ebay

Originally Posted by Bear

It's all changed a lot since I was heavy into it, i was a power seller for several years, when they used that title. Funny thing though, when they first told me I had qualified for that classification, I really didn't want it, kinda figured it would associate me with the big ripoffs it was well known for during that era. Even funnier, Ebay itself turned out to be the biggest ripoff of them all, why I finally stopped the first time, but not before some guy doing a local pickup on a heavy UPS had stated, "wow man, you're a power seller!" and I'm like "yeah, Whoopie!, haha!".

Starting up has changed too, I started a new one a few years ago, but closed it soon after, due to a lot of that. Not sure if I'll ever even go in that direction again.

It was fun though, back in the day. My first sale was a tiny old wooden drawer from an old pedal type sewing machine. I'd bought it at a yard sale for a dollar, not for the drawer, it was full of old cabinet hardware, door pulls and such, the drawer was just what they'd used to put them in. I realized early on that a decent photo was a key component, and was trying to find a cheap digital camera to use for this purpose. The first two I purchased didn't even come close to capturing a clear photo, they only had a digital zoom. I tried everything I could find trying to get a decent picture, but the only one I came up with was the wood grain on front of that drawer, so I listed it (empty of the hardware) and it sold for $15. I'm like "wow!" I finally had to take both the digital zoom only ones back, and the third one I tried ( a $99 Fuji with 3x Optical zoom hit the nail) and I started listing the hardware from the drawer, selling it all over the world, I was hooked! If I remember anywhere near correctly I think I made about $45 off of that $1 drawer of cabinet pulls.

Anyway, the one thing to know is this, sellers pay the bills on Ebay, and any time they want more money, they come after you. They know they have the traffic, so you are not really very important there, when you leave, three more will take your place. If their stock dividends aren't what they'd hoped they'd be, you'll need deeper pockets because you'll be the one they come after for more money. BUT!... they are the only place with the volume of traffic that makes it pay off, and they darn well know it. You'll get screwed everytime you turn around, but you'll either have to learn to like it, or go home

As a 10 year eBay seller, it's nice to see other sellers (former and current) realize how one-sided eBay is. They crap on sellers (who pull big numbers) wayyy too much. The "changes" each season are just another level deeper into your pockets, as a seller, though they spin the hell out of it to make it look like they're doing you a favor, lol.



You're totally right. I was in a position a few years ago where we were moving nearly 100 orders per day, pulling in huge numbers, and we still didn't even really matter to them. They crapped on us pretty hard and even paying $6,000 in final value fees per month, we were treated about the same as someone who sold the odds and ends laying around in their basement.

Still, you just can't beat the traffic, and you can move product pretty quickly and easily (especially tech-related). Still worth it for me.