Fleabay new rules and rate structures?

The steadily increasing fees have helped local auctions and swap meets and such. You really can't sell a little car part or such on ebay and make any money. So swap meets at car shows have rebounded a bit in recent years.

I've tried Yahoo, Amazon and a few other. I haven't sold a darn thing on any other online auction service. Nada, zip, zero. Yahoo was just goofy to set up with. Amazon was the easiest and most interesting, but they've got a spooky shipping structure that I never have figured out. It's the free shipping on items over X dollar that worried me, I don't know how it works, and how much it would cost me as a seller.

Scrap metal prices have also been a helpful alternative to ebay. Much of my ebaying treasures have been metal based. The money I made scrapping much of it hasn't been terribly impresive, but it sure was a lot more easily made. No time spent taking pictures, writing listings, boxing and packing, etc.

I dont really think there is a online auction service out there that gets the attention or recognition as ebay,, its too bad, if there was I would try it,,

but aside from that you cant sell anything local, or have a local shop for the price you pay on ebay to sell your stuff, have a worldwide audience, and exposure[rent,taxes,electric,time,emplyees etc add up with a regular place of business], and they KNOW it,,

if there was a way to start another ebay, I would be all for it,.,. but I dont believe there is another one out there that you will get the traffic and sales?? If you hear of one let me know,,

its almost a household name anymore when you want to buy or sell something ebay just rolls off the tongue,it is the first auction site people think of[ and often the only], and they know that too,,,,alot of people say never again will they sell there ,, but you know what,, they keep selling,, its a monopoly and they know that too,

ebay is a game to many out there, both seller and buyer alike,,watch the feedbacks of the person you are dealing with, and it will give you a good idea of there dealings,,, even the negs you can read between the lines and see if it was just a victicous buyer leaving bad,, for no reason,, or you can tell if theer are many legit bads,, its a shame, but,,, thats the world of virtual businesses// good luck pat

• Ecrater

Reading an online article recently, I came across the unwelcome news that you lose most of the protection available through using a credit card (quite a bit, actually) if you pay by credit card through a third party like Paypal. The credit card company treats it as if their transaction is with Paypal (or whoever), and if there is a problem with the actual seller, you and Paypal can deal with it. The trouble with that is, the protection offered by Paypal is far less than that offered by Visa, Mastercard, etc.

I recently received an eBay purchase that arrived broken, where the seller had not provided the option of buying shipping insurance. (This is the only trouble I've had in about a hundred eBay purchases, I should add.) The seller was a stupid whiner, and I decided to stop wasting time trying to deal with her and accept some of the loss even though my total involvement had been to pay for the item and the shipping, and ten days later open a shipping box to find my item smashed. At that time I believed that I had both Paypal and Visa standing behind me, and that there was no way I'd lose money if I chose to waste my time over the small amount involved. Now I think I would have wasted my time and possibly ended up worse off than I came out from the settlement we made.

Sorry about your experience. Apparently the only protection we have from cheating sellers on eBay is leaving negative feedback. Big deal!

All the best, Stan