# Is the golden age of eBay over?



## Arob (Sep 18, 2009)

Did I miss it?

they say its over for a number of reasons and not many folks are going now...

I have been trying to sell stuff online at eBay all summer and getting no bids. 

Last year I sold a 1) a red telephone, 2) a bunch of Wade whimsies 3) a cast iron stove for a dollhouse and 4) movie tshirts "The Wrestler" 

this year... nothing


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## Rickson9 (Apr 9, 2009)

You can try craiglist.com; at least it's free.


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## NorthernAlex (Jul 26, 2009)

Rickson9 said:


> You can try craiglist.com; at least it's free.


And kijiji.ca

free, too. 90% of my tenants come and 100% of my stuff I want to get rid off go thruough there.


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## Jon202 (Apr 14, 2009)

I've been buying and selling on eBay for 10 years and before that on usenet forsale groups and of course now CL and Kijiji. I'm not a business, I just enjoy it.

You have to know what worth posting where. I find more unique stuff that has holding power has a bigger audience on eBay, and more worthwhile when the CAD was lower. For day to day items, computer parts, furniture, etc.. the local way is the way to go.

I always search expired auctions to see if anyone actually bought the item I'm interested in posting to be sure I should list it.


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## bean438 (Jul 18, 2009)

I never understood ebay. I figured it was a sickness for people that have the "I will not be out bid" mentality. 

Why else would you pay more for a used item than you would for brand new shrink wrapped with warranty?

Ebay is good for unique hard to find items. Other than that I have not really found it to be usefull.


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## Elbyron (Apr 3, 2009)

What makes you think that eBay costs more than local stores or online retailers? I tend to see prices far lower than what I could buy them for locally. And there are many eBay stores that are able to undersell local stores, even after including the shipping costs. So you can get brand new shrink wrapped stuff for less than you'd pay at a real store. It just depends what you're looking for. A common computer part, like a hard drive? Then eBay is probably not the answer. But I buy most of my board games from eBay merchants because the markup at local game stores is insane. I've also used it to buy a specific hard-to-find digital camera (Fujifilm F31fd) and a cell phone.

I agree that there are those who have the "I will not be out-bid" mentality. That's why I "snipe" the auctions by entering the maximum I'm willing to pay only a few seconds before it ends. That way I'm only competing with other auto-bids, and none of those crazy people.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Arob said:


> Did I miss it?
> 
> they say its over for a number of reasons and not many folks are going now...
> 
> ...


I've bought items occasionally off eBay but I don't think I've ever sold anything. I wonder if the sales slow down could be due to the economy. Perhaps, eBay is not immune to a recession, after all. Perhaps, people are cutting back on buying knickknacks on eBay.


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## az9tu (Sep 21, 2009)

I was addicted to ebay months ago. Not anymore, I prefer using local classifieds. CL, kijiji.ca and khrido.com are some of my favorites.


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## bean438 (Jul 18, 2009)

Elbyron said:


> What makes you think that eBay costs more than local stores or online retailers? I tend to see prices far lower than what I could buy them for locally. And there are many eBay stores that are able to undersell local stores, even after including the shipping costs. So you can get brand new shrink wrapped stuff for less than you'd pay at a real store. It just depends what you're looking for. A common computer part, like a hard drive? Then eBay is probably not the answer. But I buy most of my board games from eBay merchants because the markup at local game stores is insane. I've also used it to buy a specific hard-to-find digital camera (Fujifilm F31fd) and a cell phone.
> 
> I agree that there are those who have the "I will not be out-bid" mentality. That's why I "snipe" the auctions by entering the maximum I'm willing to pay only a few seconds before it ends. That way I'm only competing with other auto-bids, and none of those crazy people.


 Well lets see, I remember trying to buy various computer components (used).
I was always always always out bid. They ended paying with shipping MORE money than they would have for a NEW product, still shrink wrapped, AND with a warranty.

It mad no sense. What other eason explaination can you give for that? Sickness?


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## lb71 (Apr 3, 2009)

How about this guy, who put up his clunker on ebay for $500 and ended up selling it for $226,521?


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## Retired at 31 (Apr 20, 2009)

For virtual garage sale stuff, trading local via free sites is the way to go unless it's something unique or collectible that would warrant shipping. 

From a business standpoint, selling local (obviously) limits your market. Provided you have the right product and the right price, ebay is just another venue and I wouldn't say the sun is setting on it just yet. When I owned my online business, it accounted for about 1/4 to 1/3 of our revenues.

The product/price is always the most important thing imo.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I sometimes use sort of ebay spinoff sites for electronics.

Some of the good ones have are videogon (av equipment), audiogon (audio equipment) and photogon. It is a great place to get lightly used American electronics and steep discounts from original american msrp which is already much higher than Cdn msrp.

For example, just recently I bought a Yamaha VX-V3900 for $1000 US + $100 shipping + 150 brokerage/GST or about $1400 including exchange rates. It was actually brand new, sealed in original box as was a retail return at a specialty hi-fi store. The Canadian MSRP was $3000 + GST = $3150.

I wish I could do the same for TVs and BBQs but the darn things cost too much to ship. For those of you close to border towns, sometimes American shipping is free to the border from American online stores. Then you can drive to the border, go the company that is holding onto it for you and then drive it back to your own home.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Probably not over.

However I do find using Kijiji and Craigslist to be very easy and quick.


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