Ebay, a Help or Hurt to the Hobby?

[gladdyontherise]

Some say that Ebay is the greatest thing known to planet earth, some say though that it is terrible and they refuse to buy or sell on it. You can find so many cards of a player or a team you collect, always has new items up for sale which is why Ebay has been so successful, but at the same time is a headache to people in many situations.

Ebay making a rule that paypal is the only allowed way to buy and sell on ebay , increasing in paypal fee's, and questionable customer service is what drives people away it would seem. However for all that is good with Ebay, you have to take the bad with it as well.

Ebay makes millions upon millions of dollars and is a quick and easy way for people to make money on there site, while Ebay turns a profit at the same time. However one place this seems to hurt the most are card shops, the recent decrease in hobby stores is begining to be more apparant as time moves on.

You here people always saying two things about card shops. 1) "there is no card shop within 50 miles of where i live" and 2) "my card shop has ridiculous prices". This seems to be the reason people spend there money on Ebay, because they don't have a better option to buy the items they want.

Card shop owners however do not seem to like Ebay as they say it takes away from there store making money, but most card shops do not want to sell at the price you can get a card on Ebay, so can you really blame the customer? I certainly would say no. Why buy something for $20, when you can get it somewhere else for $7. With the economy the way it is, people are looking to save any money they can.

Ebay has also been able to help collectors trade cards though unintentionally. There are some people who like to trade by sell value, and they come up with the value by looking at Ebays recent endings, that shows any item that has ended in the last 3 weeks. On the flip side, other collectors trade by book value, through a magazine such as beckett or tuff stuff and claim that sell value is hurting the hobby because people just don’t want to lose money and want to make sure they get a card that may sell higher in the future.

Either way can be considered the acceptable way to trade, it just all is based on the traders.

So, Ebay to some in considered terrible, they find Ebay as a money hungry site who doesn’t care for the users of there site, however Ebay also has many upsides and can help collectors greatly with there collections. How will Ebay effect the future of the hobby down the road? We’ll just have to wait and see…

[Pheebs888]

eBay, a Hurt or Help for the Hobby?
By Dan Gladstone aka gladdyontherise


Some say that eBay is the greatest thing known to planet earth, some say however that it is terrible and they refuse to buy or sell on it. You can find so many cards of a player or a team you collect on there, it always has new items up for sale, which is why it has been so successful. At the same time though, it is a headache to people in many situations.

eBay making a rule that Paypal is the only allowed way to buy and sell on eBay , increasing the paypal fees, and questionable customer service is what drives people away it would seem. However for all that is good with eBay, you have to take the bad with it as well.

eBay makes millions upon millions of dollars and is a quick and easy way for people to make money on their site, while it turns a profit at the same time. However the place this seems to hurt the most is the card shops, the recent decrease in hobby stores is beginning to be more apparent as time goes on.

You hear people always saying two things about card shops. 1) There is no card shop within 50 miles of where I live and 2) My card shop has ridiculous prices. This seems to be the reason people spend their money on eBay, because they don't have a better option to buy the items they want.

Card shop owners however do not seem to like eBay as they say it takes away from their store making money, but most card shops do not want to sell at the price you can get a card on eBay, so can you really blame the customer? I certainly would say no. Why buy something for $20, when you can get it somewhere else for $7. With the economy the way it is, people are looking to save any money they can.

eBay has also been able to help collectors trade cards though unintentionally. There are some people who like to trade by sell value, and they come up with the value by looking at eBay’s recently ended listings, that shows any item that has ended in the last 3 weeks. On the flip side, other collectors trade by book value, through a magazine such as Beckett or Tuff Stuff and claim that sell value is hurting the hobby because people just don’t want to lose money and want to make sure they get a card that may sell higher in the future.

Either way can be considered the acceptable way to trade, it’s just all based on the preferences of the traders.

So, eBay to some is considered terrible, they consider it as a money hungry site that doesn’t care for their users. But eBay also has many upsides and can help collectors greatly with their collections. How will eBay affect the future of the hobby down the road? We’ll just have to wait and see…

[Pheebs888]

digg: http://digg.com/other_sports/eBay_a_...p_to_the_Hobby
propeller: http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/...orum-articles/
buzz:http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/1:0433...he-Hobby?usc=1


Thanks for the article Dan, good work!

[sports collector]

The way my LCS beat this is that they now have an eBay store and there prices are often decreased on there.

Other stores have done same thing

[J.Staal_Collector]

If it wasn't for ebay I wouldn't be able to collect. The prices and availability. I collect Jordan Staal cards and it's all because of ebay.

There is one card shop remotely close to me and never has any Staal cards. Even going to the huge Fall and Sping Expo I might see between 20 to 40 cards of Staal.
I go on ebay and search "Staal" and I get like a 1000 items.

The prices are unreal. At the Expo I saw a card for $200. I asked how much of a deal I could get. He said $180. Wow, I save $20. I won the same card on ebay less than a month later for $16! I couldn't tell you how many $100+ cards I've won for under $40 or even $30.

As for card shops disapearing...all the ones I used to goto as a kid (I am now almost 33) are gone except for one, and it's been a few years since I have been there. For all I know it's gone too.

I think card shops are better off on ebay. Sure they might not get top dollar on every card they have, but there are millions of possible customers. It also saves on rent from owning an actual store.

Thanks for listening.

[dfr52]

If it wasn't for ebay I wouldn't be able to collect. The prices and availability. I collect Jordan Staal cards and it's all because of ebay.

There is one card shop remotely close to me and never has any Staal cards. Even going to the huge Fall and Sping Expo I might see between 20 to 40 cards of Staal.
I go on ebay and search "Staal" and I get like a 1000 items.

The prices are unreal. At the Expo I saw a card for $200. I asked how much of a deal I could get. He said $180. Wow, I save $20. I won the same card on ebay less than a month later for $16! I couldn't tell you how many $100+ cards I've won for under $40 or even $30.

As for card shops disapearing...all the ones I used to goto as a kid (I am now almost 33) are gone except for one, and it's been a few years since I have been there. For all I know it's gone too.

I think card shops are better off on ebay. Sure they might not get top dollar on every card they have, but there are millions of possible customers. It also saves on rent from owning an actual store.

Thanks for listening.

I feel the same way and every card shop I went to as a kid went out of business a while ago.

[LSUsg]

I love my LCS, but to go in and spend 30-50 dollors more on a box that i could get on the internet WAY cheaper would be insane. On the other side of this just stopping in the shop every other week to bust open a few packs/ talk to familiar faces about cards and the most recent big hits is alot more fun then getting a package at the door and opening cards alone. Great read on the artical

[Hairylemon]

As a UK citizen living in the Philippines E Bay is a God send. Plus I have a cool Dad who keeps my cards at his home until I go back to the UK to visit.

[beachbum314]

Hate LCS are leaving us. I don't think there is one where i live at this time. Walmart is about the only place i go now. I personally hate E-bay, they drive the prices to far down. If your old enough, you will remember buying cards at the convenience store.Chewing gum and hoping to hit the big one. There is no other feeling than hitting a great card at the store or LCS.

[y2jbrak]

Great article and I touch on my opinions on this subject in my July SCF video contest entry. What us older guys remember too is that card shops used to buy for half guide and sell at full guide. Before eBay that was the way it went. The shops that closed down first either gave you 25% guide or less and sometimes lied to you. But that whole half guide buying thing is how it always was.