Roots Archives Forum

two carlton livingston 100 weight of collie LPs went for 45 and 51 US dollas. Last one before those went for well over a hundred. Anyone have any clue why the price drop ?

maybe cause they keep appearing back to back

Sound Clips have a lot to do with it.

they drop cuz ebay CHANGED your search default in late February. Look at the number of records selling on your listings page, then do this, go left to the yellow column, check 'worldwide', then scroll straight down and hit 'show items."
Ebay has limited your view of the world unless you PROACTIVELY look farther. It's the definition of 'ebaysion' tactics and is hitting sellers hard, but will ultimately hit buyers the hardest if we don't voice our anger.

do I as a seller sometimes want the highest amount to be bid? of course..

but the way some ebayers go about selling their goods is borderline predatory. too much inflation inna babylon..

Ites utodd,
I noticed this change on EBay as well. At first, I found myself going directly to the sites of other countries than the US, like ebay.co.uk, etc., until I discoverd the steps that you mentioned above. I understand why EBay would do this, but it is unfortunate for the sellers.

Roots,
Jah Chicken

Jah Chicken, Me, I really don't understand why ebay made the change, I assumed that the larger the audience for an item, the better it sells, and the more commission ebay makes. When I asked them, they first gave an extremely vague response about catering to "buyer's needs." When I asked for clarification, they said the change would help to reduce the likelihood of "fraud, forgery and counterfeit", but patently would not say what categories or items were being scrutinized. When I pointed out the blow to sellers, they said they're continuing to experiment with the system, and one ebay employee even told me the seller's item listing page had already changed to allow a seller to "list worldwide", but in fact it hasn't yet. My hunch is ebay's receiving a lot of flak currently from sellers about this and doesn't dare hide behind smokescreens any longer, and knows better than to exact another fee from sellers for the identical service (default worldwide listings) they were getting up til late February. I've been on a bit of a crusade to at least inform people what's taking place, and I'm amazed how many hardcore ebay guys just thought listings were way down and never really thought to check into it. To me, it boils down to, why would I trust ebay to limit my searches for me, to not tell me they've effectively done so after they have done it, and ultimately, how are they going to spin it so they end up smelling rosie and making more dough? It's a damn underhanded way of building community, imo.

Ebay changed the way they show overseaas items (oversea here meaning anywhere not in the USA).

They did it because too many dumb US based buyers were failing to realise that they were bidding on heavy items from Plymouth UK not Plymouth USA and then getting in a fix over postage prices!

I always browse using ebay.ca as they seemed to list everything from every country. Maybe it has changed there also, but as you know, I can't get an ebay connection in the Robert Shoenfeld Rehab Clinic for Vinyl Addiction.

The other thing effecting prices is I have been banned from ebay...

No seriously, prices are effected by other stuff like - how long to the next pay packet? How well the item is listed? How trusted that seller is? and many more.

Ebay is very seasonal, with prices rising and falling along traditional seasonal tides.

And it's also quite an accurate ecenomic barometer. If money is tight, it shows first on ebay, and if people are out spending, prices rocket on ebay.

I must 'fess up I have been very happy with recent purchases I've made as I expected to have to pay 2 or 3 times what I actually paid!

I have, in fact, been getting albums for about the same price (in real terms) that I sold them for in 1982.