What has happened to Ebay

[AndyR]

Yep, it's not looking too good for folks trying to sell stuff.

I've been reading the gear-selling woes on here for a few months, but last weekend really brought home how tough some people might be finding things if they're relying on selling stuff.

We're just starting to look at buying a home. I was utterly amazed last weekend to find that estate agents (they represent the vendors, remember) were recommending we make initial offers of at least £10-20K less than the asking price when we find a property we're interested in!!! (In comparison, last time I owned a place, early 90s, the estate agent was personally insulted that I didn't offer the asking price... He actually told me there was no point forwarding my rather naive offer, I insisted that he did, and the vendor accepted!!)

One of them was even more candid last weekend - "well, if they want to sell, they've got to get it into their heads that the place just ain't worth what they want for it - it's only worth what they can get for it... and it's not selling at the asking price, is it?".

They were also a lot more open about how long places have been on the market than I was expecting: "Yeah, they've been on for x months, dropped twice, but I think they're going to have to drop a fair bit more than that unless they're very lucky" (bear in mind that this particular property was one we'd already established we weren't interested in, though).

I was not expecting this sort of talk from estate agents! I was kind of stunned.

If those buggers are talking like this (ie much more "realistically" than I was imagining), makes me think that things are perhaps gonna get worse before they get better for folks selling stuff.

[Stevepage]

The Fiance and I are looking at buying our own flat/house within the next year or 2 years. We've nearly got a deposit together and I just need to find a job with a permanent contract (instead of the no hours contract I have now) so to hear that you can put in a lower offer of that much makes me feel a little more optimistic. Unfortunate for the sellers but house prices are incredibly high and it can't stay like that forever.

[mikeluke]

Phil

I was doing my best to bid them up for you!!

Mike

[gwEm]

The Fiance and I are looking at buying our own flat/house within the next year or 2 years. We've nearly got a deposit together and I just need to find a job with a permanent contract (instead of the no hours contract I have now) so to hear that you can put in a lower offer of that much makes me feel a little more optimistic. Unfortunate for the sellers but house prices are incredibly high and it can't stay like that forever.

i was listening to a conversation on the bus the other day. one of guys had just brought a house - initially put on the market 6 months ago at £400k - he'd got it for £250k

[AndyR]

The Fiance and I are looking at buying our own flat/house within the next year or 2 years. We've nearly got a deposit together and I just need to find a job with a permanent contract (instead of the no hours contract I have now) so to hear that you can put in a lower offer of that much makes me feel a little more optimistic. Unfortunate for the sellers but house prices are incredibly high and it can't stay like that forever.

i was listening to a conversation on the bus the other day. one of guys had just brought a house - initially put on the market 6 months ago at £400k - he'd got it for £250k

Yeah, I feel sorry for folks who bought for £300k-£350k (based on that price) in the last couple of years. But not at all sorry for the folks who bought it for £100k-£150k a few years earlier. I'm guessing (or hoping) that the sellers in that case were the latter.

And I'm seriously hoping the buyer is not thinking it'll be worth £400k soon!! :lol:

[blue]

a relative of mine paid £250,000 for a house right before the bubble burst.  his sister paid £42,000 for an identical house across the road about ten years earlier.  her neighbour recently sold for about £90,000.  so he's in £160,000 negative equity!  it would be absolutely awful if it was me, but he's a d**k, and thought he was the big lad owning two or three "properties" (hate that word, it's a house, you live in it!). 

[HoratioCaine]

Selling on eBay has been an absolute pain, I'm glad that I've sold all the gear that I don't want or need anymore, however doing all that was frustrating, pretty much due to the reasons already mentioned.

With the majority of my stuff even a price lower than usual didn't seem to cut it, so I ended up having to sell it for even lower, which isn't good given those fat greedy oaths that run eBay and also own PayPal take a shed load off you in fees, I swear down its gone up over the years.  Combine that with getting a fair few watchers, yet nothing massive really happens in terms of how many people bid.  Hence why most of my auctions were pretty disappointing in the end.  The biggest disappointment was my black 2003 Gibson Les Paul Standard which only got £886, which had a load of extras with it as well.  I don't even want to remember it, along with a load of the other stuff I sold pricewise and how much eBay give you an even bigger kick in the balls afterwards with their fees.

I will say though my last set of stuff I recently sold last weekend on eBay was quite a nice surprise for once.  Sometimes you get lucky, altough not very often.  I had my Aracom Attenuator, Bad Cat BC 50 Head and the red Marshall 2554 Jubilee Head.  The Bad Cat sold for £50 less than the buy it now which wasn't great but not as bad as a lot of stuff I sold before.  It was the Jubilee and Aracom that were the shock.  I had put the Jubilee for a £600 BIN, with a £400 start price, and the Aracom for £350 with a £200 start price.  Predictably, both had bids so the buy it now prices went, and I again thought to myself 'oh great another set of disappointments await me again.'  However, turned out that I was going to be proved wrong on this occasion.  Since I had had them up for 10 days to get as much interest as possible, I was shocked to find out on the Sunday when I had got back from going out for something to eat that the Aracom went for £465 and the Jubilee went for £700!  eBay is stupidly unpredictable, however it is really still a buyers market at the moment due to the economy.

I suppose at the same time I can't complain too much, as being a buyer as well I have got some nice deals from eBay.  My recent JCM 900 SL X being one of them which I got for £375 posted (the seller paid me to fix the problem so I wasn't down any money).  SL X's in general seem to be going for less than what they realistically should be recently.  About a month or two ago I remember seeing a nice one only get £332, and that had the footswitch too.  Compare that to earlier on in the year when I saw one get snapped up for £400 on a buy it now rather quickly after it got listed.

I'm glad all my selling is over anyway, it really has become a lot more of a chore using eBay to sell stuff as of late.

[Philly Q]

Phil

I was doing my best to bid them up for you!!

Mike

Thanks Mike!  :)

[Philly Q]

I will say though my last set of stuff I recently sold last weekend on eBay was quite a nice surprise for once. Sometimes you get lucky, altough not very often.

Yeah, when I sold my Tyler I got pretty close to what I paid for it (before selling fees, at least).  But I think that's because it's quite a "niche" guitar - you're not going to get lots of speculative bidders, but you might get one or two people who really want it.

I suppose at the same time I can't complain too much, as being a buyer as well I have got some nice deals from eBay.

I've watched lots of guitars go on eBay for bargain prices - I've been tempted, but it would've been buying just for the sake of getting a good deal.  Everything I really want still seems to be expensive!  :roll:  Probably because a lot of it is in Japan or the USA.

[Sancho]

I've got two Marshalls, some accessories and a USA Strat for sale.
Nothing. Zip. Not even inquiries or low ball offers...

[Andrew W]

I think the niche comment from Philly covers it. In the last year I've sold two big ticket items being my Charvel EVH and a Leica camera body and lens. The Charvel was a bugger to get rid of and went for my retainer, after I'd had a non-payer first time around. I lost out a bit on what I'd paid for it but only because I'd bought it from the States when the pound was ridiculously strong against the dollar. The camera bits, on the other hand, both went for quite a bit and had a fair few bids. I suspect Leica collectors tend to be wealthier than guitar players so recssions matter less to them. You just have to be lucky and hit the market when someone wants to buy.

[Alex]

I don't know, I sold some stuff - 3 effect pedals and one pickup - just this month and the auctions went really well, I had expected less.

Maybe the things are to niche to gather larger attention? Admittedly I have no idea what kind of amp a Carvin Legacy is. Things like that are often difficult to sell.

[Philly Q]

OK, putting it to the test - I've just listed six guitars and a bass.  :|

Let's see what happens.

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=25989.0


(They say it pays to advertise...)

[Thrull]

times are sucking. definitely a buyer's market.

[HTH AMPS]

OK, putting it to the test - I've just listed six guitars and a bass.  :|

Let's see what happens.

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=25989.0


(They say it pays to advertise...)

nobody is going to want those guitars mate, especially that bass - I'll give you £50  :lol: