For those about to think about selling online I thought I would provide a guide to what sites there are, the advnatages and the disadvantages. Also sort of words of warning for people who think they can beat these systems or work within them.
I have to admit I love the buzz of auctions from finding an item you dont pay much for and watch it increase in value to the winning bidders. For me I find that this field of the internet has become more regulated and more colder, more official.
A few years ago a friend and i put loads of various items on the site, at one point the listings stood at 600. It was really good at that level as you could watch numerous items end and sort of re-use the funds made to get stuff you did want. Over the last year or so Ebay has gone from putting unlimited access to 100 items only, if you go over the 100 items per month limit then you get asked to verify and have to click a button to register as a business user. This is where Ebay is failing at the moment in that the system itself is becoming more like a business that only exists for business's. Where as a personal seller can advertise items, but once they get left a negative feedback then this gives paypal(ebays bank) the right to ask for further information to put a hold on people's accounts.
This is another critism in that they hold onto people's payments and obviously earn nmoney from the intrest that accumlates. Speaking from experience here I had a verified account and paypal put a hold on all people's payments as a result I got people contatcing me saying 'where is my item'. But I couldnt post said items as the money they pay as postage was to cover the postage. Then to top things off ebay then writes to the buyers and says 'suspicous seller'. In some ways I feel that the ebay system doesnt work as a seller as you end up paying the postage out of your own money and then sometimes have to wait to get your money.
For all my critism of ebay I do feel its a brilliant site to buy from, at the moment Im buying via postal order and cheque only. Sometimes bargains can be found. As for ebay and paypal I will continue to use ebay, but paypal I advise people to stay clear of. In a way its like a bank that doesnt let you have access to your money and uses verification as a means of delay.
I have also noticed a mark increase in the ammount of people raising claims after 4 days of posting, then you go out of your way to send the item for the person the other end to claim a refund knowing said item has turned up.
What about the other sites. Play.com is quite good for selling but has a really unfair feedback percentage. For private and business sellers, you have to keep your feedback score above 80% which if you think about it can be quite hard to do, say you sell 4 items and one person doesnt like it then your instantly fighting an uphill struggle, the site works if you can maintain a high feedback score to begin with.
When I talk about negative feedback, i feel its almost an unavoidable thing. Especially if you are selling second hand goods as they are obviously not new and some people can find defects.
Amazon and ebid are what Im working with at the moment but to quite a low level, amazon only lets the money credit your bank account and you cant spend it online like wih the other sites. Ebid uses something called Escrow and lets people pay by numerous diffrent ways which ios good, also the design of the site is very good as well.
My advice, if you must use ebay and paypal. Only list 5 items for payment by paypal method after that you have to go through validation which is long winded and stops.
For everything else play and amazon
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