eBay The eBay Official eBay Thread eBay 33 33

[workingdog]

On 4/23/2024 at 2:23 PM, 1Cool said:

There is a lot of e-bay buyers who only look at the starting items each day to see if there are deals coming available so they are playing the game that renewing the items each day will get a ton of views for the books.  E-Bay gives so many free listings each month that smaller sellers can use this practice and have very little cost.  People who buy books frequently catch on and avoid those books but there is enough newbies that come around that it makes sense to them.  If I don't have the time to post new books or run auctions then I will close and relist 50 books every now and then throughout the month since it does generate increased views and sales.  E-Bay has become a sea on books so it's tough to not get lost especially if your books are not search worthy.

Gotcha.  Thank you for taking the time to spell it out for me.

[Stefan_W]

On 4/21/2024 at 11:32 PM, littledoom said:

What a great place to be in.. Ebay has been miserable for me lately

What types of comics are you trying to sell there, and how many?

I typically list 200-300 slabs. I take current GPA value and ad a few bucks so buyers can make an offer, and set the auto-accept for a couple of bucks below value. I found that it was slow at the start of Jan, picked up by last half of Jan, and continued to pick up through spring. I was getting 5-8 sales per week at the end and was at the post office shipping out books pretty much daily. This is not high volume by any stretch, but I freed up a ton of space that I needed for new slabs that continue to come back from CGC as I make other submissions. 

[littledoom]

On 4/23/2024 at 12:02 PM, workingdog said:

Forgive me if this has been covered already but I'm trying to understand the logic behind one particular eBay seller's selling strategy.  The seller in question is called The Comic Miner.  Every single day he/she relists practically their entire inventory.  The prices stay the same.  Furthermore, how would ever know what if anything was new?

It's called "bumping", a lot of selling apps allow this

[CHASEnBLUE]

On 4/23/2024 at 12:23 PM, 1Cool said:

There is a lot of e-bay buyers who only look at the starting items each day to see if there are deals coming available so they are playing the game that renewing the items each day will get a ton of views for the books.  E-Bay gives so many free listings each month that smaller sellers can use this practice and have very little cost.  People who buy books frequently catch on and avoid those books but there is enough newbies that come around that it makes sense to them.  If I don't have the time to post new books or run auctions then I will close and relist 50 books every now and then throughout the month since it does generate increased views and sales.  E-Bay has become a sea on books so it's tough to not get lost especially if your books are not search worthy.

Great thread! I should have read this one a long time ago and kept up with it. 

You mentioned the auctions though I mainly sell slabs, I completely gave up on auctions through my eBay store because I got to the point where the winning bidders would never pay and I would have to start over again. I probably blocked around 20 before I said no more auctions LOL.

On course with the recent conversation here, I probably keep 10 to 15 items up on average. Sometimes more depending what's hot in the modern slab world. This average I would say is fine for me since it's a side hobby to pay for my own collection likes and getting my return on purchased books. Lately, it has been anywhere from two to four sold in a week  the last six weeks or so. Plus, some side sales off those purchases. Since I built up a decent watcher/follow base for my purposes, I always send coupons when someone buys from me, and the repeat buyers are usually very easy to deal with. I normally give them a small discount and throw a few extra comics in, which keeps them coming back for more and feeds the top-rated designation. Some have even asked me about specific books and I'll get them slabbed, having guaranteed a sale when they get back from CGC.

Last year I was just under the threshold we're still lucky to be under - maybe? I haven't really put too much up yet this year, but that could change. I'm still just a little under 5K so far.

My link is in my profile here, though I have always preferred to sell here on the boards when I have put up a few runs.

 

Edited April 24 by CHASEnBLUE

[Poka]

Yeah - ebay increased my monthly limit by $8 - hurrah - now I can sell a lot more (sarcasm may occur)

[Chip Cataldo]

On 4/25/2024 at 8:32 AM, Poka said:

Yeah - ebay increased my monthly limit by $8 - hurrah - now I can sell a lot more (sarcasm may occur)

Just keep selling with no issues and eventually it will increase exponentially. Or you can call and speak to someone about it, sometimes they will override the algorithm.

[Poka]

On 4/25/2024 at 10:26 PM, Chip Cataldo said:

Just keep selling with no issues and eventually it will increase exponentially. Or you can call and speak to someone about it, sometimes they will override the algorithm.

thanks., I know., I have been selling for 15 years. However, Hong Kong ebay is much more strict than US ebay in terms of monthly limits so no options of calling as they will go with the automatic increase and given I technically have received an increase I am not entitled for another one. Which is why I have 1000 slabs for sale through MCS as have no limits to sell them. 

Edited April 25 by Poka

[Chip Cataldo]

On 4/25/2024 at 6:52 PM, Poka said:

thanks., I know., I have been selling for 15 years. However, Hong Kong ebay is much more strict than US ebay in terms of monthly limits so no options of calling as they will go with the automatic increase and given I technically have received an increase I am not entitled for another one. Which is why I have 1000 slabs for sale through MCS as have no limits to sell them. 

Ah, sorry. Didn't know you were in HK.

[Poka]

On 4/26/2024 at 11:15 AM, Chip Cataldo said:

Ah, sorry. Didn't know you were in HK.

no worries. truthfully i would much rather deal with ebay US although ebay Hungary seems to give limits away for free. 0 fb with limit of more than $1mm

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394891047097?itmmeta=01HWFC4XERP15EYY2P2X4E7FTJ&hash=item5bf15730b9:g:qSsAAOSwCMBlCxj9&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4JDEE21mV4JurmN5U8g1ZWZ3i5ulVw0HUS8ksSFTXaX4dDt%2B8TkycgIvZ9PDDxLl1Xc%2Fmj25EdqwPfFz23maXsPN7qZmoU2btTiVYwKzJNArDP1oaiqwxB34%2BuEGGzxi6wgOx6yXFgRcZKJrUjFrcv6msw5eMj8PKFKGPgpGgkfqHC3AuDlShHpqCpVE8FaLCBiW%2BxYiZdePHcgCbKTGklMBkmkdB0PbY4zi8nNDxMwmis3xnJq8b7yZ8MTVMiY7YdEProhgSnHgjFgbFVesGUfgqqdMsq7QUPtSip9R8f2b|tkp%3ABk9SR8rXk-zjYw

Edited April 27 by Poka

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

Had a seller send me an offer @ 50% off . $42 down to $21. (Plus $12 shipping) I accepted and paid. Shortly after I get a message asking if I could send them a picture or copy of the offer. They said they never sent it and were trying to contact ebay to figure out why/how this happened.  Just told them to cancel. 

[littledoom]

On 4/27/2024 at 5:20 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

Had a seller send me an offer @ 50% off . $42 down to $21. (Plus $12 shipping) I accepted and paid. Shortly after I get a message asking if I could send them a picture or copy of the offer. They said they never sent it and were trying to contact ebay to figure out why/how this happened.  Just told them to cancel. 

Seems like an honest mistake by the seller 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 4/27/2024 at 8:53 PM, littledoom said:

Seems like an honest mistake by the seller 

Which is why I didn't even really question it, just said he could cancel the transaction.  It happens.  

[trademarkcomics]

eBay's item descriptions have abruptly disappeared on like half their listings. If you look at an item, then scroll down to the description you see this wonderful image:

This started a few DAYS ago. Response from eBay?

"There is currently not an approximate fix date for this, but this issue is expected to be fixed as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, eBay sellers everywhere are scouting out cardboard boxes to live in...

[Gaard]

On 4/27/2024 at 8:20 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

Had a seller send me an offer @ 50% off . $42 down to $21. (Plus $12 shipping) I accepted and paid. Shortly after I get a message asking if I could send them a picture or copy of the offer. They said they never sent it and were trying to contact ebay to figure out why/how this happened.  Just told them to cancel. 

I wish I got a 50% off offer. 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 5/5/2024 at 12:40 PM, Gaard said:

I wish I got a 50% off offer. 

That is why I took it.

Unfortunately it was an error and it was canceled. 

[Nschenks]

Not sure where else to post about this, but I'm curious for the community's opinion on this:

Just won an eBay auction for an expensive book, but I'm a little suspicious of the way the auction ended. Basically, I won the auction with a bid of $866 when my max was $866.01...but I used a sniping service so the bid went in like 3 seconds before the auction ended. Only one other bidder bid anywhere close to that, and it was $856. This was a private listing as well. I don't honestly know how someone could shill against a sniped bid, but it feels incredibly suspicious to me. Anyone know how this could be done? Or if it could be done? Or is it just the freak case where someone legitimately bid just below me (it said the bid went in at the same time as mine, indicating it was a snipe as well...just feels odd it was so specific and so close to my max...). I'd thought sniping eliminated the chance of getting shilled, but maybe I was wrong. Would love to hear thoughts on this. Maybe I'm just paranoid lol...

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 5/5/2024 at 8:59 PM, Nschenks said:

Not sure where else to post about this, but I'm curious for the community's opinion on this:

Just won an eBay auction for an expensive book, but I'm a little suspicious of the way the auction ended. Basically, I won the auction with a bid of $866 when my max was $866.01...but I used a sniping service so the bid went in like 3 seconds before the auction ended. Only one other bidder bid anywhere close to that, and it was $856. This was a private listing as well. I don't honestly know how someone could shill against a sniped bid, but it feels incredibly suspicious to me. Anyone know how this could be done? Or if it could be done? Or is it just the freak case where someone legitimately bid just below me (it said the bid went in at the same time as mine, indicating it was a snipe as well...just feels odd it was so specific and so close to my max...). I'd thought sniping eliminated the chance of getting shilled, but maybe I was wrong. Would love to hear thoughts on this. Maybe I'm just paranoid lol...

Sounds simple enough, you out sniped. Plain and simple to me, all that is circumstantial and maybe they were doing the same math you were to decide a bid. That sounds more likely. Even if it turned out to be by a buddy of the seller, they don't read minds and it wouldn't have been known to them, and tmk is still not known to them. They could be saying awe snap I should have bid higher to max out the bid or bid higher to win it.

In short if they did it could be because they didn't want to sell it low but either way, they'd have no idea what your snipe bid would be.

All ramblings, in short I wouldn't call it mischievous 

[ADAMANTIUM]

Your sure it was a snipe bid? 

That bidder hadn't bid beforehand at any time? 

There used to be a way to see how often a bidder had bid with a particular seller, is this still true?

Under the bid history it should say. Usually mischievous bidders on fake accounts don't bother to win on other people's books I don't think, so possibly that could help 

Edited 5 hours ago by ADAMANTIUM

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 5/5/2024 at 9:37 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

There used to be a way to see how often a bidder had bid with a particular seller, is this still true?

Under the bid history it should say.

Last I remember reading about the percentage of a bidder with seller, ebay had changed it to info only available with the actual bidders on an auction.

It too has been so long since I've bid in an auction and or felt this way, idk where the info is now nor how to find it, other than in the bid history details 

I DO know that it used to be available 

Edited 5 hours ago by ADAMANTIUM
Since not sense tired

[Jesse-Lee]

On 5/5/2024 at 8:59 PM, Nschenks said:

Not sure where else to post about this, but I'm curious for the community's opinion on this:

Just won an eBay auction for an expensive book, but I'm a little suspicious of the way the auction ended. Basically, I won the auction with a bid of $866 when my max was $866.01...but I used a sniping service so the bid went in like 3 seconds before the auction ended. Only one other bidder bid anywhere close to that, and it was $856. This was a private listing as well. I don't honestly know how someone could shill against a sniped bid, but it feels incredibly suspicious to me. Anyone know how this could be done? Or if it could be done? Or is it just the freak case where someone legitimately bid just below me (it said the bid went in at the same time as mine, indicating it was a snipe as well...just feels odd it was so specific and so close to my max...). I'd thought sniping eliminated the chance of getting shilled, but maybe I was wrong. Would love to hear thoughts on this. Maybe I'm just paranoid lol...

I've had this before, and recently too. I don't use sniping services, but I do often wait until about 2- seconds left and I have pretty fast internet. I was bidding on something that didn't seem to be heavily watched, and it didn't have the typical 20-second/10-second pattern I usually see on a last-minute auction. It was a small-money item, but it went from $27ish at 3 seconds to me winning with my max bid of $42ish just a second later. But it happens sometimes. For what it's worth, I bid on a couple of other similar items from the same seller and came out on the losing end. Usually I find it's someone bidding at a mark, like 1-minute/30-seconds/20-seconds, and they just put in a higher max bid than I did (or when I win, they just put in a slightly lower max bid than mine).