Heh, yeah. They actually used to be really common, maybe not so much anymore.
I’m about to bring some stuff to our local one tomorrow. Will report back…
Not really.
I used to be a pretty avid seller, back in the early days. Over the years, everything about the site has gotten worse, especially for sellers. Still, it’s the only game in town, as far as I am concerned. For example, I bought an HP-65 at a flea market for $2 this summer, and sold it for $198 on ebay. There’s no way I would have gotten that much on Craigslist or Offerup (I don’t use Facebook). I do sell larger items on the local sites, but for small, shippable items, ebay is still the best deal.
And, the converse is also true - I recently (last week) wanted to buy a used M1 MacBook for a friend. There were several listed on Craigslist and Offerup, but they were more expensive than the equivalent machines on ebay, and many of them had incomplete specs listed. Even after I asked the sellers to tell me the RAM and SSD of the machine, they often wouldn’t. I bought one on ebay, and it was exactly what I needed, at the right price.
The stuff that is still worthwhile to sell (at least a few hundred dollars) is still probably best on eBay. Everything under, I dunno, $200 or so can go on FB Marketplace or Craigslist instead (it still works!). And below $50, maybe just the thrift store… or yeah, the dumpster.
My worldview is colored by owning very little shippable stuff that has (IMO) any resale value. Lotta people have houses full of stuff and still (or did) collect more. I already went through my downsize to near zero phase.
Pretty much my feelings as well. For me, it is pretty much that whatever I have is not worth enough to be worth the potential hassle. I’ll avoid even minimal unpleasantness to forego a couple hundred $. Prefer to simply drop it off at Goodwill. Or leave it at the curb with a sign saying “FREE” - where a lot of stuff gets picked up. If we wanted to get rid of something nice (which our kids did not want), we’d take it to a consignment shop and give them their cut.
Our last Craigslist experience was when we moved into this house and wanted to get rid of a pool table the sellers left. We placed it on Craigslist and within minutes got numerous contacts along the lines of, “I’m on my way! Will it fit in my car?” “Can I use your tools?” We immediately realized we did not want these sorts of chuckleheads in our home (and our homeowner’s insurance) to save the $300 we eventually paid for a bonded/insured firm to remove it.
I never had a problem with eBay, buying or selling, but I’m no longer a member, as I don’t want to deal with packing and shipping. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are a different story. Scammers abound, and most of them are easy to spot by the idiotic questions that “buyers” ask. I sold everything from screws to cars on Craigslist without much trouble, and sold a ton of tools on FB when we left Portland. I learned not to respond to questions like “Is this item still for sale?”, as those are often trolls.
Back around 2013 I had to get rid of a McMansion’s worth of furniture. Then ~10 years old but substantially unused by two neat adults, no kids, and no pets. Craigslist in that less scammy era in a decidedly backwards and non-scammy city worked great.
2025 here in Scammy Miammy? Fuggedaboudit!
I did a lot of remodeling over Covid and used Craigslist to give away my old appliances and furniture for free. I gave the first person who answered the ad who didn’t seem like a pain in the ass my address and they got it from the porch. I didn’t even have to meet them mostly.
I replaced my gas furnace with an electric heat pump and gave away the nice working furnace. I did meet that guy. His furnace had died and he didn’t know how he would afford a new one. He was literally crying because he appreciated it so much. I could have sold it for a few hundred dollars but…..
For the sort of things I buy for hobbies, ebay is still the place. Nothing comes close, in price and especially selection. It’s amazing what people have, and are willing to sell.
OK, that made my day. Good on ya!
I’ve been selling things on EBay for about 25 years now. The only three negative experiences I have:
One: A overseas buyer complained that I was charging to much for shipping. After some research I lowered the price to a cheaper alternative. Luckily he didn’t give give me a negative review.
Two: I accidentally sent a package with the wrong shipping and the post office stole my package. If I go a negative review it disappeared relatively quickly.
Three: A guy scammed me by claiming he’d trade me some games. Of course I never got the games. Never deal with anyone outside of EBay.
Absolutely. As a buyer I’ve been offered things like trades, outside of the system. One guy who sent me a bad item wanted to replace it offline without notifying eBay (and after I had submitted a non-bad review). I turned all that down, because if they want to screw you there is absolutely no recourse.
I’ve been selling on eBay for about 25 years now too. I really haven’t had any issues. One time I did get a crazy Disney VHS collector ask me to do something weird (I forget) and then tried to ruin my reputation, but my experience with eBay Support was great and they helped me out.
I sell all sorts of junk. The key for me is keeping boxes, tape, packing paper and labels handy. And having the room to store all of my boxed up junk while I wait for it to sell.
The fees suck but most of the stuff I sell I’m not trying to make a huge profit, just get it out of my house.
eBay is 100x easier to use than it was even just 10 years ago, I tell you what.
When one of my nieces was young, she liked a particular kind of plastic collectable animal figures which I think was Littlest Pet Shop. So for her birthday she’d was a specific type of kitten. I couldn’t find them anywhere but eBay. I may have been getting screwed but there were still fairly inexpensive. It was super easy.
I found a little ceramic dog in a thrift store. Really cute. No indication where it came from, who made it. I eventually broke it. Heartbreak city!
Five minutes on ebay, not only did I find a replacement, but I found it had a companion dog. I got them both.
Can’t do that on Craigslist/FB marketplace!