eBay

vanpatrick2005 · ‎10-21-2022

We need to go back to the old days on EBAY- selling whatever and how much we want like a flea market. EBAY used to be THE ONLINE flea market! Lets go back to the 1998 days, like this is SUPPOSED TO BE!! Whats with all this Chinese garbage, EBAY started with the EBAY inventor's computer flea market **bleep**!!! Lets get back to basics and sell our garage's or storage unit's **bleep** like it USED TO BE?? Why do you think the show STORAGE WARS came into being??

rosachs · ‎10-22-2022

@vanpatrick2005 wrote:
We need to go back to the old days on EBAY- selling whatever and how much we want like a flea market. EBAY used to be THE ONLINE flea market! Lets go back to the 1998 days, like this is SUPPOSED TO BE!! Whats with all this Chinese garbage, EBAY started with the EBAY inventor's computer flea market **bleep**!!! Lets get back to basics and sell our garage's or storage unit's **bleep** like it USED TO BE?? Why do you think the show STORAGE WARS came into being??

You do realize that American Pickers is staged, right? The producers plant items for the guys to 'find' that will be worth the trip. The owner of the stuff is also in on the deal - the producers set a price for these 'finds' and then have the owner ask for more so the guys can barter and 'get a deal'.

And don't even get me started on Storage Wars (and all it's regional spin-offs). Same staging - producers loading certain units with great finds, then letting the bidders know when to stop bidding.

I don't want eBay to be like a scripted TV show. I want eBay to be more like a living organism, growing and changing to survive in the environment it finds itself. Not every genetic change is a good thing - some can even cause a great deal of pain and may kill off parts of the organism. But there are still more good changes than bad, so the organism survives and continues to grow and adapt.

-Bob.

Ask me about SixBit and the tools I use to sell - I'm happy to share!
"A journey of a thousand miles begins by getting off the couch"

richard1rst · ‎10-22-2022

@vanpatrick2005 wrote:
We need to go back to the old days on EBAY- selling whatever and how much we want like a flea market. EBAY used to be THE ONLINE flea market! Lets go back to the 1998 days, like this is SUPPOSED TO BE!! Whats with all this Chinese garbage, EBAY started with the EBAY inventor's computer flea market **bleep**!!! Lets get back to basics and sell our garage's or storage unit's **bleep** like it USED TO BE?? Why do you think the show STORAGE WARS came into being??

Funny how selective memories can be.

Gallery pictures were optional and cost an extra 35 cents EACH if you wanted them

Every listing was charged a listing fee whether it sold or not - eBay Stores were not yet a reality

Once sold we had to wait for the check to be mailed - and hope it didn’t bounce

There were no cost saving flat rate or cubic rate boxes.

The post office was just beginning to experiment with a web site for tracking to prove delivery

There is more but I don’t want to be boring.

No thank you.

vintagecraze50 · ‎10-22-2022

More than half the stuff I buy is made in China, or manufactured there because labor is still cheap. As long as inflation keeps hitting the world hard people are going to shop for the cheapest alternatives.

bashort · ‎10-22-2022

@vanpatrick2005 wrote:
We need to go back to the old days on EBAY- selling whatever and how much we want like a flea market. EBAY used to be THE ONLINE flea market! Lets go back to the 1998 days, like this is SUPPOSED TO BE!! Whats with all this Chinese garbage, EBAY started with the EBAY inventor's computer flea market **bleep**!!! Lets get back to basics and sell our garage's or storage unit's **bleep** like it USED TO BE?? Why do you think the show STORAGE WARS came into being??

You could say the same thing about many things, unfortunately 1998 is long gone and it is a different world, that being said you can still sell flea market items here.

rosachs · ‎10-23-2022

"Made In China" is the current version of "Made In Japan" - and look what Japan did. Makes you wonder...

-Bob.

Ask me about SixBit and the tools I use to sell - I'm happy to share!
"A journey of a thousand miles begins by getting off the couch"

richard1rst · ‎10-24-2022

@rosachs wrote:
"Made In China" is the current version of "Made In Japan" - and look what Japan did. Makes you wonder...
-Bob.

You got that dead on. For the young'uns in the audience decades ago "Made in Japan" was once synonymous with "JUNK" There is a town in Japan named Usa. So the Japanese got smart and started manufacturing in Usa and marking their products MADE IN USA.

Time went by, smarter minds took over and now their stuff is now top drawer.

Yes, some of the Chinese stuff is junk. But in fact I have bought many items direct from various Chinese manufacturers and found the quality to be most sufficient and the delivery to be timely. "NEW" Chinese versus "OLD" Chinese mentality. The issue now seems to be political more so than qualitative.

keziak · ‎10-24-2022

Also back then people found ebay exciting and new. Lots of bidding up. Lots of people buying stuff online and many fewer sellers so it was easier to find a buyer. It was fun and people made true friends with buyers collecting their stuff. One thing I'll never forget is my first PayPal transaction. The buyer and I were thrilled about no more waiting on checks and money orders (and I didn't hold them to clear the bank, I got wads of checks all the time and none bounced).

Back then the board would post about a site tracking the number of sellers especially for the holidays. Who now wants to be reminded of how this site explodes around now?

These days I'm not sure who uses ebay (my daughter in her 20s doesn't). The thrill is long gone unless maybe you still have a collectible that people are genuinely delighted to get. I have been selling vintage computer games and have a few buyers thrilled at what I've got (though I stopped when one reported some of them didn't work anymore).

rosachs · ‎10-30-2022

@keziak wrote:
Also back then people found eBay exciting and new......
These days I'm not sure who uses eBay (my daughter in her 20s doesn't). The thrill is long gone unless maybe you still have a collectible that people are genuinely delighted to get. I have been selling vintage computer games and have a few buyers thrilled at what I've got (though I stopped when one reported some of them didn't work anymore).

I think I'm the only one in our family who purchases on eBay. My boys purchase direct from the manufacturers thru the dealerships they work for/with. My daughter is completely enamored of 2day free shipping with Amazon...and has the income to support it. My wife has a Prime account...but not for purchasing - she uses it for free kindle books (she says she has list 1K in her waiting list) and Amazon TV. The grands, those over 18, are mostly Amazon buyers as well.

I also sold off a few of my classic PC games - new in sealed box. To avoid the "they won't work on my computer", I list the operating system and hardware minimums from the box. If you can't run a DOS game on your mega-GHZ gaming system running Win11.... maybe I should sell you a good Win95-era system that -will- play that game just fine. 🙂

-Bob.

Ask me about SixBit and the tools I use to sell - I'm happy to share!
"A journey of a thousand miles begins by getting off the couch"