eBay: RIP

[ianoid]

I have been finding that prices on stuff I sell are steadily declining, and interest in anything that isn't incredibly hard to find is dwindling. Too many sellers, not enough buyers. And saturation phenomenon with respect to collectors. Aich!


Most folks are also complaining about deadbeats, but I find that I don't have a huge problem with them *jinxed*

Obviously eBay anticipated a decline in the collectibles market, with their movement into stores, new items, real estate, cars. Smart buggers.

What this means to me is less cash to spend on eBay. Dangit! It's a circular problem.

[Hovoc]

so are you saying your down w\ith ebay, or that you believe ebay is dying?

[christianscott27]

about damn time!

i was an early user of ebay, always a buyer (sold maybe 2 things) of video game stuff and i got out 3 years ago cause i was sick of the bidding insanity. i'm even more sick of the greedos who've been snatching up games from thrifts and fleas for ebay profits. i dont give a rats ass if my wallball cart is worth $10 or $100 dollars, if i dont own it then its rare to me. leave the nearly worthless games for a real collector who wants them regardless of value.

a big part of my entry into game collecting was the fact that you could buy all those out of reach childhood treasures for $2 a cart, i hope we're on the way back to that, or at least less inflated than bidding wars made it seem. serious collectors know that they'll never make a huge return on their collections and i think thats just fine. i collect for the games and i'd like to see the profit motive gone from our hobby...call me a commie, i dont care.

viva el cheapo geeks!

[max 330 mega]

i hope this is really a good sign, because ill be very glad when i can progress further in my NES collection without going broke.

[Hovoc]

i showed max 330 2 auctions on ebay regarding daytona usa

2 cabs went for 900$ or so in one auction, while 3 are going for 1800$


both are better than the prices i saw 3 months ago for 3500+ for 2

cant wait til i can get the room for these :)

[vintagegamecrazy]

I agree with ebay being a pain these days. Peoples interest hasn't dried up, they are just overwhelmed with how much KRAP is on there, There is just way too many sellers line listing their games one by one, instead of selling them in lots, and its a turnoff for all of the buyers. I sell a lot on ebay and I buy in resale stores and sell to make a profit, but I don't list every $2 game I own individually, I sell it in lots unless its something really good then I will sell it separately. There is too many sellers (you'll notice the same ones over and over again listing the same stuff and never selling it, I sell tons and find its easier to list it as buy it now and list it for 20% less and have a huge product turnaround rather than sit on it for weeks until it FINALLY sells. There is a ton of sellers that need to wisen up a whole lot.




a big part of my entry into game collecting was the fact that you could buy all those out of reach childhood treasures for $2 a cart, i hope we're on the way back to that, or at least less inflated than bidding wars made it seem. serious collectors know that they'll never make a huge return on their collections and i think thats just fine. i collect for the games and i'd like to see the profit motive gone from our hobby...call me a commie, i dont care.



I will probably turn a profit on 90% of my stuff later, I've learned to wait for the right price and be somewhat of a cheapskate, most of my stuff I have I paid very little for, one of my motives for collecting is that if something important comes up and I need to sell my stuff, (I'll be sad to leave the hobby) I will make a lot of cash on it. That would be my advice to you, don't feel guilty about reselling something for a profit, there's nothing wrong with it. Take Ebay as it comes, there will always be inflation and too much on there but there's good stuff to be had, if you do have to pay a lot for something just roll with it, if it's something you really wanted, then you didn't pay too much for it because you'll enjoy it.

[EnemyZero]

hmmm... I still use ebay quite often, more for buying than selling, I don't understand that the big deal is with going to the flea picking up a sealed copy of "_____" for 3 bucks then selling it on ebay for 300, thats basically when every business in the world does....cost nike like what? .30 cents to make a sneaker, sell it to businesses for 10 a pop and they sell them for lik 75 bucks.... :/ all the same to me

[v1rich]

You might be losing money right now. I bet in a few months it's going to pick back up again. To me this has generally been a down time of the year. The up times are from Nov - April/May and then moderating June/July, dropping off Aug-Oct. That is just my personal experience. I found that during this time of the year I could get some of the best deals.

I don't think that high prices for these collectible games is over, but I do think that the market might be changing a little.

[Graham Mitchell]

What I've noticed is that anytime is a good time to buy Atari games on Ebay. 2600 and 7800 carts usually start at $2, and nobody bids on them. On the other hand, I saw some jerk-off asking $44.00 for the Raiden Project on PSX...and he had bids.

The SNES market is especially plagued by this. I haven't bought a SNES game in 2 years because I don't want to bay $25 for a decent game, or $70 bucks for a good game. The bad games are all $5 bucks for a reason. Plus, SNES stuff seems to be really picked over everywhere in the wild, and I think this is why.

So, to agree with some other people here, I hope the prices start dropping soon.

[8bitnes]

I have to agree with v1rich that video game prices fluctuate based on the month in the year. I have been selling on ebay for 2+ years and that is a trend I have definitely noticed. Look for prices to be up again soon, especially as the post-Thanksgiving rush gets underway. As a buyer, I usually spend this time on the sidelines and sell, sell, sell.

[postulio]

i checked out what youre selling, and i dont remember ever a time when mega drive games sold well on ebay. especially japanese ones. youre best bet is ebay uk.

personally im glad the prices are dying. remember this is a collector's forum. not a Dealers forum. cheap prices means bigger collection to enjoy. i wont lose any sleep over you guys making less money ripping poor shmos off.

[FantasiaWHT]

I'm sick of people selling

OMGZ GET (information on how to get) A FREAKING XBOX FOR $20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying to wade through all those "information" auctions trying to find real games/systems etc. is annoying.

You know if you bid on it, you're going to get a short email saying "do what I'm doing, rip off 10 people for 15 bucks each and you've got enough for an xbox!"

I understand it's not strictly against ebay policy, but there should be a separate freaking section for it.

[LiquidX01]

I understand it's not strictly against ebay policy, but there should be a separate freaking section for it.

Agree 100%.

Whats even sadder is that people actually bid on that crap. :roll:

[Djfinny]

Yes, I would agree that the price have dipped a bit. I myself am a buyer and collector (I simply don't have enough duplicate cart/software etc to warrant selling off any extra's). I certainly do not complain about the price of something, after all - some things I'll pay $4 bucks for - other items become bid wars and I end up spending $50 for a rarer collectable. Thats fine, some things are good deals, other require more effort and cost. I think the only thing that irks me at times is the occassional inflated shipping and handling charge that some sellers attempt to ask to increase their bottom line. I mean come on, $8 shipping and handling on a Atari 2600 cart shipping US postal? I can appreciate the time, effort and cost associated with good packing but thats just not right.

[ianoid]

To me this has generally been a down time of the year. The up times are from Nov - April/May and then moderating June/July, dropping off Aug-Oct. .

I have expected October to be good for the Xmas season. Early summer usually bad. Post-Xmas, usually not so great. I dunno, I just think that the swings are just getting more extreme.

I don't think that eBay's dead, I just think that things are getting to where there's an imbalance of buyers and sellers that is driving prices on common-ish stuff down. I see absurd prices on nice stuff all the time. And the enormous amount of stuff makes searching an annoying, convoluted process.

Ah, how I sell isn't exactly what I meant to bring into this- I kind of price on hope when I don't have examples to price at. I find that if I make it all dollar auctions, I'll sell a bunch for a dollar. I prefer to guesstimate what I hope I can get and make a min, rather than a reserve. I'm out there to make money, not to have fun (strictly.) eBay is a pain in the arse, but it generates money that I can guiltlessly waste on other video games. Call me a profiteer, but if it weren't for eBay, I couldn't afford most of what I buy on eBay.

I think it's nice to see normalization of prices in general, although the nice items still get generous sums. All those people that said 'DP prices are WAY too low- on eBay this item when for $XXX...' can now see what a REAL price guide should do- tease out the hype and make an unbiased estimate of value.

[EricRyan34]

i hate ebay

[rhiohki]

I agree with ebay being a pain these days. Peoples interest hasn't dried up, they are just overwhelmed with how much KRAP is on there, There is just way too many sellers line listing their games one by one, instead of selling them in lots, and its a turnoff for all of the buyers. I sell a lot on ebay and I buy in resale stores and sell to make a profit, but I don't list every $2 game I own individually, I sell it in lots unless its something really good then I will sell it separately. There is too many sellers (you'll notice the same ones over and over again listing the same stuff and never selling it, I sell tons and find its easier to list it as buy it now and list it for 20% less and have a huge product turnaround rather than sit on it for weeks until it FINALLY sells. There is a ton of sellers that need to wisen up a whole lot.




a big part of my entry into game collecting was the fact that you could buy all those out of reach childhood treasures for $2 a cart, i hope we're on the way back to that, or at least less inflated than bidding wars made it seem. serious collectors know that they'll never make a huge return on their collections and i think thats just fine. i collect for the games and i'd like to see the profit motive gone from our hobby...call me a commie, i dont care.



I will probably turn a profit on 90% of my stuff later, I've learned to wait for the right price and be somewhat of a cheapskate, most of my stuff I have I paid very little for, one of my motives for collecting is that if something important comes up and I need to sell my stuff, (I'll be sad to leave the hobby) I will make a lot of cash on it. That would be my advice to you, don't feel guilty about reselling something for a profit, there's nothing wrong with it. Take Ebay as it comes, there will always be inflation and too much on there but there's good stuff to be had, if you do have to pay a lot for something just roll with it, if it's something you really wanted, then you didn't pay too much for it because you'll enjoy it.

great post. Ebay is a market. Online market. Do markets have patterns and trends? Yes, if you have historical data that indicate so. However trends are just used for predictions on when the market will be either at a bull, bear, or stagnant state. Who knows, what's going to happen 4 years down the line. Maybe we will get into another war, maybe we'll have a HUGE upswing in the economy with large job recoveries. But I digress. The fact is that Ebay is a random online market.

The point of collecting as hobby IMHO is to have those hard to find and unique games so that you can ENJOY them, either sitting on your shelf for a US AES Metal Slug 2, or popping in Dracula X on your PC Engine. Or vice versa, it doesn't matter. YOUR collection is what counts and what you really want to have in your collection has more VALUE to you than someone who doesn't care for it.

Ebay is the collaboration space for both Collectors and Profit Makers, a.k.a buyers and sellers. There is nothing wrong for a Profit Maker to be a collector or a Collector to be a Profit Maker. I think it's a healthy mix to be of both schools of thought. Although you would be kidding yourself to think that if you found an EXTRA copy of Magical Chase at a flea, that you wouldn't sell it for some sort of return.

Selling absolute rubbish is a different story altogehter. AND even worse, is seeing sellers selling RUBBISH at HIGHER prices than what it's currently worth in the market. That's my only real gripe with ebay.....

[morphx]

I've got SMB/Duck hunt up for sale. RARE and with an absolut low starting price of $25. $10 media mail shipping!!!! Don't miss this chance. Vintage games have become very scarse since their true value was explored on The Road Show. Bid now, bid later just buy my crap I've got 30 of these damn things to sell off.

[8bitnes]

There is nothing wrong for a Profit Maker to be a collector or a Collector to be a Profit Maker. I think it's a healthy mix to be of both schools of thought.

I totally have to agree with this. In fact, the sellers I most like to buy from are also collectors. The reason I like to buy from them is because they take care of the things they sell, they know what fair shipping prices are, and they typically sell quality items.

[kevincure]

There are certainly more ebay sellers, but it hasn't driven prices down that much. I've tracked PSX prices for 3 years now, and they have remained quite consistent, on average, over that time. In any case, if prices go down, fantastic.

[YoshiM]

I haven't seen a decline in price, but I guess I may be looking at the stuff that's "popular". What I am noticing is that people who buy modern games are usually paying pretty near or exactly "used" retail price (like buying a game from EB or Gamestop) when you add up the bid amount with the shipping. I think I mentioned it before when I was GBA SP shopping that many systems were being sold right at retail price (including shipping and many were used!) . I've even seen sealed modern products go for exactly retail (again adding shipping). Either there are some real desperate people out there who can't seem to log into game stores to get these titles/devices or they just putting two and two together.

Or maybe the retro collecting "fad" is slowing down for many people.

[dethink]

i too am pretty much DONE with ebay.

after being a well established member since '99, and conducting over 500 flawless transactions, many of which were large items (i.e. shipping cars, vintage guitars/amps, etc.) i had someone leave a string of about 20 negative feedbacks from one buyer for games arrived maybe 3 or 4 days later than i stated they would due to the rash of hurricanes we had down here. kind of hard to get ahold of me by email when there is no phone, cable, electricity, mail/UPS, etc., but as soon as things were up and running 2 or 3 days later i was down at the post office shipping them out, and informing him of the situation (as if it weren't already all over the national news that orlando was being pummeled by hurricanes), and by that time it was too late. the fucktard sent me the usual "OMG WTF YUOR SKAMMING ME!!!1! I CALL FBI!!!1!!! I COME TO YUOR HOUSE YUO DIE!!!!" emails, then got some friends of his (or just used a different account name) to use BIN on all my remaining auctions and immediately leave negative feedback on about 20 more items.

needless to say i inform ebay of the situation...and they are no help. also that month, i racked up about $200 in seller fees, and when the invoice came through, paid through the funds in my paypal account as always, and a month later, get a notice that they (ebay) have tried to charge my CC, and it failed, and that i was overdue on my seller fees...? check my seller account, and everything is paid up in full. this month, i get my CC bill, and they've charged DOUBLE the original ammount, plus late fees. i dispute it, and they refund the money to my seller account, so now i have a balance of -$413 "to use for future transactions"...yeah right, like someone's gonna buy from me with 30+ negatives in a row. i email ebay and explain to them that this is no good to me since my account is basically useless now (since there's enough red marks in my feedback to make anyone that isn't dependent on braile run for the hills), and it was their mistake in billing me, and it should have been refunded to my CC they charged in the first place. long story short, i simply ended up closing my account and having to threaten them to return the money to my CC, or i will be seeking legal action.

i was starting to get a bit flustered with them for all the things they've put in place to make things a pain for legitimate sellers, yet scammers still abound, but that kind of was the straw that broke the camel's back. ;)

so now i have a nice n00b account with 2 positive feedbacks. whee. and on my 3rd transaction, it appears i'm involved with an alias of the infamous japhei from NG.com, so i'm currently dealing with trying to get my $70 back for an MVS cart that hasn't arrived in 2 weeks, and if it ever does arrive, will likely be a boot.

yeah. ebay. whee.

[Gregory DG]

Shoot, I haven't bought anything on ebay in months... :/

[Sanriostar]

I treat the 'Bay like an Assasin's bullet: go in to get something very specific, and get out.

[Graham Mitchell]

I treat the 'Bay like an Assasin's bullet: go in to get something very specific, and get out.

That's a good philosophy, actually. That's pretty much what I use it for.

To all those who got ripped off on eBay, I hear ya'. I had to stop buying music-related items (records and videos) because the dealers were too damn flakey. I won a $70 boxed-set for my girlfriend's birthday that never arrived; the guy dodged my e-mails and eBay did nothing.

My favorite was a guy trying to sell a Lush video who kept having his buddy outbid me at the zero hour because he wasn't getting enough money for it. The thing popped up 3 times from a different seller name and the same thing happened each time.

[dethink]

well, at least with my ebaying drastically reduced, i'll have one less stream of cash going out every month to buy games, which i guess is a good thing... LOL

[tritium]

I just love when someone charges me $8 shipping USPS, and the stamp on it says $2.00

Lovely. Especially when its sent in cheese boxes or something they obviously didnt' buy.

Bah. As for ebay, Someties I can get harder to find stuff there, but Still would like to find somehwere I could sell my stuff for fair prices. I'm going to try the forums soon.

-Tritium

[Fuyukaze]

I find many games are cheap these days on e-bay that I want. The most expensive thing I find about the games though is the shiping. Often times they are charging anywheres from 6-10$ per game when it only costs 2-4$ to actualy ship it. I could understand them wanting to profit off the sale, but why should I or anyone else be required to pay twice or more for the shiping? I dont buy much from e-bay because of this.

[Griking]

There are certainly more ebay sellers, but it hasn't driven prices down that much. I've tracked PSX prices for 3 years now, and they have remained quite consistent, on average, over that time. In any case, if prices go down, fantastic.

One of the reasons that prices haven't gone down that much as more sellers come aboard is that I believe most of the buyers of rare or desirable items are dealers themselves and just resell what they purchase for a profit. This will always keep prices going up and up until gamers and collectors stop paying for them.

Oh, and I hope that everyone here that said that they were done with ebay were serious, the less bidders there are the less competition there is.

[crazyjackcsa]

I've used ebay sparingly over the years (mainly for Saturn Stuff) but here is what I've noticed:

When I started using ebay Here is how I would search. Type in Sega Saturn and since I don't want Imports I'd filter: import,pal japan, jp, jap, UK and jpn. That would do it.

NOW I filter all of that PLUS: Battery, Cable,Extension, AV, A/V RF, R/F, wire, cord, not (for those dumb Playstation NOT saturn auctions), memory and my favorite L@@K (No matter what it is I refuse to buy from anybody who does that!

That will normally take the total #of Auctions from about 1500 to about 800 then I still have to deal with all the crap like controllers, import games that don't mention they are imports, the guys that post 12 copies of worldwide soccer at the same time each with a different auction.

It makes life a lot harder. Then there is the dumbasses that are just out to scam you, selling feedback, info on buying a console, or whatever

[jdc]

I haven't used Ebay for gaming stuff simply because I don't know what one should pay for a copy of "insert gaming title here". I'd be very likely to rip my own self off. I also find it fun to go out locally and find carts in the wild.

I have noticed (with non-gaming stuff) that there are plenty of people who seem to use Ebay as a giant garbage dump with the idea of getting "rich" off of crap that they themselves find no value in owning.

[Rogmeister]

Regarding sellers who don't acknowledge receipt of payment, I've not really had that problem...most people I've bought from do e-mail me back and tell me when the item will be going out...

And we've had entire threads about how people overcharge on shipping, sometimes to unbelievable amounts.

[SoulBlazer]

More reasons why I buy and sell 99 percent on Amazon instead. :D

[dethink]

I just love when someone charges me $8 shipping USPS, and the stamp on it says $2.00

Lovely. Especially when its sent in cheese boxes or something they obviously didnt' buy.

same here.

then again, i also love people who complain about $6 when i'd ship something USPS priority, insured with delivery confirmation...

20 emails in my inbox every morning:
Question for Ebay Seller item #4957023475972340...

$6 to ship a game tahts crazy have fun with yuor ripoffs!!1!

:rolleyes:

[SegaAges]

I understand it's not strictly against ebay policy, but there should be a separate freaking section for it.

Agree 100%.

Whats even sadder is that people actually bid on that crap. :roll:

for probably a length of at least 3 months or so, i played the super friendly eBay advocate. i would search for these auctions (it was never that hard, and still isn't) and find people sellling info on how to get crap for super cheap. I actually have links to about 30 websites after simply e-mailing somebody on eBay (I can't even remember who, or why I decided to e-mail them). I would go into the ones with people that had bids on them. I would give them a message almost exactly like this:

"this is a friendly eBayer trying to help you out. this is not spam, as i love using eBay and want to keep my account.

please retract your bid, here is the information you were bidding on:
(now is where I give them all of the links I had)

keep information free. enjoy the websites".

i guarentee you guys that i sent out at least 250+ e-mails to people giving this information out. I would then e-mail the seller giving them the same information I sent to the bidder with an extra message that went a little like this:
"KEEP INFORMATION FREE

(links to all the sites)

I hope you know, I gave all of these links to the bidders, and plan to until you sell actual items instead of information. enjoy the sites, as I am sure that your bidders are enjoying them already"

i never lost my account. maybe because i was never reported to eBay (I hope you guys can keep a secret). I figured that they were selling crap. here is the thing that many people do not know about these information auctions: they could care less whether people have the information, it is whether the person signs up or not which counts. They will give the person a link to a matrix site (this will soon be illegal if not already, it is basically a pyramid scheme). The only way for people to get something for cheap on a matrix site is to have others sign up and get put on the list for the matrix site. if somebody sells 10 of these auctions for $1 a piece, that means they move up 10 more in the rankings to get something super cheap.

This is why there are so many information auctions. everybody wants to get that item, and they can make $1 to move up in the rankings, who would argue. I don't like the ones that sell the information for like $25, that is wrong. Now when I was on my "crusade", there were already many of these auctions popping up, so I had to start being selective of which ones I went to. I tried to go to the ones that were either:
up in high monitary amounts or had multiple bids.

some of you will be like "no no segaages, you are against ebay policies". think of it this way. you are shopping for an xbox, know little about the net, and have an eBay account. you see an auction going for $5 saying that if you pay $5, they will tell you how to get an Xbox for $25. of course you would bid. now you bid on it, and then a person comes along with an e-mail saying "keep information free" and gives you everything plus more and the only thing they want for you to do in return is to retract your bid so that you can have the information for free. i like to think of myself from back then as the "matrix site eBay robin hood".

[y-bot]

I have bought and sold more than 10,000 items on ebay in the last 6 years and I can tell you that pirces are way down in general. I think the reason is too many sellers and not enough buyers. As far as video games go, hard to find stuff is still holding its value but common and uncommon items don't sell for much anymore. There's just too much of a supply easily available on ebay at all times. I sell coins, model trains, plastic models, dolls, postcards, magazines, vintage toys and all kinds of other things on ebay. There is still money to be made on ebay but you have to know the market and buy accordingly. Another problem is too many garbage auctions (people selling information, RF switches and cables that are easily available elsewhere, CDs of manuals, etc.). I can't believe I used to search through whole video game catagories years ago, now a search for "Intellivsion" turns up so much crap. We had 3 auctions cancelled recently becuase we stated in the description that a lighter was "Zippo-sized" or "Zippo-shaped" but they let people sell copyrighted information (like CDs full of video game manuals) and do nothing. I wish ebay would clean up some of the garbage and make it harder to get and maintain a seller account. I'm sure they won't though since it would only cost them money. Well that's the end of my rant. I still use ebay everyday and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.

y-bot

[ianoid]

I have bought << snip >> I still use ebay everyday and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.
y-bot

Ah, a voice of reason. This is what I really meant to say when I posted. Although subtract 8000 transaction and substitute Y-bot's stuff for my utter garbage that I sell.

Oh, and to the guy that commented that my Megadrive games are over-priced- point taken, and I guess I'll just send most of them to a close friend who collects Megadrive or save them for CGE or something.

[postulio]

Oh, and to the guy that commented that my Megadrive games are over-priced- point taken, and I guess I'll just send most of them to a close friend who collects Megadrive or save them for CGE or something.


i honestly did NOT mean to offend you, but its kinda true, jap mega drive games never sold for high prices and are worth little to everyone except true hardcore collectors (there are few).

you seriously should try european ebay sites.

[Porkchop]

I've got SMB/Duck hunt up for sale. RARE and with an absolut low starting price of $25. $10 media mail shipping!!!! Don't miss this chance. Vintage games have become very scarse since their true value was explored on The Road Show. Bid now, bid later just buy my crap I've got 30 of these damn things to sell off.

What W.C. Fields saids applies to EBay.

"Never give a sucker an even break."

If there is someone out there dumb enough to buy for a high price there will always be lots of people trying to sell to them. :evil:

[Aussie2B]

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but prices seem to be only going up and up over the course of the years as more and more people are joining. No matter how bizarre and obscure the item I'm interested in there's almost always SOMEBODY who also wants the item and is willing to pay an ungodly amount for it. I bid on a ton of items, but I rarely win because the other bidders are always willing to rip themselves off for the item.

Then again, I suppose my perspective on it may be different from the norm. I don't really use eBay for stuff that I can easy find elsewhere. I go after RPGs and Japanese import games and merchandise most of the time. In many cases, eBay is about the ONLY option for someone in America to get the item I'm interested in, so anyone who also wants the item is bound to turn to eBay.

[Ed Oscuro]

I treat the 'Bay like an Assasin's bullet: go in to get something very specific, and get out.
That's a good philosophy, actually. That's pretty much what I use it for.
Yeah...I find that EVERY time I go in with a scattershot approach and don't buy something I'm CERTAIN is good that I get screwed. EVERY lot sold in the history of EVER on eBay has been a total burn for the buyer.

Doesn't matter if it's baseball cards, coins, empty jars of peanut butter, video games...lots usually turn out to be filled with bum (cards, coins, video games) or clear up space the seller was going to anyways (by selling the jars of peanut butter). They aren't sold to help out you or me.

[Videogamerdaryll]

I have been finding that prices on stuff I sell are steadily declining, and interest in anything that isn't incredibly hard to find is dwindling. Too many sellers, not enough buyers. And saturation phenomenon with respect to collectors. Aich!.

I agree..../the prices on stuff I sell is steadily declining.........(It's bad..



Most folks are also complaining about deadbeats, but I find that I don't have a huge problem with them
I do...
Out of 5 recent auctions I sold.(Hyper 64/SNES/DC)I have 2 for sure dead beat winning bidders and they have good feedback..One guy is full of excuses.He can't even tell me what address he send the payment too and when..
If I neg him right away I get negged back.

Girl who won my SNES..She's got new pos feedback but it looks as if she or someone else went crazy and bid on multiple,same type auctions and lots of various games..all at one time..
None of the sellers received payment for anything...
She won my SNES and another SNES recently..no payment or contact was made to either of us...Ignors anything I send her..
So,I call her today.(SURPRISE)..I get the user on the phone..she knows about the auctions but is clueless to what is what and won't admit to winning anything etc....She sounded like a teenager and kept saying..Like,like,Like..

So what do you do ...Another waste....I have to re-list it....

3 rd.. DC winner has 0 feedback..it's up in the air..I have bad luck with zero feedback bidders.


Obviously eBay anticipated a decline in the collectibles market, with their movement into stores, new items, real estate, cars. Smart buggers.
Yes..


What this means to me is less cash to spend on eBay. Dangit! It's a circular problem.
Well.I only buy things I want for my Arcade machines on Ebay ..that I can't get otherwise.
Everything else is through outher means.

[Sylentwulf]

Only skimming through the replys.... but...

As most likely one of the biggest ebay sellers on the board, I CAN say that this month has been the WORST MONTH I've had in well over a year. Maybe even 2-3 years.

It's not pretty. I've changed how I've been listing items, what items are listed, and quadrupled the amount of store listings I have this month. This means MUCH lower prices on NES, Atari, and intellivision games, along with everything I carry at my online store through my ebay store. No, that's not an advertisement. I won't provide a link, but as of last week, and this upcoming weekend, you might be able to find some pretty damn nice BIN deals at my ebay store.

[FantasiaWHT]

I'm curious why people are so vehement against high shipping prices. I don't do it myself (I give people an option- $3 media or $5 priority and both are shipped in bubble envelopes) but what's wrong with it?

It's just part of the total price you pay... if you have a maximum you'll spend, that should include both shipping and the final auction price. Since you'll pay $50 for a $40 game with $10 shipping as well as a $45 game with $5 shipping, what do you care? Why shouldn't you be happy that the seller is getting a better deal because there is a smaller ebay fee?

Another thing I can't stand is sellers who wait until you leave feedback before they leave feedback. As a seller I will give you your positive feedback the minute you pay me.

[kainemaxwell]

I refuse to pay close to $10 s&h for a ps2 dual shock myself.

Never sold on ebay, just bought, with recent trends I'm kinda afriad to and end up loosing money then gaining a bit there.

[Azazel]

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but prices seem to be only going up and up over the course of the years as more and more people are joining. No matter how bizarre and obscure the item I'm interested in there's almost always SOMEBODY who also wants the item and is willing to pay an ungodly amount for it. I bid on a ton of items, but I rarely win because the other bidders are always willing to rip themselves off for the item.

Then again, I suppose my perspective on it may be different from the norm. I don't really use eBay for stuff that I can easy find elsewhere. I go after RPGs and Japanese import games and merchandise most of the time. In many cases, eBay is about the ONLY option for someone in America to get the item I'm interested in, so anyone who also wants the item is bound to turn to eBay.

I strongly disagree about the import games. If you compare now a days to what it was about 5 years prices have gone way done except for the really pricy items. A lot of times I see stuff for about half of what I use to see them for.

[ManciGames]

To all those who got ripped off on eBay, I hear ya'. I had to stop buying music-related items (records and videos) because the dealers were too damn flakey. I won a $70 boxed-set for my girlfriend's birthday that never arrived; the guy dodged my e-mails and eBay did nothing.


Well guys, I'm joining ya. I just fell victim to the famous "picutre scam." I bought about $120 worth of Star Wars figures, and received nice glossy Kodak pictures in a nice flat envelope in lieu of actual figures.

The auction had no description...just the subject line (i.e. "Luke Skywalker") and a picture of the Luke Skywalker figure. I've seen other people do that when they are selling a ton of stuff because it takes too much time to do a specific description for each item, so they let the picture do the talking. But this guy was scamming. Must have made about $15,000 or so.

And of course Paypal / Ebay is absolutely no help...

Any alternatives out there?

[Kepone]

I've abandoned EBay, mostly due to high prices.

Also, I got this email from Paypal claiming that my credit card expiration date needs to be updated. Could this be a scam?

The card is still active so I'm not sure exactly.

[Promophile]

To all those who got ripped off on eBay, I hear ya'. I had to stop buying music-related items (records and videos) because the dealers were too damn flakey. I won a $70 boxed-set for my girlfriend's birthday that never arrived; the guy dodged my e-mails and eBay did nothing.


Well guys, I'm joining ya. I just fell victim to the famous "picutre scam." I bought about $120 worth of Star Wars figures, and received nice glossy Kodak pictures in a nice flat envelope in lieu of actual figures.

The auction had no description...just the subject line (i.e. "Luke Skywalker") and a picture of the Luke Skywalker figure. I've seen other people do that when they are selling a ton of stuff because it takes too much time to do a specific description for each item, so they let the picture do the talking. But this guy was scamming. Must have made about $15,000 or so.

And of course Paypal / Ebay is absolutely no help...

Any alternatives out there?

Just.... Wow. personally I have had ZERO problems with ebay, besides one deadbeat buyer out of 80-something auctions. I hope you at least gave him a negative feedback with the descrpition of what he did so that he can never sell again. Did he list the auction under "Toys-Action Figures" or whatever? If so you should be able to get ebay to do SOMETHING.

[Griking]

I'm curious why people are so vehement against high shipping prices....
It's just part of the total price you pay... if you have a maximum you'll spend, that should include both shipping and the final auction price. Since you'll pay $50 for a $40 game with $10 shipping as well as a $45 game with $5 shipping, what do you care? Why shouldn't you be happy that the seller is getting a better deal because there is a smaller ebay fee?

Give it up!

While I agree with you whole heartedly too many others here just have some sort of a mental block in their heads and can't comprehend that;
$10 item + $5 shipping equals the same as;
$5 for the same item and $10 for shipping.

It's not even worth debating anymore, its one of those no-win arguements.

[ianoid]

Only skimming through the replys.... but...

As most likely one of the biggest ebay sellers on the board, I CAN say that this month has been the WORST MONTH I've had in well over a year. Maybe even 2-3 years.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

This is what I suspected. When the vet sellers are telling me this, I feel vindicated.

I think my post really was meant to be an ode to the sellers, not the buyers.

[ianoid]

i honestly did NOT mean to offend you, but its kinda true, jap mega drive games never sold for high prices and are worth little to everyone except true hardcore collectors (there are few).

you seriously should try european ebay sites.

Uh, you'll have to try alot harder than that to offend me. I just priced 'em like that coz there is hardly any precident on eBay for them- I guess I didn't check ebay UK closely enough. I'm not that up on Megadrive (thus my appreciation for the brief article in VGC#2.)

Plus, those carts demonstrate my attitude towards selling- I don't like to lose money, and my minimum bids usually reflect a profit. My BINs aren't insane, but then they are also slightly hopeful or realistic when there's precident.

And then, I also have no problem keeping stuff for my tradelist or friends. Surprisingly, I sold the 4 cart bundle (some complete, some boxed, kinda crummy) for $15.50, and I sold Sensible Soccer complete for $9. I'm sure that I covered my costs for all of the carts I bought (which were all listed) with those sales plus a couple of dollars, and then I have a few left to trade, sell, or hand over to an appreciative friend.

[ianoid]

Another thing I can't stand is sellers who wait until you leave feedback before they leave feedback. As a seller I will give you your positive feedback the minute you pay me.

I always wait. I simply do not trust buyers to be reasonable if I've already left positive feedback. Otherwise, I have no defense against their stupidity. And they are stupid. It's served me well so far.

[LazingBlazers]

I'll just start off by saying that I didn't read more than a few responses to the original post, but I just had a round and it did what I had hoped. Not too many captain insano bids, but I got what I was hoping for. A little more than expected and nothing less. I mean, I'm no eBay Pro... I guess it's just never a bad time for Turbo related stuff from reliable sellers.

I think the upcoming election may have something to do with overall lower bids. A lot of people I know gripe about a slow economy for them, gas prices, etc. I think that has a big part in peoples' value of blow cash.

[ianoid]

I'm curious why people are so vehement against high shipping prices. I don't do it myself (I give people an option- $3 media or $5 priority and both are shipped in bubble envelopes) but what's wrong with it?

We're talking about fools charging $10 to ship an item under 1 pound, or $18 to ship 3 pounds, not the reasonable guys like yourself. Some sellers are UPS addicts, which can be costly for small items (I guess it's the pick up they like), but really there's little excuse to adding handling and additional fees above cost. It should take an experienced seller less than 2 minutes to pack anything. Are they working for more than $50 an hour? I guess packing material can cost, but bubble mailers can easily be had for $0.25 on eBay in almost any quantity (#0 perfect for games and CDs.) Priority mail supplies are free shipped to your doorstep.

If you want to add $1 for S&H, ok, maybe, but don't add $7- when you should just be honest and add $7 to the price of the item from the outset. To me, it's just a matter of honest selling- include the cost to you of packaging the item and dealing with it in the price of the item rather than as a 'charge.'

[Push Upstairs]

Oh, and to the guy that commented that my Megadrive games are over-priced- point taken, and I guess I'll just send most of them to a close friend who collects Megadrive or save them for CGE or something.

If you are dying to be rid of them my Megadrive games are lonely and need some more friends LOL



As for Ebay...I don't have any problems with Ebay because i dont really use it alot. I might buy maybe 3 items at one given time but I've never bought more than five things in a given month.

I'm aware of deabeat sellers and I do my best to check over the auction & thier feedback before i bid on anything. In the end i go with my gut feeling on the auction.

But like i said, I dont buy much and what i do buy is never over $30.

[Aussie2B]

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but prices seem to be only going up and up over the course of the years as more and more people are joining. No matter how bizarre and obscure the item I'm interested in there's almost always SOMEBODY who also wants the item and is willing to pay an ungodly amount for it. I bid on a ton of items, but I rarely win because the other bidders are always willing to rip themselves off for the item.

Then again, I suppose my perspective on it may be different from the norm. I don't really use eBay for stuff that I can easy find elsewhere. I go after RPGs and Japanese import games and merchandise most of the time. In many cases, eBay is about the ONLY option for someone in America to get the item I'm interested in, so anyone who also wants the item is bound to turn to eBay.

I strongly disagree about the import games. If you compare now a days to what it was about 5 years prices have gone way done except for the really pricy items. A lot of times I see stuff for about half of what I use to see them for.

True, I haven't really been keeping up with things in a general sense (I just go after very specific things that I'm interested in), but I have noticed that Super Famicom games appear to be cheaper than they were a few years ago. However, I can usually still get them cheaper elsewhere. I've also noticed that some imports have gone significantly up. A couple years ago you could get a brand new Sin & Punishment for 40 bucks; now you're lucky if you can get a loose copy for that much.

[Aussie2B]

I'm curious why people are so vehement against high shipping prices....
It's just part of the total price you pay... if you have a maximum you'll spend, that should include both shipping and the final auction price. Since you'll pay $50 for a $40 game with $10 shipping as well as a $45 game with $5 shipping, what do you care? Why shouldn't you be happy that the seller is getting a better deal because there is a smaller ebay fee?

Give it up!

While I agree with you whole heartedly too many others here just have some sort of a mental block in their heads and can't comprehend that;
$10 item + $5 shipping equals the same as;
$5 for the same item and $10 for shipping.

It's not even worth debating anymore, its one of those no-win arguements.

Absolutely. Bidders are complete idiots. Many don't even bother to read what the shipping cost is, and they ALWAYS go for the auctions with the low starting bid. I know I'll get a better deal on an auction with a higher starting bid with low shipping than the vice versa situation (with rare exceptions, of course).

Oh, and for proof of this: I've had cheapo music cds that I had difficulty selling for 2 or 3 bucks. I'd relist them with the starting bid lowered 50 or so cents, and I'd increase the shipping cost the same amount. Then they would sell no problem. Perhaps a little shifty, but it works.

[ManciGames]

Just.... Wow. personally I have had ZERO problems with ebay, besides one deadbeat buyer out of 80-something auctions. I hope you at least gave him a negative feedback with the descrpition of what he did so that he can never sell again. Did he list the auction under "Toys-Action Figures" or whatever? If so you should be able to get ebay to do SOMETHING.

Hey, that's a good call. I'll have to see what area he listed them under. Hadn't thought of that!

I once bought a Panzer Dragoon Saga for about $175 that was scratched beyond repair. The guy promised to send me a refund, but shockingly (!), never did.

This is strike two for eBay in my book...

[Time]

Speaking of Ebay, Some Newbie just left me a negative for not inspecting a sealed brand new costume. It didn't fit her kid and she thinks it's cheaply made. To make her happy, I even offered to give her a refund if she sent it back, but instead she leaves me a negative. :angry:

[dsullo]

I have been a consistant ebay seller for a number of years. I do alot of buying and selling. I know alot of people frown on it, but I like the thrill of finding a nice item and selling it to make a few dollars. It also helps so that I can pay for games I want for myself.

I have seen a steady decline and this month specifically is the first month that I have actually thought that ebay seems dead. Hopefully it will pick up as we get closer to the holidays.

I find this time of year to be the worse in terms of non payers and irrational people. The wierdos come out now and cause all sorts of problems. Compalints of lost packages even though delivery confirmation shows it was delivered and people bidding on the same item, multiple times.

So just beware if selling that the wackos are out there this time of year

[ianoid]

Holy crap, it's still deader than a doornail. What happened? Will it ever be revived? I've gotta go ecommerce just to get away from the 'bay.

And what's a doornail?

ian

[Sylentwulf]

I need to change what I said.

From what I've seen, Ebay is doing great. Classic videogames on ebay is NOT. With those goddamn handheld things invading stores all the way up to antarctica, nobody is buying classic games on ebay. Almost all of mine are listed in my ebay store now, and not auctions.

[NESaholic]

I have to use ebay if i want stuff that's not pal related,i live in holland and if i wanna get some us releases only i can only check ebay and maybe 2 other sites.I check other dutch sites too but complete is harder to get.Sometimes i check other foreign auction sites too but i never bought there,always ebay.
I like ebay,sometimes things can be overpriced but i found alot of games for cheap too. :)

[vincewy]

I've stopped selling on eBay since mid 2003, too much bull$%#t to put up with, way too many deadbeat bidders, not to mention double-charging of margins from both eBay and paypal, however, buying from eBay is great lately if you're in the market of Dreamcast, so many sellers desparately wanting to get rid of their stuff.

I've been selling on half.com instead, a much better, if not perfect alternative, it's free to list, no need to creat another page when your item is almost identical to others other than the condition. Once a buyer buys your item, payment goes through eBay, and they cut you a check or send to your checking account. Sure the commisions are higher, but the theory of econimics work out much better. You don't pay until it's sold and you pay more because you can list almost as long as you like.

[chadtower]

And what's a doornail?

ian

A long time ago it used to be that nails were very, very expensive. If you look at REALLY old houses, say from the 1600-1700s (they still exist in MA), if they still have the original door the door may have a lot of random nails pounded into them. People put in extra nails as decoration and signs of status. Wealthy folks would have a pattern of nails in their front doors. This was before the shipping magnates and superwealthy seaports came about along with the giant houses that wouldn't need to worry about smaller status symbols.

[FantasiaWHT]

I've stopped selling on eBay since mid 2003, too much bull$%#t to put up with, way too many deadbeat bidders, not to mention double-charging of margins from both eBay and paypal, however, buying from eBay is great lately if you're in the market of Dreamcast, so many sellers desparately wanting to get rid of their stuff.

I've been selling on half.com instead, a much better, if not perfect alternative, it's free to list, no need to creat another page when your item is almost identical to others other than the condition. Once a buyer buys your item, payment goes through eBay, and they cut you a check or send to your checking account. Sure the commisions are higher, but the theory of econimics work out much better. You don't pay until it's sold and you pay more because you can list almost as long as you like.

Help me out here- my concern about half.com, amazon, etc. was that there's always the worry that your item will just sit there forever with nobody buying it. How successful are your sales? What kind of time does it take on average to sell? What tips do you use to sell things better?

[Mad Chemist]

I find many games are cheap these days on e-bay that I want. The most expensive thing I find about the games though is the shiping. Often times they are charging anywheres from 6-10$ per game when it only costs 2-4$ to actualy ship it. I could understand them wanting to profit off the sale, but why should I or anyone else be required to pay twice or more for the shiping? I dont buy much from e-bay because of this.

So why not just factor in the shipping cost when you're making your bid? In other words, if the game's not worth $1.50 + $6 shipping = $7.50 to you, rhen don't bid. Most sellers these days have shipping costs stated up front.

Now if they AREN'T stated up front, then complaining is justified. Carry on. :)

[Sylentwulf]

So why not just factor in the shipping cost when you're making your bid? In other words, if the game's not worth $1.50 + $6 shipping = $7.50 to you, rhen don't bid. Most sellers these days have shipping costs stated up front.



Ugh, if I had a $1 for every time I said and or thought this exact hing, I wouldn't be here right now, I'd be playing golf with Mr. Gates. It's such common sense that it blows my friggin mind.

[maxlords]

You can only use half.com if you're in the US too. Sucks.

[SoulBlazer]

I can answer that, since I sell 99 percent of my stuff on Amazon and just got $175 put into my checking account. ;)

Yes, there is the danger that a item may sit there. However, I try to get around that by selling it cheaper then anyone else -- by 50 cents or something, put in a good descrption, and only bother with the stuff that's actually in demand. For example, I had no problem selling Paper Mario there for $50, but my old Railroad Tycoon book for a $1 has sat.

Also, the money is direct and right away, Amazon has much better protection then EBay/PayPal does, and less problems.

[vincewy]

I've stopped selling on eBay since mid 2003, too much bull$%#t to put up with, way too many deadbeat bidders, not to mention double-charging of margins from both eBay and paypal, however, buying from eBay is great lately if you're in the market of Dreamcast, so many sellers desparately wanting to get rid of their stuff.

I've been selling on half.com instead, a much better, if not perfect alternative, it's free to list, no need to creat another page when your item is almost identical to others other than the condition. Once a buyer buys your item, payment goes through eBay, and they cut you a check or send to your checking account. Sure the commisions are higher, but the theory of econimics work out much better. You don't pay until it's sold and you pay more because you can list almost as long as you like.

Help me out here- my concern about half.com, amazon, etc. was that there's always the worry that your item will just sit there forever with nobody buying it. How successful are your sales? What kind of time does it take on average to sell? What tips do you use to sell things better?

I do need to clarify.

Half.com is better for those who're not in a hurry to sell their items, normally collectable that you'd rather get a price you want, these are mostly books, DVDs, video games, computers, and sporting goods.

In my case, I have many extra new Dreamcast games that I managed to sell for upward of $50, but you realize it takes months to sell, sometimes I throw in cheap PS2 and GC games that sell very quickly in a few days just to keep my inventory active. My alternative of those Dreamcast games would be selling them for a lot less on eBay, risking people not following through, nad get paid quickly.

Not surprisingly, selling just 2-3 games on half.com had covered my cost already so I'm very content with half.com. Seems like eBay really sucks lately if you try to sell games, but awesome for buyers, I just got a mint copy of SF3: Thrid Strike for $15, that normally fetches $40+, the seller even had to relist the game 3 times as the previous 2 winners were all deadbeat.

[alexkidd2000]

I think its people like Mr.Electric Quarter that ruin ebay. I bought some cables off this guy and he totally extorted me for more money. I paid the auction price and the shipping price he sent to me and didnt hear or recieve anything for over 2 weeks. When I finally got ahold of him he refused to send me my cables until I sent him MORE shipping money. When I finally got the cables I had paid about $10 shipping for 2 av cables. And guess what. Shipping price on the bag was like $2. What a joke. This is what pisses me off about ebay the most. People cant make money selling their junk so they try desperatly to make money on shipping charges. Ebay wasnt like this 4 years ago.