Finance24.com posts this article by Desiree Hanford writing that many retirees are turning to eBay to make extra money:
Selling items on eBay online auction site is a pastime for some people, but for Ellen Lee it’s a matter of paying for some of life’s necessities.
Elinor Mills of CNET News.com writes that at eBay’s conference in San Jose, CA, the now 10 year old company got a little more than they bargained for:
eBay sellers sounded off about rising fees and Chinese counterfeits at the auction site’s annual user conference on Friday while rival Overstock.com sent an ad-slathered car to the event to lure disgruntled eBay sellers.
Amid the flag-waving and boosterism by eBay fans were grumblings from so-called power sellers, high-volume and high-sales merchants who are particularly feeling the pinch from what they say are fewer buyers and higher prices.
Michael Bazeley of the Mercury News reports on the annual three day eBay Live! convention in San Jose, CA:
For years, eBay has been defined by its uniquely loyal “community” — the enthusiastic masses of sellers and buyers who have turned it into the world’s largest online marketplace.
As the company celebrates its 10th birthday this year, it faces new challenges to keeping its community happy. Fee increases, complaints of slowing sales and growing concerns about fraud and other issues have tested the patience of many eBay loyalists.
Frank Fortunato writes this very in depth article for ecommerce-guide.com about the new “hot” business of ebay drop off sites:
Antique dealers curse them. Entrepreneur Magazine calls them, “One of the hot 13 businesses of 2005,” and they are multiplying across America like the rabbits of proverb. They are auction consignment drop-off stores, and unless you live on a mountain top or in a subterranean cave, there is probably one near you.
Vicki Smith Paluch of U Daily News wrote this interesting article about how selling our old junk online has “become a popular – and lucrative – alternative to yard sales:”
David Hirsch used to hold garage sales, tedious daylong affairs that netted him a few bucks and the occasional sunburn.
No longer.
Now, the principal of Tarzana’s Wilbur Avenue Elementary School holds “virtual garage sales,” selling much of his stuff online, where it fetches higher prices without the haggling.
A 175,000-piece collection of classic computer software, including many rare and sought-after titles, will be offered at auction June 16th on eBay.
The collection contains approximately 20,000 separate titles, more than half of them pre-1990. It includes a nearly complete line of early products from Accolade, Activision, Epyx, Infocom, LucasArts, Microprose, Origin Systems, Taito, and Virgin.
The Arizona Republic has posted an article about the explosion of papal related auctions on ebay.
eBay spokesman Hani Durzy says: “We began to see Pope Benedict buttons, books, newspapers . . . literally within minutes after he was named“.
There are lots of folks buying John Paul collectibles too. Rev. Mark Goldasich says: “Basically, people don’t want to forget and having that very concrete reminder, whether it’s a keychain, whatever, it’s something they can grab. In a way, the person can become real to them again.”
Evidently, John Paul is outselling the new pope...
Not all of the auctions are going off without a hitch however -eBay pulled the sale of consecrated communion host After it recieved 9,000 complaints. Additionally there are some auction that some catholics find offensive.