Quote:
Originally Posted by KoreanInferno
I buy Transformers off eBay all the time. I have my favorite sellers from the states, but I try not to spend too much or suffer expensive customs fees. Big surprise to go to the post office and pay $30 on top just to get your items. So I mostly try to buy from Canadians to keep from getting burned that way.
Shipping is another issue. If you're a buyer it gets expensive. If you're a seller that's the best way to make money as eBay makes nothing off shipping costs. Some sellers include the cost of the item as a part of the shipping and start the bidding at 99 cents, which I believe is not against eBays policies. Weird thing is I've had more expensive shipping from the States than from the UK or Hong Kong. :S
I've bought off the boards here and the people are great because we're all fans and collectors, we respect the items in our care if we keep them or sell them. Almost everyone is reasonable and not out to just make a buck. I'm very grateful for the people I've met and the deals they provided.
In the end it's knowing what you're willing to pay and the worth of the item to you, where ever you buy, shipping included or not.
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Actually Ebay does in fact charge commission on both the purchase price AND the shipping. This on top of the listing fees, the paypal fees and the time and energy required to post listings from scratch.
On average, Ebay + Paypal + Listing works out to about 12-15%. On Amazon their fees are closer to 20% depending on the category. They do this, quite simply, because we let them.
There are many free alternatives, including this board, Craigslist, etc, but managing BST threads takes too much time when you are doing it frequently.
All of this is a big part of why we've been working so hard on ShelfLifex.com to create a powerful, fairly priced marketplace where we can all easily manage our collections, buy/sell/trade, enjoy fair conflict resolution, fair shipping scenarios and sweet research tools.
With our marketplace launching in beta mode at the end of April, now is a very good time to check out the site and start dumping your BST lists into the system.
p.s. We won't have it at first, but we'll be moving quickly to let you export your BST lists from within ShelfLife so that you can more easily share them on this board and elsewhere. More on that shortly...
James
