After ebay, what?

[nancylebov]

http://freyas-fire.livejournal.com/291301.html?view=800997#t800997

isn't the only place I've seen serious complaints about ebay fees. There was a Wall Street Journal article about a year ago about sellers getting disgusted with ebay's high fees and poor customer service and setting up their own sites, though at that point, ebay was still expanding. I know a bookseller who's moved to amazon because of ebay's fees.

If ebay isn't as good for sellers, it's not as quite as good for buyers either. While I still find good stuff there, the proportion of ordinary commercial items seems to be going up--it doesn't have as much of the one-of-a-kind garage sale stuff.

Do any of you guys have buying/selling sites you recommend? So far, I've got Etsy and Getcrafty. Amazon is good for books, or at least I can frequently find better prices there than at Bookfinder. I admit it, Ebay is still a good place to find books.

I'm wondering if Ebay has been raising their fees because they thought it would be more profitable (and who knows, it might be) or if they need to get more money to keep going.

Also, are there any good forums/blogs/whatever that review and keep track of buying/selling sites?

Comments

[doomspark.livejournal.com]

Craigslist.com - much better than ebay, if not as widely known (IMHO).

[lordlnyc.livejournal.com]

When my late GF brendahoward wanted to look for books she would go to half.com and allbookforless.com

-Larry-

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Better in what way?

[luxetumbra.livejournal.com]

AddAll (http://www.addall.com/) for books. Amazon is rarely the cheapest place for books nowadays. Techbargains (http://www.techbargains.com/) and Fatwallet (http://www.fatwallet.com/) are also good places to check for coupons/sales info in general.

[doomspark.livejournal.com]

Biggest problem with Ebay is that you don't necessarily see exactly what you're getting. It's easy to edit a digital picture, and you don't have a lot of recourse when an item turns out to be not-quite-what-you-thought-it-was.

Craigslist, on the other paw, can be drilled down by geography. You email the seller and make whatever arrangements you want as far as inspection of the item, payment, etc. It's easy to find local sellers, so you can see what you're getting before you pony up.

[mneme]

abebooks.com is still very, very good for books (though I wish you could sort results by price + bookstore to try to find as many books as possible from the same shipper).

[bruhinb.livejournal.com]

I'm working on a new solution...

[lordlnyc.livejournal.com]

I should have made them links.

http://www.allbooks4less.com/
http://www.half.ebay.com/

BTW: I just check and half.com may not be a good idea anymore (I am guessing) because ebay own it now, but i looked and some of the prices look ok.

-Larry-
PS: I'm unable to see the entry from Freyas-fire livejournal it's a protected entry.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Has bookfinder changed recently? Last I used it, which wasn't that long ago, it searched Amazon, ABE, and Half, as well as many other sites, and was always the best way to find the best price quickly. I'm thus confused by your statement that you find better prices on Amazon than via Bookfinder.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

It seems as though it's changed--in the past couple of months, I think. All of the sudden, I was seeing lower prices on Amazon. I have no idea what might have caused this.

On the other hand, I just checked on a book I've been considering and which was cheaper at Amazon, and now Bookfinder has the lower prices. Maybe there was a temporary glitch in Bookfinder's software.