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Why is this forum starting to feel like Ebay? *DELETED*

Started by alecholland,

171 posts in this topic

divad

divad

Posted
Posted
It's turning into ebay because instead of having almost 100% of the time accurately graded books that people actually wanted at a fair price, we now have a lot of overpriced overgraded [embarrassing lack of self control] that people need to filter thru to find something good.

 

A "Post-1980 For Sale Forum" would get rid of half of this problem, IMHO... confused-smiley-013.gif

 

Post 1975 sumo.gif

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drbanner

drbanner

Posted
Posted
It's turning into ebay because instead of having almost 100% of the time accurately graded books that people actually wanted at a fair price, we now have a lot of overpriced overgraded [embarrassing lack of self control] that people need to filter thru to find something good.

 

A "Post-1980 For Sale Forum" would get rid of half of this problem, IMHO... confused-smiley-013.gif

 

Post 1975 sumo.gif

 

Even better! 893applaud-thumb.gif

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the blob

the blob

Posted
Posted

one person's junk is another's treasure. someone listed a bunch of moderns here at or around cover price and i thought to myself "waste of time". wouldn't you know it, he sold a bunch of them. you never know. and a lot of people like to pick up $1-$3 books on the cheap, mid grade bronze, etc. i had no luck selling a bunch of $3 books here (82 of them actually! -- plus I had quantity discounts), but I've sold a nice chunk of those same books on ebay in my store, in most cases, for more than the $3 I had them for here. from the scans they clearly weren't overgraded, just that I suppose people here are chasing less after those F/VF to VF BA type books (and some lower), depending on the book, probably have plenty of them already or only want the HG copy.

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Sal

Sal

Posted
Posted
On the other hand, we could change forum permissions to prevent participation in this board until after you have 500 posts...

 

there's the kernel of a germ of a good idea in here. i don't think post counts are the way to go - anyone can go to the testing forum and bulk up their post counts or do a Timulty and post on every thread in every forum - nor do i think that having been reg'ed a certain amount of time is exactly the way to go either...

 

probably some combination of the two. six months, 250 posts and needing a recommendation from a Forum sponsor? too harsh? not enough? who knows?

 

i know Arch doesn't want to have to process requests from members for access to this forum, but there has to be a way to improve the "come one, come all" approach as currently configured

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bigfiver69

bigfiver69

Posted
Posted

Hey lads,

 

My 2-cents worth.... I have bought and sold lots of books in this forum, so far without any complaint. Yes, there is more traffic and perhaps more dreck than 6 or 8 months ago, but I still find quality books here all the time. And unlike ebay, great conversations and on-line friendships have risen out of some of my sales/purchases.

 

Two very simple rules:

 

One... if you don't like the look of a book in a scan in comparison to it's grade, don't buy it and move on. Unless it keeps getting bumped by the seller, overprices/badly graded books will fall off the front page soon enough.

 

Two... if you're selling, offer a no-questions asked, full-on money back guarantee. And none of this 'send me back my book and then I'll refund you' bolshie, either. If a buyer receives a book and is in any way dissatisfied, post a full refund back to their paypal account right away and ask them to send the book(s) back.

 

Oh... I love the idea of pre-1975 and post-75 boards.

 

Shep

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drbanner

drbanner

Posted
Posted
one person's junk is another's treasure. someone listed a bunch of moderns here at or around cover price and i thought to myself "waste of time". wouldn't you know it, he sold a bunch of them. you never know. and a lot of people like to pick up $1-$3 books on the cheap, mid grade bronze, etc. i had no luck selling a bunch of $3 books here (82 of them actually! -- plus I had quantity discounts), but I've sold a nice chunk of those same books on ebay in my store, in most cases, for more than the $3 I had them for here. from the scans they clearly weren't overgraded, just that I suppose people here are chasing less after those F/VF to VF BA type books (and some lower), depending on the book, probably have plenty of them already or only want the HG copy.

 

When I joined ebay, there were 25 pages of comic listings...TOTAL! You could search through every new listing, every day, in less than an hour (if that). After a while, it got bigger, and grew, and more sub-classifications of comic books were needed so people could search more efficiently for what they're looking for. Same thing is happening here as the forums continue to grow, which, in part, is why the Marketplace has already been divided up once.

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october

october

Posted
Posted

 

It's simply bad form. The market isn't the place to disagree with something because the seller isn't soliciting opinions, they are trying to make a sale. Your Avengers 4 was posted in the grading forum, which is totally different.

I posted it here in the for sale forum, and there was a debate over it here. That's why I took it off of being for sale.

 

I can tell you right now that I would not be pleased if you or anyone else took issue with my grades or prices. Of course there are exceptions to any rule, but having people (including UNINFORMED people) post whatever opinions they might have is simply a bad idea. If you want this place to degenerate into constant flame wars, feel free to dog someone else's books....because that's EXACTLY what will happen once you start criticising other people's wares.

 

Of course you wouldn't be pleased if someone took issue with your grades. I would be too. Rejection of opinions on something we see ourselves as experts on would probably displease anybody. Flame wars aren't great either...but then you've got problems with a forum flooded with junk. I don't oersonally mind, but it seems like some forum members are annoyed by this.

 

It's true that the forum has been flooded with junk lately, but I think a happy median can be found between letting anyone comment anytime on anyone's books, and letting overgraded/overpriced junk pass by without saying something.

 

I know if isn't much of a standard, but most of us can tell the difference between someone who knows what they are doing, and someone who does not. I haven't really made up my mind on how to approach it, but I do agree that something should be done in the most egregious cases of overgrading.

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jonjesper

jonjesper

Posted
Posted

Just a thought...

Not all of us collect GA

Not all of us collect SA

Not all of us collect Moderns

 

Various threads, various books. If you have purchased a book you have been happy with on this board and it has been a book you got a great deal on and was in great condition, you won.

 

Sorry not every forumite is going to have all key SA books for sale. Each and every forum member at some time might have had a book that was within a grade of what you thought, that is the nature of the business. Grading is subjective to a fault and not obejctive, again nature of the business. I am sure I will get flamed for this paragraph, but cmon, is it really that horrible to have to look for things you want in people's threads?

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october

october

Posted
Posted
Just a thought...

Not all of us collect GA

Not all of us collect SA

Not all of us collect Moderns

 

Various threads, various books. If you have purchased a book you have been happy with on this board and it has been a book you got a great deal on and was in great condition, you won.

 

Sorry not every forumite is going to have all key SA books for sale. Each and every forum member at some time might have had a book that was within a grade of what you thought, that is the nature of the business. Grading is subjective to a fault and not obejctive, again nature of the business. I am sure I will get flamed for this paragraph, but cmon, is it really that horrible to have to look for things you want in people's threads?

 

Let me clarify. When I said junk, I mean overgraded junk. Not moderns. I have sold my own fair share of recent books on here, and nobody should have a problem with that. I just don't like to see books that are 1-2 points overgraded. When you start seeing things like that, what's the difference between this place and eBay? confused-smiley-013.gif

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OldGuy

OldGuy

Posted
Posted
Just a thought...

Not all of us collect GA

Not all of us collect SA

Not all of us collect Moderns

 

Various threads, various books. If you have purchased a book you have been happy with on this board and it has been a book you got a great deal on and was in great condition, you won.

 

Sorry not every forumite is going to have all key SA books for sale. Each and every forum member at some time might have had a book that was within a grade of what you thought, that is the nature of the business. Grading is subjective to a fault and not obejctive, again nature of the business. I am sure I will get flamed for this paragraph, but cmon, is it really that horrible to have to look for things you want in people's threads?

 

I think "junk" = over graded/over priced, not "stuff I don't like".

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PovertyRow

PovertyRow

Posted
Posted
On the other hand, we could change forum permissions to prevent participation in this board until after you have 500 posts...

 

I think you should change forum permissions to prevent participation in ANY board until they have 500 posts!

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OldGuy

OldGuy

Posted
Posted
On the other hand, we could change forum permissions to prevent participation in this board until after you have 500 posts...

 

I think you should change forum permissions to prevent participation in ANY board until they have 500 posts!

 

893whatthe.gifhail.gif Long time no see. Nice to see you. hi.gif

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jonjesper

jonjesper

Posted
Posted
On the other hand, we could change forum permissions to prevent participation in this board until after you have 500 posts...

 

I think you should change forum permissions to prevent participation in ANY board until they have 500 posts!

 

27_laughing.gif

might be a tad bit difficult to get 500 posts is you can' t post (which would be participation) poke2.gif

flowerred.gif

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drbanner

drbanner

Posted
Posted
On the other hand, we could change forum permissions to prevent participation in this board until after you have 500 posts...

 

I think you should change forum permissions to prevent participation in ANY board until they have 500 posts!

 

893scratchchin-thumb.gif893whatthe.gif

 

Welcome back wise one, now whenya gonna sell me some Cole books!?!? 893crossfingers-thumb.gif

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the blob

the blob

Posted
Posted

"I just don't like to see books that are 1-2 points overgraded. When you start seeing things like that, what's the difference between this place and eBay?"

 

at least here the scans tend to be big, whereas on ebay the most overgraded stuff has a postage stamp size scan.

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Scheradon

Scheradon

Posted
Posted

I'm not going to mention any names, but I have noticed some lately whose grading could be tuned up a bit. I generally ignore what they've graded the books and instead focus on the scan and the price of the book instead. If I'm not really agreeing with what I'm seeing, then I just politely pass along silently.

 

I just couldn't really see popping into someone else's selling thread and crapping all over their stuff with my opinion. What if my opinion was the wrong one? What if I am the harsh grader and they're really not all that bad? I don't know...I think the most I would do is perhaps politley PM them and chat about the book and it's grade. They then could do whatever they like with that info...use it or not. Most the time the forum basically tells them anyway by not hitting the takeit.gif sign.

 

One thing that I have noticed and bugs me a little is that not enough sellers here post their shipping upfront. I assume that shipping profiteering is not a problem here, but would like to have an idea if it's going to be $5 for a book, $2 for a book, or if it's already included in the price being asked for the book. Sometimes you want to make a quick takeit.gif hit as many hot books go lightning fast and you don't have the time to ask the seller. And if the seller doesn't post the shipping because they calculate exact shipping after the purchase, that's fine too and would be cool if they just mentioned that ahead of time. Just my feeling on it.

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