Worst type of eBay "guy"

[pbspelly]

I know some people don't see this as a problem, but I get really tired of folks putting items for sale on eBay at prices that no one is ever going to pay. There is a photo of my great grandfather Billy Sullivan on ebay that is worth at most $40-50. It has been listed at $299 for years now. No one is ever going to pay that. Due to my family connection, I am typically willing to pay higher prices for Sullivan memorabilia than other folks, and there's no way I'd pay $299. At least not until decades from now when inflation makes $299 worth what $50 is worth today. If you want to sell something, sell it, but don't use eBay as a place to display your collection.

I really wish eBay had tried harder to incentivize sellers to list items at auction with low starting bids, and then let the market decide the value. That was one of the original intents of the eBay founder Omidyar. He saw it as a way to make markets for used goods and collectibles much more liquid and efficient, so that the market could set the price. I used to sell vintage telephones on eBay. I often had little idea how much they were worth. I'd start them at $9 and let the market tell me. They typically sold for anywhere from $80-200. But eBay moved away from that, and now a lot of sellers don't trust the eBay auctions to give them a fair price. If I were eBay, I would try and figure out a way to require that after a certain period of time, the seller would be incentivized (or pressured) to let the market determine the price. Maybe start charging progressively higher listing fees or something. If you just want to post pictures of your collection go elsewhere.