Ebay is now my last option for selling items. They now base the cost of your listing on the asking price too! You can easily pay 10-12 bucks for your total listing costs if you sell doing a reserve auction and use paypal to accept payment on a relatively low priced item! That can be a hefty percentage of your profit! Of course, costs are always passed on to the consumer eventually, which is why costs on Ebay seem to be going up.

I'm going to hazard a guess that you get a substantial discount on bulk listings. That would explain the endless pages of identical items that drown out small businesses and individual listings. Why they allow this I don't know. Dutch auctions are supposed to be used for multiple item sales.

I've sent them correspondance explaining why I sell using other resources now, and also why I buy less from Ebay. Perhaps it will help. I can't be the only one noticing this trend of greed.

I do a lot of business of eBay and I know exactly what you mean, Sir K. It's becoming less and less attractive to sell items on there. I've done a few hundred transactions in total and I've always been a bit resentful at the large chunk of money eBay takes from each sale you make, not to mention the Paypal surchage. Since Paypal is owned by eBay, they pretty much push it as the only way to pay for auctions, and so they get double-up cash. It's becoming extortion.

Do you or does anyone else know of anywhere else to sell? I'd be willing to look elsewhere if it's more profitable as a seller.

I've noticed it too, Sir K.

I avoid ebay as much as possible. I've never sold much on it, as I prefer to support my local secondhand stores and charities. Maybe if I owned anything worth selling...

I don't buy a lot either. Between stupid bidders, the exchange rate, and the shipping costs, it's often cheaper to buy locally or through amazon.

To my mind, Ebay isn't really for mass-market stuff, it's for rare/specialty items. That opinion is even stronger because of the increasing cost of doing business with them.

It didn't used to be that way! Back in the late 90's, it was a great place to find hobby items, collectables, computer parts, etc. Not anymore though.

My solutions may not be as attractive to you. I mostly use Ebay for buying/selling hobby gear and finding hard to find collectables for Xmas gifts. If you go to forum sites dealing with the kinds of hobbies or items you're selling, you can often find a buy/sell/trade forum. They are meant mostly for individuals and not businesses. Most of these you can post for free! You may have to wheel and deal with people though. As a buyer you may be taking a greater risk than on Ebay depending on feedback methods. Many sites like this will ban users for ripping someone off, but some may not. As a seller, you may have to provide credentials of some sort.