Oh they absolutely structured their fee increases to benefit the big Chinese sellers and screwed the rest of us (sellers). I've been a member since 1998 and I so miss the 3.5% final purchase fee. They can certainly do whatever they want but do they really want to alienate the average seller and turn ebay into China Marketplace.
But comparing Chinese sellers I've definitely had better experiences on ebay vs the major flashlight sites. You just gotta be careful about who you're dealing with. And I don't buy flashlights from ebay that aren't already commented on elsewhere on the interwebs. I'm more interested in the seller feedback over product feedback, unless we're talking about fakes. I'll actually go through the feedback looking for comments relating to this subject matter if I'm skeptical. Other than that I already have feedback from places like BLF. I never treat ebay as a product review site. I've already done my research prior to bidding/purchasing.
Back in the day (98-00), I often had a dedicated browser window open (this was before tabs) just for eBay. Those were the days if were buying. Later, eBay really took off and you could make some really nice money, even if you didn't want to turn it into a full-time business. Then they just had to mess with a good thing and buy every promising IT startup in sight (must have been around 2004-2005) with zero vision or plan and that's when eBay started to really go downhill, at least IMHO.
I still use it for research and you still can't beat the prices on some items unless you know people, but I hardly ever buy electronics or knives on eBay any more and I no longer use it to sell at all. It's just not worth it for me and save for the occasional deal, I can find anything I want or need elsewhere. The idea is to cut out the middle man, establish some sort of relationship with the supplier and save money in the process.
Plus, I just don't really like eBay if I'm being honest. I don't like de-facto monopolies. I don't think they're moving in the right direction and haven't been for the better part of almost a decade. I am not too crazy about Paypal and given the choice, I'd rather use CL or go through a different supplier while avoiding eBay. It's just that that's sometimes not a feasible or smart choice and that's when I use eBay.
I go through CL for the stuff I know I can sell in my area but the fact is I live in Montana so I rely on reliable marketplaces that guarantee private sales such as ebay. As much as I love Amazon, they still want to charge me a flat 15% on EVERYTHING I sell so ebay still wins. So I can live in a nature wonderland like Montana and still make a few bucks almost effortlessly through a company like ebay. It's just annoying competing with the low wage labor forces and low standards of certain countries that now dominate ebay.
I quit on greedbay long ago at least for the other hobby, vintage radios. Greed has gone rampant, especially with blatant ripoff shipping. And most sellers don't know how to pack old radios, and get obnoxious when you try to give them guidelines. Packing horror stories abound-I gave up, between that and general insanity.
And I hate auctions with an absolute passion. Can't stand those mind games-takes too much energy and affects my peace too much. Buy it now or nothing-I don't even look at auctions.
I agree with all of the above except sla batteries cuz the shipping is always high and found a local source cheaper. Are you following me around on Ebay?
Shill-bidding on eBay may be less frequent than it's assumed to be. Up to now I have bidded perhaps five or six times and always succeeded to win considerably below the Buy it Now price.
My best deal has been the TrustFire X9, won at $28.50 when the Buy it Now price with the same seller was about $38. Soon after that they stopped the auctioned offers that had been typically starting at $0.99.