I was on ebay today trying to find if any of the 2009 Exquisite Cards had slipped through, and I found this auction that gave me quite a chuckle. My favorite part is the subtitle.
Ebay can be the best place in the world, but it can also be a scam ridden cesspool, teeming with horrible and stupid people. When I got my virtual MEBAS (Masters of Ebay Buying and Selling) after spending years of working within the system, I have a list of grievences that I need to air per my pre-Festivus party planning list.
First, if you buy an item, you better be ready to pay for it then, not seven to ten days later. I know that eBay policies lay out their feelings on it, but paypal has changed the game. Fifteen years ago, it was done all through the mail, so I can understand any issues they needed to institute policies for. However, now, with most sellers ONLY taking paypal or similar services, there needs to be a common courtesy statute. I don’t want to hear about any money problems a buyer has, because that’s a ‘your problem’ not a ‘my problem.’ Pay as soon as you possibly can click the mouse over to paypal because I hate waiting when they knew the bill was coming. If you didn’t have the money you shouldn’t have bought, plain and simple.
Second, I hate people that don’t check their emails. This kind of relates to the above, because I have gotten the “I didn’t pay because I didn’t know” excuse way too many times. This also relates to item questions and BIN offers, especially when your iPhone gives you instant email updates. If I send a question, I expect a response ASAP, at least within that first 24 hours. That gives ample time for you to find out the answer and send it my way. Waiting until two minutes before the auction ends is complete poop. With BIN offers, I understand that you want to gauge interest in offers, but don’t let me sit there waiting. In fact, I avoid BIN/BO items with multiple expired offers.
That brings me to the next thing, BIN offers themselves. Ebay gives sellers the opportunity to counter offer, so they need to fucking use it. If I give you a reasonable offer, I think it is well within your role as a seller to counter if you do not think it is enough. If I am lowballing (which I have given up on), then I understand. But don’t reject my market value offer because you are a douche with no understanding of the BIN system. Don’t put your item up if you arent going to sell.
Speaking of selling but not selling, I have said before that using ebay as your personal photobucket is stupid and a complete waste of my fucking time. If you arent going to sell your item, go post a mailday message on a board or something. I don’t need to waste my time sending offers your way if you arent going to sell. Yes, yes, I know that there are success stories of people putting ridiculous BINs and getting a sale from a crazy person, but that is the exception to the rule. Stop with the show offs and get back to your regularly scheduled auctions.
Also, please do not send me a list of demands with your lowball BIN offer. I am not going to ship to Taiwan when it EXPLICITLY says otherwise in my auctions, and I am not going to waive shipping because you are begging me to help you. Ill deny you every single time just for being a thorn in my side.
Lastly, I hate shitty photos. If you have a card for sale, give me a good pic or I am going to bid lower. It is your responsibility to provide an accurate description of the item, not just a blurry cell phone shot. Spend the extra two minutes to get out your scanner or digital camera, and I will reward you as a buyer. God that pisses me off when I see something I want with a shitty ass photo.
Now, who has a good festivus pole that I can put a best offer on?
Over the last few months, eBay has been playing around with their auction pages, something that has made a lot of people angry. The exception to this was, up until about a week ago, you had the choice of using the old style page or the new one. As far as I can tell, from this point forward, we are not going to have that choice, which is both very good and bad at the same time.
Since eBay is the lifeblood of many of us for singles that we want to purchase, I want to discuss bidding practices for possibly getting the card you want, at the price you want it. I know for me, I have personal policies that I only break under very particular circumstances, and I am hoping that this discussion can help some people out, or at least prevent stupid bids from happening to my card.
First, the question of bidding late versus bidding early always presents itself with an auction that is not BIN/BO. I know when I take a look at an item, I always look at the clock first. Normally, unless it is a card that I know wont come up again for a while, I wont even open an auction unless there is a BIN or less than a day left. Its just pointless to examine an auction for a non-rare card if there is eight days left on the timer. In fact, if the card isnt low numbered or rare, you shouldn’t be bidding early either. Just put it on your watch list if its important, and wait until later. Early bidders suck when an auction first comes up, mainly because it normally disqualifies a BIN/BO, and puts the auction in the seller’s court if he is a shiller. If the card is rare, it’s a little different, because early bids can sometimes prevent off eBay sales, and can put you in the drivers seat for watching the item grow. However, the shill is still a factor, and it is always a good idea to look out for that.
As for the BIN/BO auctions, its always safe to believe that the card is not going to go for less than it usually does. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but it’s mostly a waste of time to use lowball offers. If you actually want the card, its better to just offer fair market value, plus a possible incentive of a few extra dollars, just to prevent a loss because the seller hates you. BIN/BO is a great way to buy cards, unless you are dealing with a shop that still operates on book value. Then you should just avoid the item in the interest of time, as they are not going to be accepting reasonable offers. Also, if you want the card, and you put in a lowball offer, don’t expect a counteroffer. Most people, including myself sometimes, just think you are some kid who doesn’t know any better, and will deny you without a thought. If you are indifferent to the card, go ahead and lowball, you may get lucky. No reason to risk a card you want because you want a crazy good deal.
In terms of late bidding, I usually wont bid on a card unless there is less than 30 seconds in the auction. Because sniping, or “eFucking” as my dad calls it, has become so popular, its stupid to put in an early bid on a card you want without considering how many other people want it. Sniping is a great idea, especially if you have found a good program, because you can easily enter in the max price you want without having to sit there and wait. As for me, I don’t like to use programs, mostly because I like to see the auction develop in the last seconds. If the card ends late, I will set an alarm if its important. Its just a thing for me, doesn’t happen often that I need to go out of my way to be there. Plus, the card is going to go at or around SV 99% of the time, so putting in early bids of 10 bucks on a 100 dollar card is just not going to be a good use of resources – unless, like above, its rare and succeptible to off eBay deals.
The important thing remains, if you see a card you want, just be smart about it. Don’t be stupid enough to let a card go because you want to get the best possible deal. Its better to assume the card will go at the expected price, and feel good when you get a deal. Also, the golden rule remains, unless you get some 2,000 dollar card for 200 bucks, there is no reason to go posting steals all over message boards. I will come and strangle you with the cord from your desk lamp.
Per new policy, unopened and ungraded wax packs are no longer allowed to be listed on eBay. Thank god. I guess after the massive amounts of pre-searched and resealed wax, eBay has decided it would be best to stop that from happening. So far, this is only for true WAX packs, which is like plugging a hole in the bottom of the sinking ship, so its not the complete ban on single packs altogether that should be enforced. However, with so many one hit per pack products out there, that would be pretty tough.