| I buy and sell collectibles, what about you? A | | | | conditions of purchase before you buy. |
| friend called me today and said that recently | | | | Hey, is my check not good anymore? |
| eBay has lost over 50% of their sellers. I found | | | | Many merchants still like to do business this way; |
| that figure quite incredible. I would think that a | | | | they don't take credit cards for whatever reason |
| number of those might be sellers that have more | | | | they may have. Most certainly don't want to pay |
| than one account. But then I began to think about | | | | the processor and their bank a fee for the |
| it some more and decided to do a little research. | | | | transaction and cut into their profit. I don't blame |
| On a July 10, NY Times report, I found an | | | | them. A lot of people are not companies, so they |
| interesting article that page views on eBay were | | | | cannot get a merchant account anyway. That is |
| down over 30 percent in May from a year ago. | | | | where PayPal and other companies have come in. |
| That is a significant drop. I then looked at the | | | | But as individuals they want to do business as an |
| number of items up for auction in the category | | | | individual and that is selling an item, they want to |
| that I shop (oh, my wife would be razzing me for | | | | be paid in cash, money order or check. |
| using that word), which is Militaria and the number | | | | So maybe it's time to branch out and search for |
| of items that are available is at least 1/2 of what | | | | some other sites where you can buy, sell and |
| it was a year ago. So what is the correlation? | | | | auction. Do some searches. Maybe checkout a |
| Could it be that eBay wants to get rid of all the | | | | site that lists different auction sites such as: |
| smaller mom and pop sellers? these are the type | | | | So what's in my wish list for a site as a seller of |
| of sellers that have that little antique shop. The | | | | collectibles? |
| items they sell are '1-up'. So they have continued | | | | How about reasonable fees. Either low |
| to increase their fees, force settlements through | | | | commissions or maybe even a flat rate. Auction |
| PayPal and be difficult with resolving disputes. It | | | | and selling options. A reserve amount for auctions |
| certainly appears that way. Since they have a | | | | of my choosing. A site that simply puts the |
| stake in Craigslist, that could be where they want | | | | buyers and sellers together. I can transact my |
| these people to go; I see fees starting on this site | | | | business with the customer. So I set my terms, |
| soon. | | | | the how and the method with which I want to be |
| Nothing against PayPal. | | | | paid. That will be a good start. |
| I don't have any personal issues with PayPal | | | | Business is a bit slow even on eBay, but I am in it |
| myself, I know of some people out there that do, | | | | for the long haul. Just need to find some new |
| but you need to look at each site that uses it, or | | | | places to sell my stuff, its gotta go! |
| in some cases the seller that uses it, whether on | | | | Copyright 2009, R.Coalter, InterNet Partners, Inc., |
| eBay or other sites and check the terms and | | | | All Rights Reserved. |