Internet Marketing: Why eBay Is Dead - Why You Should Not Sell On eBay

A few years ago eBay was a great online solution for both buyers and sellers. In fact, a few years ago the internet in general was a great solution for both buyers and sellers also. It was relatively easy for sellers to make a profit on eBay and buyers could find items at low cost. As with most people I first started using eBay as a buyer and managed to find a few bargains then moved onto becoming a seller at a later date. Back in 2005 there was plenty of incentive to use the internet for e-commerce; discounts were available as well as free or low-cost delivery and people were actively encouraged to do so and were provided with incentives to buy online.

Fast forward to 2012 and things have changed... drastically! Despite such a promising start, sites like eBay no longer offer the incentives or encouragement that they used to. In fact, we are now in a time where it's more expensive to buy and sell online than it is to buy and sell offline and so the greed of such corporations has, ultimately, destroyed internet marketing. Whilst there are still a few people who manage to remain successful on eBay this is a minimal amount compared to five years ago and those people are simply just lucky - their time will come.

The incentives are not there any more. Buying and selling online no longer has any appeal and is much more cost-effective and easier to carry out offline - there are less problems, there's less work and there's less waiting about. Ultimately, the death of eBay comes down to greed and the extortionate fees that eBay have introduced - sellers are being outright ripped off.

Setting Up Business

I currently have the opportunity to purchase as many guitars as I want at 50% of their retail value. I decided I would take advantage of this opportunity, become a reseller and sell the guitars on eBay. This was a bad idea right from the start. Seeing as I already had a business account with Paypal I would use this in order to accept payments. This was also a bad idea right from the start.

I purchased ten guitars to start off and listed them on eBay. I had to ensure that I wouldn't make a loss so instead of putting them to auction I listed them as Buy It Now. A listing fee was incurred. Upon selling the first guitar it became apparent that eBay would taking a large chunk of the money as a final value fee. I later found out that Paypal would also be taking a percentage out of the income received. Upon receiving payment, paying the associated fees and then posting the guitar off (which sold for normal retail price, double what I paid for it) I was left £1 ($2) out of pocket.

Despite buying the guitars for 50% of their retail value and then selling them on at 100% of their retail I value on eBay, I was left with a £1 loss per item! It had cost me an extra £1 out of my own pocket for each guitar sold, in order to be able to sell the guitars at twice the cost I had paid for them on eBay!

The entire idea, cost and effort putting in to attempting to start up this guitar business was completely pointless right from the beginning. I have also done the same with other items which I can buy at low cost but because of the associated fees it's just not even worth bothering to look at eBay as a selling point any more. eBay is dead and I suggest you only consider using eBay as a selling medium if you are willing to pay money out of your own pocket.