I can't help thinking that Ebay HAS become a very COMMERCIAL operation and to this extent has lost its way somewhat. The listing fees are in my opinion high and then on top of that there is the so called "success" fee!!
The thing that really leaves me speechless though is the "second chance offer". If one lists an item with a reserve of say $400, it is hardly likely that it will be offered back to the highest bidder at well below the reserve!
We have a VERY successful auction site here in NZ called Trademe (
www.trademe.co.nz). Use of this site is restricted to those holding NZ bank accounts, but my point is that although it IS a commercial operation, the charges are sensible, AND you can offer back at YOUR price to bidders/watchers if your item does not reach reserve. Also no sale/no fee rules apply. (Sellers fee is approx 5.9% for general items)
As I write this, there are 69000 people on line with Trademe and there are 1.1 million items for sale. Not bad for a theoretically non international site!!
Check it out--- you can browse without registering.
Regards
Stuart