posted on April 25, 2001 07:57:42 PM newWhat happens when a buyer's search brings up 200 pages of the same item ?
reamond, there was a time when your statement came close to the truth. It hasn't been that way for many months. Excluding Pokemon, trading cards, etc., I'm aware of no particular item in the antiques/collectibles categories that has that many listings.
It was well over a year ago (maybe closer to two) when I first noticed a marked decrease in the number of "comps" I'd find when researching any particular item prior to listing. The lack of appropriate completed auctions has hindered many of my research efforts in the months since, but, of course, the flip side is that there are fewer competing listings.
Which is probably why those of us in the antiques/collectibles field haven't been affected by any downturns in bidding. My sales remain healthy. Bidders *have* become more sophisticated, though, and the days of $50 bids for broken pieces of junk available en-masse at any neighborhood flea are over. But bids for nice, quality items are close to, and sometime exceed, bidding in earlier years.
I believe the increase in listings you refer to are due to the influx of mass marketers, which doesn't affect my niche one iota.
posted on April 25, 2001 08:36:42 PM new
I don't think a five cent hike in fees is going to hurt anyone, outages have always been with us and always will be, its the internet, stuff happens. You should have been around in the early days, you don't know from outages like they were back then, how about when you could only list ten items a day? Anyone remember that? There was a time when ebay could only take so many listings an hour and if you didn't get your listings in you had to wait until the next hour! God save me from the good old days. Ebay is like life, its what you make of it, you get out of it what you put into it, you get older and hopefully smarter, its not a rose garden, its a business.
posted on April 25, 2001 09:17:51 PM newreamond The categories that you mention here- "They no doubt will. But the garage sale/ flea market/ collectables image is one eBay wants to ditch. The folks selling items as they would at a garage sale will be priced out of the market. I don't know how you can presently sell a single item on eBay for $4 and make any money, unless your time is worthless."...
..are what made Meg and Peirre rich. Remember those Pez toys that he wanted to buy/sell. Getting rid of the flea market mentality will only work against ebay. People come to look for treasures at bargain prices. Introduce "retail goods" and watch people stop bidding. It's not a bargain if you can buy it in the store for less. Just look at the Tool listings and compare them to store prices. By far lower when you add the outrageous shipping fees most of them charge. Also, collectibles had one of the largest listings in categories. By ebay ignoring it or dumping it, they would only be shooting themselves in the foot. Dumb move. No money equals squeezing the few left. The corporations will pull out fast leaving ebay, begging for more $9.95 sales again. My opinion only.
posted on April 25, 2001 09:30:28 PM new
You're right, the small seller made them rich.
They are now using all the buyers we brought in to entice bigger sellers in at special rates and deals.
There is another thread now that tells of a new large volume seller with 60 FB given power seller status, and the US Postal Service was given a special fee structure that is confidential.
Fountain- As far as "unique", "anitique", and "colectables" go, you're only in business as long as you can find the next fad item, and eBay knows it.
You may not agree with my predictions, but search the threads and you'll see I've been correct.
[ edited by reamond on Apr 25, 2001 09:32 PM ]
[ edited by reamond on Apr 25, 2001 09:37 PM ]
posted on April 26, 2001 05:30:16 AM newI don't know, I see people on ebay doing it
Ever seen a Dollar Zone or Only a Buck store?
They seem to be making plenty of money (atleast they are opening stores left & right around here) yet their items only sell for $1 each. They obviously rely on low cost & high volume.
There are sellers on ebay with the same philosophy & seem to be doing okay with it. I see several of them with plenty of high feedback & powerseller status.
Now this wouldn't be very profitable if the seller had to spend 20 minutes on each ad or packing/shipping the item, but it appears many of these sellers have the same ad & probably have them prepackaged for shipping.
If they make a few $ profit but are selling volume, they can easily make as much or more than someone who spends 20 minutes on a single item.
posted on April 26, 2001 12:03:37 PM new
>If they make a few $ profit but are selling volume, they can easily make as much or more than someone who spends 20 minutes on a single item.
>It's just a different business plan.
Absolutly. I would DEARLY LOVE to sell a half a million items a year that I made 50 cents (or even a quarter) on.
posted on April 26, 2001 12:18:56 PM new
I think a lot of eBay's "not what it used to be" problems are because it went and accepted all 22+ million users and didn't keep registration to the level it was in 1997. Darn them.
