Ebay ROCKS!

I absolutely LOVE Ebay! I bought all my Christmas presents this year off of there! Are you an ebayer? If not, you should consider becoming one!

It is probably the most talked about auction site on the internet. Ebay! From the commercials to the emails, Ebay is talked about everywhere! What gifts did I purchase at what prices? Allow me to elaborate:

• Sony PSP 2GB Memory card: $24.00
• Insignia 2GB MP3 player: $42.00
• Blackberry 8700c: $118.00
• Potty Mouth Pens (2) (Yeah! Weird stuff too!): $5.00
• Java Cellphone games for Moto Razr: 0.97.

All the prices above include shipping and handling! I was stunned! You can truly get a good deal on Ebay if you look. I have shopped on Ebay for about 5 years, it has probably been one of the greatest online shopping experiences that I've had.

I've also sold on Ebay as well, and that is a different story. While good profit can be made and you get really good exposure for your product(s) and websites, there is one area that I personally feel Ebay could work on.

For example, the last 3 months of 2007 were probably my worst sales on Ebay. Mostly in part because the buyer would back out once I sent an invoice. What I asked each buyer that backed out was, "Why did you outbid everyone else by a good 50$ and then not pay up??" It was highly frustrating. Out of all the 'back-out' bidders, I could not get them to answer this question! So then of course I'd file a non-payment dispute. And then I would receive nasty emails from those 'back-out' bidders stating they could not pay, it was their little brother, someone else used their account.

Talk about frustrating! I ended up losing $250.00 worth of profit. It may not seem like much profit, but to me every little bit counts! In any case, I ended up filing a claim with the BBB (Better Business Bureau). It took about a month before I got an answer from Ebay. All I was told was to set my selling options so that people less than 5 or 10 feedback couldn't purchase.

Honestly, that didn't really solve anything. Some of the people that had backed out did indeed have really good feedback and high scores. So, how does that help me? I had sold on Ebay several years before then and had a nice fat checking account from it. I had stopped due to family issues and personal problems. However, when I tried to pick it up again it seems I can't make a decent sale!

That is my only problem with Ebay at the present time. If they could somehow weed out those annoying non-paying bidders, business could certainly pick up tremendously! I'm not sure Ebay really cares they make billions in profit from the seller accounts alone!

Please excuse the rant. I still do like purchasing off of Ebay. I really do think its a great place to find deals or items that cannot be locally purchased. I also began to wonder if maybe perhaps my selling techniques were not viable anymore? I mean, I had done so well in the past, I figured I'd have a pretty good shot at increasing my income.

Also, it seems that really GOOD Ebay seller books elude me at every turn! I would like to find an advanced Ebay sellers guide or tips on how to sell on Ebay. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know! I would like to start selling again, but not until after the new year. Oh what am I saying? That's next week! Alright people, start hashing out the info! Thanks!


- Nita