Ebay "auction" site

[Tootyred]

Is it my imagination or has ebay become more of a shop window, rather than an actual auction site.

Its not often im looking for parts, but i have a couple on my list at present...

Ebay now seems to be loads of b.i.n. stuff, at frankly silly prices! Is this just the way its going or is it purely that people are terrified of getting the actual value of 25% or their b.i.n and running the risk of seeing that the Emperor is naked!

Only interested as its been good while since i used it for parts.

 

[greencat]

Think it's been that way for a while. You can still score some bargains as it's certainly a buyers market at the moment. I bought a laptop last night for £800 which was £2.3K last year. But tbf, you have to be pretty desperate for cash to take that kind of hair cut.

For bike stuff, a lot of stuff was bought at stupid prices during covid, and people are struggling to let go of them - particularly if they need their bike stuff to be worth that amount. A lot of people's discretionary income has fallen off a cliff, and they have no money to buy on non-essentials.

 

[mk one]

They have been pushing bin listings for a while to try to make it more like amazon and other sites, though still plenty of auctions, you can specify those in your search preferences.

 

[dyna-ti]

The worst change I've seen is You Tube.
It appears to now be a targeted selling site with every 2nd 'vid' linking to some website somewhere.

 

[Tootyred]

Interesting. I didn't realise they are pushing bin as an option.

Ive also noticed how may " business " seem to be selling parts....its all "retro parts uk" and "erotica cycles " . ....

But the price difference between ebay and say here/ other forums seems to be massively widening gulf.

Im sure they must catch the odd "more money than sense" punter, but it must be a hard, slow way to make money....especially if you are paying tax etc..

 

[nstarmore]

Yup been a long time since I've bought used bike parts on eBay. I think eBays policy for not doing anything about bidders who disappear doesn't help either, I don't list anything for auction myself anymore as people win and then just don't pay, so I guess others must be the same. I think then anything that comes up with a bin thats reasonable gets snapped up pretty quickly.

 

[Antstark]

I have sold quite a bit on eBay over the years and must admit in the last two years I have moved to Bin but always with ‘best offer’.Its sort of best of both worlds. I usually put the initial bin slightly higher expecting people to knock me down at least 10%-25% (or more if it’s an RBer or I am feeling generous)…however you’d be amazed how many people won’t haggle and just pay the Bin for stuff. Maybe with things like Amazon prime and same day delivery people don’t want to wait a week for an auction to end any more. They can pay slightly more and get it faster.

 

[Tootyred]

Just done quick search that probably sums it up.

Searched for 8 speed shifters, uk, used....225 hits. 10% are in an auction.....howver i would say that 80% of those 10% have start price higher then what they are worth by some degree!

Its Its clearly no longer an auction site.....nor the home for many bargains!

 

[BongoInTheCongo]

There's still good bargains to be had, especially for used stuff that's badly photographed/dirty/tatty.

 

[BongoInTheCongo]

Bought myself a nice Brooks Cambium for cheap because it was filthy!