Would you all stop with the fecking eBay whining?

[RockMyAmadeus]

well, actually, and I'm not saying this isn't a 5-10 cent a book bulk purchase, but having decent runs of titles actually makes that particular offering a lot easier to sell on ebay.

 

Already stated.

 

for example, i would not spend 3 hours on that simpson lot. I'd spend about 10 minutes, a couple of scans, a quick zip through, etc. and stick it up on ebay for a $49.99 opening bid

 

1. "Properly" listed.

 

2. No one can examine a lot of 100+ comics in less than 10 minutes and get anything close to a good idea as to condition AND do a couple of scans AND list them on eBay. Ain't happening. Just COUNTING the books will take you two minutes, at a minimum.

 

3. Yes, and how long will you spend with the questions anyone has, processing payment, packing the books properly, and getting them to the post office? Properly packing a 100+ lot of books takes a minimum of 10-15 minutes for the BEST packer.

 

And if there's a problem? Then what?

 

Add up the time. Add up ALL the time from the time you receive the lot to the time you receive positive feedback. If you expect to sell that lot for the "$100+" that MRCB mentioned, you'll find it's closer to three hours than "10 minutes."

 

[Shootydog]

Open up an Ebay rants and raves FORUM TOPIC so people can whine and moan about their ebay transactions with impunity.

 

Its a shoot anyway, right?

 

[Calamerica]

[the blob]

2. No one can examine a lot of 100+ comics in less than 10 minutes and get anything close to a good idea as to condition AND do a couple of scans AND list them on eBay. Ain't happening. Just COUNTING the books will take you two minutes, at a minimum.

_________________________________

 

Oh jeez louise, I'd look at/scan the #1 and anything else that pops in the guide and do a book in bag quickee FC look at everything else. These are mostly 50 cent box books for criminey sake! Assuming everything looks "new" I'd say average grade is in the 9.0 - 9.2 range with many above that..

 

Yes, making sure all 100 are there might take a little bit.

 

But I think I can do it in 10 minutes. I used to sell krap lots on ebay and devote that much time to each. The main thing that will bog me down is how slow ebay is at the various stages of a listing. let's make it 15 minutes then.

 

Packing is another story, agreed. And 100 issues requires a trip to the P.O. That's the real PITA. This could take 45-60 minutes total.

 

As for the value of my time...considering my employer does not allow me to sell my legal services outside of the office and I do not earn one extra cent for working extra hours, making $10-$15 an hour in my spare time isn't so terrible. It helps pay for chinese, indian and sushi delivery over the course of a month. Honestly, I do a lot of this ebay work while watching the insufficiently_thoughtful_person box, so really, I don't feel like I'm using any time at all, I'd just be sitting in my lounger snoozing anyway.

[MR.COMICBOOK]

had a pile of Marvel John Carters that my lcs didn`t want or he would be kind enough to take them off my hands for a nickel a piece,I declined his offer then I sold them on Ebay for over $200

------------------------

 

 

Seriously, did you have like 1000 copies? Someone paid money for those? Criminey, I had better go dig mine up, maybe I can get my 25 cents back.

John Carters have been selling good since the Disney/Pixar has announced they are going to make a trilogy. Pixar John Carter Trilogy on the way.

Lots of books sell on Ebay if you bundle them as lots. example I will buy a run of Rom to read but wouldn`t just buy a few Roms here or there.

[the blob]

hmmm. good to hear, i actually had a nice run of really sharp copies...i wonder if they're still really sharp

 

 

o.k., on the time = money point, yes, if you take every minute of the transaction, negotiating/buying the books, picking them up, checking them out, etc etc., those lots take more time than i'm talking about and from a B&M store or full-time dealer's perspective, i guess you have to factor in every second. from a collector's/seller on the side perspective, it's all fun and part of the hunt. admittedly, i would not find it terribly interesting to go through those 8 or 9 long boxes. if the material were a bit more vintage it would be more fun.

[Comicopolis]

I would like a complete run of Marvel's John Carter comics.

[the blob]

I'm missing a couple of issues or at least the Frank Miller one. Those got pulled out of general 25 cent box circulation in the 80's.

[Jeffro.]

[Dr. Balls]

 

I don't mind Ebay.

 

I think it's easy for people to forget that there is a gigantic portion of the population that don't have access to weekly comic conventions and limitless LCS options - so the next best thing is Ebay. And last I checked, there's no shortage of crooked dealers in places off Ebay, either.

[Artboy99]

Ebay is very much like gambling to me.

 

I have had some horrid dealings, I have had some awesome ones.

 

I will share a positive Ebay deal I had.

I pulled the trigger on a Hulk lot that included 2x 180, a 181, and 2x 182.

The images were not the biggest, but the price for the entire lot wasn't as much as I would expect and from what I could see I figured the books were all at least fine.

The 181 ended up being a very nicely centered and great color 7.5 copy. The 180's I sold for 300.00 and 325.00 and I also sold the 182's for 50.00 and 75.00.

 

I paid 750 for the entire lot. The end result? I got all my money back by selling the 180's and 182's and ended up with a heck of a nice copy of Hulk 181 for free.

(thumbs u

[Dr. Balls]

My good experiences far outweigh the bad on Ebay. I'm sure it's different based on collecting goals. 95% of my WTB stuff I post here eventually ends up coming from Ebay. I always start here when looking for things, but for some areas of collecting it's easier to find stuff on Ebay.

[Wall-Crawler]

I have been on the board for awhile and I have never understood all the that many fine boardies spew about eBay.

 

Does it have its problems? Absolutely. So does every big company. I mean, it is not like no one has ever had a problem with buying and/or selling on the CGC boards or with CGC itself or a car company and so on and so on...

 

However, every time I get a survey from them, I just keep repeating the same things over and over and over. If everyone did that, maybe something would stick. Who knows though right?

 

Simply complaining though and not saying ANYTHING also makes one part of the problem too.

 

I have been selling and buying there for several years with very few small bumps on the road. Overall, I have had good experiences. I am attempting to resolve an issue with one person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed bag who left me unfair DSR's (one out of five stars for six separate transactions for shipping - 6 books within Ontario for $10 total). I was frustrated with the regular customer service person and I got bumped to an account specialist, so we shall see...

 

However, one bad buyer should not be representative of the majority of buyers (or sellers) and this recent experience has certainly NOT been the norm for me.

 

Buying and selling there is like buying from almost anywhere else, ask LOTS of questions, read feedback or seek out reputable dealers, ask for photo's. If the answers or information you get are unsatisfactory, wait until a different item comes up. Very few books are "impossible" to get - And if you want it *that* bad, be willing to wait for the right book by the right seller. If you are a seller, protect yourself as much as you can (proper insurance, tracking).

 

Mind you, if a competitor to eBay came up, I would definitely give them a shot too.

 

 

[VintageComics]

 

Mind you, if a competitor to eBay came up, I would definitely give them a shot too.

 

 

There is an international commerce site called Alibaba (based in China) that grosses more than eBay and Amazon combined. They also own Vendio and Auctiva.

 

They are coming out with a new site called 11 Main for the US market and it seems to specifically be going after eBay.

 

It's going to be interesting to see how it does.

[dupont2005]

I've used Alibaba. If you look hard enough you can find good deals.

[dupont2005]

I know of people who operate businesses 100% by purchasing on Alibaba and flipping it online.

[stanley1883]

I have 2 main gripes about ebay:

 

1- the seller has virtually no protection from deliberately bad buyers

 

2- The cut they take off the top automatically is way more than they deserve considering their absence of anything that even remotely resembles customer service

[Designer Toast]

11 Main seriously needs to get it together. Right now they have to approve every single item you list, their CSV doesn't work most of the time, and they don't have their own listing tool - you have to use Vendio for the listing.

 

Aside from that, which I'm told they are working on, the max fee you get hit with is 3.5% with a $50 fee cap, five-cent listings, and they was to focus on promoting sellers. That is extremely appealing and I'm willing to wade through their start-up difficulties so that I can avoid eBay.

[VintageComics]

11 Main seriously needs to get it together. Right now they have to approve every single item you list, their CSV doesn't work most of the time, and they don't have their own listing tool - you have to use Vendio for the listing.

 

Aside from that, which I'm told they are working on, the max fee you get hit with is 3.5% with a $50 fee cap, five-cent listings, and they was to focus on promoting sellers. That is extremely appealing and I'm willing to wade through their start-up difficulties so that I can avoid eBay.

 

Yup. I was on the phone with their rep and she told me they'd be sorting that all out.

 

They have a lot of capital behind them but right now it's a bare bones outfit.

 

 

[Chip Cataldo]

I'll offer up my services here and say that if anyone has books to sell and wants eBay prices without the eBay hassle I've gotten my business model down to a nicely well-oiled machine. I have built up several great forumite references from the last year of selling and have now accumulated a large following of repeat customers.

 

Basically, you send the books and I take care of the rest...scanning, grading, listing, packing and shipping. You send the books and I send you profits. If there are refunds after the fact I deal with it completely...eat the cash and re-list the books on my own. Commission is definitely negotiable and I'm told I'm very easy to deal with.

 

References available upon request, and I'm always looking for new clients.

 

Peace,

 

Chip