Ebay-Great service used wisely
Written: Oct 28 '01
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The Bottom Line
Great tool to buy and sell items, great for both the buyer and seller, as long as you take a few precautions mentioned above.
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I have been using ebay for over 2 years now, both buying and selling and I have found it to be a great service, as long as you are a knowledgeable buyer or seller. For buying it can be very nice, especially when you are looking for something rare or hard to get in your area. You can really find some great deals. I would not recommend buying extremely heavy items however, since postage usually outweighs the amount you save in price. Also I have found that new electronics seem not to be very good deals since the prices are almost as high as you would find in a store and you usually can't return it to the seller if something goes wrong. Sometimes good things to buy are name brand clothes that usually sell for way below retail. Childrens clothing is usually especially resonable, even with shipping included. Remember, as a buyer that you will almost always be paying a minimum of $3.50 extra for priority mail, so remember to keep that in mind when bidding on an item. Also check the feedback of the seller to make sure they are reputable. I hate buying from people who have negative feedback because it almost always means the item takes months to arrive if it does at all.
As a seller, ebay is a wonderful way to get rid of everything laying around the house you don't want anymore. You would be amazed at some of the prices people are willing to pay for some things you thought were just junk. It can be a pain to sell things of little value however. Say for example that you sell something for $1.00. Ebay charges you 30 cents for the listing plus if you add more pictures, each one costs 15 cents. They also charge about 5% of the total for small items, so the profit you make is really very very minimimal. Also for small items, be careful of accepting paypal, because if you have a premium account with Paypal, which you are pretty much required to have if you do business with ebay, paypal charges you at least 30 cents for each transaction, which you end up eating as the seller. When they pay with credit card it is even more, usually arond $1 I think for a $15 transaction, it can really eat away at your profits! Still it is a great way to sell your items you can't end up getting rid of otherwise. Ebay provides a great service, and they know it so they charge you nicely for it. As a seller I always grimace when I see that someone has won my auction with a low ebay rating because I have a hard time recieving payment and that also costs me money because ebay still charges me for selling it. But I guess that just comes with the territory.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Jennifer
Location: Oregon
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 5 members
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