Thursday, November 06, 2008

Argh! eBay!

I can see why eBay is going down for the count. I've bought and sold on eBay for over 10 years, earning my 100% positive red star with over 1,000 feedbacks. But I haven't lately and what a surprise when I tried to list a few of the culled books. Now the only payment option is PayPal. I've always used money orders, quite successfully both ways, avoiding that PayPal fee and those PayPal horror stories. Not anymore. Now eBay gets their cut and PayPal's cut. Something's not right here. Trying to list accurate postage comes up with a limit based upon their database - $4. That doesn't even cover a Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope! And for some reason when I try to use the shipping wizard instead, all of my auctions weigh 8-9 pounds and I can't change it. Which makes for a very expensive Priority Mail rate. No wonder I don't have any bids! I struggled to list three items and it took me over two days of trying to set up a PayPal account and giving myself time-outs to maintain sanity. It's just not worth it for a few dollars, I'd be better off (and so would the library and Goodwill) if I just hauled the rest to them. EBay now seems skewed towards the buyers, and the sellers who are businesses. Someone like me is left behind. And we were the ones who built eBay's success. Think I'll start using Craig's List instead. Buh Bye eBay.