The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Maybe it's time to start selling......

The Sweetcorn Kid wrote:Maybe it's time to start selling......

Stu, if those floats are at £29.41 each at the moment (allowing £10 for the box), I shudder to think what your works of art would fetch! (Re-mortgage anyone?) Would you take a car in PX?

Woodburnermatt

The thought of the bidders voting in May is a little concerning......I have always asserted that about 80% of the population have driving licences and 70% of them are halfwits! I guess it takes allsorts huh?

he is bidding them up himself,hoping someone with no knowledge may think its a wise investment, ive stopped buying on the bay because of the greed and corruption i see on it now, i do hope its not a tff member,chubman.

The Sweetcorn Kid wrote:Maybe it's time to start selling......

I agree with you Stu.. maybe I should sell on ebay again

It seems there are many examples of people on Ebay and other sites asking very high prices. I've been observing this phenomena for a while now and wonder if they are using a tactic to try and exploit vulnerable bidders. The print on demand copies of old fishing books is a good example.

One thing for sure is that bargains are becoming harder to find. There appears to be a growing number of people buying up items and then offering them back for sale at much higher prices. The site is now dominated by items at a buy now price.

The issue at the root of this, regarding ebay, is that as a business they are no longer interested in the likes of us. They look at Amazon and Etsy and they see that as their potential market/upcoming competitors. This is manifesting itself in one way with the behaviours that you are talking about and the move to 'But it Now' and lack of control or corporate care for us little'uns.

This is most easily seen in another example; they've changed their App for IPad from an incredibly useful version for the little buyers and sellers like us, to a version that no longer supports that but pushes stuff on the masses. The landing screen is half filled with whatever it is they are trying to push that day! Have a look at the feedback on that App in the App Store you'll see over 7000 bad ratings and comments (scores 1 out of 5).

ebay don't care, they are heading in another direction.

I think ebay works both ways, some sellers know the real value of what they are selling but still try to con folk, whereas some sellers don't have a clue and just trust to market forces to get a fair price. The best bargains I've had are Buy it Now, where the sellers have not done their research and just tag on what they think is a reasonable price. And Buy it Now can present opportunities to buy tackle way under the market price, although this is quite rare! Anyways, I always try to buy from sellers that I suspect are not fishermen and are honest enough to make blunders! Like a Buy it Now MKIV carp rod that the seller said was made by a chap called Mark Ray (he didn't see the IV), another MKIV that the seller said was made by B. Jones, and a narrowdrum Speedia labelled as a fly reel. None of which I could have afforded in a fair bidding war without the sellers help!

Yes, lots of bargains to be had, one just has to spot them and then take a chance!


As for the unscrupulous sellers, one can just report them, but the ones as silly as the chap selling the floats will inevitably not sell! Interesting though, his other items for sale look quite reasonable!

The 'j***j' is randomly generated, it has nothing to do with the sellers/bidders eBay name. This looks more like an irate customer ruining the sale by ramping up the final value fee, then not paying. It causes a lot of hassle for the seller to get the fee refunded.

Buy It Now is more popular than it used to be because listing fees are no longer charged on the start price. There is no point in starting at 99p if the item is worth several hundred pounds. I always list items at the lowest price I would be prepared to accept.

It's probably the wigglers that are pushing the value up!

It does smell strongly of shill bidding doesn't it?