Tbay Dying?

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Tbay Dying?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 02:41 pm:

I haven't been watching T parts lately, but I have hit some other bargains as the only bidder.

For example, I just got a never installed Parrot bluetooth kit, unused, for starting bid of $25. New price is $140 and up.

I have two new, unique models of parrot perches for sale right now at buyitnow prices, and they are getting only about 4 visits per day. I expected ten to 100 times that number.

Dunno if it's Tbay turning buyers off, or the stinking economy. What are your experiences?

rdr


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ROBERT BERGSTADT on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 02:46 pm:

Time of the year best time is winter,


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By jack daron-Brownsburg,In. on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 02:51 pm:

Times are tough,we ate our parrot for dinner last Sunday.(LOL)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kim Dobbins on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 03:23 pm:

The biggest turn off for me as an ebay seller is paypal. I would be much happier without a paypal account but ebay makes it virtually impossible to do anything else.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 05:25 pm:

Kim, I'm with you. I quit using e-bay when they forced PayPal on me, which I never accepted.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mack Cole ---- Earth on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 05:34 pm:

I slowed down useing ebay.Paypal ruins it for me.I am not Kmart.
And to I like being able to give a bidder my phone number so they can call and get details that can be hard to type but can be ask and answered in a few words by mouth.The economy aint helping matters.I just wish the other similar sights were viable.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Huson, Berthoud, Co. on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 05:36 pm:

I tried using pay pal and never got a scent. It cost me about $200.00. I don't know where the money went. I used to use ebay lot and always had a lot of T parts on it. But after I never got any thing out of pay pal I quit Ebay and have not been back since.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Dallas TX on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 06:37 pm:

I find fewer and fewer parrot perch buyers everywhere I go these days.

On the other hand I have hundreds of eBay transactions, all through Pay Pal. Never a problem. Everything I list on eBay sells for more than I could sell it for at a swap meet.

On the buyer side, I just bought a nice pair of new 30 X 3 tires on eBay for less than half what a new pair would cost from Coker tire. So there are bargains to be had, you just buy the stuff that is priced right. If the price is not right, it didn't happen if you don't buy it. Right?

Of course I haven't bought - or sold - all that many parrot perches. Hardly any in fact.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Joe Van Evera on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 06:48 pm:

I'm with you Royce, though not as many transactions. Somewhere around 175 or so, never a problem. Do I like Pay Pal? Yes and no! It is, however, the "price of doing business..." I guess. I could never have gotten the prices "around here" that Ebay offered, plus, I like to think I've found some neat stuff at sweet prices. As far as Pay Pal, you have to admire them for the "scam" they are legally pulling on all the rest of us peons!!! (I just wish the heck I'd thought it up!!!) Ahhh, capitalism........


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 07:07 pm:

Papal (that's how spellchecker sees it) was started by Elon Musk and another guy, and they sold it to tbay for multi-$millions. He's gone on to Tesla cars, and now Space-X that hopes to supply the space station. If you get BloombergTV, watch for Game Changers. His bio is on there.

Thanks for the info, guys. I've never had a problem with Papal, other than trying to see all my transactions and balance. I think they try to hide that.

rdr


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Craig Anderson, central Wisconsin on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 07:31 pm:

I've never had a problem with Paypal and it's indispensable for payment in other currencies.
I DO have a problem with ebay taking a cut of the seller's SHIPPING costs!
Some jackholes decided to have exorbitantly high shipping fees trying to circumvent actual selling prices and cut their auction percentages to ebay.......that didn't last long and they screwed it up for everyone!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Robert Scott Owens on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 08:05 pm:

I buy all the time and Dont use pay-pal. Just go to pay now, click I dont have a paypal account. they will take your credit card pay-pal is out of my bank account. I control what happens with my credit card company if its a bogus part. Works ok so far. I did get kicked on a bid as the seller would only use pay-pal. Scott


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Aaron Griffey, Hayward Ca. on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 10:35 pm:

I have never had a Paypal problem.
If I am the winning bidder tonight I can hit 'pay now' and let Paypal do its thing.
That way in the morning I will not need to get a money order or mail anything, instead the seller can ship it out to me 'right now' or when he can without waiting for my payment.
I have bought New Year's Eve tickets and used Paypal for a couple of other things that I never could have done if it were not for Paypal.
My daughter in college buys a lot of new and used books. I pay for a lot of them with Paypal.
It is easy to see what I paid for anything just buy looking at my credit card statement.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kim Dobbins on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 11:49 pm:

I just sold a 1940 merc and had to use paypal at the buyers request. The fees were just over 4% of the total selling price. Someone is getting rich.....


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Kelsey on Thursday, May 17, 2012 - 11:53 pm:

I've never had a problem with Paypal as a buyer or seller. As a buyer, it's quite convenient; however, as a seller, both e-bay and Paypal take quite a chunk in fees. It was much more economical for the seller in the early oughts.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 12:41 am:

But Kim, you got 96%!

Banking used to be about ten percent of our economy. Now it's around 40%.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Stroud on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 05:42 am:

I have bought several items on ebay. I don't use paypal. I contact the seller and ask if he will accept a money order. If he does, I will bid on it, if he doesn't, I don't bid on it. Dave


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James J. Lyons III - West Virginia on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 07:30 am:

They're all crooks. I refuse to use paypal and limit my ebay time. If I see something I want on ebay, I strike up a conversation to open the lines of communication before the auction ends. If it doesn't sell, I make a deal afterwards and have had excellent success. If I don't get it and it sells, so be it.

The entire purpose of paypal is so ebay can double it's take and also to set things in place so that the IRS can start mining for cash.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By A. Gustaf Bryngelson on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 10:23 am:

Paypal is good for the buyer, but bad for the seller, the seller gets stuck with the fees, and a charge back is always a threat. The charge back can happen months down the road, and the seller has little recourse. As a buyer, it is great for ebay.de ebay.fr ect. but before that, I would send cash, the trick was not to send it in a registered letter, that announces "open me, I have something valuable inside!"
One thing that is going to bit ebay sellers in the butt is back taxes, when the IRS gets the records from ebay and levies tax on sellers that have not declared their sales, it is going to get ugly for some.
Best
Gus


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Charlie B actually in Toms River N.J. on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 10:45 am:

One things for sure: if you mindlessly venture into Tbay land the fees will be, lets say a "surprise". Also in Tbay land you're dealing with specific buyers. They, for the most part, know exactly what they want and what it should cost. It's not like selling some trinket that will have a wide appeal with less buyers that "know". You either do it or you don't. No in between. I've been dumping stuff for a few years, with pay pal and no sweat yet. You want tight? Try selling Scout memorabilia. Must be kids looking. Those people play close to the vest.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 11:03 am:

I saw early this year that tbay sales over $20K in a year will be reported to IRS.

Just my guess here: if you fall into that category this year and don't report it on next year's 1040, they will look at prior years also.

It just means you have to keep better and more creative records on the costs of items you sell if they total over $20K.

Hauling parts to a swap meet 1,000 miles away in a trailer behind your forty foot RV gets to be a pretty good write-off, and could even lower your income tax.

rdr


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Aaron Griffey, Hayward Ca. on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 11:45 am:

So what you guys are saying is that if one of you started your own ebay and paypal and charged very reasonable fees, like cheap, you could make a few million a year for the rest of your life and the buyers and sellers would be happy?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 12:29 pm:

It seems like tbay has largely gone the way of many local swapmeets. They started with people cleaning out their garages, and evolved into regular open air markets for ChiCom crap. More and more tbay items are new, at fixed price. The number of used stuff auctions have not grown like the new stuff.

For example, there are as many auctions for new parrot perches - pretty limited market - as there are for T parts.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Charlie B actually in Toms River N.J. on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 12:39 pm:

Aaron: some body already did that. It's the subject of this post.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mack Cole ---- Earth on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 01:59 pm:

I keep seeing this mess on tv about Face book and big offices and ebay has big offices and such.
I cant see that anything is needed but a building to keep servers in and a couple techs.Heck the customer service with Ebay Stinks out loud as a pile of fresh manure.
I get so mad when there is no direct phone number or email addy to ask Ebay questions.But yet they have big offices.What is the purpose?
They are greedy for sure.
Taxes on Ebay sales? What next? Tax on what I grow in the garden? 1 think for sure,I have sold probably 2500 bucks worth on Ebay since I joined in 04.So my taxes shouldnt be that much if the greedy IRS gets thier greazy paws involved.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Craig Anderson, central Wisconsin on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 02:43 pm:

Talking about write offs is like talking about a sewer.
If you were in a 20% bracket and wrote off $5000 your write off would be $1000......$4000 still went down the drain........you might have had fun with it but it's still gone.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike peterson on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 11:27 am:

I just love it when people say they arnt going to sell T parts on ebay anymore, because it costs to much, or they dont like paypal taking a little bit of there money, to me thats great the less u list on ebay, the more compition for my listings, equal higher prices for my items. for the most part when all is said and done, its about 10% of the total cost, no different than having a auction sale on your place, but a lot bigger market place, and having a auction sale your not going to be able to part each and every peice out like ebay if u want to, dont get me wrong auctions are a good deal and a much needed thing.I sell to a lot of the members on here, but u need to relize, the T guys on here are a very very small percentage of the T guys in the world, thats why i dont think u will ever get the correct number of model T's left in the world, theres a lot more than u think.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike peterson on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 11:29 am:

oh one thing about parrot perches, they make new ones every day, used model T parts arent made everyday.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Eubanks, Powell, TN on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 05:47 pm:

The cost of shipping is a big factor in slowing ebay sales!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Leming on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 09:20 pm:

I think people are really watching the shipping and handling charges some of these idiots are applying. The other day there were 34 QSL cards listed for sale - Ham radio cards, could have been mailed in an envelope. The shipping and handling was over $30.00 - thats just an outright rip off.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Charlie B actually in Toms River N.J. on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 09:36 pm:

Some of our "suppliers" are no better.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John M mASLACK on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 10:21 pm:

Mike Peterson seems to have the cost of shipping under control.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Craig Anderson, central Wisconsin on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 10:56 pm:

If an ebay seller has exorbitant shipping charges don't bid.
Shipping for ANYTHING is a big item these days.
All that stuff doesn't package itself and nobody is donating boxes and packing materials to anyone either.......time is money.
I can speak only about Langs' and Snyders from experience.....ACTUAL SHIPPING CHARGES ONLY.
I've been VERY pleased with both of them....... :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Scott Gilham Bellflower Ca. on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 11:00 pm:

Ricks, Ebay for me has been a bit slow. I have changed from the normal 7 day auction to the 3 day. No one was looking at anything for the first few days that's why I changed. So far so good. I do have a hunch about "Buy it Now" auctions. There was a time I heard a bunch of folks got burned by the buy it now purchases so they are staying away, just my opinion. I still try them now and again but the sales are few. Never had a problem with PayPal.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mack Cole ---- Earth on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 11:14 pm:

Shipping cost going up slowed down my sales.I post what comes up actual shipping cost 95% of the time.Very seldom do I clear more than 2 bucks over actual cost.I have told freinds and nieghbors to save boxes and I also use the flat rates if the item is heavy.
Ebay is playing out for sure.And it is a case of them squezzing the goose that laid their golden egg.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By George_Cherry Hill NJ on Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 11:40 pm:

I think I’m a relatively savvy guy…but I don’t understand this pay-pal thing a bit! Do I have a pay-pal account? Yes…and quite frankly it has come in good for some really wild things such as being caught in a foreign country and needing a plane ticket and the local mom and pop airline does not have a terms of service agreement with the regular credit card guys…they will let you know tomorrow if they will accept your payment, but you don’t fly until then! Amazingly, these guys do accept Pay-pal and 30 seconds later it is ‘tankuberrymuch hab a neece dah!’ So don’t know what gives with that, it just works.

Another one I don’t understand is that in another org I belong to, I have seen where annual dues go in one end and come out the other at the exact same amount…don’t know how PayPal make any money on that other than maybe they shill the receiving bank on 24 hour ‘float’.

What concerns me though since who in their right mind now reads the 190 or so pages of terms of service for any of these services before clicking ‘I agree’…I only ‘think’ that what we have is them acting and appearing ‘like’ a transferring bank, but in reality a ‘broker’ still being entirely outside of banking rules and therefore any consumer protection laws go right out the window for ANY recourse.

I just use it sparingly and when I have no other way to pay for something. For foreign transactions it is actually great and sort of economical, you agree in local currency, and it tells you how to pay in dollars, and ‘whatever’ comes out on the other end. The exchange rate isn’t great…but sure beats having to go to a bank that knows how to do foreign currency ‘orders’ and ‘cashiers checks’ with the local bank fee schedules tacked on to your request.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Sunday, May 20, 2012 - 08:15 am:

Speaking of Terms of Endearment, or whatever they call it, I can't watch emailed videos any more since I clicked on "free" upgrade to my Adobe Flash Player. When I got into the Terms part that gives them permission to record video and audio picked up by my computer, I canceled the upgrade.

1984 was about govt invasion of privacy gone wild. Today it's spying by corporations, in cahoots with the govt.

Tbay and Papal are part of the ever expanding fascism - the merging of govt and corporations.

rdr


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By keith g barrier on Sunday, May 20, 2012 - 08:21 am:

Love ebay, ya'll stay off and I'll keep gettin good deals, as for shipping, I figure that in with what I am willing to bid and all works out. How did you guys find T parts before ebay. Todays gas prices you can't drive all over the country looking for false leads, did that years ago. Some of you guys would gripe if they sent you yhe stuff for free. KB


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike peterson on Sunday, May 20, 2012 - 10:17 am:

shipping has such a wide range of costs, from smaller items, its $5 flat rate, engines of course cost a lot more, but lets use probly a average of $20, somethign roughly the size and weight of a wire wheel, would u drive halfway thru the states to find a wire wheel, instead of paying shipping, u cant drive very far for that $20, not to mention the time involved, shipping isnt bad. go to a swap meet and figure your gas,time, motels,food, to find a few small peices or hope to find them. the cost of shipping is figured into every single item u buy everyday.
If u list somethign on ebay with a reasonable price in 7 days its sold, with paypal it can be paid for the same day, and shipped right away. great for the buyer and seller. hard to find another system thats that easy to use, u better get it going cause u will make millions having it on the web. selling on ebay is a great form or advertisement, u sell so much more than what u have listed, people always wanting to know if u have this part or that part for sale.the classified ads on here dont seem to work, posting pics suck, ive seen the same parts listed and listed again and dont sell, some do , im sure. but some prices seem i lot higher that the ebay prices go for. but ebay is like politcis your on one side or the other, and the other side is always wrong, unless your in the middle and both sides are wrong


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Walker, NW AR on Sunday, May 20, 2012 - 10:12 pm:

Forums such as this one are one of the greatest gifts given to us old car guys as a result of the internet. It used to be that one's information regarding old car stuff was limited to the number of other old car guys within shouting distance. Of course, we could read Floyd Clymers' books, which were a big help indeed, but we have since learned that Floyd's information was not always correct.

Here we have available the knowledge and experience of literally hundreds of Model T guys. It has transformed the hobby we all share to one where any question you have can be answered in a short time, sometimes in just a few minutes. It is a very different world in which we now function in our realm of restoring/maintaining our antique cars.

One other benefit we now have available, although some are averse to avail themselves of it, is the largest marketplace in the world, ebay. This is second in importance only to the access we now have to information. Much as we used to be limited to our local sources for parts, tools, etc., we now have access to virtually all materials available anywhere in the world. And it is accessible from the confines of our own homes, not just at the few swap meets close enough for us to attend or our friends who might or might not have a part we need for our project.

I have been messing with antique cars for about 50 years, and I can say that the internet has changed our access to information and parts to an extent that we could not have imagined 30 or 40 years ago. They say that it is difficult to teach old dogs new tricks, but I am one old dog who embraces the internet and the advantages it affords us. I certainly wasn't born knowing how to use the internet, since Al Gore hadn't invented it yet. ( :-) ) And when someone first told me about ebay, I had no idea what he was talking about. But I try to keep an open mind, and I have learned to use the internet (as have all of you reading this), and I have learned to use ebay. Ebay is not a commie plot, and it is not vicious. It is a tool, and a valuable one. I have bought several parts listed on ebay by Mike Peterson, who posted above. He is fair and honest, and he and I have both benefitted from our deals on ebay. If you personally do not want to use ebay for whatever reason, so be it. But I shall continue to use it for my own benefit, and I shall be able to acquire the parts I need for my Model T projects, when I need them.

I still go to swap meets when they are available, most of which occur once per year. I buy parts there, but I also enjoy the social experience of seeing old friends, etc. I don't worry about the cost of gas and a room, or figure that into the cost of parts, even though that is a real expense to buying parts that way. I write off that cost to having fun in our hobby, and who can put a monetary value on that? But when it comes right down to it, you can't beat ebay for being able to get the parts you need, at a reasonable cost, when you need them. You can't beat a deal like that.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Scott Gilham Bellflower Ca. on Sunday, May 20, 2012 - 11:07 pm:

Well said Mike W.


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