So where are all the unwanted Christmas presents on Ebay

[Snowwolflair]

So where are all the unwanted Christmas presents on Ebay 

Usually by now there would be a good selection of discounted items but its a desert out there 

The next wave is the "broken Christmas presents" that appear third week in January, lets hope they turn up as I need some cheap mechanisms 

[davidinyork]

So where are all the unwanted Christmas presents on Ebay 

Usually by now there would be a good selection of discounted items but its a desert out there 

The next wave is the "broken Christmas presents" that appear third week in January, lets hope they turn up as I need some cheap mechanisms 

Perhaps N gauge models are now simply too expensive for people to buy unless they are sure the recipient actually wants them?

[RailGooner]

So where are all the unwanted Christmas presents on Ebay 

Usually by now there would be a good selection of discounted items but its a desert out there 

The next wave is the "broken Christmas presents" that appear third week in January, lets hope they turn up as I need some cheap mechanisms 

Perhaps N gauge models are now simply too expensive for people to buy unless they are sure the recipient actually wants them?

Didn't stop MBH getting me the Farish 'A Day at the Races' set for Xmas. Doesn't fit with my interests, wouldn't have ever considered buying it for myself, but it's now too dear to me (because of the provenance) to easily accept the idea of selling it on.

[Ditape]

It could have something to do with ebay's current ridiculously high fees, last month I sold about £200 worth of OO stuff and was charged £36.

[guest311]

should have gone to NGF 

[MJKERR]

There are currently
7,524,576 unwanted items on eBay UK

85 in N Gauge

I personally think people are being wiser about the gifts given, more emphasis on the "really"

[MJKERR]

It could have something to do with ebay's current ridiculously high fees, last month I sold about £200 worth of OO stuff and was charged £36.

Looks like you need a proper sellers account
This month I sold nearly £1000 worth of items, the (eBay UK seller) fee was £17

[Dr Al]

This month I sold nearly £1000 worth of items, the (eBay UK seller) fee was £17

How? For a private seller final value fees are 10%, and even for a business they are 9% in the collectables category.

Cheers,
Alan

[MJKERR]

How? For a private seller final value fees are 10%, and even for a business they are 9% in the collectables category.

Upgrade from a Business seller account to a Premium Business account
All you need is to have been registered for 12 months and sold at least one item per week
My business account started the year at 1.8% and currently at 1.5% and will shortly be at the next tier

On my personal account the seller fee is fixed at £1.00 per item, limited to 10 items per month

However, I think being an account holder since 1998 helps...

[njee20]

You need to sell 100 items and £1000 of sales in a single month to get that. Easier to keep perhaps, but not that easy to get.

Certainly pretty pointless as a recommendation!

eBay do often do discounted fee offers though, about once a month there's a £1 final value fees offer.

[Dr Al]

On my personal account the seller fee is fixed at £1.00 per item, limited to 10 items per month

However, I think being an account holder since 1998 helps...

Seems completely out of whack with everyone else - not sure why you have such a tiny limit of items, yet you have low fees? I've been member since 2003, and the fees I've paid concur with those listed as the standards - i.e. 10% (inc 10% of postage figure....).

Cheers,
Alan

[trkilliman]

This could be down to people hanging onto a bit more than they previously did. Rising costs of new stuff is likely to have had an effect on this.

I also think the perception of ebay has altered for some/many. As a seller I had a bad experience a year back that saw me lose out. I have listed very little in 2017 as a consequence.

So much is now buy it now sales (often at inflated prices) that the auction side of things is now much smaller. Things so often go full circle, and I would guess that Toy-fairs will have seen greater attendances in recent times, as confidence in ebay wains for some/many.

Good buys can of course still be had, but IMO nowhere near as often as once was. Just my feelings of course, and others may feel they have had some stonking bargains.

[njee20]

Definitely agree on the proliferation of buy now. I've moved that way as a seller, as I found the number of bidders falling in line with the number of auctions. As a buyer I'm always looking for auctions though!

[Webbo]

I've been with Ebay since 2005 and seen some pretty big changes. When I started, most N scale stuff was sold through auction, but now it's mostly Buy It Now. EBay has become a giant online marketplace with only a tiny minority of auction sales generally. For the first years, I used to really enjoy bidding on things and even more selling things through auction. Now, the starting price on auctions from most sellers is often not much different from the Buy It Now price. I put the change in behaviour down to the EBay listing strategy. As a seller I can have an item listed as a Buy It Now for years at no cost to me. Accept my price because I'm happy to sit on it till I get the price I want.

As a place to buy cheap LED light strings, 3.7V batteries, or model trees from China, it is tops as far as I'm concerned, but as a venue to have some fun buying and selling it is pretty boring.

Webbo

[Dr Al]

A lot of people must get unwittingly caught out by the Buy-it-nows from shops - often they simply add more to the cost to cover the fees - if you're buying from a shop that has its own website or bricks and mortar premises, *always* buy it direct, as it'll almost guaranteed be cheaper! Ebay in these instances is little more than a pointless middleman, and as such the less sales that get made through them for these items the better.

What ebay was good for (and is less so now) were those unique items, items you couldn't get from a shop easily that often were sold by individuals. Given the fees (particularly the insulting fees on postage), it's no surprise those individuals are deserting them and switching to other alternatives such as dedicated (free) Facebook groups, or forums like this.

Cheers,
Alan