Hi, I have advertised some items on gumtree. Whilst placing the ads I had the option to place the ads on eBay as well. I just wondered if I would benefit placing the ads on eBay as well? Are there extra costs, eBay and PayPal fees? My items are advertised for $10 and under with free pickup.
I don't want to lose out selling on eBay, if it means my $10 is reduced significantly by fees etc as it may not be worth my while.
ebay/paypal fees are ~ 15%
but doing local pickup, so don't accept paypal!
That's not how it works, you pay first then you pick up
not with me…. You pickup, you pay cash. No paypal scam deals thank you.
You will pay ebay fee and paypal fee something like 10-13% of the sale unless there is a fee free listing or special listing weekend on ebay
But the benefit is more people see it
eBay's fee is 10.9%, Paypal is 2.7% + $0.30. eBay usually has $1.10 weekends specials and free listings near the start of the month.
Most buyers are good, but you'll eventually get one that's just a big headache.
I've recently have had a buyer open a dispute for an brand new item I sold in december, couldn't do anything about it.
I would rather stick to gumtree atm. You are more likely to find someone who wants the product and they would pay cash in hand to you which will save all the hassle for you.
EBay as others have said will provide you with more buyers. However the risk of being caught by a scam buyer is high if you don’t know what you are doing. If your listing contains errors or you missed a major point with the item (eg you say it is in perfect condition and it has a tiny tear or the color is blue but looks like green when the buyer receives it) then Paypal and eBay tend to side with the buyer.
Gumtree is great if you only want to sell locally and within Australia. Also Gumtree has no fees unless you want to use their upgrades.
Gumtree is primarily based on trust. Someone pays you and you send it to them. If there is a problem it’s basically buyer beware.
The positive with eBay though is that if you build up enough positive feedback then this indicates a level of trust that a buyer can feel comfortable with and will generally lead to more buyers. It means that if you have the same item at the same price as another seller then you will be more likely to have the sale because you have more positive feedback than another seller.
Try Facebook Marketplace. Higher volume of traffic and it's free to list items. Similar in some aspects to how Gumtree works
Get ready for the constant "Is this available?".
Putting something like "If ad is up, it's available. Will not respond to is this available?" usually deters those pests.
That's annoying but not as annoying as the ridiculous low balls you get!
Most "Is this available?" messages are sent automatically by inadvertent presses of the "Ask for details" button as they scroll down.
Apart from that I've found it an OK place sell things, especially for your own local area
Arrrgh those automatic messages are the freaking worst
put them on ozB classifieds if you want, too.
As much as I love this place, why would you want to list on OzB? It's full of tightarses.
I have started using ebay and while it is a nice easy to use system and feels more official at the end of the day gumtree gets you more of your starting price I find.
Ebay fees hurt on big ticket items when you don't use the free listings.
Ebay is much simpler. People click and are committed to buy - no negotiation or hassle. I find gumtree is full of time wasters and tyre kickers
I tried to sell the same switch about 4 times - every time the winner of the auction disappeared and didn't pay. PITA and took a couple months to actually sell. Otherwise I've had no trouble with ebay, but only list during the free/$1 listing periods. Fees are dumb high.
I use EBay if I am selling something a bit specialist (e.g. camera lens) and willing to ship in Australia. I used the deals though - never pay full ebay charges wait for the Sunday deals. Risk in that you have to provide essentially a 180 day warranty via PayPal.
Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree is good for quick cash sales. I don't ship though by personal preference as I prefer the quick exchange and they have inspected the goods. Potentially people could run off with your stuff.
As someone with a store subscription on eBay (for volume selling) and who also uses Gumtree to sell personal effects I would say this:
Negatives:
1. eBay is fraught with scammers, so unless you're selling items with tracking then expect to have about 5% of your sales claimed as not received.
2. eBay is expensive, eBay takes ~10% commission with an extra 1% taken for GST collection (they have yet to actually pay any GST to the ATO - greedy bastards!)
3. PayPal takes ~4% in fees with a base 40 cent fee (non refundable) on every transaction
4. All these fees are taken from the shipping cost too, so don't forget to increase the costs to compensate for that.
5. Gumtree is very annoying to actually deal with all the idiots who inquire in and then don't follow through for pick up, selling cars is especially annoying from my experience.
6. If you sell in volume then expect to deal with many messages from people.
7. Gumtree are annoying for long term sales as they will expire and you have to manually relist them.
Positives:
1. eBay has a massive audience, although you are paying commission you are likely to draw a higher price for your goods as you're selling to a much greater audience.
2. eBay's buyers guarantee makes buyers more confident in their purchases and therefore more likely to buy.
3. Gumtree and Facebook marketplace have no fees and are much faster to upload listings.
Those are the key things I can think of atm, let me know if you have any questions further.
Basically I would recommend selling small volume items on Gumtree/Facebook Marketplace because of less headache. I would sell on eBay for volume items or to sell items with less demand (like an antique or collectible) as they'll probably reach a higher sales price on that platform.
Basically think about it like this, if you're selling an item for $10 and you can put it in an envelope with a $1 stamp then this is what you're facing:
Sales price $11
Expenses:
eBay commission - $1.21
PayPal commission - $0.84
Shipping - $1
Envelope - $0.1
Bubble/wrap/protector sleeve - $0.1
Total after expenses: $7.75* - so yes you are loosing out on Gumtree but you're also more likely to sell on eBay.
*You also need to factor in that if you're not using tracking (+$3.9) then you face a real risk that your item may be claimed as not received and YOU have to fully refund the buyer as you are responsible for delivery on eBay even if the buyer chose an unprotected delivery method.
**Also also, if you're selling an item (specifically for kids) then you may be hit with charge back requests from the credit card company/paypal (basically they're saying they didn't authorize the purchase and likely their child used their credit card) and if you don't have tracking then you will have to refund the buyer even if you have already sent them their item (because you can't prove that they received it).
I wouldn't bother, eBay will just be more headache than it is worth. They'll make you accept PayPal which could attract a scammer or just someone who will stuff you around.