Hi Birgit,

Funny thing is that I was thinking the same thing recently about auctions. Especially signed memorabilia and baseball cards. These have gone absolutely crazy over the last year.

I was told by a reliable source that it was primarily investors pushing the prices up and up. As you know the world interest rates are pathetic atm. So investors are looking elsewhere. Just look at bitcoin before it crashed recently. Crazy stuff! Imagine buying bitcoin in 2012 and keeping it till most recently. Amazing. 

That's why I am going to sell my Bruce Lee used workout equipment at julien's upcoming auction in November. I think I can get close to 10x what I paid five years ago. At least that's the indication from julien's. But one never knows. I have enjoyed them. Now it's time to sell. 

Personally I think it's highly likely that both investors and bored people at home (covid 19 to blame here also) are pushing the prices higher and higher. Whether they pay or not is another issue. I don't, like you, get carried away 

Something to think about is the 100 year theory. It's simple. All things become more collectable more so after 100 year anniversary. Take the titanic for instance. Guangxu and republican period porcelain/other is now in the time frame. What's next?

You can obviously still find a bargain or two on eBay. Take that plique-a-jour  bowl that was posted yesterday that was up for sale by a dealer in Germany. He sold it for his asking price of €30. It was I believe a early one (1900?)  and worth about $1200 usd all day long. Assuming of course it was without damage. 

Even jades I have noticed lately are selling for good money at auction here. But it's a mixed bag I believe. 

So perhaps investors hitting the auction rooms and covid lockdowns buying or at least bidding on eBay.

We live in interesting times. Bubbles are abound. Even property here has gone ballistic over the last 5 years. A house in Sydney sold for over 4 million dollars recently. Desirable street/area but the house had no toilet, no kitchen. That's due primarily to insane low interest rates. Coupled with the increasing population. 

Sorry for rambling on and on.... 🙏

Mark 

Perhaps look at smaller sellers like myself or Giovanni ?

We sell genuine items but cannot list successfully in auction format (don't ask me why,I think we all know the answer).

I therefore list almost exclusively in 'Buy now or best offer' format but really I feel that I'm selling down a side street while the promoted sellers are on Main Street with banners flying.

I'll probably end up putting most pieces in auction,but fees are around 30%.

Vic

I have only bought one chinese item on ebay in the last year or so. It was actually quite recently and had been misidentified so I got it for a good price.

However, my overriding impression of late is that prices are getting silly, especially as a lot of the items on offer are not what the seller thinks it is. It was only a week ago that I posted on here that I needed a lie down after looking at the cost of rubbish on ebay. Even things on permanent "sale" annoy me as we know that is very often a ploy to imply the item is a bargain.

To be honest, I lose the will to live scrolling through all the junk and fakes from China. I think this may be where Peter's site will score, as long as it remains well-monitored.

Vic, have you tried selling on Peter's site? 

@shine In my ebay ignorance, I don't know what you mean when you say you think "we all know the answer". I'd love to be more educated about the process so if you have time can you explain what you are referring to. Thanks!  John 

I Think he means Cassini and the problem with rankings John. JT

What is true about ebay, IMO, is:

• It became very tiring to look for something decent, because it is flooded of fakes.
• It is true that some items go very overpriced.  
• The high prices go in general to the same sellers. Why, I don’t know. Are them paid? I don’t know. Are shill bids? I don’t know. Are these sellers always honest? I know that they are not always.
• Some sellers are not successful, regardless the importance of their items, as said by Vic. I am one of them (or better, I was).
• A great number of buyers has a very limited knowledge, if nothing at all.
• A great number of buyers, mainly (sorry, really sorry to say that) from China are not honest. EBay policy is ALWAYS “protecting” them. Logic conclusion: eBay’s Protection = Complicity plus instigation to dishonesty.

Said the above conclusions, let me share my later decision. I stopped selling on eBay.

I have been selling for some years despite the very bad result, the great number of losses, etc, thinking that it was the price to pay for being well known as a reliable seller and then worth to have the right success.  This did cost me a lot. I have sold a magnificent Guangxu dish, of Imperial quality, with a hyper rare mark (only two examples known at my knowledge) and got a few bucks. The same for other interesting items. It happened to have to take back items because of the total ignorance of the buyer, and had to pay shipping costs plus 22% of import taxes because of our stupid laws. And surely, for the great part of my sales, I got less than what I have paid for them.

But now the last straw that broke the camel's back: eBay decided to stop the collaboration with PayPal and is now directly managing the payments. They said that the seller, who according to them was paying 12% in total to PayPal, is now paying 11.8%, hence saving the fabulous sum of 0.2%. God, what a saving!! Thank you eBay!!

It is completely false. To start with, they have introduced a new fee, that didn’t exist before: a special fee for the items sold to foreign Countries! It is not mentioned anywhere, but it just appeared with the new system. Well, to make it short, besides the fact that now the seller has to pay shipping costs BEFORE receiving the payment, which is not a secondary detail, after the new system I have sold three items, which total fees paid to eBay has been respectively 19.42, 19.48 and 18.69%. Adding to this the change rate Dollar/Euro, and the fact, which in my opinion is illegal, to have to pay also all those fees on the shipping costs (note that eBay is asking to ship at the lowest possible cost, and despite that they are taking an illegal fee on that!!), what I got in real from each of the three sales has been respectively 52.9, 44.5 and, incredible, 26.2 per cent!! The last one has been because the value of the item has been much less than the shipping cost. Conclusion: is it possible to continue selling in these conditions? No, thank you eBay, I really hope that you will remain with no sellers at all!

Then, is eBay still a good place for buying? Maybe, but surely not for some sellers.

Dear Julia, before you ask me if I try BidamountLive: yes, I have a vase, listed three months ago, with a price below the price normally paid for them. Up to now it has been visited 79 times, and not a single contact.

It must be because it is not yet a well known place.

Regards,

Giovanni

Thanks, Giovanni, I saw you were selling on there.  I am thinking of doing so but haven't got very far with setting things up - for some reason I can't link to Stripe and no one answers my queries so I am a bit stuck with that.  

I haven't sold anything on ebay for almost a year and certainly nothing Chinese for longer than that.  I don't do well with Chinese pieces on ebay.  The only piece that did do well was one Peter advertised on his newsletter.  Other than that, I always seem to achieve far lower prices than others who are selling comparable items. Maybe I use the wrong words with Chinese items.

Giovanni,you are far more eloquent than me and have encapsulated my thoughts and feelings 100%.

The only difference is that I continue to sell quite a variety of Chinese,European,American pottery and porcelain and so can still get by.

I would always beware sellers that list in very low start auctions who get bids within the first hour. Some even within minutes.

Giovanni and I know that in the real world (or at least Our World) such events do not occur.

Good luck but sometimes move away from these 'Top' dealers,you'll be surprised what your patience can find.

Just to add as an edit. Gotheborg for $29 per annum is the best money that you can spend if you really want to learn. (Even though the site STILL seems to be down). 

Vic

So I'm not the only one who has noticed of late the absurdly high prices on Ebay auctions. It's not that I'm desperately searching for something to buy, I know some dealers where I can get good things whenever I have some money to spare. But if I wait a week, then 5 seconds before the end I enter EUR 51,50 and the thing goes up to EUR 800 in the last second I wondered if I was too mean or if I had lost my feeling for adequate prices completely.

I'm not a seller on Ebay but my husband used to sell old cameras and lenses there and has completely stopped it because of the increase in fees. Recently he sent something inside Germany but had to pay a higher Ebay fee because the buyer's registration adress was in Switzerland. That's ridiculous.

I wish Bidamount.live would become more known. I have listed some items there and almost immediately sold two when the site was new but now there's not much going on anymore. But it's great there are no fees for keeping things listed there, so I just leave them and wait.

@julia Julia, I didn't have to link to Stripe. The setup of the account and upload of items was quite easy.

Thanks maybe I will give it another go. I get paid via Stripe here in France when I sell using one of the online platforms and had to register for that, so I assumed I would have to on Bidamountlive.

@shine 

I love side street adventures.  I rarely bid on Ebay unless I luck out on a piece that has been put in the wrong category and I see the post in the middle of the night with under an hour to go.  I prefer buy it now or best offer.  Especially from sellers whose feedback reflects they know how to pack and ship fragile items.  If I have asked before forgive my memory lapse.  What name do you sell under and where can I find you?

Hi Paula,

This is me,100% positive feedback all visible.

Regards

Vic

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154471979620