Following this post I have spent more time looking into magazine product available at eBay Australia. I am surprised at the number of current issue and immediate past issue magazines for sale. The current issue product has to be of questionable sourcing (stolen?) because I cannot fathom how else it could be so heavily discounted.
The immediately past issue stock must be concerning for magazine publishers (it’s concerning to me) because this would impact sales – especially in, say, the craft or any other area where having the latest issue is not always important. Looking at the titles available, I’d suspect that people buy a current issue, copy what they want (for a craft or cooking magazine) and then sell the original on eBay and get back, say, 60% to 80% of their purchase price.
From what I can see, enough of this stock moves for people to keep loading eBay with magazine product. But then maybe there is no accounting for what people buy. (Maybe I could sell past draw date lottery tickets and attach a note as to the dream I had for the winnings if I had won. eBay sells wackier stuff than that!)
I guess there is no law against it. However, the structure of the eBay marketplace and the speed with which recent stock gets on eBay suggests that some rules may be being bent.
My retail business relies on magazines for around 30% of its revenue. That eBay is so strongly in this space and I didn’t know it is embarrassing to me.
I’d like to see some media attention to what’s selling on eBay and it’s impact on legitimate businesses like mine.