Yes, I slept on eBay and I am scrambling to catch up. I started selling things I’ve held on to for too long some weeks ago via Vinted and Vestiaire with four items sold via these platforms so far. I sold a dress on Vinted and three shoes on Vestiaire. I was impressed with Vestiaire, I still am but the traction on my listings slowed down and they kept recommending for me to reduce my prices to reach a wider audience. I did reduce the price on a shoe but this did not translate to a sale. I also started getting very low offers and someone made a comment on an item offering to buy it at 60% off. This kind of ticked me off and I decided it’s time to try out another platform.
A lot of people in the FIRE community shared about their sales on eBay but I always thought “who shops on eBay?” and “will they even be remotely interested in what I have to sell?”. Anyway, I was pissed off enough by this low ball offer to go reactivate my eBay account which I opened in July 2022 but never used. I listed the shoe despite the language limitation as my German is still shaky. Two days later, I was asked for the shoe’s length but I missed it as I didn’t have notifications turned on. I responded after two days and received an offer after some hours which I counter offered. I checked in earlier today to see the sale had gone through and I was beside myself with excitement. I had more in store when I realised there were no fees for my sale. Yes, zero fees meaning everything paid gets transferred to my bank account.
I had two days to ship the order so I packed it up and shipped as soon as I got home. I know I run the risk of missing the shipping deadline if I didn’t do it immediately. I did have some drama at the shipping store which I will share later this week. I feel like I’m attracting a lot of drama lately.
After completing shipping, I joyfully removed the shoe from Vestiaire and I intend to move all my unsold listings to eBay as it’s now my number 1 recommence platform.
My pros for eBay:
- No selling fees – this is a major con that beats other options in my opinion. I am not sure if it applies to all Countries but selling items on eBay.de became free for private sellers from March 1, 2023
- It is the number two e-commerce site in Germany and globally so using it gives access to a lot of potential customers
- Ease of product upload despite language limitation
- AI integration for product description
The cons are:
- Listing in my non-primary language with no option to switch to English. There is room for misinterpretation which I experienced when I showed up at the shipping store without money
- It appears payment is on hold for a longer period
Irrespective of the cons, eBay remains my number one platform until a better one comes along. I will continue to declutter and list whatever I can sell on eBay.