FleecEBay!

I havent sold anything on ebay for quite a while and regretfully just did, a nice Hohner strat, much much better than low or mid end Squiers.
Anyway it went for £90.
Costs were :-
£1.86 listing fees
£8.99 ebay selling fees
£3.77 paypal

So in total about 16% of what it sold for, I get about £75 for the guitar. Plus I lost on the shipping, my fault there. Would never have sold it for £75 face to face let alone mucking about with all the packing and shipping, never again..
Felt a need to thin down but even the Mrs queried me selling.......................
Perhaps this is why others are chucking in silly prices for guitars on ebay?

I had heard that e(vil)bay was starting to dip their beak into shipping cost as well. Any truth to it?

Don't forget they get a share of the paypal fees also.

mortarman120gang11c wrote:Don't forget they get a share of the paypal fees also.

I've sold a few guitars in the past year and you can count on losing 20% due to evilbay and paypal fees. It sucks and i hate to do it but most people in Oregon are pretty hurtin right now so i didn't have much choice. Ebay SUX!

Ebay have 10% of the final figure + insertion fee.

Pay pal is run by Ebay. They take approx. 4% of a pay pal transaction which includeds the cost of postage for guitars and alike.

Man talk about rip you off. They are making millions+millions

Almost forgot + VAT at 15%

On the other hand though, as a buyer you can do really well, and as a seller, how else can you get to such a wide group of sellers.

I have though been using some of the other sites like Preloved and Gumtree, though Preloved has fees for advanced listings and buying.

I got a very nice Gibson Melody Maker with a P90 for just over £200 a month or so ago, off Preloved. Paid with PayPal, seller sent it well packaged, just as easy as eBay to be honest.

I have had some real bargains off ebay in the past though.

No Value Added Tax over here yet Damian, but I'm sure that is is not far into the future.

Do you have a wheelage tax over there on petrol?

No wheelage tax in name but we're taxed to the hilt.
We have a road tax system, it varies on the size of your cars engine.

Petrol is around £6.00/$9.00 a gallon. Our gallons are a tad bigger than yours,nah, nah.
About 80% of the price is tax.
On top of that down my way we also pay £55. a year for the privilage of parking in the road. Ain't we lucky.

In my opinion Ebay has gone downhill a lot, the fees are ridiculous and when you try to incorporate them into the price you get buyers complaining you are asking too much. Great for buyers though like someone else said.

Never bought from gumtree, but i would only do cash on collection if i did. My friend recently got ripped off on a Les Paul, by £350
The seller forged a fed-ex shipping document so not knowing this my friend wired the money over to their account. According to the Police, the money went into an account in Nigeria and the sellers address (in Nottingham UK) does not exist. Its still under Police investigation.

Westbone wrote:No wheelage tax in name but we're taxed to the hilt.
We have a road tax system, it varies on the size of your cars engine.

Petrol is around £6.00/$9.00 a gallon. Our gallons are a tad bigger than yours,nah, nah.
About 80% of the price is tax.
On top of that down my way we also pay £55. a year for the privilage of parking in the road. Ain't we lucky.

My Wife tells me such horror stories. The States is unique in the way it separates taxes, so although we don't have VAT they do find ways to get us to pay!

And yes, you do have the "Imperial Gallon". I love it, sounds so... so... proper! Our petrol (gas) does cost a good bit less than yours does though! For the mean time...

Detouring to the topic at hand, I half like Ebay. Half. Because it's great for buyers but bad for sellers.

Craigslist here in the States is a great way to go. Beware the scammers, as Franco's poor friend has discovered.

I have got some good deals from eBay, but had a few adventures getting stuff too.

Squier 51;- £41 + 120mile round trip

Gibson Melody Maker;- £180

Fender 50s Classic Tele;- £250

Classic Vibe Tele;-£120

MIM Fender Tele;- £150. Mind you this one was a hassle, sent money with PayPal, guit was in Northern Ireland, seller seemed to disappear for a while, emailed, no response for ages. Finally he posted it, in its hard case. Nothing else, just a hard case with a Tele in it, and my address taped to the side with masking tape. When it arrived, the only thing holding the case shut, was the combination lock, it had been opened by Customs. He also hadnt sent me the number of the lock either. Luckily it was a low number, so it only took 20 mins to get into it. Sold the hard case on for £30 so I got a great Fender Tele for £120, one of my main gigging guits too.

As for Preloved?gumtree, if you pay with PayPal you are insured against being defrauded.

I saw my other Melody Maker on both Preloved for £250 and Gumtree for £220. I sent him a text thinking it would have sold, but it hadnt. I made him an offer, worked out a bit of postage, and did the deal. No probs either, I have got just about £400 in both my Gibsons.

But you are right, for sellers Ebay is not such a good deal, but again the MM above sat for ages on Preloved/Gumtree cant help thinking it would have easily sold on eBay.