Alternative to eBay in the UK

[steve_sordy]

I am selling my grandson's Ragley Marley 1.0. I have it on this forum and also Pinkbike.

I stumbled on Craigslist today but I wasn't impressed, they only had three low budget bikes for sale in a huge area.

I used Singletrack Classified several years ago and got my price wrong and was bombarded with willing buyers. But I don't like the site; the search function is awful and it will be a matter of luck if anyone finds the bike. I even searched for a bike I knew they had and their search function still didn't find it.

I would use eBay, and I still might, but I'm waiting for them to offer me a low price deal (like £2 max selling fees).

Apart from eBay, where else is there?

 

[#lazy]

Facebook marketplace should sell it !

 

[Jackware]

Facebook marketplace should sell it !

Another vote for this site as you can make it local if you want to.

Gumtree is another

 

[Tonybro]

Gumtree is an alternative (even though owned by eBay). It's not an auction site...

Edit: Cross-posted with Jackware!

 

[fenwick458]

I would use eBay, and I still might, but I'm waiting for them to offer me a low price deal (like £2 max selling fees).

Apart from eBay, where else is there?

ebay offers seem to come along every 2 weeks for me (if you are on managed payments) with the next one expected this Friday and it's been 80% off the fees for a while now, so effectively 2% fees which isn't bad
If you're willing to post ebay is going to reach the most people by far.
pinkbike, never sold a bike on there, not even close.
ebay, sold loads, and fast (probably due to covid)
facebook, gumtree, craigslist are just full of buyers who expect to pick it up for half the price you advertise it at, and you will just get bombarded with "is this still available" and then they will just disappear

 

[Shjay]

I sell lots on Pinkbike, fb not great for me & eBay when £2 listings come up, Singletrack is rubbish for selling & forum is going that way too

 

[steve_sordy]

ebay offers seem to come along every 2 weeks for me (if you are on managed payments) with the next one expected this Friday and it's been 80% off the fees for a while now, so effectively 2% fees which isn't bad
If you're willing to post ebay is going to reach the most people by far.
pinkbike, never sold a bike on there, not even close.
ebay, sold loads, and fast (probably due to covid)
facebook, gumtree, craigslist are just full of buyers who expect to pick it up for half the price you advertise it at, and you will just get bombarded with "is this still available" and then they will just disappear

Thanks for this. How do you get advance notice of the eBay offers of reduced fees?
I will look out for eBay to make me an offer this Friday.

 

[Howz]

It’s the eBay final value fees that are the killer, I sold my Specialized HT on there last week for £2250……….final value fee £288 ?, it went for a good price so not so bad though.

 

[Chris ledger]

Sold my bike yesterday on gumtree bike was collected n paid for in 24hours no fees

 

[fenwick458]

Thanks for this. How do you get advance notice of the eBay offers of reduced fees?
I will look out for eBay to make me an offer this Friday.

I don't have any advance info the offer has been like that for ages so i'm assuming it will be the same. sometimes you don't get an email, but if you somehow get the link you can activate the offer. I know this as I have more than one ebay account, and sometimes I get the offer sent to me by email on one account, or the other one, or both. If I get it and you don't let me know i'll send you it. I've successfully passed it on before to friends and have been told it works. that is as long as you have switched over to the new ebay "managed payments" which effectively cuts out paypal, you've done that right?

 

[steve_sordy]

I don't have any advance info the offer has been like that for ages so i'm assuming it will be the same. sometimes you don't get an email, but if you somehow get the link you can activate the offer. I know this as I have more than one ebay account, and sometimes I get the offer sent to me by email on one account, or the other one, or both. If I get it and you don't let me know i'll send you it. I've successfully passed it on before to friends and have been told it works. that is as long as you have switched over to the new ebay "managed payments" which effectively cuts out paypal, you've done that right?

Yes I have switched over to eBay managed payments. I don't believe it is any cheaper and I can't see any benefits to me, but I did it anyway. It looked like eBay wasn't giving me much of an option. I hold no candle for PayPal either, they are both robbing bar stewards.

I would very much appreciate you sending me a copy of the link to the eBay reduced or fixed fees offer when you get it. Thanks!

 

[Dave_h34]

It’s the eBay final value fees that are the killer, I sold my Specialized HT on there last week for £2250……….final value fee £288 ?, it went for a good price so not so bad though.

Nice man cancelled the transaction just before he took my bike away. Very reasonable fees.

 

[BBear]

I don't have any advance info the offer has been like that for ages so i'm assuming it will be the same. sometimes you don't get an email, but if you somehow get the link you can activate the offer. I know this as I have more than one ebay account, and sometimes I get the offer sent to me by email on one account, or the other one, or both. If I get it and you don't let me know i'll send you it. I've successfully passed it on before to friends and have been told it works. that is as long as you have switched over to the new ebay "managed payments" which effectively cuts out paypal, you've done that right?

I’ve been having a clear out and selling off quite a lot of non bike stuff lately and as said I’ve been getting the 80% off fees offer pretty much every couple of weeks. The offer usually comes up on a Friday and lasts until end of Monday. The notification shows in the top ‘Offers’ bar at the top of the home page - the one which flashes between several different offers/Ads.

I did occasionally used to get a £1 selling fee offer but haven’t seen that for some time. Still 2% fees isn’t bad.

 

[fenwick458]

Nice man cancelled the transaction just before he took my bike away. Very reasonable fees.

you have to be careful doing that now, theres a dedicated team of people who's job it is to search for high value items that get ended early and recoup the fees. eg, if a £2000 bike listing ends without being sold, the ebay team will search all the message on your account during the period the listing was active, if they find few back and forths between buyer and seller discussing price and swapping contact details/addresses then they will in some cases just charge the buyer the fees without question, and issue a strike. in other cases you may be asked about it, and warned.
If you did want to try this route best way is to just put your phone number in one of the photos or on the listing and hope thats how they contact you, don't send any messages to potential buyers within ebay saying "give me a call", and if there is any messages on the ebay between the buyer & seller and the bike actually sells, best way to cover that is increase the price by 20% and leave it for a month, then end it.

 

[Dave_h34]

you have to be careful doing that now, theres a dedicated team of people who's job it is to search for high value items that get ended early and recoup the fees. eg, if a £2000 bike listing ends without being sold, the ebay team will search all the message on your account during the period the listing was active, if they find few back and forths between buyer and seller discussing price and swapping contact details/addresses then they will in some cases just charge the buyer the fees without question, and issue a strike. in other cases you may be asked about it, and warned.
If you did want to try this route best way is to just put your phone number in one of the photos or on the listing and hope thats how they contact you, don't send any messages to potential buyers within ebay saying "give me a call", and if there is any messages on the ebay between the buyer & seller and the bike actually sells, best way to cover that is increase the price by 20% and leave it for a month, then end it.

Certainly can't send phone number in private message (inc photo), algorithm detects it and computer says no! In my case the buyer requested the cancel after the auction completed, sent a message apologising wasn't going to make it, sorry for messing you about etc. Had to wait a week to be free and clear but fine. Not something I like doing tbf, but it was a bit of a gift horse.

 

[Funkeydunk]

Be careful of all these sites, the sites are fine, but I had a pleb state he wanted my bike “it’s awesome I’m coming to collect it now” he said. As you can imagine I was delighted, “send me your addy and I’ll come over now” he said. Well he never showed and I was broken into that night. Moral or the story is hook up with people away from your addy. And geez you get some dim fuckers in Gum tree.

 

[stiv674]

As the final value fee offers are for new listings, if say there was an offer this Friday, I should remove the item now and re-list after I've activated the offer? ?

 

[stiv674]

Most of the messages I get on Gumtree are things like, "is it still for sale?" "have you sold it yet?" etc, when I reply I hear nothing back ?

 

[pampmyride]

Sold my old (cheap) van recently. Tried all the free ads, just got silly offers, timewasters & weird conversations! Put it on Autotrader & gone in a day or two.

 

[fenwick458]

As the final value fee offers are for new listings, if say there was an offer this Friday, I should remove the item now and re-list after I've activated the offer? ?

yes, first you need to accept the offer. then end the listing, and then re-list it.
if you select "Buy it now & good till cancelled" then as long as it sells in the first listing period (30 days) then you'll qualify for the offer.
another tip for people selling bike on ebay "if you don't want to post it" : list postage on there as an option but make it £200. It'll stop any chancers clicking buy it now and paying by paypal and saying "would you mind just popping it in a box and I'll send a courier to collect it"
thats happened to me before, and when you do a refund you lose the paypal fees and it's a waste of time, plus you often can't relist straight away if you are waiting for a deal on FVF's. I really don't know how it works with the new managed payments and returning the money I'd imagine it's easier with paypal cut out of it but it will defo stop people "buying now" and then trying to negotiate a postage deal

 

[steve_sordy]

I’ve been having a clear out and selling off quite a lot of non bike stuff lately and as said I’ve been getting the 80% off fees offer pretty much every couple of weeks. The offer usually comes up on a Friday and lasts until end of Monday. The notification shows in the top ‘Offers’ bar at the top of the home page - the one which flashes between several different offers/Ads.

I did occasionally used to get a £1 selling fee offer but haven’t seen that for some time. Still 2% fees isn’t bad.

Wow! Thanks for posting that. I have never noticed the "Offers" bar at the top of the home page.

 

[p3eps]

I’ve been having a clear out and selling off quite a lot of non bike stuff lately and as said I’ve been getting the 80% off fees offer pretty much every couple of weeks. The offer usually comes up on a Friday and lasts until end of Monday. The notification shows in the top ‘Offers’ bar at the top of the home page - the one which flashes between several different offers/Ads.

I did occasionally used to get a £1 selling fee offer but haven’t seen that for some time. Still 2% fees isn’t bad.

I think they stopped £1 max final value fees, and they’re now £2 instead. I always wait for one of them before selling, as I grudge giving them 10% - especially on sales of £1000+!

 

[fenwick458]

the offer this weekend is £3 max selling fees which is perfect for selling bikes

 

[p3eps]

Got this email today…

 

[BBear]

the offer this weekend is £3 max selling fees which is perfect for selling bikes

Thanks for the heads up - have just accepted the offer.

 

[Janc]

Yes I have switched over to eBay managed payments. I don't believe it is any cheaper and I can't see any benefits to me, but I did it anyway. It looked like eBay wasn't giving me much of an option. I hold no candle for PayPal either, they are both robbing bar stewards.

I would very much appreciate you sending me a copy of the link to the eBay reduced or fixed fees offer when you get it. Thanks!

eBay managed payments are slower at getting the money to you than Paypay - takes several days!

 

[steve_sordy]

eBay managed payments are slower at getting the money to you than Paypay - takes several days!

When you think of how much money must be flowing through eBay on any particular day, hanging onto if for an extra two days will be like a massive injection of cash into the business. It will be like when your customer suddenly adds extra days to their payment terms.

Like I said "robbing bar stewards".