EBAY!

[sjoens]

I don't sell on ebay often but found out they've changed how you sell this year. They severed ties with PayPal, which allowed you to "bank" with a credit card and your bank.

No more. Ebay now handles transactions inhouse and needs access to your checking account to pay you and take from you as needed. No credit card option.

So, today I tried to list something and was met with "updating" my account. After submitting a series of personal information that they already have, I wound up calling on the phone because they kept saying my PO box was "invalid".

The 1st person failed to tell me PO boxes were no longer allowed and xferred me to an "account specialist" to figure it out. Person 2 went thru the same Q&A and failed to know about PO boxes and xferred me to "account specialist" 3. 

Hold music played for 1 minute before I heard the phone pick up. I waited over another minute and no one spoke until I cleared my throat a couple times.

Finally someone said "Hello?..." I said Hello ... are you with ebay? He said "Uh... Yes, sir, yes, but I can't actually see. Uh, I believe there's some technical difficulties right now, sir, I'm really sorry. Can you perhaps try to call again, please, please, I'm getting..." 

Here's where I realized the "new" ebay has been "hacked" from within and no longer operates as a viable entity. I may buy from there but can't sell since I don't have a checking account or a physical mailing address.

Once logged into ebay you have to continually reenter your password for each new page of your account. They are also requiring sales tax on the city and county level.

The whole thing smells phishy to me!

 

Any good sights out there for selling gear these days?

Edited November 4, 2021 by sjoens

[Byron Dickens]

14 minutes ago, sjoens said:

They are also requiring sales tax on the city and county level.

You do know that's the law, right?

[sjoens]

For state. Dinint know local too.

Edited November 4, 2021 by sjoens

[Hidden Symmetry]

I started on eBay in 1999 but probably won't be it using any longer. What did it for me is that new rule that sellers must have a bank account connected to their account.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Hidden Symmetry

[craigb]

I also hadn't tried to sell anything for a few years, but have something up there now (for at least two months now).  I'm about done with their nonsense too.

[Shane_B.]

6 hours ago, sjoens said:

Any good sights out there for selling gear these days?

My problem is I simply don't trust eBay with that much personal information. I was heavy in to selling on eBay many years ago and set up a Paypal account with a link to my bank account. I do not trust eBay with that info. I barely trust Paypal. I've actually changed banks and they have my old bank account info but somehow I am still linked which makes me scratch my head. I've tried to change it and you have to jump through 10,000 hoops and call them and I think maybe even send them a letter, not email, to verify you want to make a change but I can't quite remember. I've been scammed on eBay multiple times by buyers, sellers, and eBay themselves. Their tech support is absolutely worthless. I stopped selling there a long time ago because they kept raising their fees and they've made a toxic selling environment. The only places I buy from are the large companies with thousands of ratings with a number I can call directly. I've gotten a lot of parts for things around my house from parts dealers and places like that, but I wouldn't buy from a personal seller there ever again. Screwed too many times.

Facebook Marketplace is probably your best bet at this point because you ultimately have control. That said, I've been scammed twice on there by sellers. I saw an ad for a brand new receiver I wanted it for my garage. Asked the lady if it was still available and if she could come down on the price. She never responded, sent me an invoice for the full amount, and vanished. All I had was a screen to send her money. I could no longer message her or find her on Facebook or the listing for the receiver. Other times I've tried to ask sellers a question and never got a response.

I've only ever had one transaction actually go through on Marketplace. I just bought an old Tascam 4-Track that I've been looking for, for 20+ years. But even he was a bit crazy. He insisted he come to me so I set it up to meet in the parking lot of a nearby police station. I wasn't sure if the newer unit would work with my older 4 track masters so I plugged it in to the AC convertor in my truck and brought my headphones to test it. He knew I was going to do it. I couldn't remember how to route it to the headphones and I told him I couldn't get it out of mono but I would figure it out. He didn't realize I had open back headphones on and I could here him say, "F*****g b******t. The f******g thing f*****g works." and he starts pacing back and forth like he's about to explode. The guy completely lost it. I finally got it and said it worked great and thanked him handed him his money and he calmed down and was actually pretty cool after that, but I seriously thought it was going down. He totally lost his **it and looked like he was about to snap.

So I don't know what to tell you. eBay sucks, there's a bunch of scam artists and nutjobs on Marketplace but I think Marketplace would probably be your best bet. Just meet somewhere public like a police station or city hall. Some place with authority type figures and surveillance camera's everywhere. I wouldn't recommend a store parking lot like some people do. Yeah there's camera's, but if they aren't willing to drive another block or so to a police station you probably don't want to deal with them.

[Notes_Norton]

If they don't accept credit cards, I won't use them.

Not many people get to keep my credit card account on file. It's too easy to get it hacked, and big targets like Ebay and even PayPal are very attractive to hackers.

I protect my Band-in-a-Box aftermarket customers at Norton Music too. I have a shopping cart that allows me to delete my customer's credit card info after the product is delivered. I also don't download the credit card numbers and keep them on my files. Furthermore, the customer's address, phone number, e-mail and other data gets moved to another computer that doesn't connect to the Internet and also has an encrypted hard drive. I figure I owe that to the people who trust me with their money.

Since what I sell is mostly music gear, and I don't sell often, Reverb is suddenly a better alternative.

Notes ♫

[Bapu]

8 hours ago, sjoens said:

Any good sights out there for selling gear these days?

Reverb.com?

 

I bought two basses from there.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Bapu

[Hidden Symmetry]

14 minutes ago, Bapu said:

Reverb.com?

 

I bought two basses from there.

Yes, I've bought & sold  guitars there for a few years now. Never had any issues but I've heard horror stories like any other site. Found some nice lefty's which can difficult to come by. Sold some treasures too & got my asking prices!

Like eBay you need bank info plus there are fees so look into it first.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Hidden Symmetry

[craigb]

4 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

If they don't accept credit cards, I won't use them.

Not many people get to keep my credit card account on file. It's too easy to get it hacked, and big targets like Ebay and even PayPal are very attractive to hackers.

I protect my Band-in-a-Box aftermarket customers at Norton Music too. I have a shopping cart that allows me to delete my customer's credit card info after the product is delivered. I also don't download the credit card numbers and keep them on my files. Furthermore, the customer's address, phone number, e-mail and other data gets moved to another computer that doesn't connect to the Internet and also has an encrypted hard drive. I figure I owe that to the people who trust me with their money.

Since what I sell is mostly music gear, and I don't sell often, Reverb is suddenly a better alternative.

Notes ♫

Which credit card are you referring to Bob?  The one that ends in 5302 or the one that ends in 2784? 😁

[sjoens]

I've tried Sweetwater's used gear marketplace but think few go there to buy. It's like craigslist - no fees or hoops to jump thru but you're on your own.

Edited November 4, 2021 by sjoens

[RBH]

In my world there is still no such thing as facebook.  LOL - I thought it was a stupid idea conceptually 16 years ago. I'm still right - I think. E-bay has been fine for buying for over 20 years for me. I could never bring myself to setup a sellers account. Reverb has worked well for both buying and selling, but there is way too many people marking things up through the roof. I can't call -it inflationary, more like dummy's taking advantage of other dummies.

[craigb]

BTW - Not sure if this is the appropriate place to mention this, but I'm selling the custom guitar in my avatar.  It's a truly magical instrument!  I'm asking $330,000.00 - Let me know if you're interested! 

😁

[sjoens]

... and because his ad was placed in my post, I get 10%. I only accept personal checks, western union transfers from overseas, and expired corruptocurrency.

Edited November 5, 2021 by sjoens

[Grem]

I sold some items on ebay earlier this year. But I found it wasn't worth it. I tested all my stuff before I took pic, then boxed them to ship. Then I posted them. So when they sold they would ship immediately. Well almost half the items had to be refunded due to "not working" claims. It was just easier to give the money back and let it go in the beginning. But after about three or four these "claims" I realized real quick that it was just some BS way to get shit for free. So I stopped selling on ebay. Ain't worth the time and hassle. 

Now they want my bank account? NFW!! 

Edited November 5, 2021 by Grem

[Notes_Norton]

When I'm done with a musical instrument, it is pretty road worn.

I've sold some things on eBay in the past, and it was almost worth the effort.

Craigslist often works, and there is no packing and shipping required.

I've given old instruments to students, telling them what work they need to do to get it up to snuff. They often like the idea of owning a pro-level instrument and for example overhauling a saxophone costs about as much as a used student level sax, so they get a good deal.

And I get the 'feel good' vibes for helping pass the torch of music to a youngster.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[Shane_B.]

15 hours ago, RBH said:

In my world there is still no such thing as facebook.  LOL - I thought it was a stupid idea conceptually 16 years ago.

It's a great way to keep in touch with family, but other than that I have no use for it either. My only contacts on it are family members, a few friends from high school, and a lot of businesses I deal with. I only recently got involved with marketplace because a lot of the businesses I deal with here are forced to. It's the sign of the times. None of them, zero, zilch, nodda, use eBay. They all use marketplace and are all members of all the local town groups and farmers markets. There is only one store I sell to that would make it without the internet and even they would have went under during the covid lockdown. The only thing that kept them going were sales through marketplace and curbside or pickup or delivery.

But yeah, it can be pretty toxic.

[craigb]

Maybe they should change their name to Meta or something, ya? 🤔

😜

[RobertWS]

On 11/4/2021 at 9:29 PM, craigb said:

BTW - Not sure if this is the appropriate place to mention this, but I'm selling the custom guitar in my avatar.  It's a truly magical instrument!  I'm asking $330,000.00 - Let me know if you're interested! 

😁

Does that include the case?

[paulo]

I've never really seen the appeal of ebay TBH. It seemed like a reasonable idea to start with when it was just private sellers moving on stuff they no longer wanted, but when I want to buy something I want to buy it now, not spend three weeks in some bizarre game of cat and mouse to see if I manage to "win" the item. (Yes I am aware that some people sell on a buy it now basis, but many do not and it always seems to be those people who have what I'm looking for.) At some point it more or less became a thing where most of the sellers are businesses (or businesses in disguise) and it seems  that pretty much killed it as a place to find a potential bargain - kind of the modern equivalent of the old car boot sales.

On a related note, recently I have had several emails from Paypal (or maybe not) offering me varying small amounts of credit to start using my account more - small problem there........I don't have a Paypal account.