Originally Posted by
russd32
I'm with you. I'm about 2 hours south of Chicago and if I want to drive up there I can find all kinds of bike parts/shops/culture, but down I'm pretty limited to a couple local shops that I'm not a fan of. So I do get a benefit out of buying from ebay, even after the seller loads the fees and shipping into my final cost.
On the flip side, selling through ebay sucks. Besides the crazy fees that have already been mentioned I have no luck estimating shipping costs. USPS's online tool is horrible and it seems that everytime I guess I end up shorting myself out of another 5-10 bucks. I can't for the life of me figure out USPS's pricing matrix. It's like anything other than a letter is automatically $10, even if it only weighs 2 oz, even though a 2 oz letter only costs like $.15. That $ on top of the ebay/paypal fees makes it not even worth selling something on ebay for less than $50.
I used to sell quite a lot on Ebay too, but just like you have stopped because it's gotten expensive for the seller and I started having the same issues with shipping cost. The only thing I sell occasionally these days is cell phones, but those fit in the Priority Shipping boxes so it's flat rate. As far as buying, there's one fact: There is not one rear pannier available locally in El Paso, a city of over 500,000 people. Not one. Guaranteed. Good headlights? One shop sells the NiteRider line. That's it. Tires? Every shop sells tires, but if you want a specific brand/model? Forget it. There is not one single pair of Continental SportContact tires here except for the ones on my bike. I need Ebay! Hahahahaha