Does ANYBODY use eBay anymore?

[Strostkovy]

I buy and sell on ebay often. I get about 2 sales per month per 10 unique product listings.

To bootstrap my sales, I sold an item to my mom and she gave me five star feedback. I also requested that several friends search a few keywords and click on my various items. It seemed to work very well, as I had sales within a week. I don't know how effective it actually is because I could have just been selling popular products.

I started selling off surplus parts I had gotten for projects I abandoned, but at a profit. I'll be listing my own products soon but have to keep up with distributor purchases first. (My night job sells products to my day job).

 

[Garwood]

It surprises me how many people are oblivious to the website engraved or laser marked into the products I sell on Ebay. Someone on a forum will post pictures up with the website in them and say "You can get it cheaper than Ebay or Amazon buying direct". Then 12 other people ask for a link. Never underestimate the amount of stupid out there.

 

[standardparts]

It surprises me how many people are oblivious to the website engraved or laser marked into the products I sell on Ebay. Someone on a forum will post pictures up with the website in them and say "You can get it cheaper than Ebay or Amazon buying direct". Then 12 other people ask for a link. Never underestimate the amount of stupid out there.

How about link? You have me interested.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

I did find it on z-set; thanks @David_M.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

This gauge is WAY faster than using a 1" gauge block. I'm sure I can set a #97 drill bit in just a few seconds.

Will the z-setter work if the drill bit is made of ceramic and so conducts no electricity?

 

[john.k]

I gave an ebay purchase a negative rating because it hadnt arrived ........anyhoo,in a matter of moments an angry Chinaman phoned me and said all kinds of swearwords in Chinese (eggy will know all about this).........funny thing was next day I checked the mailbox,and there it was flat against the side .....uh -oh...probably there all the time.

 

[David_M]

Will the z-setter work if the drill bit is made of ceramic and so conducts no electricity?

The z-setter gauge works equally well, setting conductive and nonconductive tools.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

The z-setter gauge works equally well, setting conductive and nonconductive tools.

Ahh. That should be in the bulleted list of advantages.

So it isn't using a current to the machine frame to tell. I wonder how the z-setter gauge tells that it's been touched, with a very light touch.

@Bender - How is the touch sensed?

 

[Bill D]

ebay has a decent search function. Amazon has very limited search filters.

facebook marketplace is very hard to search and not allowed more then 50 miles from home.
Bill D

 

[richard newman]

I'm able to search on FB up to 500 miles away.

Try SearchTempest, it's a great and free way to search the entire country for stuff on Craigslist in the US, Canada & Mexico plus and Facebook in the US.

SearchTempest: Search all of Facebook Marketplace, craigslist & more

Search by state, driving distance, or just search all of Facebook Marketplace*, craigslist*, eBay and more. The most trusted classifieds search engine. *Not affiliated with Facebook or craigslist.

www.searchtempest.com

 

[Strostkovy]

Craigslist search shows you half of the listings you are looking for, and then every car at every dealership in whatever radius you selected.

 

[john.k]

One thing Ive noticed about ebay is when you buy something,ebay then shows a whole lot more of the item at lower price ,often half what you just paid..............so what to do?.....immediate cancel ,which the vendor will claim is impossible as the item has already shipped (in five minutes!!!).

 

[EPAIII]

I have worked for an advertising agency and have sat for countless hours in meetings about how to increase their income. I have heard the thinking and the suggestions and the downright deceitful tactics they talk about employing.

So, here's my tip about web traffic. Web traffic can be increased with what is called "click bait". That is anything that gets the viewer to click on a link that takes them to your site or sale page on Amazon, Ebay, etc. weather they are actually interested in your item(s) or not.

So they go there and see they have been mislead and CLICK, they are gone.

When I get offers to send people to my items, I say SURE, I will pay you for EVERY SALE. Nothing for just the traffic, but FOR ACTUAL SALES I will certainly pay. At that point they usually hang up the phone so they can call another potential sucker.

Don't pay for traffic. Only pay for actual sales that their activity generates.

If you are interested in building a better web page, I recommend concrete https://www.concretecms.com/. You can also just buy web page templates that you plug your own images and text into. If you want exposure, you need to learn SEO, search engine optimization. There are a lot of people charging to do this for you, offering guaranteed web traffic and placing higher in the search results, but you can do a lot without throwing a bunch of money at it.

 

[EPAIII]

Amazon is betting that many people do not know how to search so they match any and ALL words in the search string. If you search for nails, you will get nail polish and carpentry nails are going to be far down the pages.

And in a way, they are right. Most people DO NOT know how to search.

Another part of it is the same as the way isles are arranged in department stores so you can not see any exits. If you have to search for an exit, perhaps you will see something on that journey and buy it. Don't laugh, it works.

Except for when the store is on fire and you can't find your way out. Oh well, what's one fewer senior citizen when our sales are up? I don't like department stores.

When I can I try to buy local, even if it's just a local box store, but it's not always worth the trip or worth trying to hunt for stuff in the store. I don't like supporting online bought but in-store-pick-up if I can avoid it (whole other issue), and will try to buy directly from online merchants when I can. IMO it's important to build those customer/vendor relations and it's worth spending a few extra nickel's to know who your money is supporting and what kind of pre and post sale support you will get. Some sellers on Amazon and eBay and similar sites will try to maintain that connection, but they have to put in the effort aside form just listing stuff.

IMO eBay's policies holding funds and adding fee's kinda shoots them in the foot, however I love their search features. Easy to use and I can find exactly what I'm looking for. Amazon sucks. I get so sick of typing a detailed search for exactly what I'm after and 90% of what comes up has nothing to do with it. I don't care what other people bought or what's sponsored. eBay's search functions are good like that, and I tend to buy a lot off of it (mainly used tools, obsolete parts, etc.), but don't sell much unless it's a small item that I don't have any other way of selling. Amazon has better policies in terms of returns and whatnot, so when we can we buy off of there. Zoro is somewhere between the two so they get a lot of business too.

If I was setting up a small business with online sales that I was expecting to turn a profit, I'd set-up my own ecommerce website before I'd rely on eBay to market my stuff.

 

[MrWhoopee]

I buy a lot on eBay. As for selling, my little creation is moving pretty well on the FB buy/sell groups focused on the specific interest. Paypal eats enough of the price. I tried listing on eBay, but I had the same experience as you.

 

[Strostkovy]

Amazon is betting that many people do not know how to search so they match any and ALL words in the search string. If you search for nails, you will get nail polish and carpentry nails are going to be far down the pages.

And in a way, they are right. Most people DO NOT know how to search.

Another part of it is the same as the way isles are arranged in department stores so you can not see any exits. If you have to search for an exit, perhaps you will see something on that journey and buy it. Don't laugh, it works.

Except for when the store is on fire and you can't find your way out. Oh well, what's one fewer senior citizen when our sales are up? I don't like department stores.

I am convinced Amazon intentionally trashes the lowest price first sort to discourage people from paying bottom dollar.

 

[richard newman]

I am convinced Amazon intentionally trashes the lowest price first sort to discourage people from paying bottom dollar.

I wonder if there is some app or website that can search Amazon for best prices?

 

[john.k]

Coupla months ago I bought a Norton gearbox mainshaft NOS.......vendor claimed the two he had were last anywhere ........soon as I paid $160 odd for it ,there are more popups for the same shaft at $100 post free .......I had not seen these sellers in an extensive search of ebay and traders for this item. .......incidentally these shafts are all the same ,apparently a reject batch for missing a grinding finish on the bearing surface

 

[adammil1]

ebay has a decent search function. Amazon has very limited search filters.

facebook marketplace is very hard to search and not allowed more then 50 miles from home.
Bill D

Here's a new one to me yesterday, I purchased an item that I know is only available these days as Chinese from eBay thinking it was coming directly from China. Typically that takes about 30 days to show up. I come home a day later and there is a little Amazon box sitting on my porch with my name on it. In our house all the Amazon purchases go through my wife's account so that was really odd. I pick up the package bring it in and open it up and it's the eBay item I bought 1 day earlier. So now I guess some eBay sales are being fulfilled by Amazon.

Something I'm wondering if it's coming that may bring back the good old days of eBay, is when will Amazon start offering shipping services to the little guy and become a 4th option for domestic shipping? Right now be it UPS, USPS or FedEx, big shippers get rates that are a fraction of what the little guy can get. This makes it very uncompetitive for people to list a lot of items as the shipping cost can kill them. I can get a whole Chinese made 10-in chuck shipped to my house for like $150 from a warehouse on the other side of the country. Meanwhile if I had a nice old Buck Chuck used I bet it would cost me over 150 just to ship it to the same distance. I wonder what impact this has on the availability of good old used items on eBay? Especially now that the quality of the Chinese stuff is catching up. Also at the same time if a new shipping company such as Amazon is willing to offer the same shipping rates to everybody ( not just big shipping accounts) I have a feeling that will allow a lot more merchandise to come to market.

Also I agree with others, the opportunity to sort by cost lowest to high when 100 people are all selling the same item from the same factory is very handy. Amazon doesn't seem to allow that. What their algorithm is to pop an item up to the top of the search I have no idea.

With that being said I have a lot of gripes on eBay. I hate how they've gotten rid of the ability to pay with PayPal. My PayPal find like many guys is my toy fund. I use it to buy and trade without having the wife get angry with my spending. Once eBay eliminated the ability to accept PayPal funds that was a big disappointment in my opinion. I still use it to sell oddball items such as machine specific parts that need to be listed and sit there for a long time but only if the items cost enough to be worth the trouble.

 

[LockNut]

I'm sure this doesn't help Ebaays case at all.

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/11/1224333712/ebay-stalking-settlement