What the hell has happened to eBay

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jwg1962's picture
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What the hell has happened to eBay

Holy hell!

 

 

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It's Tax time ...

People are always looking for suckers.  This sort of thing happens with many other products.

Fortunately, these jokers don't often make a hit with these prices.

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There is a story behind that

There is a story behind that $35,000 //e system.  The guy originally posted it for $3,500.  In my opinion that was about 5x what the top end of market would be for his bundle.  I wrote him a fairly polite email telling him that, and that he might be able to get a little more if he de-bundled it and sold off the peices separately.  He sent me back an extremely butt-hurt email going on and on about how it was worth more than that because it would be "impossible" to put together another bundle like that, and hecause he had an original receipt it was somehow provenance of the greatness of it's collector value.  I emailed him again saying that actually bundles like that weren't entirely uncommon and that pretty much every piece he had could be found on eBay if someone wanted and that the receipt didn't add much value to a common bundle, especially if it wasn't originally owned by someone famous or bought from a famous store.  If it was a low serial # Apple ][ from the Byte Shop or something, maybe.  Anyway, he sent me back an even more butt-hurt email and re-listed it for $35,000 and has been re-listing it every since.  That was like 2 years ago.  Funny that he apparently hasn't had single bid.  Go figure.  Well...  he's really proving...  how stubborn he is.  Not much else.  I don't think he ever really wanted to sell it in the first place.  The middle finger graphic on the $5000 IIgs symbol (which eBay for some reason won't remove, despite it being an obvious TOS violation) was a response to a guy I knew who also sent the lister (not that I don't say "seller" because he outright admits he has no intention of selling) an email.  eBay really shouldn't allow people to list things that are not for sale.  It's just a waste of everyone's time.

 

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I agree.   All this seems to

I agree.   All this seems to do is clutter eBay with a bunch of   L@@K,  Steve Jobs, Rare, etc  items that are significntly overpriced and will never go to collectors who really want these items.  

 

That's why a year or so ago, I paired down my Apple IIe collection selling each unit for $40 to $50 plus shipping.  That seemed to lower the prices on IIe units for a few weeks because people saw them starting to move and jumped on the bandwagon.  

 

I am so disappointed with eBay at this point to allow this stuff.   Oh well.  

 

Jay 

 

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softwarejanitor wrote: eBay

[quote=softwarejanitor]

 eBay really shouldn't allow people to list things that are not for sale.  It's just a waste of everyone's time.

[/quote]

I made a new term for this. I call it the "eBay Museum"

 

It's people who use eBay to host images and descriptions of their classic computer museum. There's no intent to sell, as you observe; it's merely a platform to show off their collection, and save on bandwidth or hosting costs.

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There are other places that

There are other places that are far more appropriate for those purposes than eBay.  As much as I hate eBay charging more fees, maybe there should be a fee for infinitely relisting the same thing over and over again like they do.  There has to be some way to make all listings be actually items for sale.

 

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softwarejanitor wrote: I

[quote=softwarejanitor]

 I wrote him a fairly polite email 

[/quote]

I've tried doing this a few times over the years with various items (ebay, craigslist, etc.) where people have obviously miscalulated the price for whatever reason.  It never ever works.  No matter how politely you try to explain to them for their own benefit, you're just casting pearls to swine.  All you can do is scratch your head and giggle I guess.  There is no limit to ignorance and stupidity.

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I remeber back in the day

I remeber back in the day when eBay used to do this. The fees were not very high, but just enough of a nusience that it forced people to price things fairly if they wanted to sell them.  

 

So now you have overpriced gear that is listed for ever, people posting pitcures of middle fingers and publiclly humiliating other users trying to help so it is getting so hard to find anything decent on ebay anymore.   Craigslist isn't much better.  I found the ShopGoodwill is a pretty decent place, but the pickings are slim there.  

 

Oh well, I guess I need to stop itching about it since it isn't going to change. 

 

J

 

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These guys definitely never

These guys definitely never want to get their suff sold. They are just showing off, in response to some kind advice.

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The high priced people are

The high priced people are just waiting for someone who is a sucker or has to have it right now.

 

Look on the sold auctions to chuckle at a few people and say "they paid that much for that?!"

 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Apple+II&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&_sop=16

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I pointed that 'deal' out at

I pointed that 'deal' out at least 1.5 years ago - perhaps longer.  The only thing that has changed is the date.

 

The older I get, the more I am NOT surprised by idiots.  That moniker would apply to either the seller, or the sucker that bought it.

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This wasn't on eBay, but a

This wasn't on eBay, but a few years ago, I sold a couple of Mac IIsi's for $1,000 apiece. The customer needed them to keep his power plant running.

Not everybody buying this stuff is a collector.

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Good point ...

I've gotta say, not every Mac buyer runs their Power Plant with one either.  <smiles> 

Finding another person like that might be a real long shot.

Hey, does my 10KwH Solar array count?   ;-)

 

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Some of them are pretty bad,

Some of them are pretty bad, others were good deals.  For example,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Original-Apple-II-S-N-A2S1-4292-Motherboard-S-N-4588-w-Original-Box-4292-/202571202057?nma=true&si=37RVII5YXUoGzImo1UWGSbchvqA%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

It looks like a run of the mill Apple II, which is pretty collectible.  But then you look at the photos and realize that it's a rev 0 motherboard.  The keyboard has been replaced, but everything else is original.  A rev 0 board for $1500, with original PS, case, and box, isn't bad.  Maybe you wouldn't pay that, but if you turn around and re-list it properly (announcing that it's a rev 0), then you'd probably turn a profit.

 

 

 

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Here2Learn wrote:The high

[quote=Here2Learn]

The high priced people are just waiting for someone who is a sucker or has to have it right now.

 

Look on the sold auctions to chuckle at a few people and say "they paid that much for that?!"

 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Apple+II&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&_sop=16

[/quote]

 

Sold doesn't really mean "sold" on buy-it-now items. They will show up as sold, but they are not.  eBay "broke" this years ago to try to drive up prices.

 

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What makes you think they are

What makes you think they are not sold?

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