Is it my imagination or are there fewer auctions, more buy it now/ask too much's, more "stuff"?

[stevescho]

Am I imagining things?  For what I want, I see very few auctions, asking too much to buy it now (like 2X retail), and a whole lot of just "stuff" that's not really worth anything at all (aka "not working, for parts only", broken digital watches, broken compact cameras, that nobody can fix; "empty box"; etc.).  Even a paper warranty card for $150 when you can register that item on line if you don't have one?

[ed8108]

---

@stevescho wrote:

Am I imagining things?  For what I want, I see very few auctions, asking too much to buy it now (like 2X retail), and a whole lot of just "stuff" that's not really worth anything at all 

---

Fresh, good quality, reasonably priced items, needed.

Wishing you good luck

[mudshark61369]

@stevescho,

eBay started changing from an auction site to a BIN one back around `08. So yes there are fewer auctions now.   On a search results page clicking on the Auction tab may help filter out some of the over priced BIN items.  Using Time: Ending soonest might bring up more auctions since on average auctions mostly run for 7 days, while BIN items have a 30 day listing cycle.

Maybe the reason why your searches are returning the results you are seeing, has to do with your search terms. 

For cameras, if your terms are too simplified Ex;  35mm film camera.  You will get a lot of junk. 

If your search was changed to include a brand name then  SLR, 35mm film camera  you would lose most of the compact film cameras.  You might have to do several searches using a brand name rather than a more general search but they would have fewer and more relevant results. 

For Watches,

If you do not want to find digital ones, adding  "manual wound, manual wind, or mechanical"  to your search along with wrist / pocket watch, should weed out the no longer working digital ones.

Do keep in mind that many of the lower volume or occasional sellers will list things as, Not working for parts only, because they do not know anything about what they are selling.  They may list a watch that way because they cannot get the hands to go around on their own, by rotating the knob/crown, not realizing the watch needs a battery.  Many people have no idea of how to remove the back of a battery powered watch. The same can be said of digital display watches.