Yeap.

I have sold quite a bit on our BST. Sometimes I put something up and it gets sold quickly. Other times. not a sniff of a buyer. I either priced the item too high or there just wasn't the buyer for it here and now. Patience. Also, I have had stuff for sale on my site with a fixed price, have consigned the same card without remembering to take it off my site. And the card sold for more in auction. One of our members was the buyer, one time, and asked if he could have it at the price on the site. I had to say no. Many times folks think if they are paying a fixed price it's too much....and many times they (or me) are wrong.

Back to the original subject. I just add 10% onto all of my bids on ebay so I am thinking the correct buy price. It does make a difference.

2008
 

was the death knell for collectibles in a GENERAL sense. Coupled with that are changing views of what's important within differing social, economic, and hobby strata as the world evolves or devolves depending on one's view. World keeps changing and so do people's interests.
Add into that FeeBay's lack of attention to the collectibles market and their focus on fixed prices and free shipping - choosing an Amazon type model over what was initially successful in allowing a free market exchange of stuff. I also think eBay and so many auction houses now saturate the market at a time where there is a time lag regarding people who have all this stuff they bought as well as people buying stuff to sell to those people who are now selling what they bought to those same people who no longer want their stuff! Also the fact that people - many people - who bought things when the prices exceeded what their things would bring now - haven't learned, are stubborn, or can't afford to let things go for pennies on the dollar. Their purchases may have been prudent before but when the bottom falls out - they are still on the hook. There's only so much "good stuff" to go around. The specialty niches are the most susceptible to catastrophic descent.....
Just a little stream of consciousness. Likely I could have stopped at the first sentence. I have 50 or so searches (down from over 100) and for sure - I see very little willingness by sellers to actually list things as a true auction which of course will depress final sale prices. I'm also buying less (that depresses the market for sure!) as I get into the over 60 crowd that realizes that all too often stuff is just stuff - and that health and family are what's important. Don't scoff. The 40+ buyer tends to have the disposable income but the over 60 crowd today are the people who were in their 40's when the money was flowing and views of collectibles as a commodity was popular.

Excellent post Henry Moses. If you had a blog I would subscribe.
Would love to hear more about your thoughts on the changing landscape of AH's.

eBay does seem antiquated these days.

Perhaps it's a race for marketing (Advertising) and the right balance of new technology that gets us to the most efficient resale market situation for today.

The unreasonable Bin/OBO listings on ebay make the major AH's prices seem reasonable quite frankly. Including the popular PWCC results.

i've seen a pretty significant decline in sales over the past two months, basically in concert with the roll out of the sales tax. i've still gotten some offers, but definitely not like i did prior to that.

i certainly think the lack of coupons has dented sales as well, there were a ton of buyers that would hold out waiting for those - which seems they are currently still waiting for the next round.

i've also correspondingly reduced my bids to account for the increased cost should i win, which has effectively reduced my buying significantly. the only cards i've won recently are some i need to complete sets.

Here's an interesting tidbit with regard to taxes. Last night I was shopping at a non-ebay card site, adding things to my cart, and the tax total kept on rising, so I had to make sure I didn't go overboard with my order and just throw money to the wind. But when I finally reached the checkout page and placed the order via my credit card through PayPal, the tax figure just suddenly went POOF!! None charged. Obviously, this made me very happy, but I am uncertain what the deal is. It's a NY-based company and I'm in California.