Is the summer always this slow for card buying?
VitoCo1972
Posts: 6,135 ✭✭✭
I've only been back collecting for a year and a half and last summer I was only doing 61 Basketball. It it just me or have the listings on eBay and other sites diminished a little bit? I imagine it's the summer but I was steamrolling through 7 different 70's Red Sox team sets until about mid June and all of the sudden I stopped being able to find cards that I needed. Nothing is low pop and I'm sure I've seen multiple copies for sale of a bunch of things that I need before this slowdown. Is this common? Does it happen every year?
0
Comments
<< <i>My eBay store has slowed down the past 2 weeks. >>
whats your ebay id?
/////////////////////////////////////
EBAY declared war on its sellers at the same time the "economy"
turned to caca and the buyers became ultra-bargain hunters.
During the past 70-days, in excess of 20% of EBAY's top-110,000
PSers have either gone NARU or have stopped listing. The trend
will get much more drastic before it reverses.
Despite EBAY's denials of two-weeks ago, NPB-counts have SOARED
in the past 45-days. Fake SNADs, INRs, and chargebacks are at an
all-time high. CCCBs are running so high that we can expect the major
credit card issuers to begin backwardation on many of their "buyer
protection" promises.
EBAY admitted in regulatory filings that 1-in-300 PayPal transactions
was found to be fraudulent in 2007. What is the count for 2008?
What is the count since May 19, 2008? Sellers may not know the
numbers, but they do know the trend. Why should they get in the
mix, give their stuff away for nothing, and pay EBAY for the privilege?
BUT, it is still all good for patient buyers. The bad economy will drive
many of the weak hands back into the listing pool and bargains will
be available. The folks who do not have to list, won't.
EBAY no doubt is pleased that the collectible categories are really
the only ones being adversely affected. Designer fashion, used
clothing, and junk electronics are still flying off the EBAY shelves.
The kind of carp that EBAY wants sold on its site is selling just fine.
The "list for free" deal that buy.com has, is giving EBAY some breathing
room and allowing the charade of steady listing counts to be maintained.
The STR of buy's listings is between 1% and 3%; and, their item count
is so fungible that EBAY can claim it to be as high as 500,000,000 items,
due to non-unique multiples listed. EBAY only needs to stay between
13 and 15 million "reported" listings for everything to "look fine" to the
analysts.
........................
And, if you ask me what time it is, I will tell you how to build a watch.
<< <i>"...It it just me or have the listings on eBay and other sites diminished a little bit?..."
/////////////////////////////////////
EBAY declared war on its sellers at the same time the "economy"
turned to caca and the buyers became ultra-bargain hunters.
During the past 70-days, in excess of 20% of EBAY's top-110,000
PSers have either gone NARU or have stopped listing. The trend
will get much more drastic before it reverses.
Despite EBAY's denials of two-weeks ago, NPB-counts have SOARED
in the past 45-days. Fake SNADs, INRs, and chargebacks are at an
all-time high. CCCBs are running so high that we can expect the major
credit card issuers to begin backwardation on many of their "buyer
protection" promises.
EBAY admitted in regulatory filings that 1-in-300 PayPal transactions
was found to be fraudulent in 2007. What is the count for 2008?
What is the count since May 19, 2008? Sellers may not know the
numbers, but they do know the trend. Why should they get in the
mix, give their stuff away for nothing, and pay EBAY for the privilege?
BUT, it is still all good for patient buyers. The bad economy will drive
many of the weak hands back into the listing pool and bargains will
be available. The folks who do not have to list, won't.
EBAY no doubt is pleased that the collectible categories are really
the only ones being adversely affected. Designer fashion, used
clothing, and junk electronics are still flying off the EBAY shelves.
The kind of carp that EBAY wants sold on its site is selling just fine.
The "list for free" deal that buy.com has, is giving EBAY some breathing
room and allowing the charade of steady listing counts to be maintained.
The STR of buy's listings is between 1% and 3%; and, their item count
is so fungible that EBAY can claim it to be as high as 500,000,000 items,
due to non-unique multiples listed. EBAY only needs to stay between
13 and 15 million "reported" listings for everything to "look fine" to the
analysts.
........................
And, if you ask me what time it is, I will tell you how to build a watch.
+1
Ebay is on a slide downhill when it comes to vintage.
The economy isn't helping either.
Steve
other day and paid only $30.00.
The economy is not helping for sure.
<< <i>High-end cards continue to sell at high prices; the buyers in the market for vintage cards priced in the thousands are less impacted by the economic situation, so that market has been impacted minimally if at all.... >>
Agree with this too...most of the high end stuff "KEY/CLASSIC" cards continue to rise.
I am not sure I agree with 1963 rose as declining?
Checking VCP a psa 8, there were a couple recent that sold less $1400ish, but the centering wasn't so hot.
A centered one in may sold for $1800, and for $2600 at an auction house.
Year ago prices for same card was between 1100 and 1800 with an average of about $1350.
I didn't check all grades, but typically 8+ are investor grades.
Another thing is many sellers have "left" Ebay saying they will never come back. This happens every year when Ebay makes changes, but in August and September when they start actually seeing that Ebay is the only place to really sell their items most come back and start selling again.
The new policies while I don't care for them are not as bad as some sellers seem to think they are. If buyers feel safe then you are going to sell more. I still leave feedback after recieving it still file my INRs on day 7.
As far as the economy goes. It must be very regional in the area I am there are new houses being built like crazy, everyone is hiring and unemployment is around 4.6%. Go from here to Dallas and in places like Royse City it is even crazier on what is being built. Gas is around 3.80 as well compared to places less than 100 miles away.
The facts are, the economy is shaky, people are getting squeezed by energy specalators, and it's the summertime. All of that affects Ebay traffic negatively. So do, to some extent, Ebay's new policies. But until a viable competitor to Ebay emerges, sellers will continue to naturally gravitate to Ebay as the most convenient venue to sell.
Desirable cards sell well at any time of year on Ebay, as I found out last weekend. What's challenging in the summertime is selling the volume stuff, but that's only logical. More people outdoors, longer daylight hours, and folks on vacation. None of that has anything to do with the economy, which is, as was pointed out, very regional.
I would prefer to sell everything I put up for sale via these boards, and I almost always offer it here first. Not only to avoid the fees, but also to sell my stuff to this fine community of people. I would rather y'all get it than some faceless Ebay ID. And even though it probably costs me money, I don't pimp my Ebay auctions over here.
So the answer to the question is generally, yes. But that doesn't mean it's 1929 online.
RB
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
<< <i>happens every summer, I have some 50's cards i need to sell but will wait for the cooler months.
The economy isn't helping either.
Steve >>
We bring this up every year at this time. I have some 57s to sell but will wait until after the summer, like I always do.
I have a ton of 1955 Topps All-American dups I will sell this fall, no need to give them away now.
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
If its slow, slow is great!
Its a buyers market in Vintage (1880-1941).