Ebay- Loving and Hating it
When I first found Ebay, I fell in love. I enjoy shiny objects and finding a new way to GET shiny objects is always good. It let me track down stuff that I couldn't find on my own( ex. captain scarlet figures that never came to the U.S.) and instead of paying inflated CONVENTION costs- I would pay what the market would bear. IF I thought something was too high- I could wait til someone else listed it OR til my need went away( like animal house dvd- where I just waited til it was re-released) OR just admit my weakness and pony up the money.
I also like ebay because I've been a bit strapped for $ recently and it's a nice way to get money... and as a seller I can get what the market will bear INSTEAD of selling comics to a comic store which would give me like 35% and then turn around and sell it for 125%.
What I hate about ebay is what I consider the 'artificial' demand it creates. See I like to buy toys- action figures to be precise. Now for some STUPID reason many toy manufactures 'short ship' certain figures. For example in a box of Justice League action figures there might be 3 Batman figures, 3 Superman, 3 GLs, 2 Flash and 1 Hawkgirl. The company says 'well female action figures don't sell' which I and many collectors think is crap... but this means that it becomes REAL hard to find Hawkgirl and thus people can charge more money for her... So, esp. after the appearance of ebay, you will get people who buy EVERY Hawkgirl they can find in an area( and every other short shipped figure) and put it on ebay.
I first discovered this evilness when Phantom Menance came out some years ago. I wanted the Darth Maul figure BEFORE I saw the movie, but couldn't find him. I looked on ebay and was AMAZED at how many there were( over a 100). The same recently happened with the Spiderman Friends Doc Ock( who I'd like for both me and my nephew), none in the store but tons on ebay. This depresses me, because even though I live in the city of Boston there are like only 3 toy stores in the GREATER Boston area( non in downtown)- there's a lone kay bee in the cambridgeside galleria( the easiest to get to) and there were two toys r' us on the Red (subway) line. For sooo many adults and kids there should be more... but there isn't.
So goodness knows if I, or my nephew, will get doc ock. I plan to try and find him in a store or not at all, because I don't want to reward these people for buying out THEIR store... as I'm sure there's someone in the ebay seller's home town who'd want that doc ock.
I also want to note I thought it was 'funny' I was complaining to a friend about Wizkids creating a con exclusive( Galactus heroclix) and that while his price had gone down- people are still paying about $50 more then what the convention goers had to pay for the big G. Said friend pointed out that didn't the ebay buyer DESERVE that money as they waited in line for the figure??? I let it drop as I didn't want to argue with him but I disagreed. I don't think they deserve the $50 because there were a HUGE bunch of other people on line, who bought a ticket to the con, waited 4 hours and DIDN'T get the Galactus figure. I blame more Wizkids then ebay for this- but I think toy manufactures would make more $$ if they made MORE toys... I mean Wizkids isn't getting any more for the Galactii sold on ebay--- whether they go for $125 or $600( as they did after the first con), so it wouldn't hurt them, and actually would help them if they had made a 1,000 or 10,000 more Galactii. Same goes for Hasbro and Hawkwoman or Fisher Price and Doc Ock... Make more toys so we don't have to pay thru the nose on ebay from speculators.
I also like ebay because I've been a bit strapped for $ recently and it's a nice way to get money... and as a seller I can get what the market will bear INSTEAD of selling comics to a comic store which would give me like 35% and then turn around and sell it for 125%.
What I hate about ebay is what I consider the 'artificial' demand it creates. See I like to buy toys- action figures to be precise. Now for some STUPID reason many toy manufactures 'short ship' certain figures. For example in a box of Justice League action figures there might be 3 Batman figures, 3 Superman, 3 GLs, 2 Flash and 1 Hawkgirl. The company says 'well female action figures don't sell' which I and many collectors think is crap... but this means that it becomes REAL hard to find Hawkgirl and thus people can charge more money for her... So, esp. after the appearance of ebay, you will get people who buy EVERY Hawkgirl they can find in an area( and every other short shipped figure) and put it on ebay.
I first discovered this evilness when Phantom Menance came out some years ago. I wanted the Darth Maul figure BEFORE I saw the movie, but couldn't find him. I looked on ebay and was AMAZED at how many there were( over a 100). The same recently happened with the Spiderman Friends Doc Ock( who I'd like for both me and my nephew), none in the store but tons on ebay. This depresses me, because even though I live in the city of Boston there are like only 3 toy stores in the GREATER Boston area( non in downtown)- there's a lone kay bee in the cambridgeside galleria( the easiest to get to) and there were two toys r' us on the Red (subway) line. For sooo many adults and kids there should be more... but there isn't.
So goodness knows if I, or my nephew, will get doc ock. I plan to try and find him in a store or not at all, because I don't want to reward these people for buying out THEIR store... as I'm sure there's someone in the ebay seller's home town who'd want that doc ock.
I also want to note I thought it was 'funny' I was complaining to a friend about Wizkids creating a con exclusive( Galactus heroclix) and that while his price had gone down- people are still paying about $50 more then what the convention goers had to pay for the big G. Said friend pointed out that didn't the ebay buyer DESERVE that money as they waited in line for the figure??? I let it drop as I didn't want to argue with him but I disagreed. I don't think they deserve the $50 because there were a HUGE bunch of other people on line, who bought a ticket to the con, waited 4 hours and DIDN'T get the Galactus figure. I blame more Wizkids then ebay for this- but I think toy manufactures would make more $$ if they made MORE toys... I mean Wizkids isn't getting any more for the Galactii sold on ebay--- whether they go for $125 or $600( as they did after the first con), so it wouldn't hurt them, and actually would help them if they had made a 1,000 or 10,000 more Galactii. Same goes for Hasbro and Hawkwoman or Fisher Price and Doc Ock... Make more toys so we don't have to pay thru the nose on ebay from speculators.
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