What a loss of money.

Very interesting... thank you. The fishing is obvious, but this seems a very odd way to produce a mailing list, or maybe it's just not clinking at the moment.

 

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Bidding ended - reserve not met.

 

I know several sellers who sell off site once you buy from them on eBay.

There are MANY completely free online marketplaces online for both buy it now type listings, and auctions. Free as in no listing fee, final value fee, etc.

It's shame eBay has such a stronghold on the competition.

I really wish someday there will be place like eBay where people can buy and sell coins and precious metals with absolutely none or very little fees.

Like I said, there ARE places you CAN do that, but they only have about 1/100 of a percent of the users eBay has.

I also with eBay would allow paper payments again, but they want everyone to pay 1- 2% to paypal. I have no issue with sellers allowing paypal, but it's shame many ONLY take paypal. It was actually a monopoly issue in court, but Ebay/Paypal is too huge to have anything done about it.

 

And why do you suppose everyone isn't abandoning eBay in favor of those sites?

And why do you suppose that is?

I believe you just said that there already are "place" where people can do exactly that. Why do you suppose people aren't using them?

Mostly, everybody buys and sells on eBay because that's where everybody else sells and buys. If eBay can get away with collecting 10-15% fees, it must mean that sellers feel they're unlikely to get 10-15% higher bids in a cheaper venue, or that buyers feel they're unlikely to get 10-15% lower prices in a cheaper venue, or some combination of the two.

What do people get for their 10-15%?

Buyers get:
- a wide selection of sellers competing on price
- the ability to view seller feedback, and to leave feedback that's visible to everyone
- Buyer Protection, a huge incentive to trust sellers
- corporate oversight, including the (reasonably) prompt removal of (most) bad sellers

Sellers get:
- a huge population of buyers bidding against one another
- the ability to view buyer feedback, and to leave feedback that's visible to everyone -- well, not so much any more
- Seller Protection, a significant incentive to trust buyers (not nearly as powerful as Buyer Protection, but significant all the same)
- corporate oversight, including the eventual removal of at least some bad buyers

I wish eBay would lower fees. If they did, I might buy more, and I might sell more. But I get enough benefits in exchange for those fees to keep me buying at my current level.

I wish eBay would restore some balance between Seller Protection and Buyer Protection. If they did, I'd start selling more there again -- but I'd probably be buying somewhat less.

I presume that eBay weighs the benefits and costs of these policies on an ongoing basis. I don't presume to know more about eBay's business than they do.

If you think the benefits of a no-fee venue outweigh the benefits of eBay, vote with your feet already. Better yet, come up with a viable business plan for a venue that competes on benefits with lower fees.

As for me, I buy from eBay at my current levels, I sell on eBay very little or none at all, and I hold some eBay stock to share in their profits. If they change their policies, I'll respond by shifting that three-way balance. And, yes, I'll gripe about them occasionally, too.

 

There are places just like eBay right down to a T, almost like a clone.

Ebay has such a stronghold, because eBay was one of the 1st auction companies out there. So many people use it.

There are some sites, like I said, that do have a small following. The reason more people don't use them, is because stuff does not sell for as much, nor has as much traffic.

When you have a site that contains maybe 30,000 users, and a site that contains over 30 million, it would take a large exodus of people for the other site to be popular.

 

And that just ain't gonna happen. So you're stuck with one site (eBay) my young friend. Learn to use it properly and live with it.

 

yahoo had a auction site, if something as big as yahoo can't compete against ebay, nobody can.

 

And neither could Amazon.

 

Ahh, I remember this seller. I mainly remember because his images slowed my computer down to an almost stop. I also remember Tim calling this seller something along the lines of dumb last time.

Apparently somebody does, or else the bids wouldn't have gotten so high.

 

I don't see ANYTHING in that picture that isn't common every day run of the mill stuff.

There's a lot of it, but there's nothing of any real value. Breaking it down or describing it would show this lot for what it really is, mostly junk.

I love the saying "Never confuse activity with accomplishment." I would relate that in this instance as "Volume doesn't equate to value."

Given what I see, he's actually not selling at a discount, but trying to sell at a premium to someone unsuspecting, unknowledgeable, greedy, stupid, or all of the above.

 

Yup, you nailed it. I wish most businesses (not just online auctions) would take your advice.

 

Looks like a resale nightmare. Reminds me of an age old adage of, would you rather buy thousands of coins for a $1.00 ea., or buy ten that are worth $1000 each? I wouldn't trade my beat up Chain Cent for that mess.

 

The big loss will probably go to whoever buys it. Most likely the seller knows what all the items are worth roughly and is hoping someone will pay too much thinking that they could be getting a great bargain.