eBay

I guess this one goes along with the whole garage sale thing, but I really enjoy eBay, at least the sales aspect of it. As I sit here playing an internet game and trying to write about this, while I really should be working, I think about all the stuff I've bought and sold on eBay. Ah, it's been a good time.

I think 2007 was a good year for me. I think I sold about $2,000 in 07. There was a lot of shipping involved, but since you can ship online, that got a lot easier to do. Not having to hit the post office is great, and I bought a scale just so I didn't have to worry about screwing up shipping.

I've bought very few items on eBay, not because there aren't great things out there, but because I'm a cheapskate. I've sold tons of stuff though. I think the heyday of when you could sell practically anything is gone, but that doesn't mean that there isn't any potential out there. Back in the 90's when it was new, it seemed that everything sold. as long as you weren't a jerk pricing. Now however, it is common to see only one out of ten listings end without any winning bids. Seems that for most things, there is more supply than demand.

This brings up a kinda negative point of eBay, but there is definitely a silver lining to it. The problem is that collectibles have lost some of their value because all of a sudden you have a global supply for a local demand. I had a hockey card that was worth $40 in 1994 when I pulled it out of a $2.50 pack. It went up to about $50 in the next few years, and should have been a valuable card today. I just ran a search and that same card is now priced anywhere between $1 and $10 and doesn't sell a lot. The thing is the card became available, and of course if there were 10 on eBay all listed for $40, someone decided to undercut the competition and list for $35, and set a new standard that someone decided to undercut and list for $30. Eventually collectors slowed their buying so that they could get a deal. This means that the real value of their collectibles kept going down because demand was artificially lowered, and this happened, the collectible market collapsed. I think this happened about 4 years ago, but it started about 10 years ago. I don't care what you were into, Sports cards, comic books, Beanie Babies, coins, stamps, depression glass or whatever, if all of a sudden there is a supply explosion, demand is going to go down causing cost reduction. I guess what I'm saying is if "video killed the radio star", eBay killed the collectible market.

That silver lining is that if you are trying to sell a collectible, and you aren't hung up about the value that price guides put on your collectible, you can probably get a fair price for your item if it's in good shape.