Avoiding The Auction Sites

Here’s a question for you: Do we really need all these auction sites anymore with the growth and ease of use of social media?

It’s something I’ve been pondering the last few days after I made a sale through eBay. BUT. The sale had already happened before eBay….

The item? An old microphone of mine – I had no further use for it since upgrading at the end of last year, and it had just been sat on my shelf not doing a lot, so I got round to getting it sorted for putting on eBay to make a few quid. Well, why not?

I got it all sorted, took a few pictures, description etc, all ready for eBay. I started notifying everyone that I was selling something via Twitter, Google+ etc, and within an hour, the sale was already complete! Via my social media activities and an American voice over artist I know in North Carolina, he told me that a colleague of his in London (another VO) was looking for a mic for their home studio, and was very interested. So, after dealing with her privately, we settled the deal between ourselves. Couldn’t be easier!

So, this made me think. With all the tools that are out there nowadays, do we really need auction sites anymore? It’s certainly cheaper to deal privately saving auction sites listing fees, plus the ‘final valuation cost’ fee. Plus then the PayPal fee. It all mounts up!

Why not just announce you have something for sale, and it’s price. Even write a blog post about it so it’s all collated somewhere online – announce it via Twitter/Facebook/Google+ etc etc – then settle the deal privately. Cost of unit + shipping = job done. Or is that too easy? Is it stupid?

I don’t know. From my perspective, I think I’m going to blog about whatever I’m selling first, announce via social media, and see if it gets sold. If not, I’ll go back to using eBay/eBid etc etc. But it has to be worth a try doesn’t it, to eliminate a load of fees!?

What are your thoughts? Good idea? Ridiculous?

2 thoughts on “Avoiding The Auction Sites

  1. Hi Richard, interesting post! I think people are going to do this more and more over the next few years. They can already list on free classified sites such as Gumtree and then use their social connections to do the deal just like you did.

    I think it’s fab that people can help each other this way. Perhaps now is the time to sell your shares in eBay? ๐Ÿ˜‰

    • Thank you Sarah…..

      Seems to be a popular thought from other people’s responses so far as well! It has to make sense, doesn’t it? Or at least, worth a try…….

      Ha! Yes I’m selling them on eBay ๐Ÿ™‚

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