How has eBay impacted the market?

[Scheradon]

It's created a wide market for both buyer and seller. No more having to wait all year for that big Comicon to come or travel all around to shows far away. I still like to go to Comicons to get the personal exchanges and meet people in the hobby though, but it's nice when on a 2 degree frosty winter morning I can sit in my PJs and buy a pristine book I've been wanting and it's also nice be able to do the same to sell one.

[the blob]

I think demand is higher for all books than before ebay and if ebay (and internet selling) had never existed... let's say the market as it was in 1998 (which was dead dead dead) simply continued.

 

But more supply is out there too available to everyone (rather than sitting in warehouses or inventory), so prices are lower. So we get the idea that demand is dead. It isn't.

[Aces]

How has eBay impacted the market?

 

EBay brought me back into collecting in 1999 after 15 years of on/off dabbling after I left high school and home in 83/84.

[mafer]

Ebay has, undoubtedly, brought many things to a whole new level, and that includes collectables. What ebay hasn't done is protected the markets from fraud and fakes. They hope sellers and buyers report these to the management for correction. This is kinda like what microsoft does with its software. It lets the user find the bugs and report them, in the meantime, they get richer.

 

So, what will happen to the comic book (or any collectable) market? It will grow, competition will increase, and only those with viable monthly turnover and income from sales will survive because the fees are not going to go down. After 10 years on ebay now, I have yet to see them reduce fees even though they have said they will.

But, having spoke my thoughts on ebay's short-comings, ebay and the internet has opened the world to collectors. You can find anything on the web, and many items do find they're way to ebay. How long will it last, well, its filtering down and just like the boom of stores that opened in the 90's, its happening on the web right now and ebay and other venues make it easier and easier, just as long as you can keep up the monthly payments.

The controls though are what your side-stepping. The grading of collectables is increasingly falling into the hands of companies which want to set their own standards, often without concern for reality. Sales and collecting of comics has to be based on some standards, which the comic book industry has established and used for over 30 years. Along come the high end grading companies, and they want to set new standards because they feel that a comic can be found that is made just like a high end text book (I wonder if they expect hand engraved and inked leather wraps too). This, more than the flood of comics on the market, will kill the industry in the long run. These companies don't enjoy comics for what they are, they only see a chance to increase their profits, just as ebay does.

Will the bubble burst? only if you collect comics and not read them.

[Norrin_Radd]

Will the bubble burst? only if you collect comics and not read them.

 

Interesting comments. Welcome to the Boards!

[mar-vell]

well... just how much could you make off your books before ebay?

 

sell to a dealer? worse % of guide (usually) than ebay.

 

take a table at a show? if you have a table of high end stuff that'll work, but mostly $1-$20 books, not so good.

 

take out an ad in cbg? maybe good for high end stuff.

 

so "retail" prices are lower on most material, but you have a heck of a lot more liquidity.

 

ebay has shattered the chains of the establishment that once bound the collector!!!