Sep 28 2011
11:02 pm

eBay vs. Amazon Trade-in: Duel!

So, recently I traded a few things into GameStop (mostly old cables and accessories) and used the rewards to buy L.A. Noire for PlayStation 3, which was just under $40 USD and a phenomenal value to the casual gamer. I applaud both Rockstar and Bondi for this title.

I’d planned on trading it into Amazon Trade-In for $15 (they buy used books and video games), but figured I’d try my luck at eBay, one last time. I’d posted about eBay’s new, outrageous fee-struture (~9%) before, and vowed to not use the service anymore unless absolutely necessary. — But, after all, the game was selling for at least $20 on eBay! My copy ended up selling for $21, plus $4 shipping and handling. Great, right?

Well, it didn’t actually end up being much better. Between all of the extra time I had to spend creating my listing, photographing the item, walking to the post office and mailing/addressing the package, chance of a buyer not paying or filing a claim, (etc.) … I only netted an extra $2 from a $21 sale versus a $15 sale. 

How is this possible? Amazon pays shipping and insures the package for $100, because all UPS shipments are automatically insured for that much. You print a label, and all you need otherwise is an old Amazon box, and some tape.

By comparison, the eBay auction ended up like this: $21 sale price + $4 shipping = $25.00 net income, - $1.03 in PayPal fees, - $2.25 in eBay Fees, - $2.22 in Shipping (USPS, Slowest speed), - $0.80 Delivery confirmation (required), - $1.80 Insurance (optional, but recommended) … = $16.90 total.

So, after all the extra hassle, I made an extra $2 using eBay. eBay/PayPal made $3, or so. And, instead of the package getting to Amazon next day, it’ll get to the buyer in just under a week. — The choice is yours. Good luck, all! I hope you’ll consider the new fees before selling.

Posted 4 months ago
#video games #eBay #Amazon
9 notes

Aug 28 2011
6:42 pm

eBay is no longer a viable way to flip old stuff for a reasonable return.

Recently, I’ve tried selling things I don’t need on eBay. I’ve done this off-and-on for the past 10 years, without much change. However, in the past two weeks, selling $800 worth of merchandise has generated a whopping $85 in fees. “How is this possible?”

Turns out— In the past year, eBay has secretly increased their “final value” fees to a whopping…
… 9.0% of the selling price! (link)



Does it stop there? No. There are PayPal fees (additional 3% or more), picture/listing/auction fees, Buy It Now fees, shipping costs, and occasional issues with fraud and non-paying bidders. All this doesn’t even include the time and hassle of selling everything yourself and typing out listings.

I recently tweeted that eBay still charges 15/cents for each picture, as well. 

…Is eBay even worth it anymore? Lots of people make their living on eBay, but for the casual seller … I don’t think that anybody can willingly afford this. To put this fee increase into perspective: Using the old fee schedule (from March 2010), I would have only had to pay approximately $35 to sell the same items. The new fees account to at least ~200% more in hidden costs.

“Expect to see fewer people using auction style listings since there is no way to cover the increase in selling fees. More fixed price (immediate purchase) listings will be used and prices will be raised moderately to cover the increased final value fees. New users who don’t notice the hidden final value fees will be shocked when they are billed $35.00 for selling their Playstation 3 (or whatever), have to pay $25.00 in shipping, and another $9.00 in PayPal fees. Suddenly that $300 they got from their sale has dropped down to around $225.” (source)

Posted 5 months ago
#ebay #money #fees #life
32 notes

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