I have always used EBay to make money saving purchases. When my video camera battery died, and it was no longer available in the stores, I did not buy a new camera, I got a new battery on EBay. When the cat popped a few keys off my daughter’s laptop, I didn’t spend $100.00 on repairs, I got new keys from EBay and found an online tutorial for installing it. Instead of buying a $1000 projection screen for the basement, I purchased fabric and screen building instructions from EBay and made the perfectly good screen for $40.00. EBay has saved me a great deal of money over the years.
In addition to making EBay purchases over the years, I have also spent some time selling on EBay. At one time, I even had a thriving business on EBay. Over time, however, fees got to the point where many sellers left, and as most of my customers were stay at home mom’s (I sold plus size clothing for women) my business also dried up.
Yesterday however, I found out that as of July 7, Ebay is not giving five free listings a month per person. This means that the average household seller who gets rid of things as they no longer need it, or sells things when they are trying to raise extra money could list on Ebay for nothing (except the closing fees). I found this out accidentally when I decided to list several homeschool items that we no longer needed that I knew was valuable. I listed 5 curriculum in all. I even was given a free subtitle for the books. The curriculum packages just gave a free basic listing. In addition to that, my items are being well viewed and getting an excellent response. Some items are bid on with still 6 days of auction still to go.
What does this mean for the frugal minded person? It means that the original concept of EBay is coming back. It is becoming more of an online garage sale where people can sell items of value at a top price and less of a cut-throat market that squeezes out the little guy.
Andrea Hermitt writes for parenting (specifically teens), the home blog, and also the frugal blog, and homeschooling at families.com.
Also Read: Frugalista Fashions: Get Your Maxi Dress for Less