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Was Ebay/Paypal better pre gimmicks or today.
Coinstartled
Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭
A decade ago I could sell a $2000 coin at a PP/Ebay total fee of about $84. Today it is $171, plus the amortized monthly store expense.
But....the site is pretty fast with the Ebay Buck's deals. Though I no longer get the bonuses, many here do. On top of that the listing fees are now negligible.
So as the Optometrist would ask "better now?........or now?
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....and it cost a couple of bucks to list a coin of any value. The sellers were incentivized to sell. Now it is more of a coin graveyard.
much safer
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
When paypal was NOT owned by Ebay.
You are a seller and there are too many coins competing with yours? Or you are a buyer and don't like sellers being able to pick a buy now price and not be forced to list at auction and hope for the best?
Can you translate that into sober?
Paypal is no longer owned by Ebay.
One of the issues that I see with Ebay BIN pricing is that there are many dead money coins priced above retail that will not sell and simply take up space.
Solace is that many have taken a dive in value as the smug owners wait for their price!
I sell 99% of everything I put up at retail prices......what's not to like. I don't mind a bit of overhead and I can stop selling anytime I want....no worries.... love paypal and have been able to use it to my advantage once in a while. It's good for sellers and buyers too. The 1% I don't sell are my BIN's that I put up at too high a price as I don't want to sell them but my wife thinks I'm trying.....lol
bob:)
Much better in the "good old days."
The new ebay is great . I list all my truck parts as BIN and its much easier than auctioning them off. As far as buying goes I don't care if there 100 million overpriced listings I seem to be able to find what I need.
I really liked ebay back in the latter '90's.... was much different then and seemed to be less fakes. Now, I look, buy occasionally...mostly just browse. Cheers, RickO
Got it!
eBay works great for selling anything anyone gives a damn about.
My main complaint with eBay isn't about the way they do business, it's about the precedent it sets as far as pricing. While coins have a number of references you can pull from, many still choose to fall back onto eBay as their pricing guide, and not even sold listings, but ones that are still available!
Estate sales and yard sales are especially hit hard by this, it's much more difficult to have a good find when a collector's spouse always thinks I'm willing to buy a proof set or ungraded raws at the eBay markup!
I sell 5 - 8 items per day. BIN on almost all of them, and all have a Best Offer available, but only about 40% use it, and I just reject the low ball.
Much simpler, much better.
As far as fees go, I more than make up for them in the being able to sell for a higher price than doing it locally.
About 20% of my sales are overseas, and the Global shipping system has been great for that market.
As far as "dead" listings, my "main" search, without filters, brings 131K items. With some filters, less than 17K, and since the pages are set for 190, I can scan new listings in 15 minutes a day, and find some really great "sleepers"
I'll use a best offer.
If it gets an IMMEDIATE rejection, I know it's not a true Best Offer.
More of a BIN.
Don't ya hate those Best Offer's with a preset low!
Correct. PP ruined a great tool. Purchased, reaped the benefits, gutted, and sold/spun off.
Much better in the "good old days."> @btwini said:
Funny though how this works both ways.
When buying, they will point out the single coin on eBay that slipped through the cracks.
The coin, for example, that usually sells for $40, and somehow went for $11.
"But, it's only worth $11...???"
However, as the above poster said, when selling, they will magically find the one coin with a crazy BIN of, say $200, and want that for their coin.
It is typical of human nature that the eBay search turns up usually what the searcher wants to see, not necessarily the facts.
I'm not very good at this kind of stuff, but how did paypal hurt ebay or us as a buyer/seller???
I don't use the presets. A fellow offered me $700 on a mid four figure coin. I turned it down and he came back with $800.
In the past I have been offered less than melt for PCGS certified, classic US gold. I simply thank the person and write that I am not interested in selling the coin for less than melt. I have never sold a coin to someone who started off a negotiation in that manner.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Every offer you get , decline , accept , every message you exchange gives you a bump in best match or whatever they call search now. Engage every idiot , kill them with kindness.
I also have a theory that an open offer helps sales , if you get an offer that is really terrible make them wait 47 hours then decline , even if it doesnt help its fun to make them squirm
Probably not wise but a couple times I countered the extreme lowball offer with one a few bucks higher...then quickly ended the listing before they could react.
Again...not all that wise.
Both have never been better!
There are 2 schools of eBay....
1. The older (Meg Whitman) model of lower FVF's and a Fee (usually $2) for listings
2. The current (Devin Wenig) model of high FVF's and free listings
Under Whitman's model, we saw many real (fair starting price) auctions as the listing fees would add up if the listing didn't sell. The low FVF's helped to off-set not getting top dollar on the sale.
Under Wenig's model. We see items relisted over and over clogging up ebay at the same high prices as they are free to list and the seller needs top dollar to off-set the high FVF's.
EBay is slowly turning into a retail shopping site and is hurting the collectibles market. JMO
Just because there are a lot of listings doesn't mean its clogged. As long as its possible to search and find who cares if there are a billion listings? If I'm a buyer and I search better than others it benefits me
If you are a seller tailor your listings to the current conditions. The world we live in changes every day without asking our permission be quick or be dead.
You mentioned truck parts which I assume are high or at least decent margin Professionally graded coins are thin at best and hyper sensitive to higher fees.
Perhaps ebay needs to raise fees even more to force the dumb sellers out of business . Dumb full time sellers are not that common , but dumb part time sellers are like widgets , there are a lotta too many of them . Unfortunately some of our coin collectors are moonlighting as some of ebay's dumbest sellers . We are getting past the era where collectors can depend on ebay to bail them out of stupid purchases.
But there is no disincentive for a hobbyist to list his collection at double retail and hope for a rube to show up. He has no real interest in selling but if the right fellow comes along....
As a seller I think it was better for sellers in the old days when you could take any form of payment, leave negs for abusive buyers, get referral fees from PayPal and etc.
Today I think it is much safer for honest buyers.
Not sure which I think was better.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
Good points. Wonder how safe it is though for the buyer of a counterfeit or sandwiched coin when discovered several months after the purchase.
I am a statistician and have always hated the fake feedback system. It's just a worthless game, but everyone has agreed to play it.
A lot more fun in the early days, lot less problematic now.
I reserve the right to remain ignorant, while I continue selling there.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Really good for me in 1998 when first came out bc big boys not on it first couple years. Made a ton off raw paper and slabbed coins too. So much easier get retail then. A Chicago coin shop was blowing out a NBN collection picked off a lot of them sold double bubble later on. Cleaned up big time - miss those good Ole days!
Great comment! Fast delivery ! A++++
