eBay is NOT always the cheapest....

From a buyers perspective; eBay appeals because the one login and search bar can pull up hundreds of different results which can be sorted by price, nearest location etc. Pretty convenient if you don't mind paying a bit more for the bait and tackle you buy.
The cost of selling on eBay compared to a website means we're often paying around 10-15% more due to them being the middleman taking a commission on sales. Those who sell on eBay will know they charge sellers listing fees for items (different fees apply depending on category), monthly fees and allowances, and something they term 'final valuation fees' which also includes them grabbing a percentage on any postal fees too. Free P&P obviously means the cost is hidden/included, so not really free and is still charged for and factored in by eBay. After the sale is complete Paypal (as with all merchants) take their percentage cut for processing the payment, with the balance going to the seller.

Essentially eBay has taken over the role of the salesman (and distributor in most cases) and has become the middleman responsible for pushing the prices up.

Don't get me wrong though. eBay can be cheaper than a bricks and mortar business in most cases, as the shop owner has his overheads to consider but the main advantage is having one account and access to hundreds or even thousands of different items under one roof. Its why eBay is so successful. However if you want something cheaper you need to cut out the middleman all together and register on websites. If you plan on spending £10 you could save £1 or more - which for some of us is a very good saving!

Registering on a website such as ours, you will often find some things cheaper, but we do suffer from the fact that some (including myself) can't be bothered to register by filling in a quick form. I am guilty of paying more for the convenience of eBay with a single login like a lot of folk. mg: Anything over £10 and i'll do it for sure...
Our website uses Paypal too and we absorb the cost of processing payments but do not have the middleman taking his cut of whatever the customer spends. The shopping cart is custom designed which people find easy to use and it works great, however I do realise we need to change this and make it so people can just buy without having to register. I think Paypal shopping cart might work in this regard as most people already have a Paypal account. It uses their registered address for deliveries, so what other information is required from a customer? None that I can see and no extra sign up is a bonus.

Who here buys a lot of stuff from eBay, is it because of the price (perceived cheaper), or because you cant be bothered registering on all the different websites?
Appreciate you thoughts and opinions guys thanks.

I use ebay a lot but only if the price is cheaper than I can get it locally. I am happy to register on different sites to get the best price.

I only buy if it is the cheapest or I cannot find it elsewhere. I do suffer from the perceived disinclination from registering ,preferring the almost one click approach.

If postage is free or reasonable then buying on the net can save you trecking to the shop.

I use eBay at lot too and for all the reasons given above. I will always buy local if I can but my local TS just don't stock a lot of the items I want. Registering on a site for the privilege of being bombarded with bloody emails for evermore is the main reason I won't do that....unless it's the only place I can get the particular item I want.

It's getting harder to avoid registering though in my experience.......and then they flog your details to some other bunch of numpties who continue the barrage. I've never stayed in a holiday camp in my life, nor do I own a caravan or have ever shown the slightest interest in doing so but I still get emails from both sorts of business. It drives me nuts !

And don't get me started on Fishtec and their bloody " Hurry...only 3 days left" free p&p/sale. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr !

I prefer to use my local shop but frankly they don’t always have what I want.

In these circumstances I prefer to go to e bay . they list all the products and I am able to sort by price . This is the great thing about e bay . frankly I don’t know which specialist suppliers to choose go to - I can visit a few sites and find that they also don’t have what I want. There are so many potential suppliers that I really don’t want to visit their websites – I often don’t know where to go .

I also find the requirement of sites to update my details (even though I will pay using pay pal) rather frustrating.

Once I find a good supplier I will keep their details and potentially use them again – I prefer that they don’t keep e mailing me but I don’t think I can do much about that

Sorry this seems a bit disjointed but hopefully you know what i mean

I'm reluctant to register contact details with individual shops - already too much spam and too many cold calls.
Ebay is not all about the cheapest price - finding rare, discontinued or used items, for instance.
And I regularly buy small items from a local TS despite them being a bit dearer than online sources. Ebay won't be giving me excellent bait, up-to-the-minute local information and a cup of coffee if the shop goes under. Nor will an online shop in a distant city. Cheapest may not be best in the longer term.

I buy of eBay purely because of the type of fishing I do most of the tackle shop I go to are either 90% carp or don’t have what I want their ok for bait and hooks but when it comes to a float or feeder rod they don’t have them in stock or can order them from a Catalogue . It’s not what I want, the good old tackle shop has gone were you could go a compare different rod & reels

I have no preference either way as long as it's cheap.

I do use Ebay but I have to confess that there are elements that I do not like about it. Chris has mentioned them in his op so I will not go over them again. For people with a few bits and bobs they no longer need, selling them is much less profitable by the time Ebay have taken their chunk and you are not allowed to leave bad feedback on buyers any more. It is weighed far too heavily towards the buyers and there are some total time wasting merchant bankers out there that mess sellers about just for the fun of it. I will not use Amazon or Sports Direct for their employment practices which to me border on Victorian, so I have to use Ebay on occasions and not just for fishing stuff. For preference I would use (and have) sites like Laguna and I am registered with some other ones too. Ebay in its early days was great fun, but it has now morphed into a giant business and there is little real competition

I have never sold on eBay and doubt I ever will! I do believe that buyers are given too much protection to the detriment of buyers!

lambert1 said:

I do use Ebay but I have to confess that there are elements that I do not like about it. Chris has mentioned them in his op so I will not go over them again. For people with a few bits and bobs they no longer need, selling them is much less profitable by the time Ebay have taken their chunk and you are not allowed to leave bad feedback on buyers any more. (

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Some time ago we won a case against a buyer who had claimed new, unused goods were not as described, but the buyer's negative feedback was never repealed, giving us a score less than 100% for the first time. Can't be right, surely?

No Rob it is not and this is why sellers urge you to contact them before you leave bad feedback as keeping a 100% score is soooo difficult. I did take this up with Ebay once and it was like talking to a brick wall. I still have stuff that I was going to sell, but it will probably go at a car boot now!

robtherake said:

Some time ago we won a case against a buyer who had claimed new, unused goods were not as described, but the buyer's negative feedback was never repealed, giving us a score less than 100% for the first time. Can't be right, surely?

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Problem is you would have to go back to eBay customer service as they would not automatically remove that negative, crazy but true. Pretty sure your time limited to having them removed too.
I used to be a power seller and customers can be a nightmare if your trying to protect your PS status and all the discounts that go with !

I buy small bits of tackle off eBay and Amazon as I can't always get what I want from my local TS, just bought myself a set of drennan stillwater blues the other day. But if I'm buying reels or a rod then I generally go down to the TS I pay a bit more than online but I get to try before I buy and I have it there and then no anxious waiting for the delivery man to call.
I also buy directly off online web sites, but do think it's a pain to have to " register" every time tho'

Laguna just had a look at your site some interesting looking baits you have there

I've used Ebay a lot but have fallen out with them over something I sold.

Following several questions about an item I had listed a bloke came to view it and paid me cash on the spot and so I ended the listing.

I still got charged around 10% of the sale price by Ebay as it was a fixed price, buy it now listing and that's fair enough as those are the terms.

It was the path of what I thought were 'private' messages which Ebay attached to their email informing me of their charge, as evidence, which I took exception to.

I just don't like the idea of them snooping on what I consider to be something private and on that basis I'm finished with 'em.,

I would have paid the charge anyway as they were the terms but the way Ebay do business is not the way I wish to do business hno:

I didn't know that they were able to do that, is it legal to check what customers are saying to each other?

It'll be in their T&C's so perfectly legal, messages can and are monitored on most websites. Personal not private

thecrow said:

I didn't know that they were able to do that, is it legal to check what customers are saying to each other?

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I'm sure it will be buried somewhere in their T's & C's mate.

robtherake said:

Some time ago we won a case against a buyer who had claimed new, unused goods were not as described, but the buyer's negative feedback was never repealed, giving us a score less than 100% for the first time. Can't be right, surely?

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I cocked up on an old account which I closed due to Ebay's reluctance to correct feedback.

I bought something which didn't arrive and so left negative feedback but it then transpired that I had not read the part about the seller being on holiday for a fortnight and being unable to post until their return.

I contacted Ebay to explain and request that my own mistakenly left feedback be removed from the seller's profile and Ebay refused!

Knob heads.

And...

Has anyone ever tried to close down an Ebay account?

It has to happen in stages because of the implications to anything outstanding with purchases/sales and seems to take an age, it's certainly not the easiest thing to do.

It's just the Facebook thing all over again, putting people in place to do these sorts of things costs money and so they invent poor policies that try to negate the necessity.

Only when they begin to get bad press will they do anything about it and then only as a begrudged, damage prevention measure IF it's cheaper than losing business.

@u!K 'Em!

They are both the same thing to me and its something they should not be doing imo

@u!K 'Em! he he

I sold something once to a bloke, there was some problem, I cannot remember what it was but it was not my fault, I think it was some delay in replying to a message as I was away at the time, anyway; he went straight to feed-back before I could reply to his message and left a very bad review and an insult about the fact I was English! it was some sort of "you English are..." something or other, I cannot remember exactly what it was, it was a long time ago.. Turned out he was a German. I complained to E bay that he was racist (I did not mention the war) and they removed the feedback.

On the other hand, I went to a local lighting shop to look at down lighters and found some I liked, and compared to others (over £100 EACH!) I could run with £35 quid.

Checked on ebay and found identical fire rated jobie for £7 delivered - EXACTLY the same animal!

I like to support high street shops, but............................................