Hi Bella Family:

To be honest, I have never sold or bought anything on ebay but would love to hear if you have and your feedback.

With the holidays fast approaching again (Christmas) - what are you selling or buying in celebration of this time?

Talk soon!

It depends on what you're selling. There are things that sell great on eBay, like electronics, some collectibles and certain show tickets. But if you're selling jewelry, bulky items or anything luxury, eBay may not work because their audience is generally not hunting for luxury goods. Plus, their fees are very high and shipping for bulky items is expensive.

Angela -

It's funny, I have been a member there since 1999 and I had sworn off them for scammer reasons. But recently I went back on again and haven't had an issue yet. You have to be careful and make sure you follow all precautions. But it is a good way to find buyers for things that might not sell locally on craigslist.

I have 754 transactions with them so a fair number.

Lisa,

Can you tell us what kind of scammer issues you have encountered or how to be careful? I've thought of selling on ebay but have always been cautious about doing it.

I have over 9,000 feedbacks on ebay and ran across only 3 or 4 real scams in all that time. Be careful to read the fine print, know what you really want, and the condition you want it in. Electronics I shy away from although I'm sure there are some great deals. But you could easily buy a Dell computer that looks and works fine, but is missing an extra memory chip or something else they thought you wouldn't notice.

We've bought glass items so poorly packaged it was sheer luck the package arrived in one piece.

We hardly ever sell anymore, but I do have a set of china selling for $299 right now. We bought it at an estate sale for $165. I'm hoping it will go higher. China is a lot of work to pack.

You should give it a try. Start small and gain some confidence.
Our first check was $8.00 for a paperback book many long years ago. My husband was floored that a total stranger sent me money. He was hooked after that.

Alice

Thanks for the firsthand information. I'll definitely consider giving Ebay a try.

Sandra -

I apologize for not seeing your post earlier.

I listed out in great detail what I ran into here -

Lisa's Unhappy Ebay Situation

That was in 2009. I completely swore off ebay as a result.

In the past few months I have been cautiously trying them again. I put tracking on everything. Mostly I have sold plastic Nintendo game cases - so very little money. I also sold two hair removal units (about $20 each). I then sold 2 ancient stereo receivers and both were hand-delivered to the buyer. Oh and a cloak. So 9 transactions and no problem at all with any of them yet.

So maybe I have been lucky, or maybe the scammers are no longer infesting ebay as strongly as they used to.

I currently have 4 jewelry items and 1 remote control on ebay, all at buy-it-now prices. So we will see how those go.

Alice -

We don't buy on ebay so we haven't been scammed in that direction. We only sell on ebay and the scammers would claim they didn't get the item. Now we are extra cautious about putting every layer of tracking on it that we can.

Lisa,

That's fine. We all get busy. Thank you for the information. I'll carefully consider ebay.

I'm very glad that you are doing better this time.