This is interesting, but it also shows a big flaw in eBay - EDUCATION. They fail miserably in teaching a buyer what to look for, how to purchase and what to expect!

I both buy and sell, and bought for at least a year before I started selling. I've had my share of disappointments, and my share of idjit buyers. I had to file a dispute today, because a new seller thought I should "chill" because she had not bothered to find the time to mail my item, purchased in mid-May with priority mail option. Chill? How about get your lazy self to the post office??? I even paid a steep handling fee to get the widget before graduation - didn't happen, because my seller was probably on a date or curling her hair. She sounds maybe 15 yrs old.

Speaking of things eBay fails to do - I found a seller online yesterday who openly states they are in MIDDLE SCHOOL (6th, 7th, 8th grades), and are selling eBay LOGO labels to start their college fund. Um, where's that "must be 18 yrs old" thing now? How about VeRO? Interesting...

Meanwhile, I gotta say as a seller that shipping costs do indeed cost more than the actual postage. Some sellers reuse bubble envelopes until they are so flat, they are useless for protection. We don't - we use new materials (which are not cheap!), pack carefully, and do our best to ship the next day. We charge a small (small, like $1.00-$1.50 max) handling fee per trx, not per item, like some sellers do. This helps to cover our expenses somewhat. And for those who have never really analyzed their expenses, I was truly shocked at what I found while doing taxes this year - the FEES for eBay and PP account for almost 1/3 of my total sales. In other words, for each dollar I sell, fees from the two places to sell that $1.00 cost me around 33 cents. The worst? YOu might think it is Paypal, but it really isn't. Besides, anyone who has looked at the cost of merchant accounts (to accept CC payments) can see the value in the PP fee system. It is EBAY'S FEES that are the killer! OMG!! They charge 8% of the total sales from store listings as FVF, as well as the store rent. I did not realize how much that added up until tax time review.

I also tried to have our own website, but I don't have enough programming knowledge. I can do everything but inventory control - Paypal provides free shopping buttons, and may websites offer free shopping carts. BUT - you still have to have some way to control the amounts someone can buy. (If I only have five of Widget D, then I want to control that so someone can't buy ten of them!) That is where the software people get you - inventory programs are sky-high in cost, and unless you know visual basic or SQL, you are sunk. So, eBay is still better for our small business right now than having our own site. But, if I ever figure out a good way to do the inventory control, LOOK OUT - I am switching to only auctions and closing the store! ; )

As with every store, whether brick-n-mortar or virtual, if you don't like the price, just don't buy it. Just use wisdom in who you deal with, and hope for the best. If you buy off ebay a lot, you will eventually get burned, just because there are so few controls in place. But overall, it is still a lot of fun.