Another pointless thread

If it's any consolation, I'm very jealous of your month's cycling over there. I've never been to Sweden but it looks beautifully picturesque.
Did you do a particular route or was it just getting out and about locally to where you were staying?

We cycled a lot of the Gota Canal last year so this time it was re-visiting and tidying up that route..

... we also headed to the south east corner and did a lot on the south east path, that's sudostleden, and rode down to link in with the sudkostleden..

There's a great website..
https://visitsweden.com/what-to-do/nature-outdoors/biking/swedens-best-cycling-r...

.. which has loads of info for anyone fit/daft enough to want to go there.

Oh, and when it comes to food the Swede's have it all sown up...

Just taken delivery of a 'Pinter' home brew thing, first brew on and looking forward to seeing how it does.

HG

Having started doing a bit of home brew for the first time in years I did a search for local suppliers.

What a shock, all the independent shops have gone!

There's still a couple within a 25 mile radius but...

That's what the internet has done. And booze being easy to get from every supermarket and corner shop so why bother making it. My father used to play in a local band that did socials, dinner-dances etc. for clubs and societies and such like. Home made wine societies were among their regulars. Do any of them they still exist?

Steve

[quote:3496ace15f="Lubbyman". Home made wine societies were among their regulars. Do any of them they still exist?

Steve[/quote]Well the ones we went too certainly don't.
A lot has changed over the last few decades, and covid killed off the last one I knew of.

Still..
.. The Bar Tat is still going strong and another 3 tons of wood arrived for winter..

..life goes on.

HG

So eBay have gotten rid of seller fees for most listings.

I think it's a brilliant move that'll boost the second hand market. Also it's a response to apps like Vinted that didn't charge fees to use.

Hopefully we'll benefit from the move. I know I'll get a bit more for each item if I keep current pricing but also that I can charge a bit less to make the same money back - the knock on effect being good for buyers.

If eBay won't be getting money from seller fees, where will they get it from? From my long experience of life, the universe and everything, the magic money tree is, unfortunately, just myth and legend .

Steve

Made me laugh! Still a good point though. Only the strongest will survive, perhaps.

From the business sellers and a little from listing fees from the private sellers. eBay has been losing a lot of trade with the other free apps like Vinted. Most on what's on eBay is from the Chinese sellers anyway. You can get it just as cheap and a lot quicker on Amazon etc. Most go to eBay looking for private sales but have to wade through the sponsored ads (Just like Amazon, google and the rest.) Some will buy. But without the looking and searching they won't so the big business will go elsewhere. They need to stop losing the private sellers.

They'll also be holding funds in something called eBay balance. They'll be able to accrue interest on these funds as long as we keep them in the balance. A bit like a bank making money from our savings.

It seems like a reasonable move. If the number of sellers increase, they'll benefit from this change in their model in the long term. The alternative is to slowly lose ground to their free competitors.

Just recently put some items up on ebay, the viewing rate seems a lot lower than last time I sold there.

Don't ebay own Vinted?...

HG

I'm too finding selling on ebay incredibly slow, views pretty much none existent unless you promote (paid for) the listing to sponsored.

I feel searching has changed too, initially you're now bombarded with a list of semi-relevant results that are sponsored, until you eventually get to the items you searched for, been like this for a while and guess it was ebay's preparation for being able to offer free listings.

I've just bought a couple of (non-photographic) things off eBay. I knew what I wanted, eBay was just one possible source, I found what I wanted at a reasonable price, haggled a bit off one of them then pressed 'buy'. If that's what other people are doing, few views might simply be a symptom of people not buying much from anywhere except for necessities because they don't have the money.

Steve

That sounds about right Steve.

I've had a couple of email questions, but no follow up purchases, even though the items are a bargain compared to ther similar ones already sold.

I'll give it till the weekend then cancel the listings, no interest just means I can't justify letting things wait, they'll probably end up in a charity shop..

HG