eBay
Ranked 2 of 5 online marketplaces by recommenders
Criticized more than recommended: sellers widely complain about high fees and scam listings; those who recommend it use it for obscure parts, used books and secondhand electronics, with useful search and buyer protection.
69 people recommended eBay in Hacker News comments, 28 had mixed feelings and 136 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. People who said how long they have used it report a median of 20 years, among 13 people.
Summary written by Claude from the comments below. Claude agents reviewed it against the quotes on 2 Nov 2026.
233 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 69
- mixed feelings
- 28
- warn against or regret it
- 136
The record
Recommended in 12 of 12 months
In 46 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Used for 20 years
Median of the 13 people who said how long they have used it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 69 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 12 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 46 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 14% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 40 of the 287 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
High seller and shipping fees
“Too expensive for things you can sell for cash on one of the dumb local marketplaces or on Craigslist.”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “'Crush this lady': how eBay harassment campaign led to $56M payout” “The eBay fees are bad enough as it is, throw in whatever insane amount GameStop would take and it would squeeze everyone out.”
Comment from 4 May 2026 in “GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay” “Their pricing are insane, they take a cut on your product price, but also on the delivery method and even on the taxes”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “'Crush this lady': how eBay harassment campaign led to $56M payout” - Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Google AI Mode shows same products 21.6% more expensive than traditional search”
- Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you want a router that has DD-WRT pre-installed?”
- Comment from 4 May 2026 in “GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay”
Scam listings and sellers
“They're doing a terrible job of preventing scams. Right now there are hundreds of listings for GPUs at too-good-to-be-true prices”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible” “they began to transition to a new page layout a few years ago, which made it too difficult to screen against scam-sellers”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet” “Ebay is no less shady. Buy something(from China) that takes a long time to arrive, reviewing is disabled. Ebay is junk.”
Comment from 30 Jun 2026 in “Amazon Seller Reveals Rare Glimpse of Shadow Bribery Market” Site changes hurt browsing
“they started permitting videos instead of pictures for the thumbnails of certain products and I pretty much stopped browsing the site”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: What are tools you have made for yourself since the advent of AI”
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Finds obscure, hard-to-find items
“eBay's value proposition is different in that it opens that up from just items from people within driving range, to anyone around the world.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible” “as soon as something gets even mildly obscure then there's nothing that has the reach and coverage of eBay”
Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “Every Fucking Website” “For really obscure content, internet archive, your library, usenet or even eBay are the go to!”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “The Pirate Bay Remains Resilient, 20 Years After the Raid” - Comment from 17 Oct 2026 in “eBay Restricts Listings of Radio Equipment, but Exempts Ham-Band-Only Gear”
- Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet”
- Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “FreeMDU: Open-source Miele appliance diagnostic tools”
Trustworthy, with reliable buyer protection
“over several hundred transactions and a few disputes that were settled fairly I've had a good experience”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “eBay Rejects GameStop's $56B Takeover as Not Credible” “Ebay has a history of being legit, though they have had a long list of uncanny acquisitions themselves”
Comment from 4 May 2026 in “GameStop makes $55.5B takeover offer for eBay” “eBay's reputation and trust network is really what makes it a viable product at this point.”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “eBay Explicitly Bans AI "Buy for Me" Agents in User Agreement Update” Cheap used books
“eBay->title search->sort price low to high-> usually results in under $5 free shipping for almost any oldish book.”
Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “Books Are Not Remotely Too Expensive” “After the existence of Ebay, a few hundred dollars could populate a shelf with the standard reference books”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Google Search Is Dying. What Comes Next Is Worse” “As a buyer, I find buying used books on eBay much better than buying used books on Amazon.”
Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “70k Books Found in Hidden Library in This Germany Home” Good for used electronics
“eBay International exists and I've shipped my laptops from the US to Bolivia, Guam, Sweden”
Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Phone is about to stop being yours” “Fortunately EBay makes this sort of bearable, especially using last generation's tech.”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it” “I have recently been trolling eBay for used computing equipment rather than buying new”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear”
Other online marketplaces people recommend
The four most recommended other online marketplaces, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 120 | 88 | 580 | 17% | 12 | 10 yrs13 people | — |
| eBayThis page | 69 | 28 | 136 | 34% | 12 | 20 yrs13 people | — |
| AliExpress | 43 | 16 | 75 | 36% | 12 | — | — |
| Allegro.pl | 11 | 2 | 4 | 73% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Tindie | 8 | 2 | 12 | 40% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 287 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It was the best place to find a replacement 92S slide and a lot of second hand Tony Kidd parts”
“eBay simply does not have employees with the domain/technical knowledge to decide which things actually require an FCC ID”
“I've never had a problem with just getting a schematic, in my world that's typical of eBay”
“they began to transition to a new page layout a few years ago, which made it too difficult to screen against scam-sellers”
“Sell on eBay/Amazon, but also list your items directly on a website you control where you can bypass their fees.”
“hiding the margin in shipping fees is a common and time-honored technique on e-commerce sites like Amazon and eBay”
“as soon as something gets even mildly obscure then there's nothing that has the reach and coverage of eBay”
“eBay stops me from typing in the thing I want to search for so they can try to persuade me to use the app”
“After the existence of Ebay, a few hundred dollars could populate a shelf with the standard reference books”
“Too expensive for things you can sell for cash on one of the dumb local marketplaces or on Craigslist.”
“Their pricing are insane, they take a cut on your product price, but also on the delivery method and even on the taxes”
“Why they did it this way instead of simply detecting if the browser supported passkeys, I have no idea.”
“Ebay is no less shady. Buy something(from China) that takes a long time to arrive, reviewing is disabled. Ebay is junk.”
“Why would anyone entrust money to a company like eBay if they are this incompetent at something as simple as e-mail?”
“they started permitting videos instead of pictures for the thumbnails of certain products and I pretty much stopped browsing the site”
“For really obscure content, internet archive, your library, usenet or even eBay are the go to!”
“For something listed at $25k I would not list on eBay at all. eBay corporate will pocket $3400 in fees”
“eBay's value proposition is different in that it opens that up from just items from people within driving range, to anyone around the world.”
“eBay is a hot piece of garbage, just go watch testimonials of sellers getting ripped off with no recourse.”
“They're doing a terrible job of preventing scams. Right now there are hundreds of listings for GPUs at too-good-to-be-true prices”
“over several hundred transactions and a few disputes that were settled fairly I've had a good experience”
“13.25% on the entire deposit to your bank account (price + tax + shipping), not just the item price.”
“The eBay fees are bad enough as it is, throw in whatever insane amount GameStop would take and it would squeeze everyone out.”
“eBay being a mediator for your money but not the actual items is maybe inherently a dysfunctional system.”
“The main reason why I don't sell stuff on eBay more is because of the high shipping costs and frequent scams.”
“Ebay has a history of being legit, though they have had a long list of uncanny acquisitions themselves”
“eBay International exists and I've shipped my laptops from the US to Bolivia, Guam, Sweden”
“eBay->title search->sort price low to high-> usually results in under $5 free shipping for almost any oldish book.”
“eBay didn't help/pay me because I didn't ship it to buyer's registered address. There is no accountability on eBay end.”
“As a buyer, I find buying used books on eBay much better than buying used books on Amazon.”
“I have recently been trolling eBay for used computing equipment rather than buying new”
“eBay still clearly has a dictionary merge on all nouns, given my search results came up with this”
“ebay harassed and stalked them with tons of horrifying shit, including like mailing cockroaches, live spiders, a dead pig”
“Pretty much every auction platform I've seen, except eBay, extends listings by a few minutes every time a bid is received.”
“You can't actually search Amazon or eBay or Wayfair for things with specified dimensions or characteristics.”
“eBay's AI-generated description was wrong in ways that couldn't be verified in the product's images”
“eBay's reputation and trust network is really what makes it a viable product at this point.”
“Fortunately EBay makes this sort of bearable, especially using last generation's tech.”
“eBay has slowly become less relevant for local p2p purchase because its market share got eaten up by Facebook Marketplace”
“I’ve been having good luck buying pieces of part-outs on eBay for old appliances.”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.