Claude,
I applaud you for writing an objective narrative evaluating your thoughts
regarding ebay. The ebay then..........and now. They were realistic and
void of any personal vengeance, but simply a record of your experiences
before and after...............Again, an objective view of "what ebay is
now" and how one might still benefit from it, if put into perspective.
I personally still believe ebay has some play in it; at least for a few
more years. Yes, in spite of their self serving attitudes, their frivolous
and absurd changes.......... their participant be damned mind-set. I'll
probably stick with it, to degree, for a few more years..............Vaughn
At 04:48 PM 6/9/2008 -0400, Claude Litton wrote:
Bruce
The picture you paint has some interesting details but it is not as dark
as you paint it. Life changes and you have to go with it. Before I get
into eBay, let's talk posters in general. When I began poster collecting
you were selling at Christies and also auctions in which you sent out
flyers and we had to call in to buy items. Most of the time I was told
that what I wanted was sold. These were dark days and there weren't many
places to get posters. Movie Collectors World would arrive by overnight
mail to my home and I would spend an hour or more with a magnifying glass
and then frantically call to find out that what I wanted was sold. We
really had no clue as to what was rare and valuable and what was fairly
common. Ebay changed all of that. The auctions allowed me to really add
to my collection. I am fortunate in that I can afford to buy pretty much
what I want and I saw a lot that I wanted. As time passed more and more
people arrived on the scene and we found out what really was scarce and
what was fairly common. The cream has risen to the top. You applauded
ebay and established yourself very well. All of us went into buying
frenzies at the beginning because we thought we were obtaining rare
items. In many cases we did, and many times we did not. I bought many
only to find out they are plentiful in supply. I bought many posters on
ebay and most are worth much more today but many will never reach what I
paid for them. (I am thankful for the ones that turned out well as they
outnumber the others) Basically, ebay's arrival was tremendous and I will
always be thankful it arrived.
Packing was a problem and still is especially because I buy plaster
fragile plaster statues. However, I have overcome this problem (and with
everything I buy including posters). I email the seller and discuss
packing before I pay. I never pay until I obtain a reply from a seller
that I have no experience with. When the item is fragile and valuable I
ask them to take it to a UPS store where it will be packed by
professionals and I pay a little more. It is well worth it and I have
been fully satisfied ever since. Every seller has listened to my
suggestions for packing and I have not had a damaged item (due to packing)
in quite a while.
Ebay does not enforce categories and I just recently complained on mopo
about Ricksmovie who is flooding the US originals 1940's category with
70"s posters. However, this does not mean I will stop looking. I have
noticed a pattern to Ricks listings so I quickly pass it by. We just have
to learn to ignore these things so they don't get the better of us. There
is no question that ebay does not care but it is still a very important
venue to obtain items for my collection.
Now for today: I used to spend approximately $30-75,000 per year on ebay
and auctions. This has dwindled down to approximately $15-20,000. This
is not because ebay has become bad. It is because I have bought almost
every poster that I ever wanted. As the years have come and gone I have
filled the roster with my wants. Just as Michael always publishes his
want list on mopo, I have a want list also. However, it has gotten very
small and no matter how bad ebay has gotten, I will be there if I find one
I am seeking. For example, a few weeks ago I picked up a one sheet of
Rose of Washington Square. I have been trying to get this poster for
many, many years. There have been no Chans for auction (that I do not
own) for a long time. My sci-fi collection wants are approximately 5
posters and I recently was outbid on one I was waiting for. However,
there will be another one, one of these days.
My point is that we have all been collecting a long time and our
collections are pretty full. I have over 300 posters framed in my home
and in my office with virtually no wall space left for posters. (My wife
only allows me to hang them in our finished lower level and not in the
main part of the house). My office is saturated and that is where I hang
the three sheets). I search ebay 15 minutes each morning and 15 minutes
each night. I do this even when away, as I did this weekend when I was in
Missouri. (Had I more time I would have called on you Bruce, but I was
only there 2 days.)
I have a huge collection of plaster big head statues of mainly movie
stars. My collection which is over 300 was accumulated over the last 11
years on ebay. However, I rarely buy one these days and it is not because
I do not want to do so. There are very few out there that I do not
own. So-------finding rare ones takes much more time and I spend less money.
I also do not want to buy any poster over $2,000 unless I want to display
it. It makes no sense to throw it in a drawer. Therefore, unless I love
it and am willing to take a poster down (which I also love) then there is
no sense in buying more.
Summing up, there is no question that I detest ebay's attitude, their
inane changes, just for the sake of change, and their constant attempt to
milk more money out of sellers. However, I have no intentions of "Packing
it in and quit buying on ebay cold turkey" to use your language. That
would be cutting off my nose to spite my face.
Hope this answers your question Bruce and hope you quit your time extended
auctions also. Allow sniping and you shall prosper.
Claude
In a message dated 6/9/2008 8:32:59 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
I USED to be a really regular buyer on eBay (for a while, my buying level
was so high I needed a full-time employee to take care of paying,
unpacking, leaving feedback, etc). Not just movie paper, but also vintage
glass frames, paperback books, 1939 World's fair items, #1 magazines, and
a few other areas I somehow wandered into.
I had a lot of really good searches saved, and I also would go through a
few select entire categories, and also check all the offerings of the
sellers I bought from the most.
One day, I noticed that eBay had added a lot of unnecessary categories,
that really messed up my category searching, and worse yet, many sellers
were posting items wherever they wanted, and no one was policing this at
all, and complaints to eBay went unanswered.
Later, I noticed that most of my searches had gotten screwed up (some kind
of changes eBay had made), and I was just unwilling to re-do them all
(since eBay might ruin them again at any time).
I also noticed more and more sellers being deceptive in their titles,
meaning I would have to click on the listing to see what it REALLY was.
Sometimes titles like "Casablanca, rare style original movie poster" might
turn out to be a 1990s video poster!
Finally I noticed that many of my "favorite" sellers were listing less and
less, and when they did list anything good, they would usually have a high
starting price, unwilling to gamble their good posters on an eBay that was
clearly delivering less and less in the way of good buyers.
Worst of all, I was finding that a growing percentage of my purchases took
longer and longer to arrive (sometimes I would have to complain to get it
sent) and a growing percentage of my purchases were not very well
wrapped, and a growing percentage of my purchases were ovrer-graded and
the seller had somehow "missed" extremely obvious defects.
ONE DAY, I JUST PACKED IT IN AND QUIT BUYING ON EBAY COLD TURKEY. Do I
miss finding lots of cool stuff? Absolutely! But do I miss the hour a day
I used to spend searching all over eBay, finding something that seemed to
be promising but that turned out to be nothing, or do I miss the crushed
packages, or the over-graded items? Not at all!
HOW ABOUT YOU? How do your eBay buying habits NOW compare to a few years
ago, both in terms of time spent on the site, and total money spent?
Bruce
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