Subject:
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No really - a rational discussion of people selling via eBay?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.theory
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Date:
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Mon, 17 May 1999 07:36:09 GMT
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Reply-To:
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CJC@nospamNEWSGUY.COM
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Viewed:
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671 times
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Maybe it's too much to hope for. Who knows.
I was called on the carpet recently for making a statement about eBay
scalpers. I defended myself, qualifying that name for a very specific
(and, seemingly, large) group of people who sell collectible toys via
eBay.
Are all people who sell via eBay scalpers, though? I don't think so,
and not just because I'm one of them.
I think it's pretty easy to tell who the scalpers are and who they
aren't on eBay.
Here are my reasons for listing some of the things I've auctioned
recently on eBay:
1. Exposure to huge number of buyers
2. Ease of use (fire and forget auctions)
Thought I could come up with more, but those two are about it.
I'll address them in reverse order. For sets, and for largish
groupings of parts, I don't think eBay can be beaten. I've done
auctions by hand, I've run the bot, I'm still running the EveryAuction
script on my JABA site, you name it. Short of writing my own software
to handle it, which I cannot do, I've tried everything. You could
even say I've used SeriousCollector since I donated a handful of sets
to the Gary Louie Memorial Auction recently.
All of those required more work than eBay, with the possible exception
of SC, and, sorry to the fine folks who are trying to get it off the
ground, but I just don't see it competing with eBay for a while yet,
maybe a long while.
No e-mail for me to send. No math for me to do. No daily webpage
updates. Nothing. Fire and forget. Then a week later I get an
e-mail message that let's me know who won and how to contact them. I
send off a single e-mail message letting the person know my address
and the total including shipping, then I wait for the payment to
arrive. Easy.
The only thing I can imagine being easier is my own personal fantasies
about the planned auction capabilities of Lugnet. I had to stop
holding my breath for those quite a while ago, though, and use
something that's here now.
Now, for exposure to huge number of buyers. You wouldn't think
something like this would have to be explained or defended, but it
seems like it does. So let's be blunt. When I decide I want to
auction off something, whether it's 75% of the parts of 20 copies of a
set I bought or an older copy of some set I don't need, I want, no
need, to make as much money from it as possible. I know Todd and
Larry and a few other ultra-heavy weights make what I spend on Lego
products seem small, but I guarantee you what I've spent on them in
the last two years makes a whole bunch of other people's spending seem
small too.
I've stockpiled for about two years and am finally MAKING the time,
usually at the expense of sleep, to auction some of the parts off I
don't need, in addition to some of the more unusual sets I've found.
Since I have basically been justifying buying 10 copies of this, 30
copies of that with, "well, I want those really cool macaroni bricks
and nothing else, so I can auction the rest off and make my money
back" I need to do that. And putting those items up for grabs in
front of thousands (or more) of bidders instead of a couple hundred
reading RTL seems to make sense.
I sold those 10 Scout Troopers for $50 + shipping on eBay last week.
A good bit higher than I thought they'd go for, although I guess I can
see how someone might think it's worth it to spend that much for the
convenience of not having to deal with the rest of the stuff in 5
copies of the speederbikes set.
If I'd sold those just here or on RTL I doubt they would have gone for
$30. In fact, I was kinda expecting $30 as a max and figuring that
would be ok because the rest of the parts I didn't want ought to make
up the other $24.07 I spent on 5 copies of that set. Now, though, I
can expect to make a decent bit of profit on the deal, which is good,
because that's just more money I can use to buy more stuff.
I've seen some people vilify those who admit that part of the reason
they sell via eBay is that they can usually expect to sell their items
at a higher price there, as if the desire to get the most money for
your items is an evil thing. I'm not a mind reader, but I'd be
willing to be that there aren't that many people who auction things
off who DON'T want to make as much money as possible - otherwise
they'd just say, "well, I paid $10 for this, and I don't really want
anything more than that, so I'll take $10." Now, to be sure, that
does happen - I've done it myself, but I don't know about most people
here, but I can't afford to subsidize the hobbies of a few hundred
working adults worldwide by buying and selling things at cost,
especially when I'm adding to their value by selling parts.
So yeah, when I put something on eBay a part of me is thinking, "gee,
it sure would be cool if that sold for double what I'd get on RTL." I
guess in the eyes of some that makes me a bad person or something.
Fortunately for me, I don't care.
I'm rambling, and it's late. Maybe we can be non-controversial about
this, maybe not. Maybe in another year or two SeriousCollector will
have grown in popularity enough to offset the millions of people who
use eBay, or maybe Lugnet will have achieved the kind of targeted
brandname recognition it needs and the auction capabilities will show
up and be what I dream about. Maybe. Or maybe some people will
continue to condemn and vilify those who use eBay without offering any
acceptable alternatives. Who knows?
--
Lego Shop at Home: 800-835-4386 (USA) / 800-267-5346 (Canada)
www.lugnet.com/news/ - A great new resource for LEGO fans worldwide
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