Alternatives to Ebay?
bernithebiker
Posts: 4,148
Been a while since I sold anything on Ebay, and I've put my wheels on there to sell.
Out of curiousity, thought I'd check their commission.
Almost fell off my chair when I saw it was 10% of the sale price AND 10% of the postage price. On a set of wheels over 2 grand, that's a big wedge of cash.
And then you have to stump up another 4 ? % to Paypal. So if they sell fairly well, Ebay would take £350.
I'm all for our 'special friendship' with our American friends, but that's taking it a bit far.
Any decent alternatives?!
Out of curiousity, thought I'd check their commission.
Almost fell off my chair when I saw it was 10% of the sale price AND 10% of the postage price. On a set of wheels over 2 grand, that's a big wedge of cash.
And then you have to stump up another 4 ? % to Paypal. So if they sell fairly well, Ebay would take £350.
I'm all for our 'special friendship' with our American friends, but that's taking it a bit far.
Any decent alternatives?!
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I just look at that they are going to take 15% of whatever you sell it at, unfortunately they have the market all to themselves, I think they even own Gumtree.
Saying all that you usually get amazing prices for most second hand bike parts (not so much bikes) in my experience.0 -
I just look at that they are going to take 15% of whatever you sell it at, unfortunately they have the market all to themselves, I think they even own Gumtree.
Saying all that you usually get amazing prices for most second hand bike parts (not so much bikes) in my experience.
Would echo what banditvic says. My usual outlets for 2nd hand stuff are through the classified section on this Forum or, failing that, I opt for Ebay.
Certain items seem to sell well on this site eg drivetrain components, low to medium priced wheelsets, saddles etc but other more niche items often stick or receive silly offers. For those items you have little option but to suck up the Ebay charges and go with it.
Recently offered a frameset on this site with no interest apart for one very low offer. Sold it on Ebay for more than I was asking on here even after you deduct the Ebay charges.
Ebay does have the advantage of a much wider catchment than those who subscribe to cycling forums regularly
Suppose you could consider signing up to a range of cycling forums if they have classified sections but it's all a bit of a lottery.0 -
I think there's a cap on eBay fees isn't there? £75 pounds I think. So greater than £750 makes no difference to eBay fees (that's not the case with PP though). That's the way I understand it. Could easily be wrong.0
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The cap (in the UK) is now £250. The commission is 10%, including 10% of the shipping cost! And there are absurdly high PayPal fees on top of that.
I have almost entirely stopped using eBay to sell things. I still use it to sell niche items that need a large market to fetch a good price. And I still use it to buy niche things. But the fees are just ridiculous.
It is a shame that all companies ruin a good thing in the end. The power of greed.
Forums are a good place to sell cycling stuff.
Yep, I'm right in the worst place, touching right up to the £250 max!!
That's way too high. OK so they have a monopoly and they feel they can charge what they like....is there noone out there who can challenge them?!0 -
The total costs of selling on eBay, while clearly published, are not well known.
The result is that things of a fairly clear value often sell for about the same on eBay as elsewhere, even though the eBay seller gets far less.
For this reason, I have started to price things aggressively and sell them in places other than eBay. That way you can sell quickly and still often pocket more than you’d get on eBay.
I live in France and use LeBonCoin, which is a bit like Gumtree. These sites probably only work well if you live in a big city, since you normally have to meet the buyer face-to-face. There are a lot of tyre-kickers and flaky buyers, but it works reasonably well on balance.
Forums seem a good marketplace, though I confess I buy a lot more bicycle stuff than I sell.
(Sorry for all the stupid eBay links in this post. More greed in action.)
Yeah, I'm in France too, and leboncoin is great, totally free and works well. Not many French use Ebay, I find, good for them!0 -
In Netherlands you have Marktplaats.nl and for Italy,I think http://mercatino.bdc-forum.it/ is the best one altough the prices are for many things much lower than the UK ones.
If you don't want eBay.0 -
An alternative is to put it for sale on here and ask for a really fair price then wait for people to ask if you'll sell it for £5 or £10 less. I used to add that on before hand to predict it but now I just don't bother selling to anyone who asks for it cheaper because most of those times I'd rather burn it and then send them a photo of it.
Often you sell something and half the time people aren't even courteous enough to say when it's arrived, say thanks or be simply polite either. Of course, the other half the time you find people are a pleasure to deal with.
It is a shame when you have decent stuff lying around that you'd happily sell, I've got plenty of stuff like that.0 -
I just don't bother selling to anyone who asks for it cheaper because most of those times I'd rather burn it and then send them a photo of it.
Often you sell something and half the time people aren't even courteous enough to say when it's arrived, say thanks or be simply polite either. Of course, the other half the time you find people are a pleasure to deal with.
On the money (excuse the pun).0 -
Just keep the wheels that way you won't have to pay any fees or have someone return them on ebay.http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.0
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Put them on a Buy It Now & Best Offer. If you get an offer negotiate out of eBay sale & maybe offer free postage as an incentive. Against the 'rules' but they deserve it - money grabbing gits!0
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If ebay is too expensive where do I sell a brand new bike frameset then? It's a warranty replacement, but I am after something different.
I did look at the Classifieds here, but it only seems to be for second hand stuff.0 -
If ebay is too expensive where do I sell a brand new bike frameset then? It's a warranty replacement, but I am after something different.
I did look at the Classifieds here, but it only seems to be for second hand stuff.
Hahaha
I'd hazard a guess that people only seem to sell second hand stuff because they don't sell something they've just bought...
Even then, as soon as it's left the shop anything you've bought will lost a decent % of it's value, so if your looking for RRP you'll be waiting a while.0 -
There is a Facebook group page 'Bicycle Parts for Sale or Free' that might be worth giving a shot.0
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This is being advertised quite extensively in the UK at the moment, Shpock:
http://en.shpock.com/
Not too sure how it works - I think its more like Gumtree rather than an auction site like fleabay, where you put your asking price.0
