eBay Bad for Health?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beck
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Beck

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I haven't seen any studies, but I've noticed for a while now that my blood pressure and heart rate go up when looking at the ridiculously high prices and/or listing practices with a lot of sellers on eBay. I also swear a lot and pray demons to descend on the seller and all his family and his descendents even unto the tenth generation. Basically its no fun anymore... can hardly stand to search it. Speaking of that, eBay has also ruined its search feature, making it all but impossible to zero in on a specific item or category. It's really bad a as a buyer and a seller. Haven't listed anything on it for a while for the same reasons... too frustrating compared to a few years ago. I wonder if it can take years of a persons life.
 
I only tend to curse ebay sellers for their dreadful photography skills! :cursing: :facepalm:

Otherwise, exclusively,I shop locally, cash only on CL. ;)

Cheers! :)
 
It's good for MY health...got 9 auctions going right now...think most will hit the reserve. LOML and will be happy for the extra dosh, and the reduction in *stuff*.
 
It is definitely not what it used to be. I dont sell on the bay anymore, just to much of a hassle. Ill buy occasionally, but CL is my mine hunting ground now. I want to sell off some of my gear, but just dont want to mess with ebay. I may just list it with a broker and forget about it until it sells.

Im with Beck, the ridiculous pricing is hard on my zen. Descriptions too, the latest one in an ad for some Ampex 499. "This tape will need to baked as it has music recorded on it" :facepalm:
 
I hit eBay *every day*....when I'm on the Internet, it's always the 2nd or 3rd stop of my round. Some of the changes they made have pissed me off, and I've sent them a gazillion "Tell us what you think" comments about it....but it's still THE place to find used gear, and even some deals on new stuff.

Yeah....some sellers have inflated their prices as much as their egos, and I just ignore them...though I have occasionally sent a message asking "are you serious?" about someone's price, and then pointing them to other links where the item sold for like 1/5th.....but most of them just ignore that, and keep their price.
There's a guy selling an Otari MX-80 with remote and autolocator, and he's asking $4k for it....which is a silly price and he's been listing it like that for months. I said to him it was never going to sell for that, and I offered to buy the remote/autolocator and a few other pieces if he wanted to part it out...and then he could sell the other parts and still makes a decent amount on the total....but nope, he just keeps listing it for $4k.

The tube prices on vintage stuff have gone through the nose, so I don't even look for tubes any more....but I have a huge supply that I accumulated over the last several years, before certain brands got crazy-expensive...so I'm good to go, though the other day I spotted some Baldwin (Sylvania) 12AX7 tubes, which are really nice tubes for guitar amps, and they guy was selling them for $15 each (I remember buying them for $6 a few years ago)...and these days $15 is actually about the cheapest they sell for. Once a "buzz" starts about a certain tube brand...eBay prices go nuts.
So I grabbed the last 3 that he had....just to pad my stock.

I haven't sold anything in about a year or so....but plan on doing some studio housecleaning this fall, so I'll probably put up a bunch of stuff....though it's crazy how much you lose on the selling prices by the time you pay all the fees and cover the shipping. I usually try to do free shipping, and adjust my selling price accordingly, but that was becoming too expensive and I was taking a loss.
 
Everything, including eBay, is going all 'app'-y with the layout. And the whole site is a maze/mess with no consistency. Oh for the daze when your username could be your email address!

Yikes, I just realized I've been buying and selling on eBay for 14 years now !!!

There's only one reason people asking higher prices -- because they can! The market generally still works itself out, BUT ... because it's online some things are misrepresented.
 
Last thing I bought on ebay was multi-vitamins.
Just wanted to point out the irony. ;)
 
I'm pretty much off the eBay buying thing, & now selling stuff on CL.

However, about a week ago I got really pissed. I missed something I was watching caus I have kids.

(2) Tascam DX-8DS dbx units for the MS16 both closed at $33/ea. (!)

I kicked myself later, but at auction's end I was cooking!

My only consolation is that my life won't change with or without them.

All in all, I'm not buying stuff, but I've sold a fair amount of gear out of necessity.

I look at eBay for pure entertainment, though.

:spank::eek:;)
 
I have always wondered what is it with US Ebay having a reserve? The Oz Ebay does not have this, maybe we just have more common sense, the reserve is the starting price?

Alan.
 
I almost always use ebay just to get little BIN things like RCA plugs or screws, or I got some ARP slider caps from Japan recently. Stuff like that. The occasional decent deal on MXL mics reliable stuff like that. Hell, there are so damn many MXL mics flower pot can't even try there....

I also got a decent deal on a receiver. But otherwise, CL now.
 
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