Bottom line is that I've never sold anything - while listing on many sites- except on Audiogon.
What's wrong with eBay?
Bottom line is that I've never sold anything - while listing on many sites- except on Audiogon.
What's wrong with eBay?
they may require you to have a paypal account but you don't have to accept it as a form of payment. it's set up so A'gon gets their fee taken out when the buyer transfers funds to the seller via paypal, you also have the option to add seller's fees in the transaction to cover the 3% and a'gon's 2% for that matter. I almost always take checks anyhow and loose nothing to paypal and thus control the payments for A'gon's fee on my terms.
I am just trying to figure out the new pricing structure. Are you sure that the payment for the add is taken out when the buyer transfers the $$$ to the seller via paypal. I would actually not have a problem with that, meaning that you only pay the fee if the item sells.
My understanding is that you pay the fee up front when listing the ad. So if you are listing something that is a high ticket item, you pay $150 at the time you list the ad. It's good for 30 days and then if you list it again, you pay the next $150 for the next 30 days.
If someone understands how it works for sure, please enlighten me....thx!
If you use audiogon's legacy "percentage of transaction" fee based model, the fees are automatically take out of the paypal transfer. For the fixed price listing, you pay in full upfront.
If I'm being completely honest, my response to this change comes with some bias, bias based in resentment. The core of this comes from how the revamped site/process changed the way I experience my hobby. This change was not subtle. Although the name remains the same, the site is far from what I know Audiogon to be. The former site had a spirit to it, this is 100% gone. Everything about my experience as an audiophile has changed as a result. The main outcome of this is I no longer buy and sell gear near the rate I once did so I don't get the same taste and feel of what is out there. My purchases/sales are maybe 5% of what they used to be. So thats the real tangible thing but there is a social aspect lost as well. I made many a good friend there in the past, some of my better friends to day, actually. Since the changes...I have not even interacted with anyone beyond that very basic business of a sale/buy let alone developed any relationships. These are just a few small samples, there are many other consequences related to that change...and yes I resent it. The site that goes by Audiogon but it is a very different animal compared to the site that previously used that name. So that is me getting real honest about the subject in general.
As for this new fee structure, it surprises me that anyone would see it as reasonable. What percentage increase is it (once you do that math show me any other business that has had such an increase)? Have any changes helped you as a customer? How often do you sell a big dollar item in the first listing cycle? How often did you into guys that prefer other payment methods? How do you go about selling an item in the $100 range? I can think of literally hundreds of issues with this structure/process and it shocks me that someone running a site like this would ..... actually....after seeing what they have done over the last year it does not....
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