6 Nov
2003
6 Nov
'03
4:29 a.m.
Last time I checked there were onyl 112 listing at the
marketplace, and a
few of the prices seemed kind of high to me. The whole point of
EBAY is that
there are 100,000+ auctions going on and good deals are still there to be
found. Of course EBAY will do anything to please the seller because thats
what keeps their money coming in. If people quit selling items there what
would the multi billion dollar EBAY stock be worth? If a seller on EBAY
screws up the dsecription then get your money back (assuming you iused a
credit card). I wouldnt even bother with EBAY's or sellers runaround call
your credit card company and just reverse the charges (have a good story).
I dont see how a small closed group of collectors can reach
critical mass to
rival EBAY for sellers attention.
Prices will adjust themselves as the site become busier, I'm sure. There
are rediculous prices for items on eBay as well (often widely discussed
here), and this will always be true in any marketplace--there is always
someone who is greedy, uninformed, or both. On the other hand, you're not
going to find a free, working LA-36 with options on eBay, but there's one on
VCM right now. Also there have already been some very successful sellers
who have listed items for what at first appear to be high prices, but in
fact, those items were just looking for the right buyer. Yesterday, an item
that had been listed for 10 weeks was snapped up at full price. The seller
was smart and patient, and got what he wanted, and I'm assuming that because
the buyer volunteered his money willingly, both sides were happy with the
value. It's not just about auctions. You can list an item on VCM for
outright sale or trade for as long as you want to leave it there, until
someone grabs it. I think that's pretty compelling, and even in its
infancy, we're showing that it works.
The point of VCM is to create a marketplace for serious collectors and
traders and not for the garage-clearing/attic-dumping weekend warrior. I
think you'll see a more pronounced difference between "good deals" and
"bargains" than you do on eBay once things are really cooking, and a lot of
that will be reflective of the quality of both the items and the sellers.
It's also a place where you're not going to get scraped and spammed, where
your support emails will be answered by people who are also collectors and
hobbyists sharing your interests and concerns, where the features and
functions of the site are specifically tuned to your market and in response
to your feedback, and that eventually we hope, with more data collected,
will become a significant resource of value and availability data (none of
which is publicly preserved by eBay much beyond 30 days). --Patrick