Author Topic: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts  (Read 9914 times)

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Offline zippyfiat

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ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« on: March 04, 2008, 05:45:40 pm »
Hi all, there is no "general" forum, so I'll try this here.  As some of you may know, there has been a recent boycott of ebay (mostly in N. America), and there is another one planned for May 1st.  Ebay is about to implement various significant changes that MANY people are EXTREMLY unhappy about.  It's so bad, many sellers are leaving for good, and bidding activity is down.  The future of ebay is very much in doubt.  I don't think it has caught on much in Europe and elsewhere yet though.

The point of my comment  is that I, and I am sure many others here, have bought and sold many  parts on ebay.  It is something that has really enabled the Fiat & Abarth car hobby to flourish in recent years.  I have purchased a lot of rare and hard to find parts from all over the world on ebay, and some of them have been from folks here.  I'm already seeing an obvious decline in listings,  bidding and sales on ebay in the US and I think it's only going to decline more.  I'm not so sure it's going to recover, and even if it does, it just won't be like what it used to be.  Whether you agree with the boycott or not, it is happening.  And I do understand that many need the income from ebay for houshold purposes too, so it's hard to simply walk away from it.

So, what to do about buying and selling of all our parts (and cars) that we used to?  Are people just going to try and continue as if nothing is happening? I was planning on a big spring cleanup around my garage in a few months....  Could it work to have an on-line bidding (and/or fixed price) selling process as part of a web-site like Guy's?  Could this sort of thing develop into a network of similar sites?  Am just kinda wondering and thinking out loud a bit where this could go, or what thoughts and ideas others have. 

Thanks,
Gil

Offline Paul vander Heyden

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2008, 04:47:23 am »
Hello Gil.

I too have noticed the changes in Ebay in recent times.  As they feel they are the "only game in town", they feel they can implement whatever they want.  And they certainly can. 

I already list parts for people on my website.  I would be willing to consider further developing that part of my website as part of the current "complete overhaul" of the site.  This is likely to take several month, and there is some consideration as to how much administrative time this would entail.

Let me know what further ideas you might have.

Regards,
Paul

Offline DaveA

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2008, 07:06:52 am »
well let me say , EBAY is not going anywhere, not because its a great place , but its the only place to get a worldwide show of your items for sale,

If you are going  to auction items it is THE  place , if  you want to sell at "Fixed Price" then I guess you could post your parts on many smaller websites ,  or go sell them at the swap meet,

Maybe with all the noise Ebay might understand that there are many un-happy sellers ,  but it will be around until someone big like Google or Microsoft decide they want to get in that business,

Dave

Offline naegeli

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2008, 08:39:10 pm »
here in central europe you haven't heard anything about anyone beeing unhappy with ebay...for us, many restorations would be almost impossible with something like ebay,  we would also have a lot of garbage, book etc  and metal to throw away.
if you didn't absolutely wanted to know about boycott, you were not aware.
however, today i received an email from ebay.ch with a questionnaire about how ebay has to look in the future, took 10 minutes but you could really express your opinion, so they care...

possible changes: i heard about  "paypal" only, for me that qould just be perfect...rather pay ebay some fee, that big fees to our swiss banks. and it is immediate as well.


Offline grant gauld

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2008, 12:18:50 pm »
First,can you tell us what proposed changes in Nth America that you are unhappy with?I use eBay from europe and Australia and have heard nothing?
I notice a lot of changes in selling and buying trends,i also have a few complaints but it has to be impossible for eBay to please everyone.Especially the car crowd.With common sense i have had many succeses with eBay buying and selling to every continent.
A boycott can only be possible with a small crowd as eBay is truelly global.How many cars would be incomplete without it ?.I also check the small forums and boutique abarth sites but its going to take something "massive" to replace eBay.
Fixed price ? yes, use 'buy it now' which is becomming more common.Or a genuine starting price.
Grant
PS i have a different opinion about banks and postal companies.Mr A.Cosentino and i agree on that one.

Offline guy moerenhout

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2008, 04:55:04 pm »
everone  can use my sales section .If you use my forum you have direct contact with +1400 persones a day that are interested in abarth our  fiat parts .Iff you wish to have more mayby you can ask persons what the wish to give for it our you can say that is what I need .I think on this moment it the best place not for small remake parts but for really special not to find parts our when you need place in your home our you think you are to old to keep it :just place it in "For Sale " our "wanted"
______abarth  gmr-team ______
___http://www.abarth-gmr.be ___

Offline naegeli

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2008, 05:11:24 pm »
cool. you are a nice guy, guy.

Offline grant gauld

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2008, 06:17:02 pm »
Yes,i have also bought and sold many abarth parts through this site both from GMR and other forum members.All exposure to Abarth info and parts availability is a good thing.

Offline zippyfiat

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2008, 10:30:31 pm »
Will try to post a longer reply  when I have a few moments.  In the meantime, you can find some background reading at:

1.  www.washingtonpost.com   Do a search using  "faster forward ebay" to find the blog article Fee, Feedback Changes at eBay Still Vex Users  There are now hundreds of posts now by ebayer users about how upset they are.  VERY interesting reading.  I've got a post in there somewhere.

2.  www.powersellersunit.com  This seems to be one of the better sites at the moment for anti-ebay sentiment and info./help for sellers wanting to set up elsewhere.

3.  Ebay's discussion boards (such as Seller Central and The Soapbox) on ebay's US site.  You've got to separate the propoganda and b.s. from what's really going on.  That is, if ebay hasn't deleted what they consider the damaging posts.

Ebay is raising final value fees way up, they are changing feedback so only buyers can rate the seller, and paypal will start holding funds for up to 21 days in some cases.  All transactions no have the bidders ID hidden.  There's lots more to it than this though.  Sellers are leaving in droves, or are trying to figure out where to go. May 1st is when the more controversial changes are to be implemented.   Another boycott is planned for May 1st.  I've never seen so many upset people! I could easily turn this into a long rant, so enough!

Offline viotti600

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #9 on: March 09, 2008, 08:38:42 am »

2.  www.powersellersunit.com  This seems to be one of the better sites at the moment for anti-ebay sentiment and info./help for sellers wanting to set up elsewhere.

You forgot a letter "e" in there. ;)

It's http://www.powersellersunite.com
Jeff Stich
Norco, CA, USA

Offline zippyfiat

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #10 on: March 09, 2008, 05:35:49 pm »
Aha, the spellologist troll lurks...!

Thank you J.S.!!

Gil

ps:  By the way, you should not have listed the 600D transaxle 1st gear thingy on *****bay!!  Now I gotta find one elsewhere :(

Offline naegeli

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #11 on: March 09, 2008, 07:21:51 pm »
okay, i realize that we in good old europe are just a little behind schedule and naive...will definitely not buy ebay stock. and wil use more the GMR forum in the future. 

thanks for the update.
peter

Offline viotti600

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2008, 08:23:50 pm »
Aha, the spellologist troll lurks...! Thank you J.S.!!

  No, more like "linkologist". I was sitting here trying to figure out what the heck a "Powerseller Unit" was, then it dawned on me what you were referring to. :)

ps:  By the way, you should not have listed the 600D transaxle 1st gear thingy on *****bay!!  Now I gotta find one elsewhere :(

  Hey, you had a chance! LOL. It only sold for about 1/10th of the price as from your favorite Santa Cruz vendor. ;)

Jeff Stich
Norco, CA, USA

Offline grant gauld

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #13 on: April 11, 2008, 08:30:37 pm »
eBay Australia has just announced that soon Paypal will be compulsory on all listings.That means there is an ebay listing fee,selling fee and with Paypal a % commision and a poor exchange rate.It really adds up.
Sadly i now i understand the revolt against eBay by some members of this forum.
Grant

Offline DaveA

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Re: ebay & Fiat/Abarth parts
« Reply #14 on: April 11, 2008, 09:36:35 pm »
Ebay  may  kill itself with some of these new rules ,

they will not let you use google checkout or any other comperitors,

they have not anounced that for the USA market yet,

Dave

 

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