How has ebay changed collecting locally, in person?

[Lefty]

Wicked good!

I love that you made this comment.
It makes me happy.

More on topic, ebay means that I don't throw much of anything out, or give it to charity, without first taking a look to see if it's worth listing. Ebay makes the whole "one man's junk..." thing really ring true.

 

[Vintage Betty]

I am one of those people who think ebay has run its course.
I saw a show about ebay on some channel the other night. Could not of been that long ago and I caught tailend but Meg basically said in USA the same thing. They are shooting and spending money on the China market.
Yahoo auction has the Japan mkt.
I think in long run Etsy will blow them out of the water with vintage and antiques. I am a seller now on Etsy but not just saying that.

I think Etsy is cute but in no way competes with Ebay, on search parameters alone. I very frequently obtain the search results I want on Ebay, but with Etsy there is no way to drill down the search.

Until they put more money into their coding to tune it up or offer drill down options, I will be a browser more than a buyer. That site just takes too much of my time to get to the results I want and also doesn't offer some search options I am looking for.

Vintage Betty

 

[Foofoogal]

Every day Etsy is adding new tech stuff I can use and it seems ebay is adding stuff I just get frustrated with. took me about 10 minutes at ebay today to find where they hid the gallery again. [huh]
I guess I just like new stuff and I am tired of ebay really and have heard too much along the way.
Doesn't mean I don't want the ebayers to be successful though. I understand how hard sellers of any place has to work nowadays.
Someplace for everyone is my motto. I am a expert in egg baskets and appreciate simple ones. Believe me.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

I've actually picked things up locally through eBay. The sellers were not that far away and I came by and paid them up front. Really nice people too. One item took a month to get. The seller's parents were visiting the seller and they lived not far from me, so they brought the item back with them and my dad picked it up from them. And the best part was I won the item for 5 cents. I paid them $5 in the end, though.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

My local antique shops are filled to the brim with wonderfullness. I ALWAYS just go to browse and end up buying something for mega-cheap: $100 for a 1941 art moderne buffet, $35 for a 1934 Philco radio, $30 for a set of yellow 1950s kitchen chairs. I once walked away with tons of sheet music and movie magazines -- all for the price I asked for!

I don't use ebay a lot. I don't even have an account because I dislike it for the most part. Unfortunately I *have* to use it to buy my beloved vintage movie magazines every now and again, using my husband's account. I don't wear vintage clothing so there's no competition there!

The excitment of actually going out to my local thrifts and "accidentally" finding something cheap and awesome gives me more of a thrill than "winning" something on ebay. I'm so glad our shops have not been completely picked over (that's my job! )