EBAY HAS A LOT TO ANSWER FOR!

Pensky · Post by **Pensky** » 09 Oct 2007, 00:20

Hiya Brisey,

As a buyer on eBay (not a seller) I find that I sometimes watch a lot of items that I already own, without wanting to place a bid, just to see what people are prepared to pay for them.

I realise that eBay does not always accurately reflect an items true worth, and sometimes a fool and their money are easily parted - there are things on eBay that go for crazy money - worth a thread on it's own?

But it does allow me to gauge (approximately) the worth of certain aspects within my collection, and I find that interesting and the reasin I watch items.

Pensky

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 09 Oct 2007, 10:46

For all those of us who lived through the austerity years of the Exchange & Mart and its ilk and the endless sae sending for catalogues and lists I have to say that ebay, despite its occasional pitfalls, has been a positive boon to collectors.
Obviously there are times when sellers aren't entirely accurate in their descriptions of items which can be a pain in the btm but then this was always true and at least with ebay you do get more people searching in their attics for items they can sell on than you ever did in pre www days, and more choice can only be a good thing for collectors.
Now and again you do get the odd seller who thinks that his rather tatty edition of the 1973 Beano Book, termed 'good for its age' in that now classic piece of ebay vernacular is worth something akin to a Shakespeare First Folio but I find that part of ebays charm, that waxing lyrical about the 'rarity' of rubbish.
For once this dyed in the wool Luddite says 'Three cheers for ebay' and doffs his hat to the modern age.

Muffy · Post by **Muffy** » 09 Oct 2007, 11:24

Ebay is fab for buyers - I filled in all of the holes in my Monster Fun collection (though of course some badtime bedtimes are missing - which is to be expected). However sellers get a raw deal. My Dad's Boot sales have sold old comics for 15 years at 2 or 3 times the prices Ebay get.

I can see why sellers put high postage on comics as a 99p listing can cost 15p (or more with gallery pics), plus ebay commission of about 8% when/if it sells, plus PayPal commission if paid through them which is very high

No commssion on postage though, and some VeryFine+/Near Mint comics only get 99p including 1978 and 1979 issues of 2000ad, even X-men comics from early 1980s get very low (if any) bids, old Busters you can almost give away.

Also the buyer has to package the item with bubble wrap and oversized envelopes, trot down to the post office, stand in a queue for your entire lunch break

then hope you don't get neg feedback (when I used to sell I always pay for recorded delivery).

Having said that I did sell about 2,000 of mostly my friends' unwanted comics, with some selective ones of my own for ?7,000 over 3 years - it all went on paying off a bit of mortgage too, and I still have the vast majority of my own comics that my Dad and Grandad bought me in the 70s and 80s - ebay must have made lots too

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 10 Oct 2007, 10:56

It is often nice to browse through the ebay lists just to spot those items that teeter on the edge of the lunatic fringe in their pricing and the deluded hopes of their would-be sellers. At the moment a couple of my favourites are two clam-shell (video box style) protective cases created to house the first and second editions of the Beano Book for 1940 and 1941. The seller of these has them listed at a starting price of ?250 each and even given their very professional production values I'm bemused as to why anyone owning either, or both, of the first two Beano Books would then want to shell out , or indeed clam-shell out, a further ?250 on a pretty, illustrated box to keep them in. Daft I call it!
Similarly someone has just put up for auction a not too great looking copy of the one and only Summer Special spawned by DC Thomsons Football Picture Story Monthly in the late 1980's and again the starting price is ?250. It is being sold as being 'very rare' an expression much bandied about on ebay to the point where it is practically meaningless and often based on the rather dubious logic that at that moment in time no one else is selling a similar item. That being the case does anyone fancy digging deep and giving me ?250 for a pair of my old socks!

Muffy · Post by **Muffy** » 10 Oct 2007, 14:39

Did managed to sell an old 1970's empty crisp packet (left in one of my comics) for ?10 and an old 1970s weetabix box (also empty) for ?40

Yet try selling NEAR MINT Uncanny X-men 200 for 99p - NO ONE.

Or 2000ad Summer special 1978 for ?2 (small tear on cover) - NO ONE.

Or a limited edition Russell Flint print etc.

Captain Storm · Post by **Captain Storm** » 10 Oct 2007, 20:10

One man's rubbish is another man's treasure

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 11 Oct 2007, 10:20

On checking through my files I've discovered that there were in fact two editions of the 'Football Picture Special' published for 1988 and 1989 and the one that the guy is trying to sell for ?250 isn't even the first one.

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 15 Oct 2007, 14:08

Last week a copy of the first combined Dandy-Beano Summer Special published in 1963 sold on ebay for ?361. I'm not sure but I think this may be a record for a British summer special on ebay. Can anyone think if a summer special of any persuasion has sold for more?

Korkythecat · Post by **Korkythecat** » 15 Oct 2007, 23:48

Kashgar wrote:Last week a copy of the first combined Dandy-Beano Summer Special published in 1963 sold on ebay for ?361. I'm not sure but I think this may be a record for a British summer special on ebay. Can anyone think if a summer special of any persuasion has sold for more?

That is a record, Ray. I expected it to go for about ?250 so it just goes to show that the value in such publications continues to grow and grow. A friend of mine thinks that such high prices are being realised only because adults who were kids then remember the comics. I doubt this - I say that in 2063, this Summer Special will probably sell for ?10K.

Peter

Shiner · Post by **Shiner** » 17 Oct 2007, 20:02

I've seen the combined Dandy-Beano 1963 special go for over ?500 and the Beano 1964 special top ?700. All very rare stuff. For a long time I thought the 1964 special didn't exist!

colcool007 · Post by **colcool007** » 18 Oct 2007, 04:24

Personally, I'm quite happy as I got 2 intact Warlord Summer Specials for only ?2.70 incl P&P! That's intact with the pull-out posters still inside! I have seen both Specials going at the moment for over ?10 each! *Smug mode switched firmly to on!*

Gary Northfield · Post by **Gary Northfield** » 18 Oct 2007, 10:57

Muffy wrote:Did managed to sell an old 1970's empty crisp packet (left in one of my comics) for ?10 and an old 1970s weetabix box (also empty) for ?40

Yet try selling NEAR MINT Uncanny X-men 200 for 99p - NO ONE.

Or 2000ad Summer special 1978 for ?2 (small tear on cover) - NO ONE.

Or a limited edition Russell Flint print etc.

Ooh! What flavour were the crisps?

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 18 Oct 2007, 12:15

Remember those little dark blue twists of paper containing salt you used to get in crisp packets. Now those were the days. What the hell got me thinking about those for God's sake!

colcool007 · Post by **colcool007** » 18 Oct 2007, 12:56

Kashgar wrote:Remember those little dark blue twists of paper containing salt you used to get in crisp packets. Now those were the days. What the hell got me thinking about those for God's sake!

Salt 'n Shake. I remember them being bought in bulk during the strikes of the late 70's as you sometimes got extra bags of salt in them and it was the only way of getting salt if the local shops had run out of them. My personal record was 3 extra bags!

Gary Northfield · Post by **Gary Northfield** » 18 Oct 2007, 15:29

Kashgar wrote:Remember those little dark blue twists of paper containing salt you used to get in crisp packets. Now those were the days. What the hell got me thinking about those for God's sake!

You can still buy those round here. I never shook 'em up enough and had too much salt on top and hardly any on the bottom, so they always tasted horrible which ever way you looked at it.

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