Ebay rant

JoshHamilton · Jun 5, 2010

When did Ebay stop being an auction house and start being a museum?

Unless it's a card from a just-released product, 90% of everything listed is BIN/BO. I didn't really have a problem with this when Store inventory was separated from live auctions, but now everything is intermingled and it's a pain in the ass to even search for anything.

And what's with the ridiculously absurd BIN prices on EVERYTHING? I can understand a $2k BIN on a Superfractor. There's only one in circulation so there's obviously no competition. But common autos and high numbered parallels with BIN's 2x-5x what they're actually worth? I can deal with a BIN that's 20% higher than market value on a card that infrequently shows up. Fine, I'll pay a convenience fee to get an item immediately as opposed to waiting a few weeks.

I've been trying to pick up a 2008 Topps Red Hot Rookie Longoria auto for awhile. This isn't a prospect card that wildly fluctuates in price. It sells for $65 every damn time it comes up for auction, yet every moron seller has BIN's of $100-$150. I've offered $70, which is above the going rate, and get some dumb counteroffer of over $100. Same with Dan Uggla patches. Can't even find any at auction, just a bunch of $80 BIN's on cards that sell for $16.

Oh well. Guess dealers just want to show off their inventory and never sell anything

brumbach · Jun 5, 2010

It would be interesting to know what percentage of eBay sellers used to sell as shows before the internets became the primary marketplace. I suspect that many of the museum mentality sellers on eBay used to be museum mentality store owners or guys set up a flea markets/card shows in a past life. I also wonder how many sellers are doing eBay as a side gig, and of that number how many are able to take real world money from jobs and stuff to keep their lowsy sales model afloat. I only wonder these things because my eBay and hobby transactions are separate from my family's finances, money from cards goes back into cards, and no money from the general Brumbach family slush fund goes into the cards. I need to SELL stuff to cover fees and turn a profit to buy more cards, otherwise I shut it all down and get bored out of my skull.

notjomommasclint · Jun 5, 2010

i have noticed that as well... however the buyers are looking to steal everything bin bo. if you have a card priced at average market value you get 5,000 offers of 1/2 average value and some guy trying to argue a point to make you drop your price.

matchpenalty · Jun 5, 2010

Yep. way too many sellers that just want to pay ebay fees to show off cards with no intentions of ever selling them.

RiceLynnEvans75 · Jun 5, 2010

Go to the baseball card section and then click on the tab that says "auctions only". It's such a small percentage compared to the BIN category that it's unreal.

t3dudek · Jun 5, 2010

Go to the baseball card section and then click on the tab that says "auctions only". It's such a small percentage compared to the BIN category that it's unreal.

you beat me to the obvious way to fix this problem

brumbach · Jun 5, 2010

t3dudek said:
Go to the baseball card section and then click on the tab that says "auctions only". It's such a small percentage compared to the BIN category that it's unreal.

Click to expand...

you beat me to the obvious way to fix this problem

The thing that I hate about this mentality is that it kills sellers like me. I'm stuck between eBay's minimum $1.00 BIN for Store sellers and a high end of matching whatever current auctions are ending at. As much as everybody disparages Beckett as a price guide, for most issues with stable pricing, eBay SALES prices are about 10-20% of high Beckett generally speaking. So I'm stuck between $1.00 and 20%, I'm trying to keep my eBay Store BINs competitive with auction closing prices on as much as I can. But if a significant number of potential buyers are completely blocking their ability to view my items for sale, then what's the point of my putting any effort into being competitive? In my opinion, what is happening now on eBay between filtering out auctions from BINs is almost parallel to what killed off shows in the late 90's when eBay rose to prominance. Buyers stop showing up and then good sellers stop showing up, and then the remaining buyers looking for good sellers stop showing up, and then you have have crap left.

loftlife · Jun 5, 2010

Why does everyone bitch so much about Ebay?

Cripes... it's like a love fest with hating.

Ya don't like it... don't buy/sell/run a store front there... quickest damn way to end all your issues (at least the ones in regard to Ebay) other issues do not apply :lol:

Anthony K. · Jun 5, 2010

RiceLynnEvans75 said:
Go to the baseball card section and then click on the tab that says "auctions only". It's such a small percentage compared to the BIN category that it's unreal.

This absolutely blows my mind.

I remember when the auction tab was absolutely loaded and the BIN tab was much less so.

I also wonder about some of these super high BIN's. I collect two pretty low end guys, but when I see BIN's of $90+ on something that really only a fan of the player would want, I kind of feel sad, knowing I will never have that card because I don't feel the need to pay a ridiculous price because some eBay seller lacks the mental capacity to do market research on their product.

Tomlinson21RB · Jun 5, 2010

I've gotten sick of throwing in reasonable offers on ridiculous BIN prices and getting either no response or a rude response, so I stopped wasting my time. Every now and then I'll have one of those items on my watch list and see that someone put in an offer below what I would have offered, and it was accepted. I hate crazy BIN prices.

sportscardtheory · Jun 5, 2010

brumbach said:
t3dudek said:

Go to the baseball card section and then click on the tab that says "auctions only". It's such a small percentage compared to the BIN category that it's unreal.

Click to expand...

you beat me to the obvious way to fix this problem

Click to expand...

The thing that I hate about this mentality is that it kills sellers like me. I'm stuck between eBay's minimum $1.00 BIN for Store sellers and a high end of matching whatever current auctions are ending at. As much as everybody disparages Beckett as a price guide, for most issues with stable pricing, eBay SALES prices are about 10-20% of high Beckett generally speaking. So I'm stuck between $1.00 and 20%, I'm trying to keep my eBay Store BINs competitive with auction closing prices on as much as I can. But if a significant number of potential buyers are completely blocking their ability to view my items for sale, then what's the point of my putting any effort into being competitive? In my opinion, what is happening now on eBay between filtering out auctions from BINs is almost parallel to what killed off shows in the late 90's when eBay rose to prominance. Buyers stop showing up and then good sellers stop showing up, and then the remaining buyers looking for good sellers stop showing up, and then you have have crap left.

This is how I feel as well. I have been doing BIN/BOs for close to 6 years and always did very well. I was part of a minority of sellers who did it, so things evened out. Now that everyone does it, business is awful. Just because it works for some people, doesn't mean it will work for everyone. My views and sales decline by the day and it blows. eBay sucks the life out of sellers with every move they make. They will eventually learn. I'm certain they are not doing nearly as well as they used to.

ThoseBackPages · Jun 5, 2010

i wish that eBay would make Best Offers manditory

maxpower · Jun 5, 2010

JoshHamilton said:
When did Ebay stop being an auction house and start being a museum?

Unless it's a card from a just-released product, 90% of everything listed is BIN/BO. I didn't really have a problem with this when Store inventory was separated from live auctions, but now everything is intermingled and it's a pain in the ass to even search for anything.

And what's with the ridiculously absurd BIN prices on EVERYTHING? I can understand a $2k BIN on a Superfractor. There's only one in circulation so there's obviously no competition. But common autos and high numbered parallels with BIN's 2x-5x what they're actually worth? I can deal with a BIN that's 20% higher than market value on a card that infrequently shows up. Fine, I'll pay a convenience fee to get an item immediately as opposed to waiting a few weeks.

I've been trying to pick up a 2008 Topps Red Hot Rookie Longoria auto for awhile. This isn't a prospect card that wildly fluctuates in price. It sells for $65 every damn time it comes up for auction, yet every moron seller has BIN's of $100-$150. I've offered $70, which is above the going rate, and get some dumb counteroffer of over $100. Same with Dan Uggla patches. Can't even find any at auction, just a bunch of $80 BIN's on cards that sell for $16.

Oh well. Guess dealers just want to show off their inventory and never sell anything

I agree that the lack of bidding is a downer for bargain-hunting buyers. However, part of the problem is that buyers often don't have a good handle on the true demand for a card.

For example, take the Longoria Red Hot. You're right that the best prices have typically been found at auction. The lowest closing prices have all been auction listings. However, those listings have represented less than half of the actual sales. For the past 14 days, 10 have sold, 4 at auction (avg. price $65) and 6 by BIN/BO (avg. price $72.50).

Obviously there's demand for this card at a price higher than the average auction closing price. The seller is doing nothing wrong by trying to capture this additional value. Really, it seems a stupid decision to sell it at auction unless you absolutely have to get rid of it right away.

I think the best way for eBay to create greater seller interest in auction listings is to change the rules of bidding. Instead of making the closing price be determined by the max bid of the second highest bidder, simply make the closing price the max bid of the highest bidder. The buyer still gets the item at a price he is willing to pay and the seller can worry less about underselling his items. That's essentially what's happening now with BIN/BO, except without the fun of auction-style bidding.

ThoseBackPages · Jun 5, 2010

what also cracks me up are the sellers that like to respond to BO's explaining how grading "costs money", like that should factor into my offer lol

JVC · Jun 5, 2010

ThoseBackPages said:
i wish that eBay would make Best Offers manditory

The only thing that would do is force sellers to raise their BIN prices even higher. Buyers seem to always have this need to feel like they're getting a deal and hitting the BIN just doesn't satisfy that. Even if the BIN price is reasonable, you're always going to get buyers offering $1-2 less than the BIN just so they can feel like they won their duel with the seller.

Pine Tar · Jun 5, 2010

ThoseBackPages said:
i wish that eBay would make Best Offers manditory

+1
And as for me I search for bins more the auctions because I hate waiting for them to end
and if I want the card I'm buying the card and not the price (well in some cases anyway)
I just have been hoarding the 2010 Bowman cards now and like hitting the bins then waiting for
an auction to end.

Sorry you have had some bad luck as of late but hey it is a jungle out there anyway.

Anthony K. · Jun 5, 2010

ThoseBackPages said:
what also cracks me up are the sellers that like to respond to BO's explaining how grading "costs money", like that should factor into my offer lol

LUNCHBOX!!! (I haven't said that in awhile, plus I am drinking

).

I have heard this response before. And, like I am sure you feel, I do not feel it is my responsibility to pay for that grading

How's the fine 9 collection coming along?

maxpower · Jun 5, 2010

sportscardtheory said:
brumbach said:

t3dudek said:

Go to the baseball card section and then click on the tab that says "auctions only". It's such a small percentage compared to the BIN category that it's unreal.

Click to expand...

you beat me to the obvious way to fix this problem

Click to expand...

The thing that I hate about this mentality is that it kills sellers like me. I'm stuck between eBay's minimum $1.00 BIN for Store sellers and a high end of matching whatever current auctions are ending at. As much as everybody disparages Beckett as a price guide, for most issues with stable pricing, eBay SALES prices are about 10-20% of high Beckett generally speaking. So I'm stuck between $1.00 and 20%, I'm trying to keep my eBay Store BINs competitive with auction closing prices on as much as I can. But if a significant number of potential buyers are completely blocking their ability to view my items for sale, then what's the point of my putting any effort into being competitive? In my opinion, what is happening now on eBay between filtering out auctions from BINs is almost parallel to what killed off shows in the late 90's when eBay rose to prominance. Buyers stop showing up and then good sellers stop showing up, and then the remaining buyers looking for good sellers stop showing up, and then you have have crap left.

Click to expand...

This is how I feel as well. I have been doing BIN/BOs for close to 6 years and always did very well. I was part of a minority of sellers who did it, so things evened out. Now that everyone does it, business is awful. Just because it works for some people, doesn't mean it will work for everyone. My views and sales decline by the day and it blows. eBay sucks the life out of sellers with every move they make. They will eventually learn. I'm certain they are not doing nearly as well as they used to.

I'm not sure what the problem is here. Before 3/31, the default was for buyers to see only auctions. A buyer had to click on a tab to see BINs. Now, those BIN listings show up as a default. Yes, some buyers may decide they only want auctions, but most BIN sellers should be seeing a lot more views on their items as a result of the new change.

Pine Tar · Jun 5, 2010

ThoseBackPages said:
what also cracks me up are the sellers that like to respond to BO's explaining how grading "costs money", like that should factor into my offer lol

Ok then mister seller if that is the case then if it is ungraded then lower you price so I can get it graded
and if it already graded then just add that in the cost of the card but with in reason LOL

maxpower · Jun 5, 2010

ThoseBackPages said:
what also cracks me up are the sellers that like to respond to BO's explaining how grading "costs money", like that should factor into my offer lol

There are bad apples on both sides. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to give a buyer a price break because "Albert Pujols is my favorite player" or "I have the biggest LeBron James collection in the state of Pennsylvania!".

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