Question
You may remember that I commented here a couple of months ago that (a) they changed the sporting memorabilia categories so that it was called "Fan Shop", a term that does not lend itself to antique sporting memorabilia, and (b) that in my experience it affected the market adversely.
Our heroes in the Ebay category department must have heard my comments, or those of people with similar views to me.... as they have now seperated "Sports:Fan Shop" from "Sports: Memorabilia".... long before Ebay interfered with this facet of a strong market, the memorabilia was divided into the relevant sports, and, oddly, it worked well.
Now that we have the memorabilia categories back, they have been, err, "adjusted" to make them, err, more appropriate to just about anyone who would never dream of using them....
So how have these God's of online auction recalibrated the sporting memorabilia categories:
First Split:
* Authenticator Pre-Certified (whatever that means but it is the final name of the category)
* Autographs - Original (which goes on to break down into a number of sports)
* Autographs - Reprints (no further breakdown)
* Game Used ( further broken down into 6 sports and "other" )
* Other Sports Memorabilia (see next bit below)
Okay, I generally use other sports memorabilia because I do not usually sell sporting equipment, so this is how they have split down the "Other Sports Memorabilia"....
* Baseballs
* Bats
* Gloves - Baseball
* Golf Clubs
* Pennants Flags
* Photos
* Publications
* Ticket Stubs
* Other
Call me dumb (I know you do anyway) but I could have sworn that the first four of those would have fitted into the "Game Used" categories, but I suppose that this forces the suckers to list in two categories. If you saw some of the amazing old stuff relating to golf, and the prices that it got, you would understand why this bothers me. Is a golf enthusiast really going to plough through all of these categories full of every other sport, or are they going to just use search and plough through 5000 computer programs of computer golf games. This will kill off much of what was left of the market after the last mighty death blow they served up...
Of course, I may be wrong and I just may be failing to recognise the genius of those in charge of the sporting categories.
Not impressed, Kevin
Added: I only use golf as an example, because it was a market that I watched closely. All sports are affected equally by this ludicrous redesign of the categories.
[This message was edited by Kevin_T on MON October 06, 2003 at 07:56 AM.]
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so baseball can't have its own category
there are only 6 other sports in the world...
I have a bunch of stuff to list in these categories, and now I am not so sure I will even bother...geez....what to do, what to do
eBay...BUY a frigging clue...!!!
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G'day, Kevin. Not quibbling with your broader point, because I agree that Ebay has screwed up most of their categories by proliferating categories and creating artificial distinctions. Makes it very hard for anyone but the most devoted browser to find anything.
Small point, though, but when you say
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> but I could have sworn that the first four of those would have fitted into the "Game Used" categories <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I think you're incorrect. The term "game used" is reserved for the miniscule portion of all the athletic equipment that's manufactured that actually is used by the named athlete in an actual game. So, if you're in a shopping mall here, you might see 20 teenagers wearing a 76ers jersey with "Iverson" on the back, but it's a good bet that none of them would be "game used" (i.e., actually worn by Iverson in an actual game).
Slightly OT: I've always been suspicious of the "game used" notation (well, actually, I'm pretty suspicious of most recent athletic memorabilia, particularly autographs, but that's a different subject). When I worked on Capitol Hill, one of the petty little services Congressmen and Senators provided their constituents was to send them "a US flag that actually flew over the US Capitol." And, sure enough, they did. They had a fulltime employee whose job it was to go to the flagpole with a pallet of flags, hook them up and run them up the flagpole and down the flagpole as fast as he could. When demand was especially high (leading up the Persian Gulf war, for example), they'd have more than one person at it, using multiple flagpoles. Similarly, I envision Shaq or Jordan or another equally "image" conscious athlete, wearing a jersey during an exhibition game and changing jerseys during each stoppage to create an artificially large supply of "game worn" gear.
Oh well, I guess that's why the motto isn't "caveat vendor." http://community.here.com/infopop/em...on_biggrin.gif
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I have a question about game used clothing and equipment
are the athletes paid to use this stuff, and how many times do they change a shirt in a game, there seems to be a lot of this stuff out there compared to the amount of games played. I visualize a player saying to the coach...hey call time, I gotta change my shirt and autograph the old one.....
is there a wholesaler where one can purchase this stuff?
Reason I am asking, I was researching Eric Lindros one day, and I came across three sellers who had hundreds upon hundreds of fairly modern game used stuff.....it made me curious.
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I know this is OT, but I wanted to address this point (bolding mine):
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> one of the petty little services Congressmen and Senators provided their constituents was to send them "a US flag that actually flew over the US Capitol." <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I know this must seem petty to some, but these are the flags that are presented to the next-of-kin at veteran's funeral services as part of their "full military honors". We know that these flags are just run up and then down, but it just doesn't mean as much to have any old dollar-store flag serve the purpose. The fact that there is such a demand for them is a testament to how many people served their country and deserve to be honored. And, yes, I know that there are more people receiving these flags, but I would bet dollars to donuts that the majority go to vets.
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G'day Leon,
Yep, I got the "game used" memorabilia wrong. I was thinking that it was simply anything that had been used whilst actually playing the sport.
G'day Gabs,
That type of sporting memorabilia is a virtual industry within itself, but it also appears to be an area (along with autographs) which is very open to fraud. My preferred interest is the more "historic" or unique items of sporting memorabilia. At least old programmes are not fake (allowing for the obvious reprints), and some of the old toast racks made up of golf clubs or hockey sticks (as an example) are great fun to handle.
Cheers, Kevin