Amusing and bewildering pattern on eBay.

[Brian Van Horn]

PT Barnum's famous saying is that "There is a sucker born every minute."

Lately there has been a pattern on eBay (I am not saying eBay is involved for the lawyers on the board), where a card is not sold at the asked for minimum bid. The card is then relisted for a higher price.

Now, with the economy in the shape it's in and the card market in a lot of ways being dependent on a good economy in order to sell its product, does this make any sense?

In short, if you have a down economy, there are fewer new collectors that would normally start buying unless they are looking for a bargain. This strategy relies on the opposite side of the scale on new buyers who might be more generous with their money or existing buyers who have missed the original offering.

OK. I'm off my soapbox. It's all yours, guys.

[Steve D]

I've seen a few of those myself, and just shake my head at them.

It makes absolutely no sense to me. Let's see.....my item didn't sell for $100....let me put it back up for $150 and see if anyone wants it!

Seems to me that if someone had been willing to pay $150 for it, they would have bid when it was only $100.....or am I crazy?

OK, sometimes I am crazy, but that's a completely different story!


Steve

[glchen]

I think the thing is that not everyone is watching ebay on all of the time. It can be impulse buys for some people, and if there are only a very few copies of that card on sale on ebay to compare prices, people can pull the trigger and not know that they could've gotten a better deal before.

After seeing that thread on frankenstein cards, I had this sudden urge to buy game used cards, and picked up a Ruth Bat card. I probably overpaid and am one of those idiots.

[FUBAR]

i think they are trying to fish out offers around their original amount....its all about marketing and winning the psychological game.. if the item didn't sell for 100$ so then they relist it. They relist with a Bin of 150, chances are you would offer 100.... and they get what they wanted in the first place. As long as you think you are getting a deal, you are more likely to pay a higher amount

[glynparson]

Why do so many on this board assume people see everything every time its listed, andthat they also have the disposable income at that time to buy the card? I've listed many cards and when they didn't sell moved them to my store at a price higher then the minimum bid was and guess what I have sold every single one of those cards sometimes without even getting a best offer. Not everyone has extra money all the time especially in this economy.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I think it's some sort of conspiracy.