ebay vs audiogon

Hi - I have used both eBay (766 Positive Feedbacks & 1 revenge Neg from a dead-beat bidder) and Audiogon (29 pos, no negs) at various times with almost no problems whatsoever. I do check feedback carefully, and will not buy ANYTHING from anyone who doesn't own the merchandise. If I have any suspicions, I ask a question before bidding to see if the seller knows anything about the item they are selling. It also would take something really rare for me to do business outside of the USA; not from xenophobia, but shipping overseas (or even to Canada, sorry) can be expensive, and very slow. I have found great people in both venues, and have enjoyed most of my transactions. Some people are obviously only in it for the money, so they're not particularly communicative. But, if they handle the transaction professionally, I don't mind. Bottom line? Don't buy, or bid on anything until you have investigated both the item and the seller.

Enjoy!
Ed

I too have used both services. I have been a buyer on Audiogon and both buyer/seller on eBay (under the same handle - "treyhoss"). I decided to sell on EBay based on the fact I would see similar equipment bring more money on Ebay than Agon.
As far as the Paypal fees, I can see where some sellers would ask people to pay for these (I'm not one of them - yet). I always put mine up in the auction format with no reserve and beginning at a reasonable price as I have found this brings the most attention. However, in the auction format after you factor in the EBay listing fees, settlement fees, shipping fees (which most honest sellers can end up getting screwed on) and then an additional 3% for Paypal, you end up netting far less than you expected. It may sound cheap to ask for the 3% but if you're the buyer you need to know the terms of sale.
On a $500 item why should I be out another $15 just because someone wants to pay me with Paypal? The whole reason I even accept Paypal is because I got sick of people asking if I took Paypal - even after saying I didn't in the listing!!!! ...but that's another post:-)

Another annoying thing is people who use shipping fees as a profit center. I've gotten packages where the shipping charges are double what is stamped on the package.

some people like to paint a picture of ebay as the wild west full of bumbling fools who pay way too much for their gear,sellers who are all con artists or ignorant about the gear their selling & where simon bar sinister is lurking around every corner waiting to strike.

the same folks paint a picture of Agon as the sweet polly purebread of internet hifi trading where the sun always shines & the people trading the gear are more honest & trust worthy.

the fact is that both sites serve the same function & each site has its own good points & draw backs & neither site is beyond reproach.

mike.

I'm just wondering here...it seems as if about 90% of A'gon sellers who say they accept Paypal also ask the buyer to eat the 3%.

I've been around this community long enough to know that 3% is HUGE chunk, especially when you consider not many people on A'gon actually have more than 3% profit in the items they are selling (more like -40%). Understandably 3% is A TON for most A'gon users; especially when you further consider that the average transaction on A’gon seems to be somewhere around $1500 which translates into a $45 Paypal fee.

So the question I have is, why is Paypal such a popular a payment method on A'gon?? Is it the pure convenience? Or, is it REALLY because Paypal lets you use a Credit Card to send payments to any Paypal Seller? If this is the case, what A'gon sellers are essentially saying is "I will accept Credit Card payments via Paypal." If that is what accepting Paypal really means, and if that is why A’gon buyers insist on Paypal, then that is a pretty LARGE convenience to the seller (considering the cost of establishing a merchant account) that the seller should be willing to pay for. As a seller, the thing I hate to do is accept Paypal where the buyer is funding the transaction from his checking account and I have to eat 3% when I could have just accepted a cashier’s check for free. So here is the question? Do you guys think that most A’gon buyers who use Paypal are funding their transactions with their Credit Cards?

I'm not sure this is the case. I don’t seem to remember anyone, if my memory serves me well, that would only buy an item from me if I accepted their Credit Card via Paypal. I have only ever accepted Paypal once (small ticket item), because I was under the impression that most people on A’gon typically transact with funds from a checking or savings account (via cashier’s check). Am I missing the boat here? Will I sell my items quicker on A’gon if I accept credit card payments via Paypal?

I, like most Paypal users, signed up back in the day when Paypal was billed as a free service but then somehow along the way I was bumped up to a Premier account and found myself paying 3%, even when my bother would reimburse me for something personal like lunch. That got frustrating, but I do understand the laws of the Credit Card world and in that world NO ONE gets around the 2-3% fee that credit card companies charge you for putting money in your account today when it will take them at least 30 days to collect it from their cardholder.

So again, the real question at hand is, are buyers who use Paypal insisting on Paypal because it lets them put it on plastic, or are A'gon buyers still using Paypal to move funds from their checking accounts and use Paypal mostly for its convenience. If it is the latter, it sounds like we need a Paypal alternative that caters to the flat fee payment mentality we here at A'gon crave.