Does anybody here do business on Ebay either domestically or in their own country?
domestic > Taiwan!
Kenneth
I’ve been selling some of my stuff off prior to moving (in the U.S.).
IMHO the EBay gold mine has started to evaporate. The prices I have been getting aren’t nearly as good as what I had been seeing a year or two ago – buyers are actually checking prices and aren’t bidding items up to more than they would cost elsewhere. Some things have been going ridiculously cheaply; one item I sold retails for $125, but most of them have been going for around $25 on EBay (I lucked out and got an idiot for a bidder, who bid a whopping $35 as the one and only bid I got).
If you have a way to get some common item at wholesale prices, and can somehow ship cheaply to the U.S., you can probably make a buck on EBay here. I don’t know what things are like on Taiwan’s EBay clone.
I agree that prices are getting lower. I buy civil war documents and 28mm pro-painted minis off ebay, and I have seen quite a few bargains. Perhaps too many people looking to “work from home”. The pro-painted minis market is flooded right now.
A lot of times people get 'auction fever", where losing an auction is a loss of face and so they bid based on emotion rather than need/price. I have seen this a million times before (I paid for college buying and selling antiques). When I first started buying on ebay I saw a lot of this but not so much any more. More rational bidding overall will keep prices down. I am also competing against the same core group of bidders and so I can get some sort of feel as to how much they are prepared to spend. If the other bidders are also keeping an eye on the competition then I think this also keeps prices down.
If you can find a niche then you might do well but I wouldn’t quit your day job just yet.
I had a friend help me sell an old suit here on the local Yahoo auctions. He told me not that many people here use ebay (this was in Nov., things might have changed now that I see Ebay has an ad blitz going on). Photos seem to matter more than they do in the US Ebay.
I had some people who weren’t the winners tell sob stories (please sell me the suit-I am getting married-I can just bring you the cash) but I was pretty happy with the how much I sold it for in the end.
Do you guys use an escrow company usually? Escrow.com or something else?
While the use of escrow seems like a great idea in the US (to protect both the buyer and the seller) because the territory is so large, it’s my understanding that in Taiwan the buyer and seller often simply arrange to meet somewhere for the exchange of money and merchandise.
And for B2C e-commerce, apparently 7-11 is the answer. One can order goods online and have them delivered to your nearest 7-11. Or for some goods 7-11 will deliver them to your door.
Just curious what payment/delivery methods you all use.
Oh, and by the way, there are two other Taiwan auction sites if you’re interested, though I don’t know how they compare: www.coolbid.com
I been using paypal in the US, but I had trouble getting to recognize my Taiwanese (legit) credit cards.
That’s been a real screwup.
Kenneth
My wife buys and sells things via Yahoo Taiwan. Sometimes she meets and gets cash, but the other system is the buyer sends the money and she sends the goods. All based on online reputation.
Brian
[quote=“Flicka”]I had a friend help me sell an old suit here on the local Yahoo auctions. He told me not that many people here use ebay (this was in Nov., things might have changed now that I see Ebay has an ad blitz going on). Photos seem to matter more than they do in the US Ebay.
I had some people who weren’t the winners tell sob stories (please sell me the suit-I am getting married-I can just bring you the cash) but I was pretty happy with the how much I sold it for in the end.[/quote]
Are you saying you sold one of your old suits on an auction website in Taiwan ? That’s very interesting. Is there a second hand market in used western suits ? Was it a morning suit or something or top hat and tails ?
Forget it Hexuan. No-one’s going to bid on your old holey t-shirts. 
Au contraire! The acolytes in the First Church of Hexuan would adore his holey relics. 
My husband sold a Rolex on Ebay a few years ago and used an escrow company. Bought our Olympus digital camera there about five years ago I think, US$185 paid by check, received in less than a week in original packaging with all the manuals, regular price US$600+ It’s not very fancy, but we’re still using it with no problems.
Just last year he sold a golf club for a couple hundred dollars that he hadn’t realized was a collector’s item. That one was paid by Paypal. We used our Taiwan credit card to set up the Paypal account with no problems. The only trouble I’ve had has been this year when three packages I paid for never made it to their US destination. Not sure if they screwed me over on purpose or if it was the postal service.
All Ebay.com; haven’t tried Ebay Taiwan as neither of us reads Chinese.
The reason I asked about Internet escrow is because I just wrote a paper on the subject and apparently that’s the only way you can be guaranteed you will receive the goods. PayPal, Billpoint, credit cards, digital cash, digital checks, etc, none of them assure you that you’ll receive the goods, and Internet auctions have been a hot area of fraud in the past few years. I know of three recent cases where the “seller” made close to $1 million pretending to sell computers and other stuff on eBay but never shipping any goods. eBay insures against fraud, but only up to $200. I’ve never bought anything from an online auction but if I made a large purchase I’d definitely want to use escrow.
Be careful with escrow though, because that too has been a hot area of fraud in the past few years. In fact it got so bad that California amended its Escrow Law in 2001 to include Internet escrow transactions (as far as I know the only such law in the world). I saw a list on an auction fraud alert website identifying 327 fraudulent Internet escrow companies, and one expert estimated that those companies have pulled in $1 million each through fraud. I read of one guy who tried to buy a porsche, another a BMW and another a mercedes and they got swindled for $36K, $45K and 50K respectively, and they thought they were Internet savvy and were clever for using escrow companies. But the companies were fake, as were the names and contact info and the companies quickly disappeared with the .
Even sellers have been defrauded by fake escrow companies. Either way, it usually starts with one party on eBay suggessting use of a particular escrow company. When the seller loses it’s because the company is fake, tells the seller it has received the money and says to ship the goods.
But, the good news – if you use an escrow company licensed in California you should be ok. To offer escrow services in California one must be licensed, and to obtain a license one must submit detailed info of all owners, employees, managers, etc, along with fingerprints and must submit to a criminal background check. Lots of crimes of dishonesty disqualify one from being involved in the business. In addition one must be bonded, provide regular books, reports and records to the State and submit to lots of supervision and control. The state has ordered all unlicensed businesses to cease doing business in the state and most have complied.
So if you use an escrow company, make sure it’s licensed in California. Escrow.com is (along with others). I guess I’m supposed to reveal here that I do not presently own stock in escrow.com, nor does my family, and I have no connection with the company. Just doing my public service schpiel. 
[quote=“hexuan”]
Are you saying you sold one of your old suits on an auction website in Taiwan ? That’s very interesting. Is there a second hand market in used western suits ? Was it a morning suit or something or top hat and tails ?[/quote]
It was a black designer business suit that was about two years old and in good shape. I had lost a lot of weight, bought the suit, then of course gained up again, never being able to wear it again. I was surprised at the number of bids, including lots of people who came over to try it on, some even bringing cash to buy it on the spot. I had a good photo of it, something I attribute it to being featured as a Yahoo “pick of the day”, which was probably what brought so much interest (besides the fact a foreigner was selling it.)
That must have been pretty cool, being a Yahoo pick of the day!
I should be clearer – it was a Yahoo Taiwan auction site pick of the day, not Yahoo as a whole.
Still cool, IMO.
What are the fees for Ebay TW?
I think eBay has cleaned up there act a lot recently (ie: needing to register a creditcard when signing up with a free email accout), so fraudulent stuff is way down (although of course still exists).
Also as the buyer you generally are safe, even when paying using Paypal because you can chargeback if you don’t receive the goods. It seems the real people taking the risks are the sellers.
I heard that its free :shock: no listing fee’s and possibly no final value fees either, but i can’t read Chinese so someone else will need to confirm that. They could do with an English language section!
Obviously doing this to gain market share. At the moment the Taiwan version seems empty, one of those catch22 situations no bidders so no sellers… it will pick up once people get the idea
In Taiwan, Yahoo is much more popular and useful for buying selling and auctions. They have a good system of registration, and ratings. Sellers have to be registered with ID numbers, so there would be legal recourse if you didn’t deliver the goods. What it really comes down to is reputations. Both buyers and sellers have reputations. When someone orders the goods you have to send it to them (it’s considered sold), but you wait until you receive the money before sending.
Unfortunately (for some of us), it’s all in Chinese.
Brian