eBay wasteland
 

Between the change in tax reporting chasing some sellers to other options, the proliferation of fraud and hacking, the many crazy people, the rise in fees ….. eBay just feeling like a wasteland these days. Still some big sellers but seems like a lot of ordinary folks have just concluded it’s just not worth the hassle of selling there. I haven’t seen something I wanted there at a decent price in a long while. None of my alerts ever get triggered. Just same stuff being recycled.

Wasteland is a kind reference.

I just sold one lot on eBay with the funds to be in my bank account in two to four business days.

I feel sorry for the eBay rep I will get on the phone today and, yes, I will get one on the phone.

What are you going to be calling about? Their new way of getting you your cash with lower fees than before.

I couldn't agree more. There are so many better options out there now, for both buying and selling. Ebay has become a last resort for me.

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The one good thing is that I will report the transaction on my taxes next year, but I don't have to worry about the $600.00 threshold so no tax form from those folks.

I recently signed up for MYSLABS. I like them. I would suggest others do it also. The only tricky part is balancing cards between both platforms. I am trying to make it work however.

Wasteland,LOL

It is still by far the best option out there. They lowered the selling fees so now we have to complain about waiting a coupe days to get paid. People complained about fraud so now eBay adds a step to protect customers of high end cards and now people complain about that. eBay was full of full time dealers NOT paying taxes or even a real licensed business. They are getting rid of all these scabs so now we complain about that.

I personally like all the new changes.:D

First let me say that I agree for the most part on that last post. eBay has been great resource for me as a buyer and a seller.

That said it is a place where people who don’t know what they are doing are likely to get burned by all the scumbaggery out there.

Here’s an example: guy has perfect feedback and he is selling obvious fake cards and using the whole “not sure if they are real or not blah blah blah.” What a turd!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/40346387858...0AAOSwfi5iBNx9

I still like eBay. Really like myslabs. Question though, I recently made two purchases on myslabs and I don’t think tax was added. Can that be true?

I don't hate the platform or the company. The have no control over collecting and reporting taxes and limited control over fraud. Just seems like volume has dried up bigtime on what I'm interested in collecting. Compared to a few years ago the change is striking. Particularly in higher end stuff, I think sellers are largely going elsewhere for a variety of reasons.

I agree on being less stuff on eBay. I really notice it on the rare harder to find items I collect.

As a longtime honest tax paying business owner I love that eBay is getting rid of all the non tax paying losers running a fake business. It seriously sucks that it also chased away a lot of people that use eBay to sell extra stuff around the house they no longer need or use. Same goes for the card collectors that are selling a card(s) they have had for years that they no longer want to buy something new for their collection.

Other than here, MySlabs, and facebook groups, what other platforms are folks using to sell lower end, raw and graded, items at a fixed price?

I don't think volume of quality vintage material has dried up because of eBay's policies, which are 'meh' to most people. It is FOMO: with the market for vintage cards off to the races and so many cards rising precipitously in every auction, only someone who needs cash flow now is going to sell good stuff. Otherwise, the smart move is to hold until the market levels off a bit. I know, timing markets is tricky stuff, but this is the best shot ever to really cash in. People watch. They saw what basketball did at the start of the price surge, and now see that same pattern in baseball. I sold some highly appreciated basketball early into the price surge, but still missed out on nearly 2x the profit by not timing the market a bit better. The volume of stuff going through auctioneers right now is astounding. I know of several boomers with highly appreciated, very deep collections getting out in anticipation of retirement. They aren't gonna spend years unwinding their collections at retail on eBay. They go to AHs.

The one change that I've really never forgiven them for is eliminating the sportscard pre-1930 category as a search criterion.

I think there is a lot of truth to that Adam. While people may have sold off some of their top stuff years ago on eBay, now they are sitting back and just waiting. And will deliver it to an AH when they want to get out en masse.

I can recall PWCC auctions from years ago where it seemed there were PSA 7 and even 8 Ruth and Gehrig cards all the time in auctions. Sometimes there would be 5 or 6 high end Gehrig and Ruth Goudeys in different variations in every auction. Now you see ebay sellers (yes, I realize PWCC is no longer on eBay) selling a single PSA 2 or 3. Just seems like people are banking the good stuff.

I also collect photos and memorabilia. Ebay has been basically useless. A few known sellers boosting prices up to absurd levels ("OK, I just bought this at RMY last week for $1400, let me list is for, uh, $8000 . . .") but not a lot more than that. Forget about cool obscure stuff. Just not seeing it.

A PSA 2 or 3 Goudey Ruth is not good stuff? I consider you a friend but would like to punch you right now. :)

This. I have no problem buying on ebay. I have 30 years of experience, so I generally buy with 100% confidence. I pay immediately, and sellers sometimes send me thank you notes for creating no hassle. I feel bad for collectors with hardly any sense of what the hobby used to be.

[QUOTE=bnorth;2197048]I agree on being less stuff on eBay. I really notice it on the rare harder to find items I collect.
/QUOTE]

About 50% of my high end purchases have been on Net54. This is a better resource for honesty and assurance of purchase. I mostly buy Barry Larkin cards on ebay ungraded.... and that stock has not died up. I also purchased my Ken Griffey Jr Tiffany on ebay. When they run at auction the price is good. My problem with ebay is that most sellers won't sell at auction. I hate BIN prices, or Best Offer. I offer fair Best Offer prices I know are spot on to the market, but since some sellers overmark their items by 50% or more, they feel offended by my offer. They must not follow the Reds, cuz Reds prices never demand Yankees prices.

For low end raw, and low end graded use Twitter. There are some vintage sellers who run weekly sales threads that are popular. Check out @CardStory. I bought a raw 48 Leaf Ted Kluszewski there. I know from this site that they are mostly trimmed nowadays, so I wasn't concerned about it being trimmed or not when even PSA can't tell.

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I set up a Twitter acct to track cards and stuff. (I use an account curated for work as well, prefer to keep the follows separate.) Thanks todeen...will check out @CardStory


I've had some marginal success on reddit, through the r/baseballcards subreddit. For some unknown reason I was shadow banned recently. I have no idea why, I went out of my way to not post anything controversial and follow the rules of the subreddit, I usually know and acknowledge when I am being a jerk. I honestly have no clue what I did which is frustrating. But I did a few deals there which wasn't too painful. More modern centric than vintage.

Ebay Wasteland isn't new - The Who was singing about it 50 years ago :)

Yes, but that was Roger Daltry moaning about "teenage wasteland". We are all mature adults proceeding in a logical manner to obtain the cards we lust for. Hmm.. wait, not so sure about that.

It's not like it used to be, that is for sure. But there are still nuggets out there.

This from ebay yesterday and on its way to me..

I'd rather buy on ebay than wait a month plus for an auction to end and then be in a late night bidding war with some crazy person(s) and not quite trust the result.

I suppose there's a lot of action now on social media but not my speed.

Ebay earnings scheduled for Feb 23rd, guessing they will not be stellar. It will be a good measure of whether others have abandoned selling there.

A big +1 to that. For a while now, it seems I've been checking my bookmarks more out of the fond memories of finds from years gone by rather than any real hope of coming across new ones. No doubt about it, desirable rare stuff of all kinds has gotten squirreled away in collections over the years as eBay--"America's yard sale"--brought out stuff for us collectors to scoop up just for the bidding, an inevitable process that seems to have pretty much run its course. Nothing like it used to be, but it sure was fun while it lasted! And because the hunt's the thing, it will probably continue to be part of my days til those, too, are over.

Look at you, Leon, keeping hope alive! What did you pay for that beauty, if I could ask?

How many other options are out there for quick guaranteed sales via auction of your basic raw $5.-20. cards ? How about if you want to let go a few graded cards in the $100. ish range - I still think ebay is your game.

If I did want to let go some spendy stuff, yes, Auction House. I don't feel comfortable selling $5.k+ cards on ebay, too much risk of shenanigans.

If ebay ceased to exist, it would be overall horrible for our hobby. There is a definite place for ebay, thank goodness, for a lot of stuff both buying and selling, ebay rocks.

Well said. My visits to ebay these days are more akin to visiting a "Baseball Card Collecting Museum" than browsing/shopping. It's a little bit sad to me what it's become.

He wanted 12.9k and I paid a little less. The problem with this card is there are only 2 comps I could find and they were 5+ yrs old. For something so rare, the crease not touching his face, was ok for me. I wanted to pay a lot less!

Not a card but picked this up in the last few days also.... The tacks weren't needed LOL...you would think as a poster seller they would know better.
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not tacks
 

I think those things in the corners are magnets not tacks. And by the way great find on that Orange Border Cobb! Rocky

Is the subject line to be sung to tune of Baba O'Riley?

2s and 3s are fine, but they are not 7s and 8s:)

April is the cruelest month. Oh wait, wrong Wasteland.

I just emailed him asking for the death certificate of his grandfather.

I think regardless of the current situation, until some platform comes along that is as widely used and convenient as eBay, than it's here to stay.

There's very few websites that you can go to, to be your one stop shop, for vintage everything. We tend to look at it from a cards/memorabilia perspective, but there's so many listings on eBay for all different things.

I've purchased Clothes (Both new and vintage), shoes, Video games, cards, electronics, etc all from eBay. Obviously you have to be careful, especially with some things more than others, but it's incredibly convenient as a buyer.

"Yeah, that's right, just, uh, roll her old bones on over here, and I'll dig up your daughter."

Took me a second. Bueller!!!!

I think there are still some good buys on ebay although granted, it's not nearly as many as in the past, likely due to what Adam said. I recently purchased this Tour of Japan postcard with Gehrig and Grove from ebay for what I thought was a reasonable price.

Ben,
You the man! I really appreciate you around here. I find your average take refreshing and extremely accurate. Haters can hate, but why not look at the bright side? Thank you for seeing that!! Cheers

Yes, but we are not all wasted. Or at least not until I get home tonight. Does the weed make me watch bad Kung Fu movies or do the bad Kung Fu movies just need weed? Chicken, egg???

To much disposable income and the price spike in modern cards fueled a new wave of collectors 2018-2020. Some used their money and bought vintage with their returns from the sales of big cards. I am willing to bet that we see a massive increase in the 3-5 range as collectors scramble to secure copies of cards they want in the best condition they can afford. Just in the last 45 days the 33 Gehrig has doubled in price and probably with continue for a while as season is fast approaching. Honestly I think we are going to see Williams, DiMaggio, and Clemente become unobtainable in mid to high grades very soon.

I personally think this is pretty spot on. A lot of collectors back into vintage because of early pandemic boredom like me or whatever the reason aren’t particularly interested in set registries or high grades. For a Koufax rookie, I found a new label 2 that by good the difference between that and a 4 or 5 plus is lost on me. I’m just happy to own a really nice looking awesome piece of history. I think there will continue to be pressure from the bottom on such cards.

I predict lower grade cards will appreciate nicely....(says the guy who collects them).. It's just about the only thing I can afford anyway!
And I think we have, for quite some time, seen better specimens in lower grade go for multiples of one in higher grade, which didn't look as nice.
This one has added value due to the borders..though it's kind of ragged at top. :)

Back to topic. There is definitely a lot less great cards on eBay than there used to be. And if they are there the prices are multiples of what they would sell for in auction. Oh well...I still search for stuff LOL
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Has anyone looked at the t205 Cobb PSA 2 thats listed via Probstein and compared the pic to the PSA image?

Where did the wrinkle go on the ebay listing?

Wow, that's the biggest T206 top/bottom I have ever seen ! At least as big as the Jumbo Wagner. I don't know how you get these super eye appeal for the grade cards, but congrats.

So. are yesterday's "collector grade" todays investment grade?

I Still Like Ebay
 

From a buyer's standpoint, ebay is still ok for me for some graded cards I look for. Still a lot of cards come up from time to time.

Selling is more of a pain these days.

And T.S. Eliot had them beat by almost 50 years.:)

Anyone notice now when you make a Best Offer it says and does charge your CC automatically if the seller accepts.

That is new.

Hmmm, I just had a best offer accepted over the weekend without an automatic CC charge.

Yah I bought something over the weekend it was the normal way, then tonight it has changed.

Could be a test on their side or could be new.

I kinda like it though. If your the seller "boom" you're paid instantly. I like that. And as a buyer saves me the step of doing it, so I guess that's fine. Was gonna do it anyway if I got it.

How does that work? I always pay with PayPal so I don't have a CC available for eBay to automatically charge. I wouldn't think it could automatically get payment through PayPal.

Well if you don't have a CC on file with Ebay then not sure, but since I do it just states as soon as I put in a dollar amount for my Best Offer:

"If the seller accepts your offer, we’ll charge your selected payment method."

I personally always use a CC over Paypal to get points on my CC.

Bought a card Buy it Now last night and this didn’t happened. I received notice that my offer was accepted and I had to
Pay. And I have a credit card on file.

With the majority of households only a couple of paychecks away from financial insolvency, the little $1K+ bump from last year's economic stimulus provided some unbudgeted cash to new market entrants to finally purchase that raw or poor grade (insert vintage baseball card here). Thus reducing the supply and continuing to driving up prices on the lower end for FOMA. I remember not too long ago when a PSA 1 51 Bowman Mays was $1500, a PSA 2 52 Bowman Mays was $225, and a PSA 2 53 Topps Mays was $400. Same with Jackie (e.g. PSA 1 52 Topps was $1K and Ruth (e.g. PSA 1 48 Leaf was $600). Time will tell if current prices sustain or the next market downturn brings these previously affordable cards back into the reach and into the market.

There is a button a seller can click that requires immediate payment for BIN. Maybe eBay is now considering offer/acceptance as a form of BIN. As they should!

Ah good call.

Every once in a while something shows up in the wrong category or in the right category but is incorrectly described. I'm not sure if the hours of searching is worth the effort, however it does happen. I found an N162 Keefe within the last 6 months and it sold for a lot less than it should have. Perhaps the other bidder was concerned it was a reprint. Based on the item description and the sellers feedback, it looked legit (and it was).

You can use your credit card via PayPal as well (and still get the points). The two payment methods are not mutually exclusive in terms of accruing points and rewards.

I rarely use eBay to buy cards. I do look however with set up searches. There is simply too much material to wade through to go shopping though as listings are happening 24/7. One of my gripes is the usually poorly lit blurry cell phone pics taken while the seller is holding the phone on an angle.

I much prefer the hobby auction house option where there is a given day and an certain quantity of material that remains the same for the duration of the auction. Prices do tend to be higher in this format.

Just saw this while listing. Also FVF increasing 3/1.

Reducing unpaid items for accepted offers
We’re continuing work we started in 2021 to reduce unpaid items on eBay, which we know has been a long-standing challenge for many of you.

In October 2021, we piloted a new process for collecting payment from a buyer automatically following acceptance of their offer. To do this we asked the buyer for payment and shipping details in the Best Offer flows. In the coming weeks, we plan to expand our coverage and include more buyers, which should further reduce unpaid items from buyer offers.

By mid-year we will also start collecting payment details in other Best Offer scenarios, including counteroffers and Offers to buyers. These changes will be applied automatically for buyers, so you don't need to update or make changes to your listings.

Ahh, yes...the Lifehouse project, Meher Baba and his vital signs registered into a synthesizer, Dave Arbus and his incredible violin, "Out here in the fields...I fight for my meals...I put my back into my living...I don't need to fight ...to prove I'm right... it's only eBay wasteland..."

Poor listings, lots of junk around it, and cruddy photos is why I love eBay. By checking in multiple times a day, I get a lot of steals and scoop up low BIN's that I would never win for that price from a proper auction house or listing.

I love sellers that do little research, take a garbage pic, and select a seemingly random price for their BIN. I get why it's annoying to many, but my collection is built on it.

Adam, I think you have posed a question that is as deep as mankind itself. Very serious thinkers, such as Newton, Einstein, Cheech and Chong, have pondered this enigma for ages. Forensic science had determined through carbon dated artifacts that Cleopatra watched her slaves make early Kong Fu moves while puffing from a bong.
Gee, Jackie Chan still has the moves.

Nice but I wonder what kind of bong or some new Type of Vape Pen

That's an incredible card, Leon. A blazer with amazing borders!

Thanks Hank. To be a bit more transparent on the price. It was a bit sub 10k...which was fine for me. If one went to auction I think it would get up there...

And another recent ebay purchase... Type 1, 8 x 10, from the movie Slide Kelly Slide..


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Man, you're blowing me away, and I take back everything I said about eBay. That is one fabulous photo, and if stuff like that is still popping up, I'll keep looking for my niches, at least, a while longer. And thanks again for your work on the forum, if I'm not buying a lot of great things anymore, it's great to be able to see them here.

Leon, isn't it nice that there is an integrated pair of boys practicing slides and covers before Jackie broke the barrier. Great 'foto. A keeper, for sure.

I had to pay up a little bit but I thought it was really neat.
I got this one a bit over a year ago for a very good price. But good deals are harder and harder to find.

https://luckeycards.com/kiss.jpg