Early days of eBay 8 8

[MB1952]

return CGC 4.5

 

[GermanFan]

When I started collecting again (after stopping in the early 90s) around 2004 / 2005 shipping to Germany was cheap. A Box with 8 to 10 books was about 13 $. Now with the global Ebay shipping program, which is mandatory, one book is at least 20 $ shipping.

Then the Euro was in much much better shape than today (and more so in the future). I didnt realize then, that the period from 2004 to 2011 was a golden age buying wise. So many deals, a Hulk 1 in 1.0 blue for 350 $. The CSS with the severed head cover in gvg or 23 $. I sent back a 20 $ Flash 123 to the seller because it had extra staples.

Today I have pretty much stopped buying, I am still stuck with the 2004 to 2011 prices in my head. I cannot accept the new prices. I like my comics cheap.

I hope the good times will come back. 

[eccomic]

I saw a listing for a Dime Comics # 23 on ebay from a seller in Montreal and he put his phone number in the description (regrettably I do not have in image of the Ebay listing). Suffice it to say I reached out the seller and met him somewhere between Toronto and Montreal in a restaurant. He brought a shoebox with him. and BOOM.. some of the books I later certified with CGC. This was in 2011. I paid a total of $6600.00 CDN for the lot. I acquired the GA Canadian books and the American GA books were sold to Brian at Sparkle City comics afterwards. 

Some highlights below.....

Edited June 19, 2022 by eccomic

[plady69]

On 6/19/2022 at 8:08 AM, eccomic said:

I saw a listing for a Dime Comics # 23 on ebay from a seller in Montreal and he put his phone number in the description (regrettably I do not have in image of the Ebay listing). Suffice it to say I reached out the seller and met him somewhere between Toronto and Montreal in a restaurant. He brought a shoebox with him. and BOOM.. some of the books I later certified with CGC. This was in 2011. I paid a total of $6600.00 CDN for the lot. I acquired the GA Canadian books and the American GA books were sold to Brian at Sparkle City comics afterwards. 

Some highlights below.....

Great finds ec!  I love these stories.  Keep them coming.

[Robot Man]

On 6/18/2022 at 6:11 PM, KirbyJack said:

My first eBay comic purchase was my Mad #1 in the year 1990-something. I overpaid in an auction, but didn’t know any better at the time. I was thrilled to get it, and counted down the seconds.

My first mail order purchase was a MAD #1 from Howard Rogofsky for $7.50. A lot of money for a 12 year old kid. I wanted it so bad. Still have it. 

[fifties]

Wow, so many of us joined eBay in 1998; it was in May for me. 

Previously I had been going to the L.A. Shrine Auditorium annex for their monthly comic book meet, which became more and more recent books and toys.  I also had a sub to a newspaper for comic collectors where I bought and sold, but I can't remember the name of it.

Anyway, our son got us a computer, and connected it to the net.  Got on eBay, and I was like a kid in a candy store!  So many PCH!  I would buy books, read them, and the ones with lousy stories I would then put on The Bay for sale.  There were a few others like myself, and we would almost be trading between each other, with eBay as the platform.  

Remember the insertion fee for selling?  and the 4.99% FVF?  How about the set reserves in some auctions?  I never liked those.

Most of the books I bought were 20 bucks or less, and I really filled my comic boxes, from '98 up till maybe 2004 or so.  Then slowed down, and now it's just very occasionally, since I have damn near all the PCH and crime books I've wanted, with just a handful to go.

One of my more expensive purchases, about 15 years ago at $30;

[The Black Hand ®]

On 6/19/2022 at 10:54 AM, Robot Man said:

My first mail order purchase was a MAD #1 from Howard Rogofsky for $7.50. A lot of money for a 12 year old kid. I wanted it so bad. Still have it. 

I used to order from Howard. Books would come between two thick pieces of cardboard with a brown paper wrapping.

[Tri-Color Brian]

I got into ebay late...2012.  I guess I missed most of the great deals, but I still found a few.  I think the most rewarding deal was finding this book in 2014 for $20.  I had looked for a copy since 1993 without success.  The book has recently gone way up in value, but as far as I'm concerned my copy is not for sale.  I still find a few great deals on the bay, but it's getting tougher.  Oh well, that's the collecting biz...

 

 

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 6/19/2022 at 1:11 PM, fifties said:

Wow, so many of us joined eBay in 1998; it was in May for me. 

Previously I had been going to the L.A. Shrine Auditorium annex for their monthly comic book meet, which became more and more recent books and toys.  I also had a sub to a newspaper for comic collectors where I bought and sold, but I can't remember the name of it.

Anyway, our son got us a computer, and connected it to the net.  Got on eBay, and I was like a kid in a candy store!  So many PCH!  I would buy books, read them, and the ones with lousy stories I would then put on The Bay for sale.  There were a few others like myself, and we would almost be trading between each other, with eBay as the platform.  

Remember the insertion fee for selling?  and the 4.99% FVF?  How about the set reserves in some auctions?  I never liked those.

Most of the books I bought were 20 bucks or less, and I really filled my comic boxes, from '98 up till maybe 2004 or so.  Then slowed down, and now it's just very occasionally, since I have damn near all the PCH and crime books I've wanted, with just a handful to go.

One of my more expensive purchases, about 15 years ago at $30;

Yeah, remember when most L.B. Cole books were still cheap?    I think that ship has sailed...

[clarkkentdds]

I joined EBay in 2000. Had some painful battles against mammanook and tensense... never figured out who tensense was. I think mammanook was Geppi?

Edited June 20, 2022 by clarkkentdds

[Randall Dowling]

On 6/18/2022 at 10:29 PM, Dr. Love said:

One of the amazing things I learned over the Ebay years was how active Jim Halperin has been at a level that I thought inconceivable for a collector with his wealth.  I saw that a certain portion of his time was spent hunting, tracking, and bidding on all manner of books at all sorts of price ranges.  And it wasn't like if he wanted the book, then no one could stand in his path.  He'd put in his snipe at a certain price, which might be $35, $350, or $3500 - and that was that.  Kinda blew my mind.  It was clear to me - he really really loved comic books.

I sold one or two of my Gaines File Copies to him via eBay auctions.  I remember being kind of shocked when I saw the buyer.  Agreed, he was bidding on a lot of material.

[adamstrange]

On 6/19/2022 at 8:32 PM, clarkkentdds said:

I think mammanook was Geppi?

[circumstances]

On 6/19/2022 at 8:32 PM, clarkkentdds said:

 I think mammanook was Geppi?

Babadook? Marmaduke? Babaganoush?

Edited June 20, 2022 by circumstances

[kimik]

eBay was great for single book and collection buys up until the mid 2000s, but I found Yahoo Auctions to be even better for finds. I nabbed a few small GA collections and plenty of SA/BA OO collections (a couple that were unread run continuations from GA/Atom age collections) there as there were fewer people buying there. It was awesome until it ended and practically everyone switched to eBay. It is funny to look back at how cheap things were up until 2005 or so. I can remember buying 12 copies of CSS #22 in a 6 month span ranging from VG to FN for $20 - $60 apiece. I felt the market was crazy when I was getting $200 - $400 apiece for them a couple of years later.  

[Surfing Alien]

Everyone here is focusing on buying, but I'll provide a different perspective.

I joined ebay in 1998 as well, and, as a small time dealer to support my various collecting habits, ebay was THE great equalizer. The prices I got for things amazed me, since previously, as a small fry, you only ever had the mercy of whatever dealers were near you and the localized small conventions and/or flea markets to set up at. Within a few short years, I sold hard into that opportunity. Sure, there were pitfalls, like listing fees for items that didn't sell, but if you learned the game, small time sellers got more for their stuff than they ever would have gotten selling their collection wholesale to a dealer or piecemeal at local markets where the interest for different things was hit or miss.

Of course it wasn't for anyone, but for small players smart enough to figure out the game, it was a godsend. When CGC came along, I slabbed many of my Golden Age super hero books and was amazed to get full guide to 3x guide on books that I never would have been able to discover those prices on before the bay. Of course I wish I had all those books back now given current prices but it doesn't change what a game changer ebay was for folks like me.

I only dabble in comics now, mostly still selling off the remnants of my former collection, but I still sell Vintage Paperbacks all the time on the bay and for me, it is like 1998 all over again, as I sell books there regularly for prices I couldn't get elsewhere to people I never would have reached otherwise. It's a relatively small time stuff but it makes me enough to keep me doing it and refreshingly free of the get rich quick by any means folks that are always squirming their way into other hobbies.

[Buzzetta]

On 6/20/2022 at 9:32 AM, Surfing Alien said:

Everyone here is focusing on buying, but I'll provide a different perspective.

I joined ebay in 1998 as well, and, as a small time dealer to support my various collecting habits, ebay was THE great equalizer. The prices I got for things amazed me, since previously, as a small fry, you only ever had the mercy of whatever dealers were near you and the localized small conventions and/or flea markets to set up at. Within a few short years, I sold hard into that opportunity. Sure, there were pitfalls, like listing fees for items that didn't sell, but if you learned the game, small time sellers got more for their stuff than they ever would have gotten selling their collection wholesale to a dealer or piecemeal at local markets where the interest for different things was hit or miss.

Of course it wasn't for anyone, but for small players smart enough to figure out the game, it was a godsend. When CGC came along, I slabbed many of my Golden Age super hero books and was amazed to get full guide to 3x guide on books that I never would have been able to discover those prices on before the bay. Of course I wish I had all those books back now given current prices but it doesn't change what a game changer ebay was for folks like me.

I only dabble in comics now, mostly still selling off the remnants of my former collection, but I still sell Vintage Paperbacks all the time on the bay and for me, it is like 1998 all over again, as I sell books there regularly for prices I couldn't get elsewhere to people I never would have reached otherwise. It's a relatively small time stuff but it makes me enough to keep me doing it and refreshingly free of the get rich quick by any means folks that are always squirming their way into other hobbies.

Great post. 

I had sold things on the prodigy message boards and the aol message boards where we would circumvent the rules by for example selling Star Wars toys for "Yodaskins".  eBay opened a wider audience where I was no longer at the mercy of the one toyshop or two local comic dealers in town.  I no longer had to sell power rangers out of my trunk to parents of entitled children at Christmas time to help pay for the upcoming semester's school books. (There was no half.com or Amazon). 

eBay WAS the equalizer as you mention and we have not looked back.  It was the napster / limewire of its time in terms of selling.  Everyone could become a seller and it greatly influenced how many hobbies would develop and move forward.  I had never held a Yak Face figure in person.  I knew it existed.  However, once eBay came around I could complete my Star Wars figures and finally own one.   Things that were supposedly scarce and unheard of ever being seen suddenly appeared in great number online.

Today, we see a shift where individual comic shops closed down and had to restructure due to the competition of collectors selling their items online.  A comic book shop could no longer charge NM prices for a Fine copy of Hulk 181 because we had 100 other copies to choose from online. 

I like how eBay has changed things for the better.  

[Surfing Alien]

On 6/20/2022 at 9:42 AM, Buzzetta said:

I no longer had to sell power rangers out of my trunk to parents of entitled children at Christmas time to help pay for the upcoming semester's school books.

I like how eBay has changed things for the better. 

That first line is hilarious - and the second is true for me too. I'll confess to b*tching about the never-ending policy changes over the years but currently, I can list 1000 items in my store for $20ish a month and I only pay fees when my items sell. That's a GREAT model for a small time seller. And since what I sell doesn't involve $1k per micro-grade price differences on subjective grading criteria, it's always easy for me to work out any differences of opinion on grading or pricing so it's perfect for what I (and many others) are doing. I always make things right if there's a problem so there's never negative feedback problems.

I think much of the ire that has been directed at ebay by comic folks is better directed at the market forces/prices and the shenanigans that bigger and bigger money has attracted into the hobby. The 1990 Card/Comic crash sucked a lot of fast operators out of the market and ebay + CGC brought a lot of action back in over the last 20 years.

[MB1952]

good old days. 

[circumstances]

On 6/20/2022 at 9:32 AM, Surfing Alien said:

Everyone here is focusing on buying

The original post asked who got in early and found good deals

[Humpty-Dumpty]

I first heard about Ebay in 1997 from a fellow collector, who purchased a comic from me on CBG. I got so many good deals and great stuff that I won't even try to numerate them. In fact, I got so much stuff from 1997 to about 2007 that many of these boards were complaining I was driving the prices up to high. I stopped buying on Ebay around 2010, I think the heyday of Ebay for comics and related collectibles ended around 2012. Not a bad run...