Todays Wall St. Report: eBay auction 3rd qtr. "Slowing Down"

I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news...

See the Poll above, runs for 10 days...

Best,

Chas

I don't think that it's good news, but prices on ebay could drop. The economic mess could cause some good deals to show up on ebay in the near future as people will want cash instead of their uneeded stuff. Harry

For a while now eBay has been attempting to fix something that's not broken. Why do they continually pay people to come up with such bad ideas? And who are the idiots that support those ideas?
If they want someone to screw things up, I'm ready to go to work.

Regards,
John

I have been watching the gradual decline in our Radio Category ever since Ebay announced the changes back last Feb. Our "Normal" for the majority of the year is around 6700 to 6900 items in Radio category. Today its 5200 items. Normally we see a drop off during the summertime. Many sellers don't sell then due to drops in viewers and bids. But normally mid sept. it picks back up... didn't happen this year. The increased fee schedule, The Feedback changes implemented, The forced paypal rules. Don't get me wrong I have no complaints about using paypal... other than the FORCED to use it part.

As John said... they have spent a bunch of money fixing things that weren't broken. But they are rapidly becoming that way.

John k9uwa

Hi Chaz,

I don't think the poll is telling you anything . I collected before Ebay, If it were to go away, I'd still collect as the question asked.

I don't depend on Ebay to provide me with radios.

It's like "if Starbucks went out of business, would you still drink coffee?"

(By the way, no way would I EVER buy anything at a high priced place with designer, foo foo coffees at Starbucks or anywhere else.)

Take care my friend,

In the last 10 years I've gotten a whole 0 radios from ebay. I don't buy radios that I can't see beforehand, period.

Well said! Poo poo on the foo foo!

I look forward to the demise of eBay as a selling venue for radios.

It would put the radio collecting hobby back where it was about 10 years ago, with most of the activity taking place in person at regional radio shows and auctions.

I have only bought a few radios from eBay and find that most of the sellers don't correctly or adequately represent what they have (because they aren't collectors) nor do they know how to pack and ship properly.

I prefer to see the radio in person and talk with the seller before making a purchase, but at this point in time I am also really not interested in obtaining any more radios after over 50 years in the hobby. There are only a couple of elusive (yet not rare) sets which I would like to get someday.

Mr. Detrola is right that swap meets among collectors are better. Unfortunately for some of us that's just not a realistic option for pursuing the hobby. I live three hours from the closest active radio club.

eBay has a lot of problems and it's sure true that the venue has been deteriorating steadily for the last couple of years, but until I grow wings I'll be using it.

For fun, I started a for sale listing on ebay yesterday, and paper payment options as well as paypal were still avialable. So wasn't the change supposed to happen by now?

Same here-99% of my collection came from Epay. I have ~100 radios with <10 of them coming locally. I'd never even seen a Transoceanic in person before Ebay and years of hamfests (going to ~20 per year in N.J.) never gave one up. Suffice it to say that I'd have no real collection at all. No clubs or interest in my area-closest I know of is back in N.J. So I hope Ebay sticks around, much as I hate auctions.

Rich

Radio collecting has been a life-long hobby for me. Before the web, it would take several months turn-a-round from placing in ad in the AWA bulletin to when I received an answer. During the 60's I was alone in my collecting. I got what I liked, was unaware of values or of anyone collecting in my area. If I needed a part I would make it or the set became a shelf-queen. Yes I still have sets that are shelf-queens that I acquired in 1960. However, since the web and eBay both my collecting knowledge and collection have grown dramatically. I see eBay as a tremendous part resource. Stuff that has long disappeared from both the vintage and ham meets is re-appearing on eBay. No doubt because the stuff originated at a radio flea market to begin with. None the less, I would not quit my collecting hobby should eBay "go away", I would simply "fold-back" to what it was in the 60's, something to occasionally tinker with.

My club is in New Hampshire, some 2-1/2 hours away.

Best,

Chas

That's strange, I've found some pretty good sets in the NJ-PA area without using eBay or craigslist.

In terms of the transoceanics... when I first got into radios I was living in NY, and back in the 90s before eBay came around, I knew what the transoceanics were from the price guides.... but didn't see them much in person.

Towards the mid 90s I saw a ton of them at antique shows (the variety that sets up in fields during the summer, not indoor meets), and they tended to be priced at $80-150 in unrestored condition, regardless what "model" they were (and I never saw a military or leather variant of any of them). I didn't buy any of them for that price because for that kind of money I could get a pile of basketcase wooden sets (table models, tombstones etc).

The only time I have ever gotten a chance to buy a cheap transoceanic in person was at a garage sale in NY, right as I was moving out of the area. The guy had a really beat one for $45, I figured what the hell and bought it. While paying for it he said he had a second one in his shop, and I could have it too if I wanted it. I said sure and it took about two weeks, but one day I came home from work and saw the 2nd one on the front porch. I was glad to get it... apparently the one I had bought was the "parts set" and was missing some trim parts, had some other trim parts broken... and this one, the freebie was fairly complete and intact. Between the two sets I made a pretty good one- which I still have to this day.

I could live without eBay for radio stuff, I find most of my sets locally anyway by wandering around to estate sales, antique shows, auction houses. But the real benefit to eBay is for finding parts. Paying retail for 01As & 45s are a fast way to break the bank account, for eBay you'll do much better (provided they're not duds when you get them).

Are there still deals to be had in old antique stores? Absolutely, but its going to depend on location. I'd feel sorry for anyone trying to collect on the west coast. I also tend to prefer consoles and they're cheap at most local stores even if they're something like a Sparton 1068.

However I really do like eBay for finding sets on my wishlist. Someday I'd like to have the complete Westinghouse grandfather clock series (i.e. WR-8R, etc). I have the WR-8 (no remote), and I'd have never found IT if it weren't for eBay.... but I didn't buy it threw eBay (i met an eBay seller who had it). If you want a specific model, it'll cost you regardless whether you're using eBay, RadioAttic, or wanted ads. That WR-8 set me back close to $400 when it was all said & done (incl the 6 hr ea way roadtrip to get it).

edit

Hi many are leaving Ebay due to its forced Paypal.I got a few things off ebay.I can and do live without ebay and have been collecting for 37 years.This site swap meets flea markets, and friends are where i get my stuff from.I will be glad to see Ebay go bye bye.Maybe then we can get back to real prices for things.I am 1 hour from my swap meets.Angelo

It will be interesting to see if our beloved Radio Category drops another 23% in items listed.

With an Ebay Fee Schedule of 8.75% on the first 25 bucks of the final price. Plus insert fees. plus 3% inside USA or 5% Int'l Paypal fees which are also calculated on the shipping as well as sale price.
Very quickly your at 15% plus of the sale price of your item in commissions. For 20% I can get a real live auctioneer to show up on my doorstep, Haul the stuff off and send me a check when the auction of the stuff is over. So unless ebay can get us considerably more for the items. Its about to the point of not being practical at all to sell lower priced for sure items there.... thats a BAD THING to me... I have found lots of parts we needed to finish up restorations over the years from ebay. Think here... is some guy going to put a knob up in an auction thats worth maybe 4 or 5 bucks? Probably now... so here sets a radio needing that knob and instead it goes into the trash bin someplace.

John k9uwa

I find VERY few sets around here locally. Most of my purchases are from E-Pay. I do attend the radio show at Willowbrook every year. I do enjoy the trip very much.

Dave

I have ten years of selling experience on Ebay. I have always sold something every few weeks. Sometimes more than every few weeks.

I have sold absolutely nothing in the past four months. No one is spending money, including the foreign buyers who represented 50% of my sales. As a result, I have stopped buying.
If I don't sell I cannot buy anything new.

Between ebay's rising fees and increased shipping costs I'm afraid there's going to be fewer sellers because of the fees and fewer buyers because of shipping costs.

IMHO ebay now has become a mature (as in no more really fast growth to be had) business and it is now ran by a bunch of really well educated folks that have no understanding of what it is their customer base requires or exactly what business they are really in.

These educated business types are trying to keep showing maximum growth in the bottom line to impress the stockholders by squeezing the most money out of every transaction, instead they wind up sending their customer base out to look for alternatives, which may be what is starting to happen. But as Dennis Miller says "that's just by opinion, I could be wrong"...

Mr. Detrola:
Here's the other side of that equation:
At least 98% of my collection came through ebay. Almost 100% of my test gear came through ebay. If not for the venue of ebay I would probably not be in this hobby today. 5+ years ago I saw a cathedral radio in a movie and thought "I'd like to have one of those." I figured they'ed be way too expensive for me but I did a search on ebay to see what the going prices were. Lo and behold I found they weren't as high as I thought. So I bought my first tube set, a Philco cathedral, off ebay and got totally hooked. I live in an area that just does not have much in the way of decent tube radios. This is the south and people were mostly poor here in the 20's-40's so what few radios that made it into homes were of the cheaper types. I've been able to obtain about 10 halfway decent sets at local shops and may 6 more from forum members in the last 5 years. As for the local swap meets, there is only 1 of any size and I can't afford the prices there. So, as you can see, people in my situation depend on ebay to grow and diversify our collections. I don't like the changes ebay is making either but for me they are the only game in town!

Terry