Ebay

EBAY

Ebay is a professional auctioneering which, for a modest fee, allows the use of it's services as an auction house. You can visit the EBAY web site for more information but I will hit the highlights here.

A few rules of EBAY

  • Ebay isn't free. Each item costs 25 cents each to post and a 5% commision if you sell it through Ebay.
  • Ebay allows you to post and sit back. No tallying or tracking bids. The software does all the work
  • Ebay has a feedback system which allows you to rate sellers and buyers before dealing.
  • Ebay has a registration system which prevents sellers from getting away scot-free if they don't honor their end of the bargain.
  • Ebay permits direct links to your web site to allow you to show pictures of your books, a major plus.


    • Drawbacks of EBAY

  • Ebay uses e-mail addresses as bidder names. Ergo, anyone looking at an item you bid on can get your e-mail address. Spamblock can't be used so you can just imagine who gets your address.
  • Ebay uses the "last man standing" approach to bidding rather than "Going, going, gone" approach. The bottom line is that if someone outbids you be pennies seconds before the auction closes you won't get a chance to respond.
  • Ebay absolves itself of all grading responsibilities and dealer accuracy so "Caveat Emptor".
  • Ebay charges you the quarter whether your book sells or not. This can be a hefty charge on a $1 book.


    • I have been using Ebay for roughly 6 months now and have come up with a few (obviously biased) opinions on how things should be done. I'll summarize them here and evolve them as I continue to use the service. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

    Rules for Buyers

  • Obviously, bid cleanly and hold up your end of the bargain. Don't waste the seller's time.
  • Save yourself a lot of trouble and bid your maximum amount off that bad. The system automatically raise the existing bid the minimum amount and continues to do so until it reaches your maximum. So you may actually win the book at less than your maximum, but it saves you several double checks.
  • Register and don't move around a lot. Most sellers require it now anyway.


    • Rules for Sellers

  • Avoid Reserves. Place a minimum as low as you can stand to lose the book. The one thing I hate more than any other aspect of Ebay is bidding against some aggressive bidder only to find that no one gets the book.
  • Includes scans for big-ticket items. It will improve your lot considerably if we can actually see the book. Also, scan the book, not a picture of the book. A scan of a picture taken from a distance is worthless in judging grade.
  • Put the grade in the title (i.e. Flash #128 NM!). This lets the more discriminating (i.e. big spending) not waste our time with low grade, cheap Silver. On the other hand, it also helps people who can't buy the high-grade stuff more easily identify books they can afford.
  • Skip the cheap modern or low grade books. It is way too much trouble to bid on a book that's only worth 50 cents and run the risk that if you win just that, you'll be stuck with a 50 cent book and $3.00 in postage. Most people won't bother. Lump all those books together and peddle them in a No-Minimum-Bid auction on Usenet. Also, when they don't sell, you still get dinged for the quarter!

    After all this, you may asking what's the deal with prices? To address this, I scanned the EBAY holdings for ~100 GA and SA DC Comics. These have been compiled and compare to 1996 Overstreet Guide Prices. You can see that Guide by following this link to the EBAY GUIDE.

    And that's it! Ebay is a novel and intriguing alternative to traditional comics buying venues and occasionally, there is an Easter Egg to be found. Good luck in perusing it's holdings!

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