This May, it will have been 20 years since I opened by account with eBay.
Twenty. Years.
Twenty years is a couple of eons in web terminology. The ecommerce giant currently has about 170,000,000 active users... my eBay account number is just 4 digits long! Well, not any more... these days it's four digits with a lot of zeros in front.
eBay Used to Be Cool!
I know people have a lot of mixed feelings about eBay, including the many who see the giant auction site as just another "corporatocracy" out to fleece little people.
Mountains in evening sun
eBay used to be a lot of fun, though. In the early days, it was a giant online flea market and collectibles fair where you could find some of the most esoteric things for sale. It was also cool because almost all the users were individuals trading with each other. It was a true peer-to-peer marketplace.
I was able to transfer most of my rare postage stamp business from purely mail order to almost exclusively web sales, all thanks to eBay.
Some years later, I also built a fairly successful jewelry supplies business through eBay. And, of course, I sold lots and lots of random items found at thrift shops and garage sales.
That was all back in the days before eBay became dominated by large scale "corporate sellers."
The Things People ASK About!
Being an eBay trader gives you an interesting view into the nature of humanity. Since it's a truly global marketplace, it also gives insight into what matters in different cultures.
White Lavender
One of the things I've learned is that people do not read, when they are shopping. They'll just see something and write a question the answer to which is right in front of their faces.
"That's 1920's men's wristwatch you're selling, when was it made?"
In spite of often wanting to do otherwise, I have answered questions like that politely for 20 years. Even when people have asked the dimensions of something... the dimensions of which were stated four times in the description.
I used to have the "make an offer" option turned on with most of my sales, but don't anymore because of the issue with "bottom feeders." These are the people who spend hours and hours "lowballing" every worthwhile item for sale, in hopes of finding that one desperate seller who's willing the let go of a $100 item for $5.
An Extraordinary Coincidence!
Driftwood stump
Back when we were in severe financial dire straits we had to sell some old family "treasures." Included was a Danish sterling silver vase that had belonged to my grandparents, and in fact had been a 50th wedding anniversary present to them; inscribed on the bottom.
The winning bidder was a gentleman from Canada, who happened to have a very unique and rare last name. So I wrote to him to ask if he was related to a particular Norwegian painter who had been a friend of my grandfather's.
As it turned out, he was the great-grandson of that same painter, with whom my grandfather had enjoyed lunch almost weekly, back in Copenhagen in the 1920's. You might say the silver vase went to a good home!
Some People Are Just Really Cheap!
I seem to have run into my share of cheapskates over the years; buyers who seem to have time enough on their hands to engage in a furious email war in an attempt to persuade me that there is some way to ship a box for five cents less than the price I quoted.
Pink rhododendron
And could I please refund the five cents.
This became particularly problematic a few years back when the US Postal service discontinued "sea mail" to global destinations. There was no longer an "economy" shipping method to get heavier shipments to other parts of the world. But people still insisted on arguing with me, no matter how much proof I provided.
I actually had a gentleman take me to task for charging 50 cents postage to mail something as a first class letter; actual cost 47 cents.
Some have even gone as far as trying "feedback blackmail." eBay works on a reputation system to evaluate the trustworthiness of traders, which is based on the feedback buyers and sellers leave for each other. Well, somebody actually threatened to give me bad feedback if I didn't lower their postage costs. Fortunately, that sort of thing no longer works as it's one of the rare example where eBay will judge in favor of the seller.
Patience, Patience!
Some people are just incredibly impatient, when they buy things online. More than once, I have received emails within minutes of a sale wanting to know "when I shipped it" and where their tracking number is.
Red Hot Poker
I know we live in a "RIGHT NOW" society, but please give me at least 24 hours to put something in a box and send it out to you.
It's funny, though, how people in different countries have different degrees of patience. A lot of folks in Scandinavia seem perfectly content with "sometime in the next couple of weeks," while people in the USA are more urgency obsessed.
On the whole, though, eBay has been a positive experience for me and I've completed over 20,000 transactions worth more than $300,000 over the past couple of decades-- almost all of them without incident.
It is my hope that our own Steemit-based auction initiative @steembay will take off and become a really cool peer to peer marketplace in the style of the earliest days of eBay. We could really use a good peer-to-peer marketplace here. I have already used Steembay once and had a successful sale.
How about YOU? Are you an eBay user? Have you used eBay for more than just a few personal sales and purchases? Have you had any issues buying and selling on eBay? Are you interested in the Steembay project being developed here on Steemit? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
created by @zord189(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 180202 17:12 PDT
I have been selling my personal belongings, and have had more luck with ebay than Etsy (used both, Etsy in the past and ebay currently). I am truly the old school type of seller, selling my comic books and Magic cards and video games I've had since the 90s, rather than a "business." I tried to sell some MTG cards through Steembay a few times but no sales (some nostalgia comments, though). I have bought something from Steembay once. I hope it takes off, too!
The shine has definitely worn off eBay a little bit... not enough individual sellers, even in the collecting areas, which is always where I had most interest. Selling classic stamps, envelopes and postcards is also pretty "old school" so I get what you're talking about.
I'm hopeful about "local" initiatives here in Steemit-- it would be very cool if we actually had a place to spend some of our rewards without having to convert to fiat.
Like you I have been on the internet for a long time and I definitely remember eBay from 20 years ago or more.
Browsing around on eBay used to be a lot of fun.
I've bought countless items on Ebay but I don't like to buy things there anymore. It seems like it's kind of lost its allure.
To be honest it's kind of nostalgic to think of the fun good old eBay days.
It would be nice if one of the initiatives here to create a steem-based marketplace actually got off the ground. With this being a community of mostly free thinking individuals, I could see there being a peer-to-peer market here that would be similar to the "old" eBay.
I used eBay a long time ago when I was a kid to buy Pokémon cards and stuff like that. Good times. The atmosphere of the place has definitely changed. When you search for stuff you get way more buy-now's instead of an actual bidding process. I don't really use eBay anymore because it just seems more straightforward to use Amazon if you don't plan on betting on unique items.
One of the things I actually really miss is the "auction format." That was part of what made it fun, both as a buyer and seller... it has really become more and more like "just another e-commerce web site." Which is a shame. I still go there to search for very unique and specific items, though.
It's where I get my typewriter ribbons!
I used to use eBay a lot, but in the last few years, I have gotten away from it. Either I can't find what I want or there are now a lot of questionable sellers and products. It is too bad because it used to be a much better place...
It definitely did used to be a much better place. For me, the problems began because eBay management started making it more attractive to "company" sellers, and in the process alienated all the interesting and "weird" individual sellers. I don't use it nearly as much as I used to.
Never had a good experience , most sellers messed up the system. Some buyers can be extremely crazy too
Just goes to show you how widely things can vary. Sometimes it also has to do with the kinds of products... "name brand electronics for very low prices" are notorious for having issues.
Exactly, you feel you just got something for a very cheap price only to find out buying it was your biggest mistake of the day
Sir I always see your post. And follow you.
They were also worried about me paying on line. Now no one thinks twice about ordering off the internet, because they trust big corporations. Yet it is the big corporations that are responsible for the massive breaches of our personal data.
Anyways, my husband loved the pocket watch chain. It was an item I never would have found locally or offered by a big box store. E-bay opened the door for the little guy to reach a broader market. I know eventually, society will wake up and realize that blockchain technology will break the chains that bind us to "corporatocracy."
I am looking forward to checking out Steembay!
I've sold many thousands of $$ worth of stuff on eBay over the years, and you nailed it.
The stupid questions. The bargain hunters. eBay siding with the buyers nearly all the time - no matter how obvious the scam, how new the 'customer' is and how well rated you are as a seller.
Still, there is money to be made there and I have stuff listed. Just haven't been as interested in spending my time listing stuff because of all the issues.
For some reason, I never trusted eBay. But maybe I was just too scared to try and see it for myself. I've heard stories from friends and relatives who have had some pretty bad experiences with the system, so I thought it better not to meddle anymore.
I'm glad to hear that it's quite the opposite for you! In fact, it was pretty successful for you all these years.
I never heard of Steembay, but it definitely sounds like a great idea! I've already followed their page and I hope it works just as well.
I started a business reselling designer clothing on eBay when I was 21 and lived off it full time until 3.5 years ago. They changed something about their algorithm which caused my sales to plummet (it literally took a couple days )from around 3 thousand dollars a week (for 7 years) down to a couple of hundred dollars a week. I have been trying to resuscitate my business since, it sure is stressful. I’m happy to hear that you had positive experiences from it. I mainly sell on Facebook now. I would absolutely love for there to be a steemit version! Sign me up!