Question
I just thought it was time to say THANKS to ebaY, especially for the FLD.
With all the crap that everybody put up, cluttering up entire categories with all kinds of junk - average buyers can find diddly squat.
And THANKS AGAIN for the DOLLAR NO RESERVE idiocy.
As for my sales this week, I could care less. I'll be happy to clear $25 tomorrow night.
I am ecstatic about my purchases, and the type of seller that ebaY has encouraged:
Like those not being able to spell.
Idjits who list books in wrong categories.
Or without pics.
Or my favorite: pics of only the title page! (As if most buyers could care less what that looks like).
Or one sentence descriptions. Along with incomplete information.
Or gouging on shipping. (Which I can live with if total is less than 5% of market value).
Over the past few days I've sniped about a $1000 worth of old and rare books for about $25-30.
Including a first edition of an exquisitely rare book whose xerox copies run for about $200.
Heck with selling.
This is the time to BUY!!!!!!!
I'd also like to thank eBay for the huge latency, which takes about 45 seconds for a bid to get through. Great for sniping. Place my bid at 60 seconds, and have it come in at the last few seconds.
As well as the rest of the slowness of the site that can cause many potential competitors to quit the searches in disgust.
Theres nothing like wading thorugh 10,000 listings. Better than fishing!
Bound to catch something....
______________________________
THE DREAM OF REASON PRODUCES MONSTERS - Goya
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"It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
and potential mental losses." - Dubya
Answer
I almost get a sense of sarcasm coming through in there!
I have at least gotten some bidding today, but this has been the flattest Christmas / New Year I have experienced although some people are finding it very good.
You forgot to thank Ebay for rolling out a huge number of site improvements under the cover of the holiday period - with the exception of the extra ten letters for titles, mostly unwanted and unnecessary, and likely to interfere with site as they are actually rolled out.
You also forgot to thank Ebay for putting long term sellers back into their place by removing such ego building puffery as goodwill from their Ebay businesses, and reminding them that they work for Ebay and that without Ebay's approval their business is worthless. Only Ebay deserves goodwill, so members should not expect a right to retain something as key as an ongoing user ID, nor should the feedback page reflect their customer service and customer satisfaction by showing how much repeat business they attract.
I guess we should also be thanking Ebay for recognising the fact that the world does not need a simple effective and productive market place, and showing the people that flocked there for the fools that they are, by making a cumbersome, complex and unproductive quagmire that the shareholders and Wall Street have endorsed with their hard cash.
I should also be thankful for the lessons that I have learned from the management of Ebay!
Congrat's on your finds, Snakebait.
Kind Regards, Kevin
Answer
Snakey
this is what makes ebay great...
the sellers are happy to move out junk that doesn't interest them and buyers are happy to scoop good deals.
if I got ten bucks for an old book I didn't know didly about and you made a killing good for you IMO.
See FLD has its uses...all around. http://community.here.com/infopop/em...on_biggrin.gif
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Answer
Kevin,
Its great to find good things about eBay!
Not easy though....
The extra ten letters are definitely a good thing, and shouldnt slow the site down, unlike all the other useless crap like banner ads, redirections, and all the other 'improvements' that have turned the site into a slug so that only veteran sellers such as ourselves can even navigate it.
I am particularly thankful for the caliber of sellers that eBay is attracting. Like people who list 100+ identical CD's to flood categories. Or dollar store items for $10.
This gives the site the the feeling of quality it so richly deserves.
And drives my potential bidding competitors away. There is no way on earth I should have been able to make some of those purchases otherwise.
The thing about a garbage dump is that with time and patience one can always find treasures. The ultimate sport. They should make it an olympic event.
gabs,
For a wholesale market I make alot of sales to other dealers. And I sure as heck hope they can make a buck off my items!
But the truth of the matter is that the real treaures I pick up for a buck are two, are the ones that never get listed anywhere. I keep them for myself. One of the hazards of being a collector.
I never cared for Roseville that much until I picked up a $350 piece for a buck at a garage sale. Suddenly it became the most beautiful piece of pottery I ever saw. Stuff like that I can never bring myself to sell!!!!
______________________________
THE DREAM OF REASON PRODUCES MONSTERS - Goya
-----------
"It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
and potential mental losses." - Dubya
Answer
350.00
it would be outta here....fast!!!
_____________________
Answer
Oh, MOST important.. you forgot to thank eBay for giving us the safest and ONLY way to pay. PayPal. http://community.here.com/infopop/em...n_rolleyes.gif
Blanche
Answer
Ah yessss....
PayOLApal as packy calls it.
The 'forever free' payment service that will happily live on float.
Rates arent that bad as a Credit Card processing company.
Except they charge the same for direct transfers???
And limit your lifetime credit card sales so they can try to force users to use their bank accounts???
From which they can pilfer at will, and freeze accounts on flimsy pretexts, and demand all kinds of nonsense 'verification' and still streal your money.
Someone should sic the RICO Act on them...
______________________________
THE DREAM OF REASON PRODUCES MONSTERS - Goya
-----------
"It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
and potential mental losses." - Dubya
Answer
gabs,
It must've been sunday school. 'Cast not your pearls before swine'. I definitely took that one to heart.
But today was a shocker.
As a buyer it looks like most folk sobered up too early. Bought about 10 books. Paid a whopping average of 20% retail. Most of those were for resale.
But as a seller, the bidders went nuts. I'd have been happy at $20 for a sellthrough, but it went to $150.
Gotta find a way to complain about that.
A low-down capitalistic plot. Gotta be...
______________________________
THE DREAM OF REASON PRODUCES MONSTERS - Goya
-----------
"It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
and potential mental losses." - Dubya
Answer
A further THANKS to ebay for the quality of ebaY booksellers.
I had two lots of multiple book purchases from two different sellers. (All the others I simply PayPal'd immediately).
I emailed both repeatedly requesting to see if they would offer to combine shipping on multiple purchases. Especially the second, as I still have some of his items bookmarked, and told him so.
The first seller, a Dollar-No-Reserve twit with a $7 S/H fee refused to answer any inquiries sent through three different methods. So, paying an average of $9 apiece for *those* books was still a helluva bargain as each was worth literally hundreds. I just PP'd him the money, and just hope he ships. I see why nobody would bid on his stuff.... $7 is a bit too excessive for a book, and if the books were worth less than a couple hundred I prolly wouldnt have bid either.
The second seller is a real interesting character. He will happily combine shipping, and at a reasonable rate too. Very old, very rare books that somehow got run up to around $20 in the last few seconds. But now I understand why. He told me he was shilling on his other ID. Very innocently too. There is nothing I respect more than an honest shyster. I have a bunch of his other books bookmarked. He hasnt a clue on how to sell a book, but hell I'll give him an E for Effort....
______________________________
THE DREAM OF REASON PRODUCES MONSTERS - Goya
-----------
"It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
and potential mental losses." - Dubya
Answer
Good to see some of us have things to be thankful for.
http://community.here.com/infopop/em...icon_smile.gif