My hatred for eBay has gone to a whole new level. I collect Guinness books of World Records (sad, I know). Anyway, I have a duplicate of one of them in my collection so I thought to get rid of it, I'd sell it on eBay. Once I had finished making the listing, I tried to submit it, however, eBay was having none of it. I used the Royal Mail postage calculator to work out that to post the book, the lowest price would be £4.41 - as I'm sure you know, Guinness Books of Records are not exactly lightweight. The maximum postage price you can use in the books section is £2.75. What a complete joke. This particular edition isn't too valuable as it's fairly recent so I would risk making a loss if I listed it even at the price I bought it at (50p from a car-boot sale lol). As such, the book in question will not be going on eBay, I'll find something else to do with it.

eBay seem to only support scammers selling crap and scarpering or people who buy stuff and claim it hasn't turned up... Other than that, it is rare to hear a good word about them, at least in the press over here, these days.

People rarely comment on sales which live up to expectations.

I've bought quite a few things on eBay, and the only real problem I ever had was a ridiculously long delivery time. I've now learned that the really cheap freight postage from Asia can take 12 weeks, so I'll be more patient if I need to use the service again.

I mostly order from people with excellent feedback. Most recently a HP 1U server which was exactly as described, works perfectly and arrived the next day.

Yeah, I must admit, I've never had any bad experiences with any of the sellers I've bought from. It's just the selling that drives me crazy.

eBay have forgotten about the little people who made it what it is. The new system of not being able to state postage for some items is stupid. It means for example when selling an old 360 game I either have to hope I get enough to cover the postage or have a higher starting price which in turn increases my listing cost. More money for eBay though isnt it!! Even if the buyer takes the free postage into consideration so puts in a higher bid than they normally would, because the entire price sold for is now higher (rather than the sold value and a seperate postage value on the old system) eBay take more Final Value Fee. More money for eBay though isnt it!!

I recently sold some old games, bits and bobs, etc and got around £200. eBay took around £25. Paypal the same. Then the majority of postage costs I had to pay because of the new policy. In the end it was hardly worth it.

Some eBay fanatics say its not eBay's fault I dont make enough money, dont work out my margins properly, tell me eBay are in it for them not 'us', etc etc etc... its all my fault blah blah.

That's the problem over here, everybody has positive feedback. If you write even an average comment or the service was prompt, as expected, as opposed to excellent, you can expect to get a solicitor's letter threatening you court action if you don't retract it.

And that is for normal comments. Woe betide you, if you actually say anything bad about them - like it was poorly packaged or not as advertised!

Over here, the feedback system isn't worth the electrons used to store it...

And they say the UK has a litigious society!

Hmm...

Ive been using eBay for the last.. 6/7 years now. Really useful when the fees were 5.25%... meant I could actually expect a return on my sales.

Now its a lot harder to get anything..

What do they charge these days?

I pay 10% in the catagories i sell in... (up to £30)

(of course then you add the listing fee, paypals 3.4% (about) and their 20p...)

Plus free P&P actively discourages small sellers and auctions. As it is unlikely you will make the P&p back that you would have if it was seperate.

I only ever charged the actual cost of posting (I always re-used old packaging), so not being able to even charge for that on small items seems to mean I won't be selling on it again

Ebay really have been clueless in recent years, continually f*cking about with fees and even the look of the site - all that just serves to p1ss people off, and on the net, they might not come back

Sometimes its better to stick an advert in your local paper under classified. Not only is it easier but as its local can choose buyer collects or pays carriage at cost..
Just sold an adults tricycle in my local paper. Customer came round to look at it, paid on the spot and took it away. He was happy as he got to see the tricycle before buying and I was happy as only took two weeks to sell it. Which was better than I thought as tricycles are not that big sellers. Will be using the same method again for my second tricycle.

I've just seen an auction on eBay...

Some joker is trying to sell the game "Robin hood's quest". That should be a crime in itself. Even if it goes for a penny it's blatently ripping somebody off.

Quite probably me

And when I get the email confirming it I'll have totally forgotten everything and wonder WTF is wrong with eBay