Comments on: Talking eBay at the Card Show

By: Mike Travers

Mike Travers — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:51:46 +0000

Checkoutmycards.com and sportlots.com are both great alternatives to eBay. Checkoutmycards is especially gaining a lot of momentum and has recently partnered with Blowoutcards. I’ve both bought and sold on there and like it a heck of a lot more than eBay,

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:07:47 +0000

GCA I see your point in grouping them, but it just makes more sense to list them as singles on other sites now. It is easier to keep track of inventory when each item has been marked out as it sells.

Last month our eBay store fees as a total for about 1400 cards was roughly $65, and we sold maybe $15. The fee structure is terrible and the only things I plan on listing there from now on are high end pulls that I don’t want or other merchandise. It doesn’t pay anymore to even try to unload unwanted cards to pay for ones that I do want.

By: GCA

GCA — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:01:49 +0000

I’m a set builder and I look to ebay to find cards that my local shop or fellow traders don’t have. I’ve always wished that sellers would group their singles into lots rather than putting up each one individually, at least the commons. Maybe the fee structure will encourage this now. I would much rather buy a lot where I need at least half of the cards for a good price than spend 3x as much on a bunch of singles. Group ‘em in team lots or number runs and you might move ‘em better.

By: ToddUncommon

ToddUncommon — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:21:55 +0000

Hobby sellers are just getting squeezed all the way around. The market tumble (soft demand) for trading cards exerts downward pressure on prices, and the economic slump slows buying activity.

Checklist of Pain:
- shrinking card market
- lower prices / values
- higher sales / store / processing fees
- increased shipping costs

So card value and prices are sinking, and eBay continues to double-triple-and-quadruple dip into your shrinking profit margins, where does that leave the seller?

Now that more and more items are closing at lower and lower dollar amounts, you really start to feel the pain after the bidding whales have gone into hibernation.

The one good thing about the situation is that some previously hard to find or pricey items can at least be found on eBay, and maybe even affordable, given that there’s more supply as people are quasi-dumping some primo stuff in order to generate any kind of activity or revenue.

By: White Sox Cards

White Sox Cards — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:18:37 +0000

Selling singles was my bread and butter, before the pricing structure change. I would get people in my store by offering a large variety of cards from many different years. The star or rookie cards would get them in the door and they would discover the commons. They would fill up on cheap commons to either fill out their sets or to rack up more discounts on shipping. Either way, I was getting my excess cards out the door.

Now, I’m lucky if I get one sale a week sometimes. I make enough to cover my eBay expenses and have a little left over to maybe make a small purchase. My original intention of making money to cover my card expenses vanished with the new pricing structure. Numerous complaints to eBay (in writing and over the phone) have been ignored.

By: Matthew Glidden

Matthew Glidden — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:30:18 +0000

Nice write-up of the situation.

Setting fees aside for the moment, what do you think of the conversion from mostly auctions to many more BIN lots? Does it suck away a lot of the eBay “fun” and customer draw?

By: lettersofblue

lettersofblue — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:34:52 +0000

Wow, sometimes its eerie how you stumble across articles as you are finding out for yourself the plot of the article for yourself. For instance, I have an Ebay account with 229 positive feedback. I have 100% rating and I just did my calculations on what it cost me to list 43 cards. 30 of the 43 sold. I had high end cards on there like an 08 Topps Triple Threads 3x Jersey / Auto of Desean Jackson / Eddie Royal / James Hardy #/36 (sold for $36), an 08 Peyton Manning Triple Threads 3x Patch #/9 (didnt meet my reserve and final bid was $22 and change), 08 Sp Authentic By The Letter Phil Hughes auto #/25 (sold for $17) and a few others. I ended up with a final dollar amount of $287.41. Here comes brutal reality. It cost me $43 to list those cards not to mention what Pay Pal has taken off there share I ended up after cost of bubble mailers, soft sleeves, plastic sleeves, and team bags to seal them in I lost a total of $87.41. I do agree with this article. I think that if you list a card for $.99 without a reserve that you should be charged your $.15. Not $.15* and when it ends we will accrue more payment. I listed all 43 cards and with a credit of -$4.88 it said my balance was just under $15. I look today and it jumps up to $42.97. Why even list? I think seriously Ebay is killing the market. I have been a witness to the prices of cards steadily dropping over the course of 2 years. Its horrible and being a seller and collector I am disgusted.

By: Iamjoecollector

Iamjoecollector — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:41:16 +0000

The low value cards are a mess to sell on eBay. I suppose lots might be the best value for buyer and seller especially when it comes to set collecting. BIN upick lots maybe.

As far as boxes go. Maybe too much competition or actual box value is well below cost for most products.