COLLECTIBLES

[warzak]

Collectibles is the category that launched EBay. It was a phenomena. This was because the auction format in collectibles really eliminated the middleman. Almost everything would sell. Both buyers and sellers were happy. Buy it Now and EBay Stores is a negative for this category. Sellers are in fact dealers. They do not mind listing thousands of items that never sell in hopes of finding novices with money. Because the same items and dealers are on the site, buyers now turn to Auction Houses. EBay had the auction market and could again. Solution: Have collectibles as an auction only format. Sellers should be rewarded for SALES not listings. Impose charges on unsold items and offer incentives to those who SELL. Reserves can be deployed. Eventually would be unnecessary. This because almost ALL potential buyers would be glued to the site. For those wanting to deal, breaking up collections would work. Buyers, Sellers and EBay would all succeed.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

What does this subject have to do with the format and functionality of the Community Platform Feedback board? How does your suggestion help the message boards?

~~C~~

[uncseniorsportsfan]

Sorry,  but as a collectibles seller I found that auctions are no longer effective unless the item is very rare.   And once ebay opened the collectibles market to the entire world and sompeting sites followed - there are very few "rare" items left.    Times have changed.

[megadestroyers]

Saw story about liveauctioneers.com auctioning off one of Elvis' last personal jets.  Expected to fetch a cool $3M.

[hawgryders]

As the cost of shipping has risen the local auction houses became more attractive

It now costs over $10 to send a 2 lb package from CA to NY --- which means your collectible has to be priced $10 less than what I can sell for locally

Simple Math ...

[castlemagicmemories]

I'm heavily into collectibles and that is what spurred me to join eBay in the first place years ago.  But eBay, society, and the market, I feel, has changed.

With the proliferation of web sites, devices, and sellers, and the development of online buying, things are no longer as rare as they might have been, buyers want things now, and may not care to wait through a 7 day listing only to not win the item.  Items that were rare in the early days, and ended at a high price with spirited bidding, may now have a hard time selling due to multiples of the same item being listed, and a reluctance to pay what was once considered a good price.  The bidding wars of the past may not be there to drive the price up.  Now the buyer may want the fixed price listing that allows them to buy it now.

Baby boomers may be downsizing and that contributes to more items being shown.  

Just some thoughts.

[rw011164]

Online buying has changed and is always evolving. Selling strategies change with buying habits. Successful sellers are cognizant of these changes.

I also buy antiques and collectibles. I am always looking for a good deal. I rarely participate in auctions because: I can find great deals without having to wait days to find out if I am going to get the item. Often I can have the item in my hand while an auction is still going on. 

There are buyers who love auctions and sellers often strategically place items in auction and/ or fixed price.

It is just the market conforming to buying trends

[annadryl]

There have been resellers from the start. I myself have been the "middle-man" many times.

[tkinnebrew]

Is there a question in that parag---ahem---post?

[sockmonkeydave]

@warzak

I sell aircraft hardware, it only sells when you need a window latch.

Auctions may be what made ebay, but them days are gone.

Buyers want to buy NOW...

who wants to wait for an auction to end.

Only to find they did not win... then start all over again...

[luckythewinner]

---

---

Collectibles is the category that launched EBay. It was a phenomena. { snip} Sellers are in fact dealers. They do not mind listing thousands of items that never sell in hopes of finding novices with money

The phenomenon of eBay in the early days was that the internet was new and lots of novices joined up and threw money around because they did not know any better. 

Now everyone is on the internet. Now everyone understands e-commerce. Now collectors realize that what they thought was rare was just scarce in their local area - and that very few things are truly rare. 

IMHO fixed price is good for collectibles because 95% of collectibles are not rare, and have no business being listed in the auction format. 

Auctions are out of fashion because in gneeral, buyers are more sophisticated about supply and demand and now behave more rationally. 

[ted_200]

---

@hawgryders wrote:

As the cost of shipping has risen the local auction houses became more attractive

It now costs over $10 to send a 2 lb package from CA to NY --- which means your collectible has to be priced $10 less than what I can sell for locally

Simple Math ...

---

That's the squeeze... shipping is generally too costly to auction low value stuff for any profit, and eBay is too risky to auction expensive items where over $10 shipping wouldn't matter much. 

The solution is to sell Fixed Price, with the $10 shipping already baked in along with enough extra money to cover returns, refunds, scams, and fees.  And a site with a lot of Fixed Price collectibles priced $25 over market doesn't attract many shoppers. 

This further complicates the auction business, since you can't get many bids at an auction house with no bidder butts in the seats. 

[coolections]

---

@duchess-at-speakeasy wrote:
What does this subject have to do with the format and functionality of the Community Platform Feedback board? How does your suggestion help the message boards?

~~C~~

---

@duchess-at-speakeasy

The OP's topic is in seller discussion board not the feedback board.

OP, I agree with part of what you are saying. Ebay used to give sellers who actually want to sell items in auction format a discount rebate if the item sold. That part could be reworked and allow those willing to actually sell, instead of sit, to get a discount for doing such. Everyone changed the auction format to starting bid being the BIN price. That is what killed the auctions.

[ted_200]

IMHO fixed price is good for collectibles because 95% of collectibles are not rare, and have no business being listed in the auction format. 

Depends.  Being "not rare", offering them at market price means it may well take you a decade to find a buyer.  With Free Listings, eBay sellers are apparently willing to entertain that conversion rate.  A lot of the eBay collectibles market is pretty much a museum rather than a store, at this point.  There are "collectibles" on my watch lists that have been sitting on this site since 2007. 

Auctions are out of fashion because in gneeral, buyers are more sophisticated about supply and demand and now behave more rationally. 

Auctions are a liquidation format, outside of the rare and expensive collectibles market.   Auctions aren't out of fashion, they just aren't an Internet fad anymore.   They work quite well, if you hold them in places that cater to auction buyers.   Auctions are out of fashion HERE, because eBay ran off a lot of the auction buyers in favor or mass market retail mall consumers.   

[warzak]

Collectibles are not like any other category on EBay. Aircraft hardware, machinery, cars, tosters...are all durable goods. Thus they had a function/use in mind when they were made.  The manufacturer could not price the item below a certain price or he would go out of business. Collectibles have no use. A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle recently sold for over a million dollars. This was because of an auction. Had the seller priced it at 1/2  that (as a BUY IT NOW), chances are it would not have sold (let alone reach 1 million). Again, collectibles thrive as auction items, unlike everything else where BIN works fine.