Ebay.com is the best online store in my opinion. You can find anything you want there, from cellphones to clothes or cars. Sellers from all around the world list their items on eBay. Here you will find the best prices over the Internet thanks to the competence between different sellers. Morever, ebay offers a huge variety of products. We mustn't forget that ebay owns Paypal, the most used payment processor of all. If anything goes wrong ebay buyers protection will take care of it and will refund your money if it's necessary. One of the best features of ebay is the possibility to place a bid, auctions are a really good way to save money! What do you think about this site? Do you use it?
I use eBay both as a buyer and a seller. I've found it to be a great place to get good prices on mobile phone batteries and accessories and video game accessories. I also use it to sell collectible Star Wars toys such as action figures, comic books, ships and vehicles, and other memorabilia. I've had a few less-than-ideal transactions along the way, but considering that I've done hundreds upon hundreds of transactions, I'd say on the whole it has been a very positive experience. Like anything else, eBay has its share of haters who claim it is the most evil of all evil things. My advice is to take those people with a grain of salt, check it out if you haven't already and make up your own mind
I love ebay! I buy so many things from there! Right now my current craze is buying clothes from china! They are great quality, and a steal at the price. I cannot fault anything that has come from there, and some of my ebay clothes have actually lasted longer than my more expensive ones!! I cannot imagine not using ebay, if I ever can't find what I am looking for in a store, I ebay it, as I know I will find it there!
eBay is THE place to shop online. So many things you didn't even know existed! Most sellers are reliable but as in every other store you have crappy sellers too. Since most sellers are from the US international shipping costs make most prices not competitive enough against some other stores; nevertheless, what you find on eBay you probably won't find anywhere else.
With the positive comments here, I will have to try eBay again. I used to buy and sell on eBay but gave it up when the economy went down hill. I will have to check it out. I know that many of the sellers that sold handmade items went over to Etsy.
I use eBay quite a lot. Especially if I'm looking for something unique, the fact I live in hawaii means stuff here is more expensive so I always try to use eBay & save
eBay is particularly good for collectibles of all kinds. From Hot Wheels to Barbie to Star Wars, there's no wider selection of items available anywhere. I buy and sell collectible Star Wars toys and memorabilia and would be lost without eBay!
I used to use Ebay a lot....like every week, every holiday, etc. I really don't do much shopping any more, though, and especially not online with the shipping prices and fees through both Ebay and PayPal. It can still be amazing and you can find tons of great deals, but it's just not as great as it used to be for me.
Yep, they sure do. There are flat fees plus final/finishing percentage fees that come out from both sites, so it's a pain in the butt. I used to sell quite a bit there, too, but they upped them enough and changed the rules enough that it's just not worth it on top of the shipping.
Ebay is good depending on what item you are looking for. I use it a lot to get video games for my children. Most of the time I can find a video game for $2-$3 on Ebay that is still priced for $20 at Wal-Mart. I have been able to get a lot of brand new games for cheap. When I shop for clothes, I go for lots instead of individual items. Lots tend to come out to be cheaper. If you get something that you don't like in the lot, you can turn around and resell it for some of your money back. I have been known to buy a lot because I liked 4 or 5 items in it. Buying the lot came out to be cheaper than buying each item seperately. By the time I sold the items that I didn't like, I made money money back and then some. Newer toys for my children is the one area that I will not use Ebay for. A lot of the sellers are raising their prices extremely high. Wal-Mart was selling a toy that my son wanted, but they were out of stock. I checked Ebay and decided to wait on Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart sold the toy for $8, but on Ebay it was selling for well over $30. Ebay can be a great place to find deals, but I would advise people to do their research first. The sellers on Ebay are there to make money. If they buy the product for store price, they are going to sell it for more to make profit. Make sure that you are not spending too much on an item before you bid. I always pull up Wal-Mart and Amazon in a seperate window to compare prices when I go on Ebay.
Of course there are crappy sellers too, like anywhere else. I think most sellers are from USA and China, equally. Chinese Free Shipping really makes the difference, USPS is quite expensive... I've never sold anything through ebay, but I'm really interested in this. Could you please explain me the percentage fees and the flat fees that ebay charges you?
I believe they charge a percentage for the product price and not the shipping, that's why some sellers appear to have "cheap" prices but very high shipping fares. PayPal fees are a pain in the butt indeed (especially if you're not in the US) and I can't even imagine how low the earnings go if you also take eBay into account. Do you know of any eBay alternatives, like iOffer? Or AliExpress?
Ebay is pretty cool. I use it alot during the holidays. Only think I don't like is the last hour before the bid is over. I have to sit and watch the website like a hawk. It just upsets me so when I auto bid step away, and than come back to see that I lost.
Yep, but Paypal's fee goes by the total amount received, so you get a bigger fee from that, even if you cut down some of the Ebay fee. Actually, it looks like they changed that, too. This is from Ebay directly:
I've bought and sold on Ebay, and most of the experiences have been positive. I've snagged some good deals, and made some money when we were downsizing and needed to get rid of a lot of stuff. When I used to do car boot sales in the UK I bought a lot of good stuff from Ebay, and made a great profit on it. One great deal was a dozen pairs of good quality sun glasses, in cases, for which I paid £5, including postage and packing. I sold them for £5 a pair, so I made £55 profit, just on that one item.
I know many ebay altenatives, for example iOffer, alibaba, aliexpress, taobao, and so on. 9% of fees?? That's a lot of money! I didn't know this. kcampbell: You are right, the last bidding hour is terrible. You made me laugh when you said you had to watch the website as a hawk. LOL
I used to use ebay a lot more than I do now. If you are not careful and do not do your research, you can easily overspend on certain items. I now stick with local sites such as Craigslist and Facebook groups that are defined to my area. With this method I don't have to worry about shipping or any other hidden costs.
PayPal fees are already too damn high! So you lose $9 out of $95 when selling something on eBay - are PayPal fees already applied to that example?
I made my first money online selling on ebay. I have long since stopped selling on ebay. I don't buy as much as I did in the past. I always check ebay first when I'm in the market for computers related items or electronics. A couple of years ago, I bought a car off ebay. The seller was local to me, so I went and checked the car out before the auction closed. One of the best deals I ever made. I almost got the car for a steal, but another bidder jumped in during the last few minutes.
