repechage

The ebay terms of service have been evolving steadily.
the paypal spin off a while was an stock value play, paypal soon became worth much more.

My hunch some of this is to achieve other goals under the guise of not having a restraint of trade case in the future.
"we don't require paypal"

if one is a seller, really really pushes an isolated checking account. Limit risk.

I recall the days of sending money orders. Was not fool proof, but straightforwardish.
I have not sold on ebay, if I was to do so, I definitely would want delivery confirmation, actually by signature if possible.

rccardr 

Been buying and selling on eBay since the 90’s. Would estimate that less than 1% of those transactions have been in any way bothersome.
That’s the largest potential audience and since most of what I sell is somewhat esoteric, big = optimal.
Any time there’s been a problem with a sale, I just offer a full refund if they send it back to me. No partials, no gaming. Over the years maybe one or two have taken me up on the offer.
My take on the change in billing procedures is that this way they 1) get their bite as soon as the sale concludes instead of the end of the month, and 2) make a little bit of interest on the float between end of sale and submission to your bank account.
Have not used CL in quite some time and no plans to do so in the future. Just too painful.
Sell things here once in a while but mostly give stuff away. Also give a load every year to the local Coop.

icemilkcoffee 

It's been many years since I sold anything on Ebay, but do they still have 'free listing days' when they waive the listing fees?

As a buyer I love Ebay.

katsup

For those worried about your account or eBay getting hacked and emptying your checking account.....link a checking account that has limited funds and is not linked to your main. Plenty of banks offer one for free with no requirements. Allybank is what I use. Once the funds are in this account, I move it to my main account to keep the funds limited in this account.

scarlson 

There's also the paperwork. According to federal tax code, we are not required to report income on small personal sales as long as it is a personal item sold at a loss. But massachusetts and Vermont now require anyone who receives more than $600 in payment for "goods and services" through an online source to receive and file some tax forms. This puts the burden of proof that these are personal items sold at loss (honestly, when you factor in the cost of transport, tools, and storage space, who is making money on hobbies these days?). But being able to prove a loss is not straightforward at all. I think the laws were intended to urge resellers of Alibaba and the like to incorporate themselves as businesses, but we hobbyists get caught up in the net. Or else I don't understand tax code. Nobody will give me a good answer, and I refuse to pay another fee to talk to a tax preparer about it, so it looks like ebay is out.

I've been buying less and less stuff there, as I think the selection really has been thinning out and the prices really have been going up. It really will be unfortunate - if they push all the smalltime sellers of garage sale type items away, ebay loses a lot of its appeal to people like us, and basically becomes a downmarket version of amazon.

In other countries, it appears to retain its charm. Maybe the laws are different. French and German and British Ebay still have killer deals.

clubman 

This is the only way to go. It shuts down any further shenanigans.

balto charlie

There a Bobish bike Google group that posts classic bikes and parts for sale.They used to be on yahoo. They usually post ads they find (CL/Ebay)but I think some members post their own bikes/parts. Here's the link, couldn't hurt to ask and you will be getting a market that likes the old stuff:
​​​​​​https://groups.google.com/g/bobishbikesfs

sewupnut

Since when did that happen? Bought a small part on Ebay last week and PayPal was accepted.

willmarksni

For me, the timing is just another thing to add to my grievances about selling on ebay along with ebay always taking the customers side even if its a blatant con, the fees being too high so only ebay actually make money, ebay earning commission on postage when they aren't providing any service. Now instead of getting paid same day I have to be out of pocket on the postage, and commission, and the actual goods for a couple of days before I get scammed. At some point it has to be too bad to actually sell on it. For me that time has come. Been selling since 2001, but think I'm done.

bargainguy

From the buyer's side, the situation hasn't changed, you can still use paypal for purchases. It's only changed on the selling side.

In the olden days, paypal was the only portal for payments in and out of ebay. Now ebay's managed payment system takes over and paypal just becomes another payment option, but not the only one.

The concern here is that for sellers, ebay now requires a link to a checking account. Without it, can't sell there, but you can buy as much as you want.

CliffordK

I'm surprised that Amazon hasn't ventured far into the used market.

Initially they were a new/used book store. And the books had a stock ad, and were rated good, fair, downright grubby, etc.

But, it shouldn't take too big of a leap in concept to make a general category ad... Campagnolo Nuovo Record Derailleur... then link to specific ads by each seller. Amazon fulfillment would take a hit, but not everything has to go through Amazon fulfillment.

There have been items that I have chosen not to order on Amazon because the general ad didn't match the individual listing with no additional information provided. For example, a used multi-volume encyclopedia set for $5.

In theory, you should be able to sell anything that is truly NOS/Boxed on Amazon. Perhaps even "good used".

Classtime 

I got comfortable with PayPal/Ebay and stopped selling when they asked for access to my checking. But this thread suggesting a separate checking? Awesome! Great idea. Keeps my play money separate as it was before.

Mad Honk 

Yeah? As a buyer I got my Paypal account hacked this past January due to a change in the Paypal front page that has a button that can be pressed to access every account in your membership. Some hacker in Russia figured out how to get into my account and it was a three week ordeal to get the mayhem stopped. I wound up closing two bank accounts and two credit cards. Closing my e-mail account down, I received 50 pages of in-mails in less than two hours and my IP couldn't stop them from coming in. I had to close my E-mail account and open a new one. The attempts from the hackers was over $60K to all of my accounts.
Call me stoopid or silly, but I am done with electronic banking through either channel. I was lucky that I found it with in an hour of the attempt. If it had happened in the middle of the night, I might have been at a complete loss of way more money and loss of credit card credibility. My level of tolerance for this is zero. I was hacked by a small time hacker ten years ago and it was solved in a day and he was punished. However I'm not taking the risk anymore. JMHO, MH

CliffordK

It might be a good time to clean up some unused PayPal preferences.

The banks (or PayPal) usually cover fraudulent withdrawals, and can often claw back funds, although I'd imagine the hackers play some kind of bank shell game, so the funds hit their PayPal account, then are gone in a few milliseconds.

Unfortunately, the banks often seem to ignore the small-time hackers, $500 at a pop. Are they domestic or foreign? It is often the E-Retailers that get stuck with the bill. No money, and no goods.

repechage

just tried the link- gotta be a member is appears.

himespau 

Wasn't that true for Paypal in the past when they were the only payment option? I seem to remember Paypal requiring me to link to my checking account to sell on eBay when I sold a few things years ago. Never sold much, but I don't see the difference between Paypal having access to my checking account (which pissed me off at the time) and eBay (which at the time controlled Paypal). If either of them got hacked, I was in trouble.

Barry2 

Same story here.
Long time eBay user (1999), haven’t sold since they insisted on having fingers in my bank account.
And don’t get me started on their mandatory escrow scam for wristwatch sales.

The time is perfect for an eBay competitor.

Barry

RustyJames 

I still use eBay and have not had any problems including overseas transactions (knock on wood). Also, brick and mortar businesses list there and I'm gullible enough to think that my $$ is better going to them vs Amazon's coffers.

FB marketplace has been good to me for some stuff. It seems like people won't travel more than a few miles to buy things so I purposely look for listings outside metro areas.

Like others, when I decide to let go of stuff I will offer it here for little or $0. I've had members do the same for me so seems fair to reciprocate.

balto charlie

It does target the vintage cycling market, joining cost nothing

NatusEstInSuht

Pinkbike and various Facebook communities such as Sell & Buy - Steel Is Real, Campagnolo For Sale and STEEL IS REAL !!! - Classic Vintage Road Bikes. Here in British Columbia we also have British Columbia Bicycle Classifieds and BC Bicycle Buy n' Sell Facebook groups.

polymorphself 

Although many, if not more, use Amazon as well too, no?

satbuilder 

I’ve picked up some really nice stuff off Facebook, mainly on the C&V specific groups. The CR list is good, too.

Welshboy

I've just sold a bike on eBay this evening and have now run into this problem. I was hoping to be paid in cash but the buyer couldn't get to an ATM so paid by PayPal about an hour before handover. Now I'm having to give my bank account details to eBay to get my money. Once I get paid I'll either close my account and open up a new account for buying with a credit card with a low credit limit or keep my account open for buying and strip out as much personal info as I can. I'll certainly be using my LBS more than I have been too (to be fair this has already started).

Drillium Dude 

Right? I was gonna bail on selling because of this change, too, but a separate account for Ebay selling makes sense. Still hate the fees, but wtf, gotta spend some to make some, amiright?

DD

repechage

look for a free checking at a Credit Union?
I can see those fees adding up otherwise at one of the big retail banks