I have been a member since the year 2000. Over the last 14 years, fees kept going up, and policies kept changing against the seller. The integration of PayPal was OK, but it spiraled a while after. The average sellers like you and I were replaced by overseas Chinese vendors and/or Power Sellers. I'd say the heyday was around 2004-2006'ish.
 
The fact that eBay now charges a percentage of the shipping price is absolutely ridiculous! The jerk sellers that charged an exorbitant shipping price to make up the difference of lost cash due to seller-fees are the main cause of this.  Overall, this was the nail in the coffin for me.  I occasionally buy, because you can still find obscure things, or parts for things, for reasonable prices. eBay still has value to me, but only as a place to buy things.

2:43AM
The jerk sellers that charged an exorbitant shipping price to make up the difference of lost cash due to seller-fees are the main cause of this.  Overall, this was the nail in the coffin for me.

Some of these buggers aren't even subtle about it.
 
On the Volunteer Centre account, I am completely transparent about shipping costs - I show both the estimated postage amount and the carrier. We even stipulate that if the actual cost of shipping is less than estimated, we will refund the difference to the buyer - I made a selling template in Elements which I insert in the 'text' area of the listings, and I make this quite clear as you can see (I also embed my photos of the items in this part of the listing for extra impact). I've refunded excess postage a number of times, and the messages I've received after show how much people appreciate the gesture, even if it's just a few pence.
 
 
 
I also recycle old shoeboxes, various Amazon packages/boxes, and even jiffy bags so we don't have to charge the buyer for these items.
 
Anything that keeps the cost down must help to make items more attractive I guess.

Yeah , besides the fact that Ebay sucks , every Pawnshop I've been to in the past few years now thinks that they are doing you a favor by trying to fetch ebay prices ..it is a big part of their price structure .
they have even told me this is what they are getting on ebay , and look you don't have to pay for shipping and you can try before you buy..
 
I look them dead in the eye and I ask them did you pay ebay prices for it when the guy pawned it ? they sure don't like when I tell them that  
 
Kenny

ampfixer
I have the wiring harness for the strat and I can't figure out how to sell it. eBay pricing is all over the map and there are no comparables for this thing. I don't do Craig's list for the reasons that Make Shift mentioned. I know guys that make a point of low balling offers. It's kind of sick because they work on a guy to get the price down and half the time they don't follow through with a purchase.
 
It was much better when there were lots of private music stores to sell to. They're all gone now and replaced by big box stores that don't want to deal in vintage gear.

Being as you are in Ontario have you ever tried Paul's Boutique in Toronto? They are a teeny little shop but deal in used vintage stuff (mostly geared toward the hipster crowd but I've dealt with them and they're cool). They'd probably be interested in buying parts and stuff off you (they do repairs on older gear as well). Not sure how well they'd pay but they do consignment and considering what they charge for some of their stuff I'd imagine if they REALLY needed a part it would be worth it for them to pay well.
 
If you remember Songbird Music on Queen St I think it's one of the dudes from there. Here's their website...
 
http://www.paulsboutique.ca/
 

 
* Update! *
 
Sorry, but the numbers I quoted above are no longer accurate.  I just sold something today and, evidently, Pay Pal felt they needed a larger portion of the take and their percentage is now 4.3% - a more than 34% increase!  Bastards... 
 
So, how does that affect my example?  Here ya go...
 
--------------------------------------------
Take an amp that you sell on eBay for $900.  You then get an additional $100 to ship it.  Here's what happens:
 
eBay takes 10% of the gross (so $100)
Pay Pal takes 4.3% of the gross (so $43)
The shipper takes $108 (because, after proper double boxing and insurance, it ALWAYS seems to cost more than you get).
 
Total you got from the buyer:  $1,000
Total you don't get to keep: $251
 
Net proceeds: $749
--------------------------------------------
 
Pretty soon it will be "Send what you want to sell to eBay and we'll keep whatever we can get for it." 

kennywtelejazz
Yeah , besides the fact that Ebay sucks , every Pawnshop I've been to in the past few years now thinks that they are doing you a favor by trying to fetch ebay prices ..it is a big part of their price structure .
they have even told me this is what they are getting on ebay , and look you don't have to pay for shipping and you can try before you buy..
 
I look them dead in the eye and I ask them did you pay ebay prices for it when the guy pawned it ? they sure don't like when I tell them that  
 
Kenny

they probably checked ebay prices and paid the guy about 1/2 of what ebay average price for that instrument was.
 
seriously.

I, like many of you, have realized that it's a huge scam on sellers now and for those of us who just want to sell some of our unused items to someone who can get good use from them, we're screwed because ebay and paypal are now geared toward making the most money from power sellers, thus screwing us little one-sies and two-sies with the same exorbitant pricing as they have for the power sellers.  and they double dip ebay and paypal (yes, ebay now owns paypal, tho that wasn't the way it started) and they charge fees on shipping.
 
it's a huge scam and I have not sold anything on ebay for over a year, and even then I tried to sell items on Craigslist first and only resorted to ebay when I couldn't sell locally.
 
it wouldn't surprise me at all if ebay started charging the buyer soon.

Everyone uses eBay to set their prices. Even on trade-ins. This really sucks because they want to use a global market to establish the price in a local market. I was trading in a guitar at a store and the guy ran to a computer to determine what it was worth. He didn't look at it or listen to it.
 
Sellers are catching on. One guy I know, puts up items with huge reserves and high prices. There is no intent to sell. He explained that after the auction ends he gets lots of private email offers and sells direct. eBay is his advertising. No matter what system you deal with, the big fish and the bottom feeders find a way to thrive.

Interesting thread. I know there is still money to be made because my youngest son, who is 26, only last month purchased his new house for cash on the income he has made from his eBay business, which he started only 3 years ago. He works for around 4 hours a day, seven days a week. So I know there is still room for the smart little guy... please don't ask me what he sells, because I promised him not to share his product formula. Suffice to say, if you are prepared to add real value to raw materials, and produce quality and personalise enough to get repeat customers, then it can be done.
 
What folk lose sight of, is that its not what you sell at, because the market mainly determines that, but what you buy at, or add value to, that gives the profit. eBay charges what it does because it CAN. No competitor has cracked the challenge (or the funding thereof) of giving them a run for their money to date. 
 
EDIT: Actually, I have just run through the thread again after my initial skim, and I may have missed the point, yes, for those of us that just want to offload surplus gear from time to time, then it is expensive. As I did say, it's only serious competition that will drive selling costs down, no one has quite cracked that yet...

kennywtelejazz
...they have even told me this is what they are getting on ebay , and look you don't have to pay for shipping and you can try before you buy..
 
I look them dead in the eye and I ask them did you pay ebay prices for it when the guy pawned it ? they sure don't like when I tell them that  
 
Kenny

Then you ask... "Then why don't you just sell everything on ebay and close the doors to the public?!
 
99% of pawnshop items here are 99% junk with "new" prices. At least you can negotiate price to a degree.
 
I've bought and sold on ebay over the years. I've made some awesome deals and got ripped off $1200 once. I only recovered $800 of it and raised a big stink back when PayPal was new and had illegal policies catering to the sellers. After my ordeal they improved their policies greatly in fear of, or possibly because of, incurring huge lawsuits over them.  It is what it is.