The big sales slowdown

[widowmaker]

I've got a couple of Roberts that I'm about to sell but can't face putting them on eBay

I would rather stick wasps up my arse !!

I might put them in the exchange and mart

 

[mk one]

Depends, FB marketplace isn't for me, but then I'm not a bike flipper, I'm not here to make money. I'm here for a retrobike community, not to sell bits of bike.

If FB keep taking their advert cut making money off your sales, thus driving sales and people from here. Then nobody puts stuff or asks for stuff here, it shuts that part of the site down, possibly driving people away. When it becomes unviable for John to run the site you say goodbye to a resource of knowledge and back to FB full of wading through half a million guess the answers to the question asked type knowledge.
Same as the Amazon/CRC arguments from LBS or just everyday shops.

Each to their own.

You could always post on there and then link to it on here in the ebay and other sales area. If saving time is your want.

Never used fb to sell either. Always list my items for sale on here, if no one wants them then they are offered to a wider community on ebay, usually always make a loss on parts like most of us do.

 

[mk one]

I've got a couple of Roberts that I'm about to sell but can't face putting them on eBay

I would rather stick wasps up my arse !!

I might put them in the exchange and mart

is exchange and mart still a thing?

 

[Once A Hero]

Payment methods, postage and that EU departure event....are also contributory to sales slow down.

Payment:
Is there an alternative to PayPal that UK users are aware of?

I ask this as on several occasions now I haven't been able to buy from a fellow Retrobiker because of their refusal to use PayPal (they tend to also be opposed to using eBay, no surprise there given the historic link), yet site rules suggest the use of the PayPal platform for purchasing - when collecting in person isn't practical of course

Postage:
I can understand users not wanting to post something for practical/personal/ability reasons, but again it's a restriction on making a sale if the item is strictly collection only.
Sometimes I wish I had a job which saw me driving up and down the country all the time - no trip would be completed without a bargain 'collection only' item being loaded up

The EU thing:
That really took the fun out of buying from and selling to mainland Europe

 

[al-onestare]

Never used fb to sell either. Always list my items for sale on here, if no one wants them then they are offered to a wider community on ebay, usually always make a loss on parts like most of us do.

This used to be my tactic until recently when I took the plunge with FB and secured a sale for a good price before hitting ebay, It can be a sh8t show but using the same careful tactics, and selecting the right groups to place the ad, seemed to work ok.

I've found it progressively harder to sell here, but that's not exclusive to this platform. To be fair, what I need is pretty specific so the net has to be wide, so purchases are infrequent here but are always smooth and good natured.

 

[widowmaker]

is exchange and mart still a thing?

I don't think so, I've just had a few issues with selling on eBay and been stung too many time.

 

[retroJIM]

I've got a couple of Roberts that I'm about to sell

Which Roberts would those be? Asking for a "friend"

 

[kingoffootball]

There's a lot of good points already been made. Shipping within Europe has started to get easier again (in my experience) but is clearly not as simple as it was before.

I think there is also a degree of parts saturation. A lot of people buy full bikes, either because it is better value or because the bike happens to have a component they have been searching for. This adds a lot of components to the parts pool as they get split. For the rare parts, there is always more demand than supply [add link to my many wanted ads] but for the more common components there are either lenty to choose from or people already have them in their hoard. I guess if everyone purged their parts hoard more often then they would need to buy parts when they decide to do just one more build.

More rides with associated jumbles would help, as jumbles save advertising/packaging/posting and I'm more likely to buy yet more stuff I don't need if it is there in my hands.

 

[d8mok]

FB is easy to deal with. Just block anyone that is potential hassle , messes you about or is an obvious scammer. Once you’ve had a few months of this you’ve kinda got rid of the all the idiots and then the good folk are left. It tends to be the same names buying stuff so you do get to know them (same as here).

I’ve got to say that fb groups are likely better than eBay now in terms of quick sales and for decent money. The parts must be good condition and desirable though. EBay is still a steady way of selling the low end but it’s slow.

If the classfieds on here die. Then as mentioned prior the worry is the site slowly declines as there isn’t necessarily enough other content to attract people. It would be a massive shame in my opinion.

 

[greencat]

Payment methods, postage and that EU departure event....are also contributory to sales slow down.

Payment:
Is there an alternative to PayPal that UK users are aware of?

I ask this as on several occasions now I haven't been able to buy from a fellow Retrobiker because of their refusal to use PayPal (they tend to also be opposed to using eBay, no surprise there given the historic link), yet site rules suggest the use of the PayPal platform for purchasing - when collecting in person isn't practical of course

Postage:
I can understand users not wanting to post something for practical/personal/ability reasons, but again it's a restriction on making a sale if the item is strictly collection only.
Sometimes I wish I had a job which saw me driving up and down the country all the time - no trip would be completed without a bargain 'collection only' item being loaded up

I'd be interested in what safe alternatives there are to PayPal, but it might be that some posters have not yet moved on from postal orders and a SAE.