UV400
Sr Member
For some time now, I've noticed a change in eBay prices and started to look elsewhere.
The main problem now for bargain hunters on eBay is that the seller is told what their item usually sells for.
This in my view has kneecapped the eBay platform somewhat, from a buyers perspective, making bargains harder to come by. Mega bargains are still out there, but they are increasingly becoming few and far between.
Being both an eBay buyer and seller, I understand both sides of the issue.
eBay has realised there is more money to be made by helping the seller.
eBay obviously wants to assist the seller in achieving the highest price possible, because eBay then makes more from its fixed percentage in seller fees - to my knowledge, eBay makes nothing from the buyer, so isn't interested if the buyer gets a bargain or not.
My problem is that the onus should always be on the seller to know what they are selling.
An example of eBay's current system would be someone selling a pair of red checker Fultons, unaware of how rare they are.
Let's say, without being informed, they would initially be happy with $30.
When they go to sell on eBay however, a prompt informs them that the item has previously sold for around $400. The buyer still has a choice at this point and the freedom to list at whatever price they want, but now the cat is out of the bag and the seller is now aware that they must have an item of great value or rarity, which was totally unexpected.
This explains why sometimes you see "normal" color Fultons on sale for $400, probably because the eBay system prompts the seller of previous Fulton sold prices, but the eBay system can't then differentiate between the frames color variants.
As a buyer, I'm now focused on other platforms for bargains, where the sellers aren't told the average and previously sold price of their items.
Everyone still wins this way, the unaware seller still ultimately gets the price they want and the astute buyer gets a bargain.
Other selling platforms also have fixed postage prices, where the seller cannot make extra money from the shipping. The exact price of postage options automatically appear on the listings, as the prices are direct from the couriers websites, automatically added by the system, meaning buyers only pay the exact shipping cost every time.
eBay in contrast however, lets sellers add whatever postage cost they like, meaning more often than not, sellers make extra from the postage.
To follow eBay's logic to its conclusion of helping sellers to achieve the highest price possible, I think ebay is slowly becoming less of a bargain buying platform and more like a online retail shop with MSRP or "going rate" prices, with more and more sellers taking note of the previous sold prices prompt.
The main problem now for bargain hunters on eBay is that the seller is told what their item usually sells for.
This in my view has kneecapped the eBay platform somewhat, from a buyers perspective, making bargains harder to come by. Mega bargains are still out there, but they are increasingly becoming few and far between.
Being both an eBay buyer and seller, I understand both sides of the issue.
eBay has realised there is more money to be made by helping the seller.
eBay obviously wants to assist the seller in achieving the highest price possible, because eBay then makes more from its fixed percentage in seller fees - to my knowledge, eBay makes nothing from the buyer, so isn't interested if the buyer gets a bargain or not.
My problem is that the onus should always be on the seller to know what they are selling.
An example of eBay's current system would be someone selling a pair of red checker Fultons, unaware of how rare they are.
Let's say, without being informed, they would initially be happy with $30.
When they go to sell on eBay however, a prompt informs them that the item has previously sold for around $400. The buyer still has a choice at this point and the freedom to list at whatever price they want, but now the cat is out of the bag and the seller is now aware that they must have an item of great value or rarity, which was totally unexpected.
This explains why sometimes you see "normal" color Fultons on sale for $400, probably because the eBay system prompts the seller of previous Fulton sold prices, but the eBay system can't then differentiate between the frames color variants.
As a buyer, I'm now focused on other platforms for bargains, where the sellers aren't told the average and previously sold price of their items.
Everyone still wins this way, the unaware seller still ultimately gets the price they want and the astute buyer gets a bargain.
Other selling platforms also have fixed postage prices, where the seller cannot make extra money from the shipping. The exact price of postage options automatically appear on the listings, as the prices are direct from the couriers websites, automatically added by the system, meaning buyers only pay the exact shipping cost every time.
eBay in contrast however, lets sellers add whatever postage cost they like, meaning more often than not, sellers make extra from the postage.
To follow eBay's logic to its conclusion of helping sellers to achieve the highest price possible, I think ebay is slowly becoming less of a bargain buying platform and more like a online retail shop with MSRP or "going rate" prices, with more and more sellers taking note of the previous sold prices prompt.
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