Just remembered an Ebay story...

[An Haddock]

I don't believe I've posted this before and for some reason it just popped into my head.


The computer store I manage does Ebay sales on the side. It's not much additional income, but once in a while we get something really good that makes it worth while.


Anyway, last year we have this guy come in who is some sort of draftsman or engineer type. He has a few hand-drawn replicas of antique cross-sections of buildings that he's made himself. Not exactly blueprints, but along those lines.


We do research on Ebay, checking out active and sold items to compare what this guy has to what has and has not sold. We find similar drawings that are actual antiques from the early 1900's that sold for maybe $20. We inform the guy that his stuff is, in fact, worthless and it's a waste of his money to list them.


The guy won't hear it. Insists we try listing anyway. He paid the fee, so fine. We list the drawings for a week. (standard 7-day Ebay auction) Plus the guy wants it listed for some ridiculous amount of a couple hundred dollars. Not a single bid, not a single watcher. Nothing.


We call the guy to come pick up his stuff. He wants it relisted, but this time in a 30-day auction. Our Ebay guy explains, ad nauseum, that the stuff isn't going to sell and that he's wasting his money. His words fall on deaf ears. The guy insists and pays the listing fee. Fine.


30 days later. Not a bite. Not a bid. Not a single question or watcher. I call the guy to pick up his stuff. He insists on relisting it. I tell him to "just come in" and talk to the Ebay guy.


Draftsman comes in, ready to pay the listing fee again. Ebay guy takes a stand. Without being especially mean or insulting, in my view, explains to the guy that his drawings are effectively worthless. They will not sell. 100-year old drawings are selling for $20, so this guy has no chance to sell his stuff. The guy says that drawings by Frank Lloyd Wright sell for millions. Ebay guy says "But you're not Frank Lloyd Wright". I had to clap my hands over my mouth to keep from laughing. The guy looks devastated. Later, the Ebay guy would tell me that the Draftsman looked like he was going to cry. Ebay guy thanks him for trying and recommends another Ebay place a couple of towns over.


Guy was definitely a little off, but we've gotten much weirder customers than him before. And while we made a few dollars in listing fees, I have this combination of annoyance and pity for the guy. Some people just cannot comprehend that their stuff HAS NO VALUE. Sort of like some of the people on that A & E show, Hoarders. (which I watch obsessively)

[LillFilly]

And have you seen the stuff that people list outrageous prices on on ebay? Something you can buy new, they list for 10$ more. No concept of worth; emotions cannot figure into it they say.

[Sapphire Silk]

Kudos to telling the guy the truth rather than taking advantage of him and relisting endlessly.

It's a shame he had to hear it so hard, but sometimes that is what it takes.

[Kristev]

That poor guy. I know what it is to sell something for far more than it's worth and end up with no sales at all. Of course, I had no say in the matter. He was actively choosing to be an imbecile.

That man was like writers expecting that you're going to become Dean Koontz with nothing out but a short story. Reality is harsh.

I still feel a bit bad for him, though. Those drawings were probably his life's work.

[KorporateKitty]

Yeah I kinda feel sorry for the guy...BTW I also love that show, Hoarders.

[An Haddock]

That poor guy. I know what it is to sell something for far more than it's worth and end up with no sales at all. Of course, I had no say in the matter. He was actively choosing to be an imbecile.

That man was like writers expecting that you're going to become Dean Koontz with nothing out but a short story. Reality is harsh.

I still feel a bit bad for him, though. Those drawings were probably his life's work.

It was my impression that he did them in his free time as a hobby. He is a professional architect but as I recall he said he didn't spend an inordinate amount of time on the drawings.


Actually, I had something similar happen just a couple of days ago, although this girl was a little more realistic. Artist girl from across the street had an old print in a frame that looked like it was from the late 1800's or early 1900's. We manage to remove the print from the frame and I got the artist's name. I find the EXACT SAME print on Ebay (the print was made in 1910. The original painting was mid-1800's) The guy selling his print wanted $6 for it.

Needless to say, the artist girl was very disappointed to learn that her print was effectively worthless. But it's a nice piece and she's putting it up in her shop.

[depechemodefan]

Actually, I had something similar happen just a couple of days ago, although this girl was a little more realistic. Artist girl from across the street had an old print in a frame that looked like it was from the late 1800's or early 1900's. We manage to remove the print from the frame and I got the artist's name. I find the EXACT SAME print on Ebay (the print was made in 1910. The original painting was mid-1800's) The guy selling his print wanted $6 for it.

Needless to say, the artist girl was very disappointed to learn that her print was effectively worthless. But it's a nice piece and she's putting it up in her shop.

Slightly ot, but the reminds me of the calls we get that goes something like this:
SC: I have this picture. It's a guy on a horse and I want to know who painted it/how much it's worth.
me: is there any signature on it?
SC: no, but it's a guy on a horse.
me: I really can't tell you anything, the discription is vague.
sc: Well, it looks like an indian.
me: (figuring the more questions I make that can't be answered by her, sooner or latter she will realize that she has to come to the library and look it up herself. Is it an oil painting? What color is the horse? how big is it?
sc: It's oil, the horse is a palomino, I don't have a measuring tape, but I'm guessing....is 30 in big?
me: There are a lot of oil paintings with horses and indians by different artists. Looks like you have to come in and look through our books or contact the American Apprasial Association, I can give you their phone number.

[BowserKoopa1]

And have you seen the stuff that people list outrageous prices on on ebay? Something you can buy new, they list for 10$ more. No concept of worth; emotions cannot figure into it they say.

There was an old video game that I wanted to get for my Playstation 2 (the game was for the original Playstation). I checked in stores and after being unable to find it, I looked on Ebay and Amazon. This idiot seller actually had a starting bid of $1200 and another for $2000 for a video game that was more than a decade old. What made it so popular or hard to find, I don't know. But I felt compelled to ask him why so much for a game that should only sell for definitely no more than $50, and he replies "Its sealed and unopened."
Ok I know certain things go up in value, but I found several listings for this game and bought it on Ebay for $35. The thing I guess I'm trying to ask is, why do these morons actually think anyone's gonna pay thousands of dollars for an old game that technically shouldn't even be worth $20? Just because its sealed and brand new? Who cares? The whole purpose of having a video game is so you can play it, not keep it on a shelf to collect dust. Although I'm absolutely sure that there are people who do just that.

[Magpie]

$1200?

ABE had a new edition of Barbequing with Bobby, signed by the author, for $120. I'm going to assume comparable original selling price. The book might have been more, but we'll ignore that. Both unavailable now, both something that people obviously want... by this logic the bookstore was undercharging by an order of magnitude. Should we tell them?

[Dreamstalker]

The game store owner tended to overprice things on ebay (just because it's $MiniaturesGame doesn't necessarily mean it'll sell for MSRP 2+ years after release, there are a few older pieces that go up in value but we had none of them). The game we were dealing with, most of the players who want a given model already got it the week/month after release; the ones who are waiting expected it to be priced much lower than we were allowed to.

There were a lot of things I would put on Amazon that he claimed I was overpricing, then when it sold for the lowball price he didn't want me to complete the sale because "the bidding didn't go high enough" (um...there is no bidding on Amazon, I told you what to sell it at and you thought that was too high).

I did manage to score a used first edition of Deities & Demigods from the store...it was on the shelf for $6 (I don't think anyone else there knew about the different editions...come to think of it the original owner didn't either), I snapped it up myself one weekend; I was looking for that edition anyway, and part of me realized that he would have me list it at the going rate for the later editions, then when it didn't fetch $50+ I'd again get huffed at.

[draftermatt]

My wife was reading a series of older books (still is), and needed a few to complete the series. Ebay was no help, so I tried Amazon. They had all but one. Problem was, one seller was asking over $1000 for a $8 (when new) paperback.

I looked at barnesandnoble.com and they had those two, and the $1000 for $3.

I wrote to the seller and asked how they can charge so much for a cheap paperback and was told "no one else on Amazon has it".

I think I sent them the link on Barnes for where I bought it for $3.

[bunnyboy]

I did manage to score a used first edition of Deities & Demigods from the store...it was on the shelf for $6 (I don't think anyone else there knew about the different editions...come to think of it the original owner didn't either)

Holee... uhm which version, Cthulhu-Menibone-Nehwon, Nehwon, or the last one they did that was pretty much just world myth?

[Dreamstalker]

Cthulhu-Melnibone-Nehwon. The cover is a bit beat up, but... You'd think that a game store handling older stuff would know of any rarities. Eh, his loss.

Right now I'm hunting for a mass-market paperback which seems to be unavailable everywhere (Ghost Wolf by Tara K. Harper; her other books in that series are easy to find).

matt, quite a few sellers on Amazon seem to prey on the fact that a lot of buyers either don't know about the "official" store sites, don't want to go to the store sites, and/or want the convenience of buying from multiple sellers at once.

[bunnyboy]

Cthulhu-Melnibone-Nehwon. The cover is a bit beat up, but... You'd think that a game store handling older stuff would know of any rarities. Eh, his loss.

I...I./..but...but... then

[Hyndis]

Hilariously, you see this exact same behavior on the auction house.

Am I really going to buy that one flask for 100 gold? There are dozens of other flasks on sale for a fraction of that.

Enjoy losing your listing fee!



But yeah, people just refuse to accept that sometimes the item they are trying to sell has little value. They insist on keep relisting it for large amounts of money, and each time they lose money when no one buys it, such that they're now out of pocket a large amount of money from all those listing fees and can no longer sell it at the value its actually worth, so now they're stuck with an item that they spent far more on to sell than it would actually sell for.

Me? I sell things cheap. If I'm selling something I just want to get rid of it.

If no one buys it, I put it on the curb with a large sign attached to it that says FREE.

It vanishes within the day.