Category Archives: eBay Auctions

Ebay Pisses Me Off Sometimes

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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?

First Favre Certified Vikings Auto Hits Ebay

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The first of the Favre autos is up right now, and the seller wants a shitload. So, Panini gets the first shot in, but there are only a few other than this, and its a sticker. It doesnt look awful, minus the top of his head, but they sure created a huge hullabaloo over a sticker auto on a few cards.

Im Beginning To Wonder If Ebay Even Thinks Before They Change Policies

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I just got an email from a few people, detailing eBay’s new policy over photos. Starting shortly, all user photos uploaded to eBay’s systems will be available for use for anyone who chooses to use them. That means, when you post your card, your clothes, your anything, someone else can use your pictures when they sell theirs.

I have one thing to ask.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY THINKING?

As if eBay wasnt a breeding ground for counterfeit cards and other valuable items, it has now opened the floodgates. Now, instead of providing your own photo, or unethically ripping someone else’s picture, you now have an eBay sanctioned way of scamming people. Im guessing the pictures will act much like the video game, DVD, and book libraries, where stock pictures are listed as such, but for people who arent smart enough to tell the difference, its a license to cheat. Considering these people are already the ones that buy the cards we laugh at, its going to get bad.

Im praying this isnt abused, but we all know what is going to happen.

Fuck.

Text from FCB:

Warning: eBay will be using photos without creators’ permission.

Starting on August 31st, eBay is going to institute a new policy where photos you upload to any listing are put into a “catalog” of online images that any eBay user can then use for their own listings. The default setting for this is opt-in, which is a problem if you, like me, consider your photographs your property and want to control how they are used and by whom. A copyright notice is posted with a link to your user profile, but no additional information is given, and the link is quite small.

Since the default setting is opt-in, and eBay has not sent messages out about this, a lot of people are going to be caught flat-footed by this new policy.

Again, the default for this setting is YES, you have opted in. Meaning “Yes, I will allow eBay to make my photos available for anyone to use.”

If you do not want eBay to make the photos you upload to all of your future auctions available to other users in a sort of catalog process, you need to go change your settings now, before August 31st. If you opt out after then, any photos you upload between the 31st and when you opt out will still be eligible for inclusion in their “catalog.”

In order to opt out of this so-not-okay process, do the following. I’ve broken it down exhaustively. Hopefully your eBay pages look like mine.

1) Go to your eBay summary page (“My eBay”).

2) On the left-hand side, there are three tabs that say “Activity,” “Messages,” and “Account.” Hover over the “Account” tab.

3) A drop-down list will appear. Move your mouse down to “Site Preferences” and click.

4) You will be taken to a page with a list of site options for selling, shipping, and listing. About the sixth from the top is “Share your Photos.” Click on the word “show” on the right hand side next to this option.

5) The box will expand, and if you are opted in, “yes” will appear. If you are opted out, “no” will appear. A small “edit” link will appear below the “show” link. If you want to change the settings, click “edit.”

6) You will be taken to a new page with the following text: If you’d like to opt-out of this program, please do so by checking this box and clicking the “submit” button below.
(If you opt-out before August 31, 2009, none of your photos will be considered for inclusion in this program unless you opt back in at a later time. If you opt-out after August 31, 2009, any photos we select for inclusion in this program prior to your opt-out may continue to be used in the catalog)

7) If you want to opt out of the program, check the ticky box on the left-hand side next to the text, then go down and click the “submit” button.

8) You will go back to the settings screen you were just on, and there will be a green checkmark and a confirmation message. Go down to the “Share your Photos” option again and click “show.” Your setting should now appear as “no.”

I am sure that this will be a useful feature for some people, for some items, but the automatic opt-in is not okay with me at all, as I don’t want my photographs used to illustrate someone else’s auction for a different item, not for any reason whatsoever.

I thought you should all be warned. Please spread the word. This is a slimy, underhanded thing to do, and I hope it bites them in the ass.

ETA: It appears that this might not be affecting everyone, but I urge you to go check your settings anyway. Mine was defaulted to “yes.” Maybe it’s a browser thing, I don’t know, but y’all should probably go make sure.

A Comment On eBay’s New Auction Layout

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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.

First the good.
One of the biggest eBay auction page gripes of the last five years has been the timer, or really, lack there of. Although the clock counted down, it didnt do it in real time. This meant either having to set a snipe to win something in the last moments, or being very clever with page reloads and multiple windows. Considering that Java technology was more than equipped to handle a real time countdown with 1 click bidding, many eBayers were consistently shafted with inferior tech. Now, thank the lord, that has all changed, as one click bidding WITH a real time counter is now available. I cant tell you how happy this makes me, especially with my paranoia over giving my eBay info to a sniper service.
Secondly, the picture options have changed a lot, mostly when it comes to size and location. Instead of having to scroll through miles of text to find the “official” pic, its now handy, right up in the corner, larger than it normally was before. I like that. There are bad parts, too, but Ill get to that in a second.
Lastly, when it comes to loading everything on a big auction, it seems like it does everything a lot faster. I cant tell you how helpful that is, as before it took a long fucking time to load an auction with a ton of shit in it. Now, that seems to be a thing of the past thanks to the new “leaner” layout.
Yet, with every good thing, there are also bad things, though fortunately most of the bad things are minor.
The main gripe I have of the new auction page is the lack of being able to see all the pics without clicking on the new picture box. I have missed things here and there because of my misunderstanding, as not all pictures are readily available for viewing. That can be very, very problematic.
Also, even though the page does load faster, it looks very odd. Seems like it was designed to avoid large loading times instead of being practical enough with the layout to have a small load rate regardless. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but again, its minor.
Overall, my dissatisfaction will be crushed by the new real time status stuff, so im not too concerned. How about you?

Bidding On Ebay: Dont Get Eaten Alive

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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.