So much for ebay I guess

Trying to sell prints, large 40x60'' very nice giclee prints at that, on ebay and the views alone have gone down big time. Used to atleast get 25 to 50 views, lately I'm lucky to get 10. To top it off, zero sales!

well at least you can list for free for a while... I got pissed when I listed a few things a while back for my gf... set to "list until it sells"... didn't realize they were dinging me for listing fees every 30 days... what a scam

I couldn't even tell you the last time I looked at something on ebay, I believe it went the way of AOL. I have been buying my stuff off of amazon, they have better customer service and you don't have to worry about scams as much.

I have heard that Ebay is a poor place to sell photographs. Try etsy.com instead which is an art selling site. The only thing about that site is you cannot see what items have been selling to get a vibe of what sells on that site as far as your art category. Though it seems many of the photographs on Etsy are heavily photoshopped.

I still shop at eBay, though now much less frequent. Mainly because everything I want to buy is no longer being "auctioned" like eBay was meant to be. Everything is "buy it now" and the prices is basically the same or higher than any major retailer. I remember when they had the bing cashback where you get 20% back from eBay purchases, the retailers/individual would jack up the price of their items by 20%.

When I'm actually watching auctions, I see that the final price is higher or equal to retail price. I'm confused. Recently, I saw an auction for a 5-year old AlienBees B800 that got sold for $300??? Why not buy it from a brand new one from AlienBees directly for less?

xcel730 wrote in post #11370721
I still shop at eBay, though now much less frequent. Mainly because everything I want to buy is no longer being "auctioned" like eBay was meant to be. Everything is "buy it now" and the prices is basically the same or higher than any major retailer. I remember when they had the bing cashback where you get 20% back from eBay purchases, the retailers/individual would jack up the price of their items by 20%.

When I'm actually watching auctions, I see that the final price is higher or equal to retail price. I'm confused. Recently, I saw an auction for a 5-year old AlienBees B800 that got sold for $300??? Why not buy it from a brand new one from AlienBees directly for less?

I hear you on this. I started using ebay when it first came out and it was great back then. Now the market is so flooded that it is impossible to get really good deals on anything but simple, generally unwanted items.

xcel730 wrote in post #11370721
I still shop at eBay, though now much less frequent. Mainly because everything I want to buy is no longer being "auctioned" like eBay was meant to be. Everything is "buy it now" and the prices is basically the same or higher than any major retailer. I remember when they had the bing cashback where you get 20% back from eBay purchases, the retailers/individual would jack up the price of their items by 20%.

When I'm actually watching auctions, I see that the final price is higher or equal to retail price. I'm confused. Recently, I saw an auction for a 5-year old AlienBees B800 that got sold for $300??? Why not buy it from a brand new one from AlienBees directly for less?

I prefer buy it now, because I'm impatient. I only buy when its cheaper. If it's close to the same price as amazon or B&H or adorama I just buy it from them. Ebay is mostly my gateway to buying direct from china lately.

As for selling stuff for more than it costs new from the mfg... it's great when that happens and you're the seller! Haha.

I think due to the economy, and ebays higher fees, there's not as much action as before. I've been burned a few times starting something at a buck and then it sells for a buck. Now that listing fees are waived until next year... I typically start stuff at the minimum I'm comfortable selling it for, and hoping for the best.

I do miss the BIN with BCB days... I bought most of my gear in those days... I added it all up a while back and if I had to buy it all over again today it would cost me $2000 more... so I did ok!

I only buy cheap stuff on eBay, like generic batteries for my phone and old Vivitar flashes. I would NEVER scour eBay for art.

Ebay has become to expensive, so people are shying away. Its only time till its completely old hat.

I'm using ebay a lot less now. The warranties, as has been said, are lousy, and the fees, IMHO, are high, especially when combined with PayPal. However, I used it twice this month. Once as a buyer, my HP ZR24w monitor. I got that at a brick & motor store with a good rep. Price was right, and service was excellent. I then sold my old monitor in a regular auction transaction, and IMHO, got a lot more for it than it was worth, even paying the fees. The buyer is scheduled to get it on thursday, I'll see how that goes.

And yes, Amazon is a much better choice. They're customer service is excellent.

Lou

I used to buy on ebay all the time, not anymore...It's Etsy, Amazon and Adorama for me now.

eBay is nuts, plain and simple. I sold a 7D on it in early August and 50 days later, the camera arrived back at my door, my eBay and PayPal account at -$1300, and not a peep from the buyer or anything with obsessive phone calls from them to boot. Turns out that after a month and a half of using it, the buyer decided it had $375 of focusing problems and sent it back, entitling her to a full refund. Of course, I tested it in every way after I got it back and it's working perfectly with all my lenses. If you're BUYING on eBay, you have all the protection in the world. SELLING, however, is another story.

madhatter04 wrote in post #11372572
eBay is nuts, plain and simple. I sold a 7D on it in early August and 50 days later, the camera arrived back at my door, my eBay and PayPal account at -$1300, and not a peep from the buyer or anything with obsessive phone calls from them to boot. Turns out that after a month and a half of using it, the buyer decided it had $375 of focusing problems and sent it back, entitling her to a full refund. Of course, I tested it in every way after I got it back and it's working perfectly with all my lenses. If you're BUYING on eBay, you have all the protection in the world. SELLING, however, is another story.

Yeah, Paypal is a bunch of thieves, which is why I do this:
1. Set paypal up to be attatched to a savings account that otherwise isn't used.
2. When I receive money via paypal, I immediately transfer it to the savings account. Then it immediately gets transferred out to another account on my bank's website.

That way if anyone ever complains and paypal tries to process a refund for the person, it won't go through.

woos wrote in post #11372611
Yeah, Paypal is a bunch of thieves, which is why I do this:
1. Set paypal up to be attatched to a savings account that otherwise isn't used.
2. When I receive money via paypal, I immediately transfer it to the savings account. Then it immediately gets transferred out to another account on my bank's website.

That way if anyone ever complains and paypal tries to process a refund for the person, it won't go through.

I deleted my account information as soon as I realized what had happened, thank goodness.

cdifoto wrote in post #11371117
I only buy cheap stuff on eBay

Back to the OP, I think this covers it all. I sell prints online but have never considered ebay because of the demographics. I think the majority of people who go to ebay are looking for something at a low price - at least that's ebay's earlier reputation. Is that the demographic you wish to sell to?

woos wrote in post #11372611
1. Set paypal up to be attatched to a savings account that otherwise isn't used.

What I did, too. I set up an isolated checking account at my bank and connected that to paypal.

But paypal has another big turd on their forehead, too. When money is in the account, they only allow you to transfer $500 per month to your bank. There are ways around it, but it involves SSN numbers and other not-so-safe methods.

Edit: in addition to HappySnapper's Etsy, consider Zazzle. I have not looked at zazzle yet, but I read an article that mentioned they have an area for user-created items where people successfully sell art, prints, etc.