musicMagpie vs eBay

I recently decided that I needed to sell some of the old console games that were clogging up my TV cabinet and my natural reaction was to look towards eBay. I have used eBay a number of times in the past and I am always happy with the amount I have received for my listed items and each time I promise myself that I'm going to sell more unwanted items on the site. But inevitably life gets in the way and I never seem to find the time to take photos of the items, list them on the site, answer any customer questions and then go to the post office to post the item once sold.

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So I thought I'd give musicMagpie.co.uk a go as they promise a hassle-free way to receive cash quickly for your old CDs, DVDs and games. The process is a lot quicker than listing numerous items on eBay. You simply enter the barcode of each item on the site and you will be told how much they are willing to give you for it.  If you are happy with this price you can then download a freepost label and send the item(s) off . Once musicMagpie have checked all is well with the items they will issue you with a cheque for your goods.

As far as efficiency goes I could not fault the service. I found it quick and convenient so on that basis I would recommend it.

However in terms of value for your items I found musicMagpie paid significantly less than I would have received had I taken the time to list the items individually on eBay.

Below (click to enlarge) is a comparison of the amount musicMagpie paid me for my items versus the amount a recently ended listing for the same item in "used" condition sold for on eBay.

In short I would have received 4 times the total amount from eBay auctions as I did from musicMagpie. In addition I had to supply my own packaging to send the items to musicMagpie whereas on eBay I would pass that cost on to the buyer.

Scanning down the list of items it is evident that the older an item is the smaller the difference in price between musicMagpie and eBay.

Would I use musicMagpie again?

The answer is probably - but in a situation where I was short of time and had a number of very old items to sell. But if I had a couple of recently purchased items to sell then I will stick to eBay everytime!