Ebay Pet Peeves.

I am a buyer and a seller on ebay and I hope that I can try to make some sense of why people do the things they do.

First, bad pics; either they usually don't sell coins or small items and don't know how to use their macro function on their camera, or don't have a camera that has a macro function, or they have something to hide. You can usually see sellers other items listed and also check their feedback to see if they are legit or just a scammer.

Second, BIN or best offer, most sellers want to try to get the most possible for anything they are selling, but it all comes down to your item is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. So, if you have an item that catalogs for lets say $100, but you are the only one who is selling one then you would ask for more then catalog since there are no other competitors out there. In this instance you are trying to sell something to that one person who wants this to fill that spot in there collection and would be willing to pay more since there is no supply besides yours. If there is more supply and you have a higher price than someone else, usually the other persons sells before yours would (if they are in the same grade/condition). As for the BEST OFFER, some people list items with a high price or even a reserve because they have to much money invested in the item already and are hoping not to take a loss on it. I do know some sellers who will list an item with a reserve (if they start it with the price they want, buyers might not even look at there listing, they are essentially looking for 2 buyers to get into a bidding war) and if the reserve isn't met, no big deal, they will put it back in their safe and wait for another time to sell.

The last thing is that people have different perceptions and even guides/catalogs of what the price of a item is. It really boils down to supply and demand and what people are willing to pay. If a seller only lists overpriced items he won't sell very much if other sellers have the same items for cheaper. They will end up spending more money listing items then they are making in profits and they will eventually pull out of the market. Some people will try to low ball a seller because, lets face it, everyone wants to get a deal. I would not sell something like an ASE for under spot (I have had multiple buyers try to do a best offer that is way under spot). That is not a fair price and I could go and sell it to my local coin shop for more, so of course I would not make that deal. So all in all, I would find sellers who offer good prices and are reputable. They will always outsell the bad sellers on ebay. Also, when I buy coins on ebay if a seller won't show me the reverse of a coin or if the pics aren't clear enough, I won't bid. I choose not to take that risk even if its a good deal. Sometimes a good deal could be to good to be true. I hope this helps you out, and that you can find some great sellers on ebay that can help you with your collecting.

I don't mind bad pictures at all, I take advantage of the situation...just think about it.

Maineman is right. Look at all the people saying they won't bid if the picture is bad. So he goes in and bids like it is three or four grades lower and gets it - because no one is competing against his bids.

People think a lower start price has a lower insertion fee.

It doesn't matter if you start at 1¢ with a $500 reserve, or start at $500. IF is based on the higher of minimum or reserve.

It's been proven time and again that reserves scare off bidders ( ebay knows this--why do you think searches don't highlight items with reserves?) Why pay extra to use a reserve, losing IF and reserve fee, instead of just IF?

First, thanks for the feedback!

I understand what you are saying but I find some of this logic/thinking absurd.

As the prospective buyer, I couldn't care less what you paid for it! Just because you got ripped off or overpaid, that is not AT ALL RELEVANT to our negotiations. Just as I wouldn't expect to get a coin cheaper just because you got it at a good pricepoint when you purchased. I see this "play out" on "Pawn Stars" too. They ask what the seller paid in order to try to say ( well you only paid X for it so me giving you 2X is a great deal for you ) - BULL! If the FMV is 5X, then they are trying to rip you off and prey on your lack of knowing what FMV currently is for it.

The supply argument is also a bit weak, it isn't like ebay is the only coin source on the planet. So listing at way above "catalog" is ridiculous. And some folks ask 2-3 times not just 10-20% over.




I see this as a bit incongrous. On one hand folks talk about "catalog"/book which I tend to think of as Grey Sheet as that seems most used by dealers in my area at least, yet they then talk about prices being fluid etc. I tend to think most people use the WW/grey-sheet or whatever as their guide. That, along with a read on what such coins are going for online is as close to a FMV evaluation as you can get. The ASE discussion is on point. They are popular and almost all shops/dealers deal in them. They tend to go for $3-$6 over spot around here. I often ask what the dealer is asking for them to get a "read/tell" on their style, I also ask what they are buying "junk silver" at for the same purpose. So asking for double spot is what I am talking about. It is crazy! Yet I have to wade through all that frivolous "junk" when searching for legit offers!!

And sellers try this "but that is less than I paid" garbage all the time. It is moot and irrelevant to what I am willing to pay! You could have purchased it yesterday at way more than it is worth or 30 years ago for 1/100 of what it is now worth or gotten it free - I don't care and that isn't geremane to our haggling!

JMHO

EXACTLY. I expect that bad pics are mostly intentional attempts to hide something or to inflate the grade - and my educated guess is that is true over 90% of the time. Particularly when the seller has sold 10K plus coins and their other pics aren't obfuscated.

So bad pics either ruin an honest sellers chances of selling a coin ( few are willing to take those gambles as they will get burned mostly ), or let the dishonest cheat others.

There are numerous sellers' who list ONLY SCRUBBED/DIPPED/MESSED-UP coins and yet thousands buy from them and most give them positive feedback ( from what I can see ). One admittedly posts "stock" photos and home-slabs and has created a phony TPC. Yet I look at the feedback and so many say "nice coin" when every single one of his are scrubbed raw and essentially now "jewelry" instead of a real coin. It disgusts me how many ebay sellers are like that. A few have a decent "real" coin thrown in here or there, but many are really blatantly selling junk.

I think bad pics waste time. I'm not a fan of having to return coins ( have had to a few times but would prefer to avoid that hassle ) and IMO those bidding on bad pics either get ripped off or have to return most of them!

Sorry Buffalo, I forgot to follow up. But basically, as pointed out, bad pics bring lower or no bids. If you find the right auctions you can get some real deals....you have to be smart about it, but they are out there.I got my s-vdb for almost nothing this way and made over 8K buying a reselling over one winter using the same method.And that was just out of boredom.

You're probably speaking from experience biggfredd