What the heck is with edisons on ebay.

[larryh]

I have been selling off a number of pretty nice condition edison records on ebay and many times find I can barely eek 3.99 or less out of some and maybe 4.99 and a rare 18.00 out of a few others. Many go unsold. Yet I see that fellow who is buying from me is selling at buy it now prices and getting 10 to 35 dollars for lots of records that I couldn't get a minimum bid on and some I see that he got from me and marked up 6.00 to 30.00 and easily got sales of buy it nows. I don 't quite understand how he gets so many buy it now sales when the same thing is selling for next to nothing in auction mode. I had a organ record I couldn't get abid on three times for 3.99 and he just sold it for 35.00 buy it now.. I know things are really off on ebay but I really don't get this.

Larry

[syncopeter]

It looks like shill bidding, which is forbidden in almost every country. I would inform Ebay about it and have that person banned. At record fairs much of the same happens. Stall holders have early access to each other, buy things priced too cheaply and later sell them at double the price to punters. It is not a nice way to deal, but unfortunately rather profitable. I've been guilty of it too once or twice. I bought a set of 50s albums with fairytales for 2 Guilders on a flea market on Saturday and on Sunday took them with me to show them to friends at our society meeting. For me they were just nice finds, but a guy came over and offered 20 guilders apiece. I refused, knowing what I payed for them. He wouldn't settle for less than 10 guilders per record, so I made a profit of 48 guilders within a few minutes.
The collecting market is a funny one. Very popular items can sell for funny prices, extremely rare ones can fall flat on their face, because nobody knows about them.

[vfw1948]

syncopeter,

I know how shill bidding works, but how would it work on a Buy-It-Now auction,
it makes no sense to me on that type of auction, please explain.



larryh,

Many times if I know what I want on ebay, I will go right to the Buy It Now and check prices.
If it's what I want at a fair price, I buy it.
Most times I don't want to wait 5 to 10 days and have to keep checking back to see
if outbid or worry about snipers (I used to love to do that ) at the last minute.
Granted, the pricing you mentioned is rather extreme.
Maybe you should try it, put a fair price on a couple of B-I-N auctions and see what happens.

Vern.

[syncopeter]

Another thing could be that people have good experiences with someone who is a reputable dealer and are shy to buy from someone they don't know. There is an internationally accepted system for classifying record quality, but you can never be sure if a record from an unknown source isn't over qualified. A good dealer has a reputation to lose, so he has to be honest about the records he offers. Otherwise he will be out of business.

[larryh]

Yes I have seen many examples of that my self. I have found too that most of the time a well known and used dealer will provide a good item. A few sell at reasonable starting and shipping prices. A few others always list high and add shipping that is way higher. Yet both seem to be able to do some fair business. In this economy though it is more and more the case that people may list things very reasonable and still be high quality. A few of the best things I have picked up in non edison records lately have been sold for a fraction of what I see the same things going for with known dealers. Yet people will indeed choose the much higher priced one to purchase..
Has nothing to do with the topic other than the way records vary so much, but over the past six months or so I have watched several interesting things. One was an album of 78s to a movie score. Twice it went for 35.00 and close to 80.00. I picked it up last week for .99 with no other bidders. Its in perfect shape, but frankly after hearing it I am sure glad I only paid .99 for it. At christmas a holiday album often brought upwards of 25.00 and once I watched one sell at that price for a buy it now and within a few minutes the same album got no bids for .99 again.. So prices as always are simply what a couple people have the cash to pay at the time and how much they are willing to bid.. Not necessarily the real value.
So in todays market I am tending to prefer to take a chance on reasonable priced things and often am very pleased. If it turns out that some are not in very good shape I figure I am still way ahead of paying many times the cost for the same thing.

[barnettrp21122]

Musical content, presentation, timing and luck in selling Edisons are big factors IMO. Most would agree that many Edison titles are just dreadful! Any seasonal selections, especially Christmas items will sell better when listed in November. A reputable dealer sold one cylinder in excellent condition, in container without original lid for $65.00, and within days two more were listed by others. I picked up a copy with original lid and container for $15.00.
I DO wish with individual record listings of any brand that sellers put the title in the heading. It's tiresome to search within each description to find it, only to find it's another Hawaiian number!
Bob

[coyote]

I agree that I like to see the title (or at least the catalog number) in the title of the listing, but some seasoned sellers purposely will not do this. Perhaps they are trying to entice you by the text of their listing, or they want a tally of everyone who has viewed the item. I check Diamond Discs frequently on eBay, and use broad search terms which probably pick up most of them, unless the seller does not use "Edison," "disc," or "record" in the listing (how is that possible?).

I don't often check the reputation of the seller if they have more than about 50 feedbacks, so that's not really an issue for me. I'm more interested in the record title and condition. It irks me when someone lists a few records (or even a single cylinder) and does not provide the title, or clearly show the title in the picture. Argh. I've only had problems with four sellers (non-responsive/never sent, or sent damaged) in ten years and about 1,000 purchases.

Anyway, I really can't fathom what is going on in your situation, as I'm sure your description is detailed enough. Personally, I rarely use Buy It Now, and when I would, the item has already been snapped up by a savvy collector who saw the listing before I did.

[EdisonSquirrel]

I also prefer that a seller include the titles of the selections that he is selling on Ebay. However, it may work to my benefit if the seller only gives the serial numbers, as many potential buyers will not take the time to look up the titles of the selections.

I pay no attention to listings that give neither title nor serial number. If the records are modestly priced, they may be fine for collectors who are starting to build a collection of records issued by that label.



Rocky