That John Martin

Last week I sold my old laptop on eBay. It was an 18 month old Inspiron 8500 with one of those big 1920×1200 resolution screens. I loved the thing, but it was just too big and heavy for me to drag around everywhere, so I have downsized to the company sponsored D600, which I’m really happy with so far.

Anyway, this was my first eBay experience, and I have to say I was really surprised at how difficult and intimidating it was. Between PayPal and return policies and off-eBay propositions its an intense seven days this is not your fathers online marketplace. The low point was definitely PayPal, which in general I like, but as a first time seller you are forced into “enhancing” your account to either Premier or a Business status in order to accept the payment made to you. And this is done after PayPal has received payment, so your cash is practically held in ransom. It’s not like it costs anything to do it, it just smells bad, like you’ve been tricked into it. Those fees seem pretty high too (it’s extra for non US transactions).

Having said that though, I got more money than I expected and the transaction went through more or less without a hitch. I just wonder whether there isn’t a model for a happy medium between craigslist and eBay. Something that is not quite as geeky and minimalistic as craigslist but not as gamey and involved as eBay.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 18th, 2005 at 6:53 pm and is filed under uncategorized.