last time I ever listen to ebay and start an auction at 99 cents....

[EddieP]

Originally Posted by swarmee

For future sales, I recommend you list it like this:
1916 Sporting News M101-5 Blank Back #185 Clarence Walker STL Browns Vintage Baseball Card

You also showed the card in some really scratched up sleeve, and self-graded it as EX, when it looks creased/scratched (because of the sleeve) and the bottom left corner is mangled.

I would say this is a learning opportunity.

+1 “ Clarence” WOULD help. How many Walkers played baseball? The more descriptive the better. Also adding “Rare”, “Investment “, etc will bring in the speculators. More eyeballs the better.

[RCMcKenzie]

Who searches "Clarence"? Who is that? The board is changing with the times. It's an m101-5 in around ex. It's not a Topps card. When you grade it, you don't count the this and this like a 1975 Topps Jose Cruz. I can't believe all the defenders of eBay. Tim is a vintage card expert. I think he deserves some respect, but I guess not. It's his fault, and not Ebay's that it sold for $6?

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

Who searches "Clarence"? Who is that? The board is changing with the times. It's an m101-5 in around ex. It's not a Topps card. When you grade it, you don't count the this and this like a 1975 Topps Jose Cruz. I can't believe all the defenders of eBay. Tim is a vintage card expert. I think he deserves some respect, but I guess not. It's his fault, and not Ebay's that it sold for $6?

What *specifically* did Ebay do wrong here? Since you're clearly placing the blame on Ebay, what *specifically* would you have liked them to do to ensure that this card sold for a higher price?

[RCMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by Tabe

What *specifically* did Ebay do wrong here? Since you're clearly placing the blame on Ebay, what *specifically* would you have liked them to do to ensure that this card sold for a higher price?

Hi, Chris, good to talk with you again. I would propose that they re-open the pre-war category. I used to search it from highest price to lowest price. It had about 1800-2200 cards at a time. You could see the bidders' names, and anything I was interested in, TBob had already bid on.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

Hi, Chris, good to talk with you again. I would propose that they re-open the pre-war category. I used to search it from highest price to lowest price. It had about 1800-2200 cards at a time. You could see the bidders' names, and anything I was interested in, TBob had already bid on.

While that's probably a good suggestion, I don't know that it would have made much difference here. I appreciate that you had a concrete suggestion though.

Always good to chat, sir.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Tabe

What *specifically* did Ebay do wrong here? Since you're clearly placing the blame on Ebay, what *specifically* would you have liked them to do to ensure that this card sold for a higher price?

Ebay did nothing wrong. He had so much wasted space in the title. He is blaming Ebay when he missed out on so many key words. Swarmee pointed out his mistake, I agreed, and we were attacked for it. I say simply let him keep doing what he is doing.

[EddieP]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

Who searches "Clarence"? Who is that? The board is changing with the times. It's an m101-5 in around ex. It's not a Topps card. When you grade it, you don't count the this and this like a 1975 Topps Jose Cruz. I can't believe all the defenders of eBay. Tim is a vintage card expert. I think he deserves some respect, but I guess not. It's his fault, and not Ebay's that it sold for $6?

Will if you advertise ONLY for the Vintage Card Experts on eBay then that’s the only eyeballs he’ll get. I believe in order to survive in business and life you have to adapt/change with the times.

Just my $0.02.

[RCMcKenzie]

I don't disagree with you EddieP. Tim traded me a total beater T215 Huggins port like 10 or 12 years ago, and I am forever grateful. The board lives on.

[EddieP]

Rob, my advice isn’t only directed to Tim per se, but to any young folks out there reading this board and still have time to learn and change.

https://youtu.be/2auI6Uz3D8I

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

Who searches "Clarence"? Who is that? The board is changing with the times. It's an m101-5 in around ex. It's not a Topps card. When you grade it, you don't count the this and this like a 1975 Topps Jose Cruz. I can't believe all the defenders of eBay. Tim is a vintage card expert. I think he deserves some respect, but I guess not. It's his fault, and not Ebay's that it sold for $6?

Adding Clarence would definitely help. I search for Dots Miller cards. I don't search "Miller", that would be as ridiculous as searching "Walker" while looking for Clarence Walker cards. There are collectors out there looking for all old players, so putting their entire name helps. Putting team names also helps, because I search for Pirates cards as well, and obviously there are St Louis Browns collectors out there. The price sucks, but a better title would definitely help in most cases. You miss out on focused collectors

[obcbobd]

I think the $0.99 open auction will work great for commonly collected cards like Goudeys or T20xs. However for less popular sets it is very risky. Maybe a better title as others suggested would have helped, but I would not be surprised if it did not. For example I collect E121 American Caramels, I almost never see an auction with opening bid of $0.99. Usually it is buy-it-nows. The number of collectors collecting the more obscure sets is so low that if a few guys take a week off from looking at Ebay, you are not going to get your price. FWIW, I have an old saved search for M101-5s under $20. I don't get many hits other than reprints. I missed yours. Bummer for both of us :-)

Better luck next time!

Bob

[brianp-beme]

I would have gladly paid 3x to 4x the winning bid amount for this card in lesser condition, and I consider myself a notorious cheapass. This card was screaming for me to be a bidder. But alas, I rarely check Ebay anymore. Don't let this selling hiccup get you down, and keep up that collecting spirit Tim.

A couple of the suggestions about listing improvements are fairly valid... removing the card from the sleeve does make for a better image, and I found that the more info I put in the title (for example when I have listed Zeenut cards in the past, I would put the full name, PCL team, and MLB clubs, if any, the player was on), the more bidder/buyer attention the cards seemed to receive compared to previous efforts when I didn't do that.

Brian

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by EddieP

+1 “ Clarence” WOULD help. How many Walkers played baseball? The more descriptive the better. Also adding “Rare”, “Investment “, etc will bring in the speculators. More eyeballs the better.

Sporting News was a huge miss. Simply the word Baseball card would have helped. Maybe vintage. Maybe rare, like you said. There was no much unused space in the title. When I saw that auction title I cringed.