The State of eBay

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by Jewish-collector

It's a combination of things including, but not limited to these:

less sellers on eBay due to the 1099-K thresholds depending on their state
more sellers going thru facebook groups, FB marketplace, etc,...
more sellers consigning to auction houses
more sellers setting up at local shows and/or regional shows

However, for what you collect, Rob, local or regional shows really no longer seem to have much football memorabilia.

Very true. I go to shows to see one guy. Rick Haskins. If he's not at a show, I'm probably not going. The National last year was very disappointing in terms of football memorabilia as well.

Facebook Marketplace is frustrating. First, there's not a ton of stuff out there and when there is, there's a 75% chance the seller won't ship. Thought I found a pennant on there a couple weeks ago and the guy was willing to ship, but wanted to cash only. I haven't been ripped off on marketplace yet, but I'm not ready to start mailing cash.

[ALBB]

I understand the complaints,

but I still say where can a collector go at anytime of the day or night and find for ex. - multiple Goudey cards of Ott, Foxx, Grove, etc., 52T high #s, thousands of Mantles, etc.....its ebay...

yea it sucks with shipping and fees and the occasional rip off or shady dealer, but until another site can do it better...Im still going on three or four times a day...looking for " stuff"

[raulus]

It's a feature, and we can debate just how buggy it is.

By its very nature, stuff that is over-priced will malinger for ages. Stuff that is correctly priced will get snapped up pretty quick. Auctions only last for 7-10 days, so even those are over pretty quick, and therefore the window where that specific item is available is pretty limited.

It also doesn't help that one of the biggest former eBay auction operators is now off the platform (PWCC), which dramatically reduces the number of items sold by the auction format.

Bottom line is that as a result of these dynamics, coupled with some others mentioned earlier, most of the time when you check eBay, you're going to see the same overpriced stuff. And it will keep annoying you every time you see it. Blink and you might miss anything else that isn't tragically overpriced, as if it was never really even there.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by ALBB

I understand the complaints,

but I still say where can a collector go at anytime of the day or night and find for ex. - multiple Goudey cards of Ott, Foxx, Grove, etc., 52T high #s, thousands of Mantles, etc.....its ebay...

yea it sucks with shipping and fees and the occasional rip off or shady dealer, but until another site can do it better...Im still going on three or four times a day...looking for " stuff"

I agree

[BioCRN]

I've read Net54 for a long time, but it wasn't until the prices and amount of bidders on EBay got crazy that I decided to join up here. Being able to see the pictures hosted locally after joining is a nice perk.

I wanted to get in on that "How much you want if you're selling outside of EBay?" action.

[ricktmd]

Ebay has become a terrible venue for sellers across all categories, not just vintage baseball . The categories have been destroyed and ebay is basically a word search site. Sellers are treated poorly unless you are a giant seller then even shill bidding and dishonest behavior is winked at. Buyers have all the rights and the seller has none. Buyers are allowed to remove their bid on an auction. WOW.
Negative feedback is permitted by buyers only. I typically offer 14 day returns which is plenty of time to determine whether someone wants the item. Ebay gives them an additional 14 days to ship the item back making the 14 days really 28 . None of that means anything as ebay has a 30 day return policy that includes free return shipping ebay forces the seller to pay even if your item states buyer pays for return shipping. In addition to ebays 30 day free pass allows the buyer an additional 30 days to return the item . All the buyer has to do is hit the right button claiming inaccurate website description. Big dealers may list 100's of items at inflated prices. Most people just bypass ebay and go to the big dealers website whether that seller is Clean Sweep, Tony E Trade or others. I sell legacy parts for businesses I am in a few baseball items and various odd stuff. The baseball items never get returned. Legacy parts never get returned. My spring cleaning stuff like old anything that works fine like electronic equipment or a designer scarf or shoes from my wife is all subjected to unfair buyers whose remorse returns are forced on sellers and the policy does not cost ebay 1 penny. All this and I offer returns . I can imagine the sellers not offering returns how mad they must be when ebay overrides their policy

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Fballguy

Very true. I go to shows to see one guy. Rick Haskins. If he's not at a show, I'm probably not going.

Has there ever been a better dealer than Rick? Incredible inventory of pennants and pins, of which his knowledge is encyclopedic, and absolutely the nicest guy you will ever meet? A true hobby icon.

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Has there ever been a better dealer than Rick? Incredible inventory of pennants and pins, of which his knowledge is encyclopedic, and absolutely the nicest guy you will ever meet? A true hobby icon.

Couldn't agree more.

[Exhibitman]

eBay seller policies are so punitive and unfair that eBay relocated from CA to UT, where policies that are blatantly illegal under CA commercial law are much harder to prove. My column on it:

https://adamstevenwarshaw.substack.c...seller-penalty

I got into 'below standard' status nearly a year ago because of a blown set break and I have barely sold on eBay since as a result. I am hopefully back to normal fees next month.

The tax stuff is a canard. The real issue is that eBay has raised its fees to the point that listing there for less than museum prices isn’t worth the hassle. I’ve sold hundreds of cards with auction houses over the last year instead of on eBay and the results have been very good. eBay works best now for obscure things and lower priced cards that need to be sold as singles rather than lumped into an auction house grab bag.

[ricktmd]

While I left a scorching post about the difficulty of being a seller on ebay with no rights, I believe being a buyer on ebay still is fruitful. While not as good or plentiful as it used to be there are good items that can be purchased below market value if you spend the time looking. Ebay has destroyed the category search and ease of finding good items. It requires what I refer to as ebay mining. You have to dig with clever word searches and techniques to find the rare treasures. I still find good stuff, it's just harder.

I agree with Adam. Ebay is punitive to their sellers in the ways he describes in his blog and additional ways. The 30 day ebay return policy is a happy button that is similar to Amazon or Macys. Amazon and Macys policies and business model is fine with their money. Ebay offers the same policies with my money. Buyers ignore the sellers' policies as they don't matter. I have received 3 returns in the last two months. All for fake reasons and ebay sides with low feedback moronic buyers with fake claims even past my return deadline. Claims of damage or doesn't match sellers description is used to get free return shipping on my dime. I actually lose money. Ebay loses nothing . When I get the item back and there is no damage, item works fine etc I can get a homework assignment from ebay to request my 15.00 of shipping returned which may or may not happen. The amount of time it takes to track and follow up isn't worth 15.00. I am out the time it takes to do the listing, handling the return, packaging time and materials relisting and shipping again. I laugh when I call and they say thank you for your 25 years . The seller has no rights. There is no dispute process as they don't allow it. I will say selling baseball cards aside from the fees is usually hassle free but I prefer selling elsewhere like the board or Auctions Houses that appreciate the consignments

[Lorewalker]

It is an unwelcoming experience being a seller on eBay. You have little recourse and even if you want to complain, after the thank you for being with them for XX years, your call is routed to someone in another country who truly does not give a shit and is likely working for 20% of what they would have to pay someone doing the same job in the states.

A few of my favorite things:
1) Not being able to leave negatives to buyers who do not perform.

2) eBay's refusal to ban someone after chronically not paying.

3) The bullshit returns policy that is usually nothing more than buyer's remorse or an inability to flip the item they bought and the leniency and ease with which they give buyers the ability to lie about the reason for the return.

4) As Adam points out ya have to be virtually 100% right in each sale transaction from start to finish or risk serious infractions that last for an unreasonable amount of time.

I am sure it is less abusive when you get to where PWCC got or Greg Morris or Probstien123 are but that I am able to navigate the uneven playing field when I sell is strictly luck. If I sold there regularly I am sure that would have a very short life there.

[Fballguy]

All of the complaints against eBay are 100% spot on and I agree with everything stated. But all of those factors have been in place for years and ebay, until the last year or so, was still a place I could find good stuff pretty frequently.

Something more recent changed all that and I think it has to be the new reporting requirements. I agree that people are likely selling elsewhere but for my niche...pennants...they aren't showing up elsewhere. It's like people just stopped selling altogether. Either that or I already bought them all.