What Happen To Ebay ?

I just bought a Blue vol I. Says there 3500 stamps. I would have thought it would go close to $300. I paid $150.

I've been getting other great deals lately too.

Yep, I've stolen some stamps with CV's well north of $100 for 3-5% of catalog more than once. And these were sound, decent looking copies! This happens most often with new sellers, or those who only sell sporadically. Larger, more established sellers with a regular inventory seem to do better, almost certainly because far more people are seeing their auctions. The German area is the only area I collect by buying specific stamps (vs. kiloware or various mixtures) and I rarely search by catalog number because the search results will be next to useless. It's far easier to just watch certain sellers who regularly have the kind of items I'm looking for. A new seller might only have one or two interested people who find their auction during the 7-days it's open, and they may bid low because, well, it's a new seller and they don't want to take their chances. Usually I come across those types of auctions by chance, rather than searching for them.

I should add that finding specific German stamps is easy on ebay Germany, provided you search by Michel#. There, Germany is split into probably close to 100 different sub-categories whereas ebay USA has just one category for Germany with around 140,000 listings in it. Also you won't find stamps listed by any catalog other than Michel on the German site. On the US site you'll find listings by Scott, Michel and even Gibbons which muddies up the search results even more. I've been ordering more from German sellers due to this. Plus, the stamps are always top notch; the packaging is professional and the perfect mix of secure yet easy to open. The only drawback is the longer wait to get my order.

The number of listings swells every time they do their free listings promos, so it become even harder for a buyer to find the items you are trying to sell. Some categories I look in see the number of auction listings double or more during a promo period.

I can only speak on the Indian States, because those are all I collect and have ebay searches on. In that segment, ebay is very much alive and well. It's getting harder, not easier, to buy there. Specialist items - sheets, covers and even large blocks - regularly reach or exceed the current Gibbons prices.

I've had pretty much several huge months in a row with mostly returning bidders and new ones to, my penny black get multiple bids every time I put them up. My penny red stamps have been going like hot cakes, one penny red stamp on cover hit $776 last week. Most of my Zeppelins have sold and I am having trouble keeping up with it all. Not enough hours in the day. I have not seen a decline on ebay, the only decline I had was when the tennis was on in UK but that was a very short decline. I've had to secure large collections of stamps on covers and old stampless to keep up with demand. Maybe I am just lucky having a good number following my auctions?

eyeonwall: Again, if you have really good descriptions with all the right keywords then buyers do not have a problem finding your listings no matter how many other listings there are - free listings or not. If you're just browsing, yes then you will drown since there are more listings and material than any stamp show ever and too many sellers do not place their items into the correct category and ebay need to have more detailed categories. Bad or improper titles don't help either, i.e. 5 stamps do not equal a bulk lot. The word "estate" shouldn't be used for anything. FDCs usually are not postal history.

Battlestamps ---Good point about wrong listing and ebay should charge a .25 fee to move them to the correct place .

I've not used ebay ever for a couple reasons. Lots of horror stories about experiences and I've generally been able to get things I want from reliable auction houses; dealers; and the APS Stamp Store.

I had a dormant PayPal account that I looked to re-activate in early 2013 so I could sample ebay a bit, just to see what all the hoopla was about. PayPal informed me that, due to rule changes, they needed a copy of a utility bill, a bank statement, my social security number, which I could fax to them. I declined to do this. Then they suggested that I could e-mail the data, which again I declined to do. Then they gave me a toll free number I could call and talk to a representative. At this point in time; with valid concerns about identity theft; I let the matter drop. PayPal then put me into their Bill Me Later account, which I've used a couple times to pay online bills, of a non-philatelic nature, using a credit card. They then send me an invoice which I print off and pay by check. I haven't used Bill Me Later for over a year.

All in all, this experience with PayPal was unsettling, to say the least. And any desire to engage in ebay promptly evaporated.

Climber_Steve,

I'm glad you have alternatives to ebay and PayPal. I don't share, though, your fear of identity theft from just signing up for PayPal. Based on my personal experiences, my bank debit and bank credit cards are a lot less safe than PayPal. I've had to cancel my bank debit card three times, and a bank Visa card once, because the accounts were compromised by charges I didn't make. I've never ("knock on wood") had my PayPal account compromised. But these experiences do not deter me from using the Internet for financial transactions. Getting charges that I didn't make reversed has never been a problem. It is a hassle, of course, to cancel a card, and have to await a new one, but I obviously consider that a small inconvenience compared to not using the Internet for financial transactions (not just ebay and PayPal, I am a big Amazon Prime customer).

I would have nowhere near the collection I have were it not for ebay (and PayPal).

Basil

And if I can second Basil's point, I've had a PayPal account nearly since they first started, certainly long before they were acquired by ebay. I have never had a problem with it at all.

And I could be wrong about this, but I think it's still possible for a buyer to pay with a credit card via PayPal (and without using the Bill Me Now feature) without having a PayPal account. At least, they used to promote this, and I thought I'd seen it on some PayPal verbage recently.

Perhaps someone can comment who knows more about this than I do.

I've been buying and selling on ebay and with PayPal for over 18 years now. Nary a problem with PayPal. While I do buy a lot at shows and to a lesser extent major auctions, I don't know what I would do without ebay. So many esoteric items, not to mention diamonds in the rough, have come from there. It's the last worldwide flea market where one man's junk can be another's treasure (and vice versa).

It's the thrill of the hunt. Sure, one could buy everything at full retail, but what's the fun in that?

There are a lot of stamps in my collection that would not be there today (and may well not be there ever) were it not for ebay. Not to mention it makes getting rid of duplicates infinitely easier than almost any other method that would be available where I live.

I have 548 stamp purchases with ebay and paypal. No problems. Returns easier than ever. Way better than the "good old days" without ebay. Though I do miss the grand shows of the 50's & 60's in the Palmer House. I have stamps and collections I never could have hoped to obtain without ebay. For my Big Blue I am having good stamping with Stamps To Go.

I'd second the "no problems with ebay and PayPal" comments. I hardly buy anything these days via ebay - much prefer standard auctions for the stuff I look out for - but how on earth would I have shifted hundreds of lots to addresses all over Britain (and abroad) without it?

A lot of reputable high street retailers now offer Pay Pal - because it's secure for users and avoids the risk of directly sharing debit or credit card details on the internet.

Geoff

Glad you guys have had good experiences. But my issue was that the account did not get used for several years; hence the rush for updating information using methods that seemed to me to be an invitation to identify theft. How many of you would send your government identity number on an open fax?