12 replies to this topic

[Foxman]

YOUR OPINION IS NEEDED!

From everything I have been seeing, I'm not the only one who is sick of doing business with eBay. Numerous buyers & sellers have become victims of rip-off artists, cons and bad business ethics in general. EVERYONE who deals with them has to pay out ridiculous fees due to the fact they are a pure monopoly. I think it's time to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ONCE AND FOR ALL. A small, but substantial community like Littlerubberguys.com has a lot more say in where they spend their money than many people know.

So what do you think? What are your experiences with other auction sites? Do you think a bulk of the members here could be moved to a better place to do business like maybe Ioffer , eCrater , or a similar auction site? Do you think an auction section or some place to hold auctions here would be a better idea? Please discuss...

And PLEASE, keep posts on topic and play nice. I think if we all work together on this, we may be able to do something that most of us have been dreaming about doing for years...

Giving FeePay back the same thing they have been giving to us. NOTHING.

Edited by Foxman, 15 December 2012 - 09:24 PM.

[Ericnilla]

Just an idea, I know Chad on UofMuscle was thinking of having auctions on his site. Although there were some problems that were kind of expensive at the time for him. Maybe we can help him move it forward and help set it up if he is still willing~?

Edited by Ericnilla, 15 December 2012 - 09:28 PM.

[PlasticSoul]

It's tough because lots of people sell lots of great stuff here but we they need to maximize profits ebay is always the way to go. Yeah there are fees and risks and stupidity all over ebay but you can get double or triple what you'd get here.

You bring up a great point though. Maybe a separate forum here for just board auctions would be a good idea. I've seen lots of great board auctions happen here while i've been around. Maybe a simple set of rules for the forum like the auction must last one week and shipping price must be the actual shipping cost? It would be a neat alternative to ebay and a good way for people to sell stuff here without needing a specific asking price or negotiating with several people through PMs which can be pretty frustrating.

[Foxman]

What I was thinking would be cool is basically just to have a section that was like a showcase for EVERYONE's stuff, with auctions included...

For example, I see A LOT of people have blogs & pages where they sell customs in their own little stores. Wouldn't it be better to be selling your stuff next to everyone elses? Since it's all custom made, it's not like you have to compete much with someone else. Different people like different stuff... right? People would be much MUCH more likely to check out the "trading post" or "online mall" or whatever where EVERYBODY had their stuff as opposed to going back to your store every other day to see the new figure you made last night. Strength in numbers.

Try selling whatever on FeePay and more people would see it. You can sell it for more but they'll just suck any extra profits DRY. Get ripped off a few times, it's just worse.

And with a lot of stuff like common M.U.S.C.L.E. lots, ebay would be better no matter what. But with things like Class A's and super rares... the people around here are the SAME one's who will be over at ebay bidding away... and winning.

Another thing I was thinking about... Like with the forever Yes contest. What if anyone who bid... on anything OR anyone who sold anything, put a small percentage of the sale into a monthly pot. Each month it would be randomly raffled off. This would encourage people to buy & sell so they would be eligible each month to win. Trade Stimulation.

And if there were a place to hold auctions, it would seem like a part of the deal to pay out a percentage (that would of course be lower than ebay). That percentage could go towards hiring a webmaster to run it all...

Anyway, just food for thought. Throwing some ideas around to make the ebay problem... less of a problem. I feel that any conversation about taking money away from FeePay and giving it back to the LRG community is worth taking part in...

[Ericnilla]

The more i think of it... Selling stuff at a set price works great for this forum, I sell stuff here constantly. Rare and popular figures do good on auction here, but its only those that frequent this site, its the same people over and over bidding. Most "regular" auctions would do better on ebay as they would be seen by many more collectors. Ebay is the norm, they have the most amount of people frequenting it, especially including LRG collectors that aren't on this forum. The fee's suck, but unless you are willing to sell at a set price here on LRG, ebay is the way to go to get the max visibility of your item.

We have a Got Toys section especially for this, I don't know how we can improve on what we are already doing. Plus when I sell stuff here on the board I sell it for less than I list on ebay, not since there isn't any fees, but because I enjoy helping friends here on the board.

[PlasticSoul]

The more i think of it... Selling stuff at a set price works great for this forum, I sell stuff here constantly. Rare and popular figures do good on auction here, but its only those that frequent this site, its the same people over and over bidding. Most "regular" auctions would do better on ebay as they would be seen by many more collectors. Ebay is the norm, they have the most amount of people frequenting it, especially including LRG collectors that aren't on this forum. The fee's suck, but unless you are willing to sell at a set price here on LRG, ebay is the way to go to get the max visibility of your item.

We have a Got Toys section especially for this, I don't know how we can improve on what we are already doing. Plus when I sell stuff here on the board I sell it for less than I list on ebay, not since there isn't any fees, but because I enjoy helping friends here on the board.

You know i really can't disagree with any of that. An auction forum here would be helpful but mostly for the people who use this place to make money as opposed to the people who just like selling/trading toys because they like the community you guys have built. More work for the admins/mods here just so a few people who consider this place their own free ebay can profit easier is kind of stupid(meaning MY suggestion was stupid, no one elses).

[ComradeCuttlefish]

There is no alternative to ebay, and there likely never will be. Unless ebay pushes too hard with their fees, or the ebay/paypal monopoly is broken up, ebay will remain the online auction leader.

Secondly, most casual toy sellers will continue to use ebay because it gives them the greatest exposure and makes it more likely to get the most money for their item. The hardcore collectors will continue to buy from them.

What are our options? You can completely forgo ebay and stick to online communities like this and keep the buying and selling within the community. But how will we bring new toys into the community?

Your decision to buy/sell/trade only within the community won't stop the guy in Canada who cleans out his son's bedroom and discovers a shoebox of MUSCLEs from selling those on ebay. He still will, because everyone knows about ebay, NOT everyone knows about littlerubberguys.com. And that still means that you MUSCLE collectors will bid on his auction. And you will do it because that is the best way for you to bring new toys into the community.


You can use ebay less, but it would be very difficult to stop using it completely.

[ironoak]

There is no alternative to ebay, and there likely never will be. Unless ebay pushes too hard with their fees, or the ebay/paypal monopoly is broken up, ebay will remain the online auction leader.

Secondly, most casual toy sellers will continue to use ebay because it gives them the greatest exposure and makes it more likely to get the most money for their item. The hardcore collectors will continue to buy from them.

What are our options? You can completely forgo ebay and stick to online communities like this and keep the buying and selling within the community. But how will we bring new toys into the community?

Your decision to buy/sell/trade only within the community won't stop the guy in Canada who cleans out his son's bedroom and discovers a shoebox of MUSCLEs from selling those on ebay. He still will, because everyone knows about ebay, NOT everyone knows about littlerubberguys.com. And that still means that you MUSCLE collectors will bid on his auction. And you will do it because that is the best way for you to bring new toys into the community.


You can use ebay less, but it would be very difficult to stop using it completely.

Perfectly said fish

[Foxman]

Nobody can stop the eBay monopoly. Unfortunately, that's a given...

There are a lot of specialty items here though. Like customs, Class A's etc. that only the people into this stuff are really interested in anyway...

And again, with all of the individual pages, sites, blogs etc. selling stuff. I think it would be cool to have a central area for it all to maximize exposure for everyone...

Like one page, right along side auctions...

Couldn't hurt, right?

And in regards to a "free ebay"... I wasn't really thinking that direction. The fact is, when you hold an auction, online or elsewhere, you pay a fee. That's it. I know that I would much rather pay it to an LRG member than to the ebay monopoly. And think, if someone used the auctions here to auction off something like a super rare for 2K and they charged a 10% fee (much less than feepay), that's $200. Add a few more auctions to that and it there's some money making potential there for someone.

FeePay fees are outrageous because they have a monopoly. They also force PayPal and prohibit any type of trades. They really have everyone's hands tied. It's gotten to the point in a lot of ways that many things simply can't be sold on ebay because all of the fees & ripoffs...

Edited by Foxman, 16 December 2012 - 01:04 PM.

[jason76basin]

It's tough because lots of people sell lots of great stuff here but we they need to maximize profits ebay is always the way to go. Yeah there are fees and risks and stupidity all over ebay but you can get double or triple what you'd get here.

You bring up a great point though. Maybe a separate forum here for just board auctions would be a good idea. I've seen lots of great board auctions happen here while i've been around. Maybe a simple set of rules for the forum like the auction must last one week and shipping price must be the actual shipping cost? It would be a neat alternative to ebay and a good way for people to sell stuff here without needing a specific asking price or negotiating with several people through PMs which can be pretty frustrating.

this is exactly right, i like selling/trading on here, because it's family, so i always will try to sell things for what i have into them cost wise for folks here, but if i'm needing to ramp up profit for specific things in my life....ebay is where i go to sell, but it seems like everytime i sell on ebay, something happens. what cuttle said was true, the traffic flow of powerhouse ebay will most likely never have any "true" competition, but it would be nice to have another type place/way to do sales/purchases. i've thought several times about trying to set up some of my stuff for sale through the method cuttle does, because if you frequent toy forums, and have a link to photobucket or whatever, that seems like a good way to at least have some exposure, even though it's minimal compared to ebay, it seems to avoid the hassle of selling on ebay that it may be worth it long term to just do it that way.

Edited by jason76basin, 16 December 2012 - 01:13 PM.

[Leitmotiv]

I think it is possible to carve out a chunk from eBay. As long as you organize at a small level first. Focus entirely on one group of sellers, like say LRGs. Make it an objective to coordinate everyone here to sell fixed prices (if that's what they want to do) at an alternative site. The other types of auctions, ones that are trying to maximize profits in other manners, will come around eventually, so that aspect shouldn't be worried about.

Once you get a small snowball going, and as long as the project remains vigilant, you will start to see some change. You can then incorporate other groups like Octobertoys for starters.

Even if the entire project gets some momentum and fails with only meeting half of its goals, it's very likely that eBay will be impacted and have taken notice. And it's possible they may actually change their practices. But I like to think optimistically, and believe that once you get some momentum, the project would encourage other groups totally unrelated to join in with the initiative. LOTS of people feel the way we do with eBay and want the alternative, but no one is willing to take that first step. The support exists!

Holy heck, we have the internet at our disposal! We can organize almost instantaneously and efficiently. If only we choose to.

EDIT: eBay is like MySpace. Can we upgrade to Facebook now?

Edited by Leitmotiv, 17 December 2012 - 12:14 PM.

[ComradeCuttlefish]

Many of us have already "carved out a chunk" from ebay. I do 100% of my selling on toy forums now. I offer all sorts of LRGs for sale that members of this board collect, like Trash Pack, SLUG Zombies, MUSCLEs, MIMP, and, of course, Battle Beasts. I enjoy selling these things even if I personally collect very few of them. The process of selling is fun for me. That's why I also sell other 80s and 90s toys like GI Joes, Transformers, Visionaries, Dino Riders, Sky Commanders, and other things I remember from my childhood. Even if I don't collect them today, it's fun to buy them to resell. http://www.flickr.co...tos/1185762no5/

People like us make these toys available to thousands of collectors WITHOUT ebay.

(Although as I posted earlier, for those looking for more obscure things or for those who do LOTS of buying, it's difficult to avoid ebay completely).

Edited by ComradeCuttlefish, 21 December 2012 - 07:55 AM.