[Roadsters] new ebay rules what the heck?

[chalsted]

well there are certainly a lot of angles to consider... for those of us who 
are straight up with our dealings on ebay, and that includes most everybody 
I've dealt with... as a seller it's kinda screwed. I do understand the 
"excessive shipping" thing and how that can take money out of ebay's pockets 
like the earbud example... one that I see over and over is someone selling 
dash caps for roadsters and charging $49.95 to ship- give me a break... they 
weigh next to nothing and don't even cost near half that to ship. can ship a 
top frame assembly cross country for less than that- much larger and 
heavier. on the other hand, ebay would probably consider $125 expensive to 
ship a windshield but it's very realistic when you figure in special box and 
packing materials, etc.  I usually just guess based on past experience, 
sometimes I lose and sometimes I might make a few bucks but minimal overage. 
overall pretty much a break even proposition. I haven't been listing much 
lately as frankly for all the time and effort to pick out parts, clean, 
photo, list, package, ship.. hardly worth it. most of the stuff that brings 
any kind of money I only sell in moments of financial stress and would 
almost rather just keep for myself and future projects. someday there will 
be a massive estate sale I suppose and whatever's left Elaine will bulldoze 
along with my outbuildings. I was going to scrap the crap parts cars when it 
was $10 a hundredweight recently, it had fallen to $4 a hundredweight as of 
tuesday this week, hardly worth hauling them off. as the economy goes, so 
goes the price of scrap I guess. I still have tons and tons and buildings 
full of parts and roadsters and if someone is needing used parts from 
engines and transmissions to gauges and whatever, feel free to contact me 
but I am not anticipating putting all that much stuff up for auction on ebay 
anymore. as much as anything it's an intrusion on my life to have to do so 
and I hope to avoid that. probably time to set up some kind of website 
and/or set up an ebay store instead of doing the auctions. this is likely 
what they are pushing for anyhow. I appreciate everyone's input, certainly a 
subject worthy of discussion. I think most of us at one time or another have 
either bought or sold on ebay. as paypal  is owned by ebay, I can understand 
them looking to set up a business model where that is the only acceptable 
form of payment- they charge serious fees and it's a moneymaker for them. 
they maximize their profits if they can guarantee themselves that they 
collect both on the sale and on the payment.ends of a transaction. not 
really liking where it all seems to be headed.
Craig

btw- any thoughts on how the Craigslist folks cover their overhead? are some 
categories paid ads or something like that?  someone has to be running the 
show...