Expert: Rob James - 12/23/2008

Question
I can't figure out why this listing was removed. 270320757735
I have seen tons of these being sold on e-bay and never were there listings removed. I reported a few just to see if they would be removed and they weren't. I don't get it. I asked ebay and they gave me some bullshit about trademark infringement. If that was the reason why didn't anyone else get theirs pulled? I've seen one with the original lens cleaning cloth, a different one, and no lens cleaning cloth. Do you see the problem?
My second question is about ebid. Is ebid getting big enough now where you make just as much money there and sell just as many items as you once did on ebay? The fees on ebay are getting so ridiculous and I really hate everything about ebay. I feel dirty for being an ebay seller. I want to change to another site but I fear my profits would greatly decline since ebay has the largest amount of traffic. What do you think or know about this?

Answer
Hi Melissa,

I couldn't see the auction in question because it has been removed. So I can't really comment as to why eBay would remove it. I do know that they are pretty vague when it comes to their reasoning for removal. The reply you got was just a canned response that everyone gets. They are very good at saying a lot while not telling you anything you want to know.

As for the ebid question, the site is growing and I, myself, have contemplated moving over to it. I probably will very soon. Overall you can't beat the deal that they offer. I think that as word gets around you will see it grow even more over the next year or two. Hopefully they will start advertising.

I don't know that you would make as much as you do on eBay because of the lower buyer volume. However, eBay's buyer volume is decreasing too. As they weed out the sellers they don't want, there is less merchandise that people are looking for. Hence, they go elsewhere. If I were you, I would invest the $50 it takes to get the lifetime membership. Start to build your presence there and see how it goes. You can still use eBay to run items at the same time. You just end one site if the other sells. Since it won't cost you listing fees on ebid, why not?

Let me know how it goes if you decide to try ebid. Perhaps I'll see your stuff there!

Take care and Happy Holidays!
Rob