ClassicCar

I agree the eBay market place is tainted. I think that eBay brought this upon themselves in the way they restructured their system. Since eBay removed the nuetral and negative feedback option, only allowed paypal and electronic payments to pay for items, its all been down hill. By doing that, it removed most of the accountability that provided a good or bad public reputation for doing business. This makes it little more than an advertising tool which is why i think you see reserves so high and the like. hopefully someone will call and buy it off line to save the 10%- 15% fee, or whatever the fixed fee for a vehicle is now.

This lack of public negative feedback is inviting more scamming, non serious buyers/ sellers, and added frustrations for those who want to move product in a swap type environment. The eBay veterans are now too deep into the ebay system and feedback score to turn thier backs and walk away.

Ive been using ebay since about 2003. Ive bought and sold vehicles on there. Ive prefered it to maximize my dollars per headache and have had very very few issues with buyers or sellers until the last year or so. I much prefer it to paying too much money for a local newspaper ad, or other traditional means. Ive had much more headache and tirekickers with locals than with the internet or ebay in general.

But with the way its setup now, its only an advertising tool, not a real market anymore. You cant afford to sell anything on there for less than $25 which is a shame. Craigslist works alright if you dont post you contact info, which is somewhat discouraging... but it is free.

my .02