Anyone Else Addicted To Ebay?

Terrible habit I've picked up, can't help myself.

 

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Ebay? Never heard of it.

I thought this was a Detecto thread.

 

Yeah, I figured out that I like buying and selling stuff. So now I trade stocks online. I spend less time on Ebay now.

 

Nope. I tend to not pick up any type of addictions.

 

Nope. Every time I start getting into it, their fees slap me in the face and I come to my senses...

 

I'm talking more towards the buying side of ebay, so many things available.
Since i'm into junk silver theres just been to many things for me to pass up as of lately.

 

As much as more experienced collectors tell me not to buy from ebay I do. I actually make daily scans for toned franklins. You just never know what will pop on the market. One thing that I have stopped doing is bidding on auctions. It is all BIN now with make an offer. Over half a million coins for sale on ebay right now. That would be a showroom for miles.

 

I know you how y'all feel. Selling, not so much. But buying is just so simple and all the options and variety. It's like window shopping via the net. Even if I don't buy I find myself always looking.

 

I like to look, but the prices usually get bid up too high. It seems whenever I think I've found a good deal, it usually gets bid up to an unreasonable price right before the end and what a disappointment that is.

 

I simply am addicted to buying coins. Ebay allows me to feed my habit any time, any where, so basically is equivalent to having a 24 hour crack dealer.

 

i try not to look at ebat at times. i sometimes bid on one coin i may need, next thing i know, i have 7 coins won.

 

There are obviously cheaper places to shop, but can you find what you're looking for? Ebay gives you access to so many products......there is value in that. There IS the occasional bargain but that sure in the heck isn't why I use it. Buying is fun and you can shop and compare pretty easily. Plus, if you've ever sold on ebay you know...it's a great way to get more then a LCS will offer. Geez, sounds like I work for em....I don't.

 

Hello my name is Jason and I am addicted to ebay.

 

I hear you man. I would suggest trying what I do, and that is go through EBay and place snipes at the price you would be willing to pay. Then just ignore them. Every once in a while you may get "You have won an auction" email, other than that you don't have to stress over losing anything.

I am so cheap sometimes I will place 100 snipes for a week and actually win two items, sometimes none. However, I am not tied to Ebay, and not as emotionally tied to losing out on a coin in the last second.

 

... but with no arrests or jail time.

Bruce

 

Welcome Jason!

I would say I am somewhat addicted to getting great deals. The Buy-It-Now doesn't really interest me that much, because if it was such a great deal, they usually wouldn't still be up there. Its crazy how many people monitor ebay and how much they do. I've sold things where I started to list 10 different things I was selling and before I was finished listing the 10th item, the 1st had already been bought, so like 5 minutes or less.

It's the possibility of getting a coin for much less than its worth that drags me in. You always see coins trading at crazy low prices and you hope that it is the one coin that no one is watching, but then two people bid in the last 3 seconds and its bid up to what the coin is worth. Although, if that always happened, I wouldn't ever go on there, but now and then you find one and you watch the seconds count down waiting for the price to change as someone out-bids you, but it doesn't, then time expires. "OH YEA" - koolaid voice.

P.S. - Then you see the "Pay Now" button and you go "crap, where the heck am I going to come up with that money" lol

 

Which experienced collectors told you that? E-Bay is saturated with pitfalls but there are thousands of people who sell coins on E-Bay. Believe it or not, some of them are actually very knowledgable and professional sellers who offer fantastic coins. Once you identify these sellers, you can add them to your favorites list and become a loyal customer. If you collect toned Franklins, Greattoning and Kryptonitecomics should already be on that list. Both offer high quality rainbow toned coins in a no reserve auction format. Shane's photos are outstanding while Richard's could use some improvement. Both have very loyal customer bases and you will not win an auction cheaply. That is why people consign coins to them.

My advice is to avoid throwing the baby out with the bath water. E-Bay can be a great place to obtain coins if you have the requisite knowledge to avoid the pitfalls. I buy most of my cheaper coins (less than $200) on E-Bay and most of my big ticket items (more than $500) come from Heritage. I will search absolutely anywhere to find a coin that suits my collection.

 

Nice post.

I do similarly. I actually have about 10 auction searches and 20 or so dealers I usually peruse, and generally do not search categories. Too much time. I do find more and more Ebay listings, even auctions, to be much higher than I can get elsewhere nowadays, there still is deals to be had. Just a month ago I got a group of 23 Elymais bronzes for less than $10 a piece. They were better grade than average, and each of them on Vcoins are going for around $50.

There are still deals, just much fewer than a decade ago. More pitfalls as well. But, that is what experience and due diligence is for.

 

It's true, Ebay is endlessly fascinating. I'm a buyer and seller there. I have my dates I look for and I look every single day. I have a hard time going 24 hours without buying a coin. Sad, I know. But there it is.