No kidding on that. A lot of times for frames/wheels, I list them on the Wash DC (read, high traffic) CL for somewhat less than I would expect on ebay to avoid shipping hassle. Almost invariably, I get no love, except from lowball scammers. Then I'll list on ebay, get 50% or more than my CL price. More than a few times, the ebay buyer has ended up being somebody local, does a local pickup.

Go figure...

The other reason I like ebay is that I don't even have to think about setting a price, which itself is a headache. I just list stuff at .99 cents, no reserve, and let the crowd sort it out. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, sometimes somebody gets a raging great deal, but overall I think it is a fair system. I certainly don't begrudge ebay and paypal their cut. And due to my recent burst of apparently ethical sales, I regained some top rated/power seller status that reduces final value fees by 20%. They also offered me health insurance...

That cut in final value fees is making me think it may be time to auction off a couple of expensive guitars I don't use much, including a minty 1965 Gibson L5C. I've thought about sending this to one of the big guitar consignment joints, but they charge 20% plus I have to pay to ship it to them and who knows when it will eventually sell. Plus, those joints nickel and dime you to death on prepping the guitar for sale, they always want to nick you for leveling the frets and other stuff.

Anyhow, I'm still pretty small beer as an ebay seller, makes me wonder what kind of deals they offer the guys who are doing thousands or tens of thousands of sales per year.

I suppose some of the hurdles ebay/paypal set up for low volume sellers is an annoyance, but here is a secret - Ebay really doesn't want/need the business from the onesie/twosie occasional seller. I'm positive that the overall buyer satisfaction averages less with this kind of seller, just from them being noobs, not from any malicious intent. But they sort of have to to allow this as a portal for future mass sellers.

I'm also with the previous poster about selling on forums. I do it occasionally for somebody who clearly needs an unusual part or is in a jam. But as a routine thing, setting prices is too much of a headache and leaves me feeling like I'm either giving stuff away in order to be a nice guy or I'm taking somebody to the cleaners who really needs an item.

So I'm obviously in the camp that approves of ebay. I just follow a couple of rules - the first is full disclosure on items. The second is ship real fast, same or next day that you get payment. That alone seems to get rid of about 90% of potential problems. I answer all queries. And on the few times where I missed an issue on an item, I just refund all the money, including shipping and take it as a lesson for myself to better inspect things.

Speaking of that, the items that have caused most problems over the years are used freewheels. I've had a couple of those where people have gotten back and said, hey, chain is skipping or some other thing on freewheels in very nice condition. I've refunded the money despite the fact that I suspect that something else is the problem, like worn chain or bad derailleur adjustment. But it isn't worth delving into and unlike a new freewheel, you can't say, well, it is new...

So I don't like selling those on ebay anymore. If I ever do again, I may very strongly warn that used freewheels are sold as-is.

I've also never had a situation where I felt a buyer was trying to scam me, knock on wood.