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Do You Want To Buy Or Sell Music Gear On Ebay

By: shailesh

The online auction tycoon Ebay began on September 3rd, 1995 in San Jose, California by Pierre Omidyar. The computer programmer launched the website under the name AuctionWeb, a personal website belonging to Omidyar containing various other topics of interest, such as his sarcastic tribute to the ebola virus. In 1996, eBay hired its' first employee, Chris Agapao, and their first president, Jeffrey Skoll. Less than a year later, the company officially changed their name to eBay, disassociating itself with AuctionWeb. Originating from Echo Bay Technologies, Omidyar's consulting firm, Pierre found the domain name http://www.echobay.com was unavailable, shortening it to http://www.ebay.com

Ending at $14.83 USD, a non functioning laser pointer was the first ever sale on eBay. When Mr. Omidyar realized the product was not in working order, he contacted the buyer to inform him. "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers," is what the buyer told him, and from there, the company began to grow. Initially, it was alleged that eBay was founded to help his wife trade her PEX candy dispensers. However, when Adam Cohen's The Perfect Store was released in 2002, it became known to the public that the story was simply a spin set forth by a 1997 public relations manager in order to gain notoriety for the website.

Hosting a seemingly insurmountable amount of products on its site, eBay plays host to quite a bit of music gear. From penny whistles to Gibson SG's, double bass cases to sheet music, there is a never ending amount of music products that can be purchased from the company. Inconstant rotation is vintage gear, which sellers list at sometimes obscene prices for gear which is hard to find. Yet, eBay might not be the smartest venue to purchase your next piece of gear at, as their fees and percentages may make it not worth your while.

Currently, the company has 161,814 musical products at auction. Should the mean price fall at approximately $500 USD, the aggregate transaction amount would land are $80,907,000 USD. If the consumer completes the sale with PayPal, an eBay owned company, at roughly 3% per listing, PayPal will net a cumulative amount of $2,427,210 USD. The percentage rate taken by PayPal may be higher or lower, depending on the location of the transaction - be it in the United States, or internationally.

To host your product on its' website, eBay charges the sellers a $3.00 USD insertion fee on musical products starting at no less than $200 USD, and no more that $500 USD. The end value will be 8.75% of the beginning $25 USD, resulting in a $2.19 USD charge. Additionally, 3.50% is taken by eBay on the closing price when auctions end between $25.01 and $1,000 USD. This pulls in a total of $54, 722,549.48 USD for eBay. I have arrived at this number via the following calculations. 161,814 musical products multiplied by the initial insertion fee of $2.19 USD brings us to $354, 372.66 USD. The $500 USD, less the initial $25 USD, is multiplied by the 3.50% closing value balance, working out to $16.63 USD. That $16.63 USD multiplied by 161,814 listings brings us to $2,690,966.82 USD. When you add the insertion fee total and PayPal's $2,690,966.82 USD, we arrive at eBay's take of $54, 722,549.48 USD.

To list your instrument or music product on the site as a seller could work out to your disadvantage. eBay, from the start, will rake in upwards of ten percent of your closing price. This is in addition to the flat fee of three dollars which they charge you in order to host the product on their auction block. And if your buyer chooses to check out with PayPal, you are now out another three to four percent. Add all these hidden costs up, sellers are out roughly fifteen percent on what their product sold for.

For consumers, to purchase your musical gear on eBay may be a nightmare. Buyers lose out on the experience of trying an instrument or product first hand, and falling in love with it. Many musical products have a different timbre and feel, even though they are manufactured the same. Also, there is the trust issue between a buyer and an unknown vendor, as well as the fear that your new product may be damaged in shipment. Along with the associated shipping costs, which vendors may escalate in order to extract more funds, there are few advantages to your purchasing experience should you order your product from the online auction tycoon.

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