In the early part of this decade, eBay was the hottest home-based business to start, because it offered the chance for anyone in the world to be a retailer right out of their living room. They could start out selling their own stuff and graduate to buying retail items at a deep discount and resell them for a profit on eBay. I owe a lot to eBay. It helped me get through college. I sold all kinds of stuff on there. I sold whatever I could get my hands on.
But, about a year ago, I had a few bad experiences with eBay, Paypal in particular. I found out the hard way that Paypal doesn’t protect sellers from credit card companies. Credit card companies can do whatever they want with Paypal. If they say refund the money to a buyer, Paypal bends over and does it regardless of who is at fault in a dispute. Then, eBay started raising their seller fees and changing many of their policies and fee structures that helped them become the auction giant that it is. The auction site became flooded with larger companies selling such high quantities of items, that they were practically giving them away. It was harder for the little guy to keep up, and then experts like Skip McGrath started telling people that they needed to carve out a niche. But now that doesn’t even work. Ebay’s stock price has consistently lost value over the past few years, and they go through executive management like water.
So, I submit the question, Is eBay dying? Is it a legitimate outlet to start a home-based business and actually make money? Is the fee structure driving the little guy away? My opinion is that eBay is becoming another Amazon with auctions. You can’t get the deals that you used to get on eBay, in fact, I’ve seen much better deals on Amazon lately.
I have encouraged many people that want to start a retail business out of their home to consider advertising on Craigslist. You won’t get the kind of global market that you get on eBay, but you’ll have less fees and less shipping costs. Plus, you can sell some items that you might not normally sell due to shipping restrictions. What is your opinion? Is Ebay still a viable place to get a deal and start a side business?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Erik, I agree, as I see eBay’s time is over. As a powerseller for a few years, I had fun and loved seeing those greens in my bid column and made some great money but like you,I got my fingers jammed by PayPal/eBay quite a few times (account frozen, etc), where sellers are dispensible and buyers are king.
The company has outgrown itself, it has no personal anything, all just robots pumping out emails, freezing accounts, you end up scratching your head thinking ‘why put up with this’? I didn’t want the frustration anymore so gave up after 2 years on eBay. Also like you, I enjoyed my time initially as a seller, but as sellers are not protected at all (especially here in Australia), I’ve found better fish to fry. I think its a matter of time that eBay morphs into something quite different to the company it started as, and its not a change I particularly like. I prefer etsy.com for gifts these days, quality and real people who charge with integrity!
Cheers
L :^)
Thanks for the reinforcement Lise! The reason that I wrote this article is that I suspect there are quite a few other out there with the same thoughts as you and me about eBay.
I agree that I think they will start to completely restructure their business model, in fact, I believe they already have. If you look at the changes they have made, they all cater to the brick-and-mortar retailer trying unload unwanted inventory. They have taken away what eBay was founded upon, home-based businesses and average people selling hard-to-find treasures from around their house.
It’s a shame, because I used to an eBay addict. Now, I occasionally check the price on something I am looking, only to find that the price is already bid close to the retail price.