Ebay is getting very expensive to use in my opinion!

I guess most will have heard of Ebay and possibly used the site having cleared out the loft or the garage, but it has become an expensive way to get rid of whatever you choose to sell.

There are other sites that offer a similar auction service such as Gumtree, Ebid, CQout and Preloved. Yes smaller, but they allow you to list your items free!

It's really the same old story, but it works meaning show them what you think of their price hikes and point your feet (or your hands on the keyboard) in another direction until they see sense.

I agree up to a point, Ron, I have used Ebay mainly for buying, and occasionally for selling, but the nice warm glow of having sold an item soon goes when the PayPal and Ebay fees are considered. The plus for Ebay is its huge exposure to the market. Items I have put up for sale have generally been sold in under a week and sometimes in hours with 'Buy it Now'.

I have not used the other sites you mention. Perhaps I should try next time and see whether the items sell as quickly.

We've sold quite a bit on eBay mostly stuff I wonder why on earth people would buy it. The first thing I sold about four years ago was an iPod, it was five years old, but in excellent condition. I'd upgraded and thought I might be able to get something for the old one. Two people got in a bidding war for it and I ended up selling it for only £5 leass than I paid for it so I was well chuffed.

I've also got a bit of a bidding reputation within the family. I have a knack of snatching things out from other bidders noses. I never put a bid on anything until the last 20 seconds, that's just about the right amount of time needed for the bidding process to be accepted without leaving the other bidders time to put in a higher offer. Sneaky but it works