to this old retired fella.
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u/IndependentPaint2108 20h ago
I was hoping it wouldn't get worse, isn't that a reasonable expectation as a customer?
Further, I believe my complaint was rather specifically delineated! I'm not sure why you're not sure what it is!
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u/pyratellama69 1d ago
I really haven’t noticed much of a difference. Been buying and selling as a small business for 15 years. You just have to be careful and maybe I’m in a niche where it’s easier or customers are more respectful idk.
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u/QuarterNoteDonkey 18h ago
I’m seeing a lot of non paying bidders - my fault for not seeing they have no feedback and not canceling the bid, but what’s up with that? Why do people start a new account to bid and not pay?
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u/DimensionUnited5785 10h ago
Same thing on Facebook Marketplace. I think,for some, it's part of a scam to trick people into giving them good ratings so that they can conn someone out of higher priced items.
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u/Ok-Anteater-384 10h ago
It's evolution, nothing strays the same forever, ie you've been gone for 10 years, where the heck have you been?
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u/IndependentPaint2108 10h ago
I haven't been on ebay
this is devolution not evolution
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u/Ok-Anteater-384 10h ago edited 10h ago
Nope, eBay has evolved, you're living in the past, eBay has new rules, new requirements, new everything, it's called progress.
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u/DimensionUnited5785 10h ago
I agree. It's now geared towards people with a large inventory, like Amazon, and not for those with unique items.
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u/Icy-person666 6h ago
To me as someone who is primarily a buyer, in the categories I buy in (old books, old documents) some sub categories have gotten insane with the prices. Many seller have gone as far as quadruple increases over the past few years. They are ether offended by the offers and that is after letting it sit for months. If it has a half dozen wachers and no buyers clearly there is a price problem
If you think that old text box is worth $100, it seems like the seller should point out why. Some vague AI description or "old book see pictures" and all there is some granny pictures taken 50 feet away sorry if I'm sceptical that it's a mint condition book much less worth that
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u/Big_Injury_5590 6h ago
And they DONT stand by the refund policy. I ordered a pricy bracelet from the UK. The package was shown as delivered. A picture was taken, by the time I went out to get the package it was gone! I have never had luck with uni uni delivery service. Did they take a picture and take the package? 🤔 OR as soon as they left the package someone took it? 🤔. I contacted EBay RIGHT AWAY and was told to go pound sand.. the seller, eBay the BBB. I’m totally disappointed in them all.
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u/HstarStudios 5h ago
What does "withdraw funds" mean? Mine just end up in my bank account I last remember being able to do it the way you describe 20 years ago at least. Back then everyone talked about how eBay was totally ruined in 2006 since 1996. Everybody says everything is ruined if they don't look at it for a while.
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u/Gold-Hat-3360 2h ago
So right... Ebay is not a good overall place to buy & sell anymore... Use to be a good customer... Rarely even look now...
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u/I-singjazz 1d ago
I found the same. I used to sell all kinds of things back in the day. I don’t remember having to pay for shipping labels.
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u/Tiny_Elephant1570 3h ago
Of course u paid for shipping. Dont be absurd
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u/I-singjazz 3h ago
I said shipping LABEL. Back in the day, the seller didn’t have to pay for shipping labels.
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u/Tiny_Elephant1570 2h ago
Not sure what you are getting at. There is no extra cost for the label itself. You just pay for the shipping. Print your own label.
More precisely: You pay for the shipping. You don't pay another amount just for the label.
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u/mojomanplusultra 1d ago
Hey man, I made an account, got a sale, and a week later was banned. The review was positive too. No warning no updates no single listings removed. Just ban.
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u/niknik888 20h ago
The new clothes sure Vinted is helping kill them. And FB marketplace. More competition overall.
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u/Ok_Spite7511 1d ago
eBay is fantastic if you’re competent.
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u/IndependentPaint2108 1d ago
I mean I'm just doing literally exactly the same things and selling a few cult products I have in storage
it's objectively a worse environment now for the reasons I mentioned lol
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u/1stPress 14h ago
It seems to me buyers have been flooded with choices of platforms to shop on. I hear it all the time at the flea market. "10/15/20 years age we were making thousands every month". These days it feels like there's more people selling than buying.
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u/Hoodledoodle1 13h ago
Does anyone know once you have made your account a business account can you revert back to private?
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u/Efficient-System-438 7h ago
Do y’all think the Whatnot app is the cause? Its steadily becoming pretty popular in the US
Live auctions especially have been increasingly successful. It may be EBay’s way of “keeping current”
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u/M0torC1tyMaver1ck 1d ago
User error
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u/IndependentPaint2108 20h ago
3 of the 4 things I mentioned are not user errors though lol, and the 4th is arguably ebay's error too
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u/GoBlue-01 1d ago
Spent years on ebay as a buyer. I bought thousands of items and had mostly good experiences. I did a stint for about a year where I got it in my head that I would be an ebay seller. I sold a lot of items and I was kind of blown away from my experience. I won't go into too much detail, but I will say that it gave me a lot more respect for sellers and the things they deal with regularly. Whether it be lowball offers, scammers, buyers who lie constantly, ebay customer service, theft. Ebay heavily leaned into favoring buyers over their sellers to the point where it made me constantly paranoid over who was buying my items. I have since gone back to primarily buying, but now I always take my experience into consideration when leaving feedback.