Ebay game used prices versus Reality!

[David]

Depends who are the sellers. A lot of people would be wiling to pay more for a bat from Rob Steinmetz than an unknown eBay seller, and there's good reason for the price differential.

Collectors generally pay more the more confident they are of what they will be receiving in the mail, and with a lot of eBay sellers you aren't sure what you're getting into.

[David]

Some people don't like to bid. They like to go into the proverbial store and come out with an item. The idea of placing a bid or offer an finding out a week later if or if not you won the item does not appeal to them.

I remember as a kid, when I wanted to buy something, I wanted to but it Now! I didn't want to wait a week or even the forty five minutes for dad to come home to take me to the mall. There's no way I would have been interested in place a bid in an auction.

[Frink]

I use eBay as a guage of what things are worth, but I can't necessarily go on there and find everything I want, particularly in something like game-used items.

If I find something that I want at a place like the National for more than it would sell for on eBay, I have to weigh how bad I want it versus the difference in price (which I do silently - as someone else said, I don't want to rub it in the dealer's face). Sometimes I pay the fee for not being able to locate it on eBay or for the convenience of purchasing it there and then, and sometimes I do not.

I like having both options.