Pros and Cons of Selling on eBay: 5 Key Topics

For a reseller, eBay is definitely one of the best marketplaces that you can use, in order to sell your goods.

A typical reseller will be dealing with Collectibles, and other rare items which go out of stock extremely quickly, or have limited stock to begin with.

We’ve been selling on eBay for over 15 years. The platform isn’t perfect though, which is why I feel it necessary to highlight some of the issues below. But before that, let me explain why you definitely need to consider using it.

Oh and remember, you can sign up for your ebay software for £19.99 per month, and we track your entire profitability. Read on to see our pros and cons of selling on ebay.

If Amazon is more your thing, remember you can read our full amazon fba guide which is perfect for beginners.

Benefits of Selling with eBay

There’s a reason that eBay is the largest marketplace for selling used and pre-loved goods. Let’s start off with the obvious benefits of selling on eBay.

Let’s start off with the first benefit, we have some ready made software to help you track profitability!

Huge Audience Base

How many times have you heard ‘Oh just eBay it’ or ‘see how much it goes for on eBay’. That’s because eBay is the household name, used in discussion whenever someone thinks of selling an item.

The audience base and market share of eBay is huge. Not only in the UK, it’s first choice in USA, the entire of Europe and more.

With a huge audience base, you can more or less guarantee there’s someone else in the world that wants your item. Which brings me onto the next point.

Getting Value for Items Sold

If there is demand for an item, you’ll get more money for it. However, on some platforms like Vinted, people just feel like they have free-reign to make unbelievable offers. So much that there’s a Twitter community showing off the State of Vinted. It’s a funny read.

With eBay, people do seem to be a bit more down to earth and accepting that they can’t just take 40% off the asking price without reason.

As the Market and audience is huge, you get more demand and a fairer price for your items.

When dealing with collectibles, and high demand, out of stock goods, this ensures that resellers can earn an absolute premium on their stock.

While discussing getting fair value too, another reason that so many people choose eBay to sell their items, is that other platforms for reselling platforms like stockX have their own issues.

StockX have huge fees, and sometimes like to add on charges without giving sufficient reasoning. Then there are local places like CEX, they give you next to nothing back for your items, when you can sell on eBay for much more.

Frequent Reduced Fee Promotions

It seems that every 2 weeks, eBay provide Reduced Fee Promotions. Sellers can take advantage of:

• 70% off Fees
• 80% off Fees
• £1 Final Fees

At first it’s quite random which one you receive. However, I have found that this is linked to the number of items you sell. The more you sell, the higher chance of you only getting 70% off fees. But let’s be honest, that’s still a great saving.

Easy to List Items

It’s simple to list your items for sale, and it’s getting even easier too. Essentially, all you have to do it enter a title, add a few pictures and then hit create listing.

Now, there’s more you can do to enhance your eBay listing, but I’m talking about the barebones there.

eBay has made it so much easier to list items fast, that I can easily do 100 in around 2 hours, with time and care taken on photography too. How?

When you enter the Item Title now, eBay will automatically provide you with the categories it thinks it belongs to. I’ve never had this go wrong yet, and it saves you having to browse through 100’s of categories manually.

Their AI description software does a good enough job too, so I recommend using that.

Seller Protection

A large number of sellers are unaware that Seller Protection exists on eBay. This deserves, and will get it’s own post to help sellers become more aware.

eBay Seller Protection is there to help you as a seller. If you’re selling items like a PS5, it’s a policy that protects you from issues that might pop up during the selling process.

Processes that aren’t your fault, to be exact.

It’s designed to make sure you’re treated fairly when dealing with buyers and helps minimize risks.

I sold a PS5 for £650 on eBay during the height of the PS5 flipping times. In all honesty, I had a feelign this was going to end with an issue, as it was going via GSP to Russia. That bit isn’t relevant to the story, though.

I packaged it up, and sent it insured with a tracking number. I’ve streamlined my processes to learn that’s enough from my side. A few years ago, I’d be tracking it like crazy every day.

Anyway, a few days later I get an email stating that there was a dispute open.

This is probably the first red flag of this sale. They’ve gone right to dispute, instead of dropping me a message. At least if they message to say something was wrong, it would stick out less.

I was innocent in this party, and could provide proof of shipment reaching GSP.

However, when a Payment Dispute is made, it’s hard for eBay to not side with the buyer. The credit card company will always win against eBay. So this leaves sellers vulnerable.

However, if you can provide proof you shipped the item to the requested address, you would win this case, at a cost to eBay.

This is where eBay Seller Protection kicks in. Since I’ve followed all the right steps – sent the item to the verified address, used tracked shipping, and provided proof of delivery – eBay’s got my back.

Even if the buyer opens a case saying the PS5 wasn’t received, I’m protected because I can prove I did everything by the book. eBay will investigate and most likely side with me, meaning I get to keep my payment and won’t have to refund the buyer.

It’s still quite frustrating that the buyer gets away with it, but ultimately there’s nothing we can do. Thankfully eBay has our back.

Global Shipping, Made Easy

As a reseller you will be focused on collectibles. The USA and China are probably the largest markets for collecting high-end items, but it’s not easy for sellers to ship to these countries.

Well it wasn’t, before the Global Shipping Programme was founded. eBay have created this, and for a small fee, you ship your item to their UK warehouse, and they deal with the rest!

It opens up new markets for resellers.

Cons of Selling on eBay

I’ve just sang eBay’s praises for a good while. The truth is the platform isn’t perfect for sellers. Let me explain some issues you may face.

Reseller Competition is High

I remember selling the Astro Bot PS5 Controller, thinking I’d make a decent profit. Limited edition controllers have a good past.

However, the competition came out in numbers. The stock loaded was a little higher than anticipated, and there were a few restocks.

Fast forward a few days & there were loads of other sellers listing the same item, and some were willing to cut their prices much lower than mine just to make a sale. Frustratingly, someone had also nicked my images!

Even when I listed mine competitively, others undercut me, which forced me to lower the price even more, eating into my profits. eBay’s a crowded marketplace, so you’re constantly competing with other resellers, many of whom might be selling similar items, sometimes at rock-bottom prices to make a quick sale.

It’s tough to stand out, and the pressure to price competitively can really squeeze your margins.

Item selection matters also, if you pick an item that has lots of other sellers, it will be harder to get the sale. This is the same with Amazon FBA too, good old price tanking!

Buyer Protection Favours Customers

Another downside I’ve experienced is that eBay’s Buyer Protection often tilts in favour of the customer, even when the seller does everything right. I once sold a high-end laptop, and the buyer claimed it wasn’t working even though it was fully functional when I shipped it.

Despite providing proof that I listed it accurately and shipped it in good condition, eBay leaned toward the buyer’s side. They allowed the return, and I ended up having to accept the item back, even though there was nothing wrong with it.

It can feel frustrating when buyers misuse the system, and you’re stuck either refunding them or taking a hit on items returned for unfair reasons. But this is part of the game as a reseller, some people may want to ‘toy’ with you, knowing that you’re a reseller.

Tyre Kickers

One of the most frustrating things I’ve come across is dealing with tyre kickers.

You know, those buyers who ask endless questions or make lowball offers, only to vanish without completing the purchase. I once listed a retro gaming console N64, and a potential buyer messaged me over several days, asking about every little detail, requesting more photos, and even asking if I could drop the price dramatically.

After investing all that time, they just disappeared without buying. It’s draining to deal with time wasters who have no intention of buying but waste your energy and time, leaving you to manage other potential sales & messages etc.

I’ve even had people ask me lots of questions, and then go ahead to tell me that they purchased elsewhere. It’s funny in the long run, but annoying at the time I guess.

Problem Buyers

I’ve definitely encountered my share of problem buyers on eBay. I remember selling a Vinyl, and after the sale went through and I shipped the item, the buyer messaged me days later claiming it had a scratch on it – even though I’d sent it in perfect condition.

They demanded a partial refund, clearly trying to get a discount after the fact. In addition to this, I could not make out the scratch in any of the low quality images I had received.

Some buyers will pull tricks like this, making false claims to get money back or pressure you into a refund. It’s frustrating because even though you know you did everything right, you end up having to deal with these types of buyers who seem more interested in gaming the system than buying honestly.

Feedback System Favours Buyers – Potential to Bribe

The feedback system on eBay can sometimes feel unfair to sellers, especially because it seems to favour buyers.

I once had a buyer who left me neutral feedback after purchasing a Taylor Swift CD, despite everything going smoothly. When I reached out to ask if something was wrong, they mentioned they’d revise their feedback if I gave them a partial refund. The front cover had a <1cm crack.

It was quite clearly an attempt to bribe me into lowering the price after the deal was done. As buyers’ feedback affects your seller rating, and negative or neutral reviews can hurt your reputation, you can feel pressured to give in, even if you know you’ve done everything right.

I did give in, because £2.49 was worth less to me than a neutral feedback score. So in many ways, I’ve fed the problem. But it’s eBays to fix.

Potential Competitors to eBay

While eBay is a massive platform, there are other marketplaces out there where you might have a better experience. For example, I’ve found Facebook Marketplace to be handy for selling locally, where you don’t have to worry about shipping or dealing with eBay’s fees.

The downside to this, you either have to meet the buyer or let them into your home. Not my favourite thing to do, as I sell quite a lot of items.

Other sites like Depop and Vinted work well for niche markets like fashion and collectibles, often with lower fees and easier communication with buyers.

There’s also Amazon Marketplace, which attracts tons of customers and can be easier to use if you’re selling new products.

Depending on what you’re selling, competitors can sometimes offer a better deal than eBay, especially in terms of fees, competition, and dealing with fewer problem buyers.

Pros and Cons of Selling on eBay: Final Thoughts

As you can see from the above, I have quite a lot of experience with eBay after selling on the platform for 15 Years. This have given me sufficient knowledge to understand the good and bad sides of eBay.

Over the years I have seen it improve, but I have also seen the increase in Scam attempts etc and disputes due to online becoming more mainstream.

Ultimately, to get the best price for your items, you should be using eBay. The global reach is just too attractive. Providing you ship your packages with enough packaging, using an insured service, you can ensure that you are never left vulnerable to a scam.

If you feel like you are being scammed, drop us a line in the comments as we help our community out with Dispute handling and would love to assist. if you also have any stories, good or bad about eBay I’d love to hear them!