Overpriced cards on ebay -- Are they part of a tax scam?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by ScottFandango

in the last few years, there have been less and less auctions on ebay...

could it be these big dealers are scooping up the auctions and then placing them on BIN at triple the price? it seems so...
there are only 2 E90 cards up for auction, 500 at BIN, many from the seller in question...maybe he is trying to corner the ebay market...hes close

i have sold some cards on ebay at auction that went HIGHER than some BINS that were available at the same time!!

auctions are so few on ebay these days that people get really excited and sometimes pay more for a card they could have has via BIN...sounds strange but it happened to me last month!

I think you have a point (your last paragraph) - auctions are still 'fun' for collectors. Whenever a big auction comes along, like the T206 set break Legendary did recently, I settle back with a bottle of wine and my 'plans', and just have a lot of fun - sometimes I buy a few cards I would not normally have bid on.

The same thing used to happen on ebay - I can remember several huge finds of various types that would get dropped on ebay, generally on a Sunday night, and would be talked about on the forum for several days. Most of these finds were dropped on us by dealers, as straight auctions, and the bidding could get crazy. What happened to that?

The current ebay BIN's are certainly crazy, but at least a few of the dealers accept reasonable offers. Some do not - I made an offer the other day that was very reasonable (30% over VCP avg), and I was surprisingly rejected. I'm guessing that there are enough idiots giving them their BIN asking price, that they don't want to have their name show up here as someone who is willing to negotiate.

BTW - I recently sold a very nice SGC40 T205 Cobb on ebay for $850...to a dealer. It will be sold on ebay for $1,100+, and I can guarantee that someone (possibly one of you) will buy it, thinking it's a deal. Mine was a straight auction. So what gives? I do think that some of you like the BIN's, even if they are high, and perhaps it is the security of buying from a known entity. I don't know - like I said, I've thrown my hands up in the air when it comes to ebay.

I much, much, much prefer selling a card a little low to one of my friends here, to selling to a dealer on ebay and paying the ebay tax on top of it all. Same goes for buying cards.

Ebay needs to go back to selling Pez dispensers.