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by guilhas 1666 days ago
I would really like to find a good alternative

Endless captchas, randomly asking to login again, holding payments, asking for more and more user data, now demands ID card picture and social security number for selling, dropping PayPal... After 10 years without problems, getting really tired the past 6 months

4 comments

Mercari is a good platform (though it doesn't solve the Paypal issue - pretty every platform is moving to their own payment platform)
Unfortunately [UK member here] Mercari is US only. The only direct eBay alternative I'm aware of is eBid[0]. From time to time I check it out, when eBay is pissing me off more than usual. But it has always seemed like a ghost town.

Also, their financial model puts me off. They have no seller fees, but you have to buy seller membership [per week / month /year etc] to sell. Given the apparent lack of activity on the site and the chance that I'd get no buyer interest at all, that seems like a bit too much of a gamble to me.

[0] https://www.ebid.net/uk/

I've had success using OfferUp, though they do require personal information if you ship your items. Local transactions (Craigslist style) don't require it.

I deleted my eBay account after over a decade of use, when eBay switched from PayPal to managed payments (basically requiring social security number and bank account) -- I didn't trust eBay with my personal data after dealing with increasingly poor customer service.

Of course, the context here is that every additional security measure is because a scammer has already used that method to hijack accounts or perpetuate fraud... which means that every succesful company with a similar market will either eventually follow the same trajectory or see its support and verification costs balloon into total unprofitability.
Asking me to login multiple times a day will probably help people doing the hijacking

We are talking accounts with 10 year positive reviews, selling trinkets, being treated like a 0 reputation account selling the latest iPhone

Etsy has been moving into this space.