As a avid eBay customer I am pretty relieved. I buy 2-3 items a month and was selling for the last 2 years on the platform. It's come such a long way and is really a great, streamlined experience. Of course I'm sure folks that make their living off their stores & sales will have different opinions, but I'd say as a routine customer and seller it doesn't need an external company's takeover pressure on it.
I buy and sell through eBay about once a month and I agree. eBay isn't perfect but over several hundred transactions and a few disputes that were settled fairly I've had a good experience. I know it's possible to have a bad experience and I'm not discounting those stories, but it's not the standard eBay experience.
GameStop was trying to do a Private Equity style takeover. Everyone hates it when PE companies do that, but GameStop is an lol memestock so that fact was overlooked with all of the to the moon comments. I do not want any platform I use being taken over by in a highly leveraged takeover, especially not by GameStop.
I've had two disputes that materially ignored the facts of the dispute, in one case where even the buyer said he didn't and wouldn't do as agreed, and still won, costing me $700+.
You can't say "I've had a few disputes that were handled fairly, so when other people say there's weren't, that's not the standard eBay experience".
> You can't say "I've had a few disputes that were handled fairly, so when other people say there's weren't, that's not the standard eBay experience"
I did not say that. I specifically said I know some people have bad experiences, but that I don't. Please don't fake-quote things that someone didn't say.
I acknowledge that some people have bad experiences and some people (like you) can be extra unlucky, but I wouldn't say that your bad experiences are the standard eBay experience. Logically, if everyone was losing money like that all over the platform nobody would be selling there any more.
If getting scammed is the standard eBay seller experience, surely you'd have heard about it before deciding to sell? I've been selling on ebay for years and I've never had a dispute. Having very few, high value sales is sort of a red flag for scams. If you don't have a lot of prior positive feedback maybe that's why you lost your disputes?
I've sold on eBay for over 20 years and millions of dollars. I would like to know more about your experience as a seller where you had disputes handled poorly, especially one that cost you $700?
I'm not the commenter, but about 20 years ago when ebay owned paypal still, I sold 26 iPod nanos in a big sale on ebay. Everyone received theirs except one guy, and the tracking showed the shipper lost it, in that the package just stopped being scanned in the USPS system halfway through. He complained, completely understandable! eBay froze my account, froze the payments for all 26, and I never saw the money ever again.
They wouldn't let me just refund the one customer. I had to prove the other 25 were delivered, so I did that. Then I had to prove they actually got iPods, so I linked them to the reviewed transactions that showed people were happy with the iPods. So then I had to prove my identity to eBay. They wanted my license, so I did that. Then a utility so I sent my light bill. Then my phone bill. Then my natural gas bill. Then my lease. Then they asked for my passport, which I did not have at that time. Suddenly nothing could be done without the passport, and they'd keep the money for 180 days and then mail me a check. Except then they said they were keeping the money anyway because I didn't provide a passport. Five grand, gone.
From that day on I'd have multiple eBay accounts at all times, spread things out around them so that when (not if, when) they would freeze an account for a review, I'd just cancel everything, refund whatever purchase was in review, and never use that account again. I learned that the review process is just a delay process to make you think there was progress when you'd already been banned but since you thought there was a chance, you'd keep busy in the no-go queue for however long you interacted with the bot before you gave up rather than calling support.
Ok. I've been through that, though it is a function of Paypal. You can absolutely recover the funds from a limited account. 20 years later, I would still pursue this. In fact, if you aren't able to log in I would check with the unclaimed property division of the state your account was registered in when you had the account. PayPal and eBay are publicly traded fully audited companies, there is no, we just get to keep the money scenario.
I sold a Mavic 2 Pro drone with 5 batteries. The whole process was a mess. Scammer initially complained that it didn't come with a CrystalSky tablet that was in one picture (that was only added AFTER after he had bid already and asked to see Flight Logs, and was explicitly disclaimed as not being a part of the package, nor was it in the receipts I sent the buyer). After pointing out those details, silence.
Then, three weeks later:
"The batteries don't work. I want a refund."
"Batteries? Any of them? All of them?"
"All of them, none work. I want a refund."
Note that two of the batteries were less than 4 months old, still in warranty.
He then stated he wanted a refund of $800. For five brand-new batteries, that would only be $670.
No evidence was shown, despite multiple requests (like a video of a battery on a charger, or on the drone, failing to power up). I stated I'd like to get the original batteries back, as at least I'd be able to get them replaced under warranty or possibly repaired and recoup some of my money (I was skeptical there was -any- issue, but still, good faith). He "happily" agreed. I asked him to send me a message on eBay (so it was tracked and not avoiding their system) acknowledging that offering a partial refund was contingent on his sending me the batteries back and that he accepts me disputing the refund if not.
He sends a message indicating all of the above.
Refund is sent (for about $700, to include his return shipping costs).
Thirty-five minutes later, I get a message, "USPS says they don't ship damaged batteries, so I will not be returning them". (35 minutes? So what, you were just sitting around waiting for the refund, and then the very moment I sent the money, you jumped in your car, got to the post office, had this discussion, got home, and were able to send me this message? When your home address shows you about 15 minutes from the nearest post office?)
I then suggest we meet in person to exchange them (I live a few hours away, not convenient, but still, $700...). He umms and ahhs, "How will I be able to prove that I gave them to you in person?". I suggest we do it in a police station and point out that his local PD even welcomes people to use their lobby for CL, etc. on their website. More umms and ahhs. "I need to contact eBay support to see if they allow this." I point him to eBay's specific FAQ page describing exactly this and how they recommend doing in person sales, and refunds, documentation thereof, and how they support it. But he ignores that and says, "I never heard back from eBay support, so I'm not sure what to do". I point this page out again, and he goes silent.
I opened a dispute. No evidence was provided for damage or faulty goods, referenced the multiple requests for video, or of anything.) Multiple instances of the buyer trying to show something was problematic with the listing, not abiding by the agreement and refusing/avoiding any method of returning damaged items.
Overnight, no further inquiries.
"We have closed your dispute. Based on our review, the buyer is entitled to keep the partial refund for damage. He is also not required to return the damaged items".
So he ended up with a Mavic 2 Pro, with less than 20 hours flight time, 5 batteries, for in the order of $950, all told.
Sorry that happened, scammers are the worst. Yeah unfortunately here the refund being sent proactively was the issue and eBay isn't really able to recoup those funds. Ex: the buyer used a credit card, you refund and it goes back to his card on the original authorization. Your dispute can't go anywhere because eBay isn't able to just reauthorize the buyers card without their consent.
Yeah that's what a primary source is: words from a principal architect of the deal, not a vague description using emotionally-charged terms. The interviewer is a professional eBay seller, so I think lots of what's mentioned in the interview is relevant to much of the discussion in this thread.
If you were interested in learning more about the nuance of the situation you might appreciate the information therein, but you're also free to reply to anyone who provides alternate perspectives or additional information with silly labels like 'true believer' instead of addressing the content of their messages!
If they would just put the search back to how it was (deterministic) so it would do exactly what you ask for, not one of these modern searches where it kinda bubbles up a few items, but the rest is all random sorta-maybe like what you asked.
They market pretty heavily in growth markets. They're really heavy in advertising in the UK and Europe. There's a lot of digital remarketing they do in the US.
It's about the brand. Ehen shopping online, everyone may have heard of eBay, but how many people are going to go there first, as opposed to Amazon, Etsy, AliExpress, Temu, wherever else. And yes, eBay is going to have the weird eBay stuff, but if users don't even think to go looking there, they've lost a sale.
Legitimately millions of people. It also depends on the item but Amazon has been worse than eBay in my experience since at least the pandemic. AliExpress and Temu have some overlap to eBay but also offer a different consistency of experience.
As one data point, if I want something new, I go Amazon first and eBay second. If I want something used, I go to eBay first. My search usually ends there, but if I can't find it there, I probably have to go to a specialty forum.
Even for bootleg stuff (mostly long out of print arcade hardware), eBay is pretty much on par with AliExpress.
Exactly, especially if they have to immediately start repaying $10's of billions in debt that GameStop wanted to put them in. Whole thing is just dumb of the CEO.
Not parent, if you want to sell an old original video game you know has value, it's either the proper collector channel (slow, super involved, higher pay), the generic resale channels (fast, no effort, lowest amount possible) or ebay (relatively fast, a bit involved but not too much, pay depends on how good you defined the product).
I had some old stuff around that Mr everyday might find (eg pristine original Gameboy Pokémon cartridge without box), and quick resale would give me 10 euro, involved resale would ask me hours and hours of work ebay allowed me to sale for 120+euro spending 1h on the description and picture (to show the scratch etc).
Another case is "oh you have the msi ge77vx4 laotop and you look for the plastic keyboard map in azerty? You can pay a 500e rma if they even allow it or buy the piece for 20e on ebay and fix it yourself"
Ymmv but it has a specific place that no one really have right now
(a) used books. As a Midwesterner I love that can directly order specific technology books (the ones everyone recommends), literally from a Goodwill in San Francisco, for the price of a good meal
(b) dodging Amazon co-mingling of inventory. Do I trust Amazon doing whatever it wants in a warehouse, or some eBay seller with a few years of built-up-reputation to lose but who specializes in the part I want? Let me tell you I have gotten a lot more handwritten thank-you-for-your-purchase notes from eBay sellers than Amazon. 3D printer parts, used computers+parts for the homelab, laser printer replacement parts, etc.
(Yes Amazon said they would stop recently... Not sure I believe it's fixed yet)
Sorry, a bit cheeky but if you are regularly buying old computer hardware then you are collecting.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. I still have my ZX Spectrum 48k, Atari ST and the Archimedes my parent acquired when the school was dumping them for PCs.
I was selling NES/SNES games + boxes. After ~2 years of sporadic sales, I ended up just offloading them to a guy who has a huge used games outpost at a flea market.
I buy a mix of things: clothes, watches, and usually tiles from my favorite pottery in Michigan: Pewabic.
I backed into my garage stupidly and broke my RAV4's side mirror. I found a guy in Japan who was selling the exact part I needed (the cover for the mirror matching my paint color), OEM for $50. It's like Craigslist but global on eBay. Never change.
I frequently buy project car stuff on Ebay. You can find OE stuff with the part numbers scratched off that must have "fallen off the assembly line" pretty easily. Easily a few items per month between that and computer parts!
I use them to buy refurbished enterprise machines -- laptops & mini PCs, books and DVDs/BluRays. Works pretty well actually, never had any issues with the quality as long as you stick to reputed sellers.
There's a lot of low volume and niche stuff sold by industrial ecommerce (grainger, Mcmaster, etc) and sites specializing in a given niche that those sellers cross list to eBay (the higher volume stuff is typically sold on Amazon)
I'm the same way as OP. I'll go clean out my basement, find a load of old tech and just put it up in a bundle or sell it individually for dirt cheap. Likewise, I buy a lot of stuff like minimal wallets, micro-electronics like charging cables, dongles for my work laptop, phone cases. Just typically a lot of knick knacks or older tech stuff. There's a booming economy for old walkmans and cd players. Same thing with higher end audio stuff like older DAC's, speakers, amps. A lot of unique stuff you can't find on Amazon or elsewhere.
I just got (at 38) a Costco membership this year, thanks to my in-laws gifting us a membership. There's another huge discount retailer here in Boston (BJs) that I have gone to for years, but Costco is another 10+ min drive away so I've resisted thus far. I will say... I'm still adjusting.
- No aisle signs or labels anywhere. I understand the retail strategy here but the lack of efficiency in MY experience kills me. Clearly they can't move the bakery, or meat department. But after ~5 visits I still have no idea where some basic products can be found.
- Who is buying a kayak, or shed while shopping for groceries?
- I continually make the mistake of going during the weekend when it is the most packed store on Earth. There were no less than 3 Cybertrucks in the parking lot.
I don't have the "must-buy" item yet, but every time I go, I feel like I need to take a nap after.
I have talked my wife out of us both nearly impulse-buying a mini greenhouse at Costco multiple times.
And the worst part is, I regret it. We need a greenhouse now and greenhouse prices are through the roof! I can't afford NOT to impulse buy a greenhouse at Costco 18 months ago now! I'll never make that mistake again.
> No aisle signs or labels anywhere. I understand the retail strategy here but the lack of efficiency in MY experience kills me. Clearly they can't move the bakery, or meat department. But after ~5 visits I still have no idea where some basic products can be found.
What are you having trouble finding, out of curiosity? In my Costco everything is pretty much in the same general area. They might move stuff a little bit, but it's pretty consistent.
> Who is buying a kayak, or shed while shopping for groceries?
I see this as separate trips for the larger items. Nobody is buying appliances either when you buy meat or paper towels. Also, Costco never fully replaces a full grocery store in my experience. You just don't need things in the sizes they sell them for many goods. Certain foodstuffs are really designed for restaurants and not people. Like, who is buying the 40 lb bags of flour besides people VERY into baking or restaurants?
> What are you having trouble finding, out of curiosity?
Five employees couldn't find the macarons (I found them next to the raw chicken!?)
The snack bars are being moved around. Now some of the ones we buy are with the toothpaste!?
My wife asks me to pick up some sort of caffeine product. There's three spots they could be in she tells me to look. Sometimes that doesn't work either.
We're considering cancelling. We don't drive much and our vehicles are electric. Not a lot of extra money for their vacation packages.
I do agree that Costco's can be laid out pretty differently and I get confused. My home Costco flows in a circle where you first see:
1. appliances/bedding/toothbrushes
2. alcohol
3. refrigerated foods with the bakery/meat department
4. cleaning products and flats of drinks
5. dry foods
when this cycle is broken or changed in a different Costco I am visiting, I feel VERY lost
The biggest thing I've noticed is a Costco chirality. My home Costco was right-handed (enter on the right, things are in the same order you described, exit on the left), but then I moved and now my local Costco is left-handed (pretty much the same but mirrored, except, for whatever reason, the alcohol, which precedes the perishables rather than succeeding them). Kinda funny.
Long ago we found that we saved more money shopping at Costco than the membership cost by a long shot. We even get the executive membership because they will refund the difference of you don’t get at least that back rewards (we always have).
For things that are acceptable, it’s usually hard to beat Costco. You have to give up variety, possibly brand choice, and maybe even buy more than you’ll use, but it works out to be significantly cheaper. There are categories, however, where Costco is never the cheapest (soft drinks) or where the commodity store brand is significantly worse than alternatives (batteries).
> where the commodity store brand is significantly worse than alternatives (batteries).
Kirkland batteries actually last longer than Duracell. They're some of the best alkaline batteries you can get, especially considering the price. Sure, lithium batteries will last longer, but the mAh per dollar is lower, so they'll still cost more.
It’s probably my own battery hygiene, but I’ve had so many Kirkland batteries leak over the years that I no longer trust them. I still buy batteries at Costco, but haven’t had the same issue with the name brand leaking.
I don't use a lot of AA/AAA batteries, so I'll buy a pack from Costco and it'll sit in my drawer for 5+ years without issue. They go into a TV remote or bathroom scale or whatever and last a couple years with no issue.
The only time this happens to me is when there is a drain on the battery over a long time, or when you have two cells that don't have matching voltage and the lower one gets over-discharged. I've never had one go bad from sitting in a drawer or a box.
I've actually had a whole pile of Duracell CR2023 batteries from Costco leak inside the packaging. (You can google for various reports/pictures of the problem.)
That has not been my experience at all. I think Kirkland batteries have less capacity than the premium brands. Also the point of lithium batteries is that they don't leak, not that they last longer.
Kirkland Alkaline was on par with the Rayovac Fusion+ and Duracell Powerboost. Only Rayovac Fusion was noticeably better (oddly, the non-plus version was better), and even then, it's not significantly better considering the price.
In terms of dollars per mAh, Kirkland is #2, only behind AmazonBasics.
> Also the point of lithium batteries is that they don't leak, not that they last longer.
Not leaking is part of the point, but it's definitely not the only point. Alkaline batteries have half the capacity (roughly) compared to lithium cells. They also have lower voltages over time vs. lithium cells and are capable of less current. For certain applications (high current draw intermittent, or long life low current) they excel, and leaking isn't really part of that conversation.
For standard soda (Coke or Pepsi depending on location) Costco is rarely the cheapest deal at any given time but they are consistently fair. Supermarkets will have regular prices cases at nearly double Costco unit costs, but on sale they are moderately cheaper.
I’ve long since stopped worrying about saving a couple bucks per case while timing deals and simply buy from Costco instead. The couple bucks a month it runs me is worth not worrying about the mental overhead.
The #1 thing for me at Costco is the gas. I have the credit card, so I get 5% cash back on the first $7,000 of gas I purchase in a year. Being as that, as of now I am spending ~$70/week on fuel, I will not hit the max for the year.
But 5% cash back on ($70*52=)$3640 means I get $182/yr by default back to cover the $130 annual cost of the executive membership. Doesn't sound like a good deal until you also factor in that their fuel is typically 10 cents a gallon or more cheaper than the next least expensive fuel place, which means that for my roughly 650 gallons of fuel a year baseline costco gas saves me an additional $65.
So yeah, nothing really amazing, but the fact that having the membership lets me pocket something in the neighborhood of $120/yr on top of the occasional shopping trip and access is nice.
There are so many people like you (who only use it for gas) that they are now building Costco gas stations not attached to a warehouse. Massive stations like the ones near the warehouses.
I think I've gotten the hang of it fairly well. Coffee is over by the coolers but not in them, cat little is on the back wall, specialty cheese is near the meat, Kirland cheese is near the end of one of the coolers, cheap winter jackets are somewhere in the middle between the pants and the tortilla chips, motor oil is at the far right, bread on the left near the old people, and the big expensive life-optional stuff is at the front.
Everything else is either on the way between those points, or it doesn't exist today (because even if it is there, I'll never find it).
The "correct" way to shop at Costco is to wind through every aisle. They want you to discover what they have - what's new, what's gone, what's on sale, try some samples etc. There are some general anchors like the fridge, the alcohol, the produce section but it's otherwise pretty ephemeral.
It's not the kind of place where you go in with a shopping list, make point-to-point pickups and then checkout.
Ya I don't see the appeal either. Imo it's just a place that takes advantage of suburbanites' love of buying excessive amounts of crap they don't need while simultaneously avoiding the spaces outside their car, work, or home. All the more power to them!
I'll join on an occasional trip if I feel like it's a chicken month, but ultimately it seems like a place designed to make it as easy as possible to spend more than I normally would on large amounts of mediocre or bad food and products. It's not remotely a natural optimization of my normal buying habits.
Ironically, I do have a must buy item though, which is the plush blankets.
It makes way more sense to me to just always have a backpack and pick up a few items at a time from smaller shops or other chains, and pay to live closer to these places
> Who is buying a kayak, or shed while shopping for groceries?
Who's buying groceries while kayak shopping? The point is if you want to buy something, you can go to CostCo. The thing you want might be groceries, but sometimes people want other things.
I saw someone leaving buc-ees at 10:30pm who just purchased a huge fire pit and was franticly trying to jam it in the back of a large chevy. I can only imagine they went for stacks due to the poor planning
I hate going there. It's so crowded, the lines are massive, and all so you can save like $200 at the end of the year on some groceries. The other problem is that you end up impulse buying well over $200 worth of stuff you wouldn't have purchased if you just went to the regular grocery store. Oh but you have to go to the grocery store anyways after your 2 hour long Costco trip, because the shit they had last week is gone now. But hey at least you waited in line for another 40 minutes to save $3.00 on your tank of gas you bought while you were there.
I have friends who have membership to Costco, Sam's and BJs. And when they need to buy stuff they go to nearest market from home (none of above 3). Despite working from home forever, they just don't have time to go to these warehouse stores.
My takeaway is at certain income level and lifestyle, one can have all memberships but don't find use of any.
It's much closer to a restaurant supply store that happens to be open to normal people.
If I want to make tacos tonight, and I try to shop for that at Costco, I'm making tacos for a week or more. There's no small size of anything, which is the entire point.
I cannot fathom the people who do weekly or so grocery shopping there. How can you possibly plan out a months worth of pantry for a family like that? It's a skill I certainly don't have but families did for millennia when running small farms and such. Maybe the Navy could teach me how.
I'm a single person and I do almost all of my grocery shopping at Costco. I have a normal sized refrigerator, and a well stocked pantry. If you make tacos one night, make dishes the next three nights that use overlapping ingredients...
Fair point! You can just play against the CPU and I had that as the default mode when signed out (you can still get to it after the daily game). I’ll think more on this!
One fun thing I learned here is that advertisers won’t even consider a site or game that’s not launched yet…not even Google AdSense would approve me. I am tracking this though and obviously want to make number go up.
One metric I track is what % of users return the next day. I'm trying to bring it up to 10-20% before I assume there will be any revenue. Currently at 5% for my game, which may be due to difficulty.
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