Ebay or Ebid?

I expect a lot of people have experience of selling on eBay, but I think they have got too big for their boots, not that anyone can do anything about it and the only other option is Ebid, but from what Lee has told me this trading site seems none too clever, which is a shame as to me eBay (apart from their charges) has taken all the fun out of buying/selling by making sellers/buyers anonymous and so not being able to wind up an outbidder, and worse still sellers not being able to give buyers negative feedback WTF! There are rip off idiots out there that need to be exposed!

So, do you have experience of selling on eBid? What are your thoughts on that site please.

It works, and while it might look expensive, you do get access to a massive market.

By far the best place I have found to sell my rubbish is Facebook. People snap up old tat! I've have people drive from over an hour away to pick up something worth only a few pounds. It's mental but it works. There are no fees but people want things cheap. I'm sure if you're savvy enough though, you can work it to your advantage.

I know someone who setup their own selling page and made it so they had to approve the listings, which meant they got the first pick of everything that went through. F**king genius.

Quote: Lee @ 23rd January 2015, 9:54 AM GMT

By far the best place I have found to sell my rubbish is Facebook.

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I sell a bunch of things at once on eBay, but announce it first on Facebook, and often sell a bit that way...but it sounds like you're in a different league wrt Facebook, how do you manage that?

Just post to as many sell groups as possible. I don't trade on there or at all anymore, this is just tat I want to get rid of. But I probably sell 9/10 things through Facebook.

The only reason I used eBay recently was because my item was a bit niche.

I didn't even realise Sell Groups exist! Is there a way to post to several of them at once?

I haven't looked into it, but I bet someone somewhere has wrote a script or code that allows it.

Type into the Facebook search bar "buy / sell" or anything along those lines followed by your local area, radius is up to you.

I post to most of south Lincolnshire/Peterborough area, so an hour or two radius. But it's really up to you.

Quote: Lee @ 23rd January 2015, 9:54 AM GMT

By far the best place I have found to sell my rubbish is Facebook. People snap up old tat! I've have people drive from over an hour away to pick up something worth only a few pounds. It's mental but it works. There are no fees but people want things cheap. I'm sure if you're savvy enough though, you can work it to your advantage.

I know someone who setup their own selling page and made it so they had to approve the listings, which meant they got the first pick of everything that went through. F**king genius.

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Had a quick look, mostly clothes of course.
How do those groups work? Do the seller delete his/her posting when the item is sold or are we looking at endless postings of things already sold?

The groups are moderated by owners or nominated moderators. I don't think most of them get deleted, rather they fall into obscurity, but I'm not too sure about the actual running of them, as I've never opened a group on Facebook.

In my experience, you join one of these groups, they're normally invite only or monitored membership to filter out spam. Then you simply make a posting with a brief description and photo, people will reply to the post or message you directly expressing an interest in your item and you arrange on how the transaction takes place. In most cases it is cash on collection. Yeah, I don't really like any Facebook random coming to my house but, that's a price you have to pay.

I suppose you could meet at a public place, if the item is not too big.

I read a couple of the groups rules. One of them said delete the post when sold, the other didn't.

Yes Bill, like a drug deal.

Quote: billwill @ 23rd January 2015, 1:30 PM GMT

I suppose you could meet at a public place, if the item is not too big.

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Just remember to pack some heat!

Quote: George Kaplan @ 23rd January 2015, 2:51 PM GMT

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I was only semi-joking.

Is Craigslist available/popular in the UK? It's the de facto standard here for buying and selling items locally. None of the eBay hassles, but there are plenty of scammers and and things can get dicey when large sums of cash are on hand and you're dealing with strangers.

My friend sold a pickup truck for $7000 a few years ago and asked me and another guy to travel to the exchange with him. There we were, three guys with pistols in their pockets, meeting three other guys who undoubtedly had pistols in their pockets, too. The other guys (illegal immigrants, most likely) were most nervous because they were the ones with seven grand in their pockets, but we met at a busy public place and the transaction was quickly completed.

A female friend asked me to accompany her to pick up an eBay purchase from a woman who was getting off a train (very unusual for the States). I only had a pocketknife, and we both had a good laugh when a 70-year-old woman pulled up in a car with her mother.

But this is Blighty, old bean.