Is ebay helping our hobby or hurting us?

[37Jetson]

The hobby is in large part dying, but that is not the fault of Ebay.

Over the years Ebay has been great for the hobby. For the collector is has made Supercollecting possible with access to countless versions of every player. For the seller it provides opportunities to sell their cards for the best possible price to a mass audience. It has truly defined the value of cards whether we like it or not.

[auctionjmm]

Originally Posted by 37Jetson

The hobby is in large part dying, but that is not the fault of Ebay.

This sentence is about 5 years old. I'd say mid-2000's was truly rock bottom. People like me left the hobby after the McGwire/Sosa era and it took Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, and Mike Trout to bring many of us back. I think the hobby has seen substantial growth over the last 3 years due to those hype trains. The question is will people stay around even during off years when no megastars are driving the market? 2013 will be interesting with no real poster boys driving any of those products. Thats when we can measure whether this new growth is sustainable or not.

[alexlazarevich]

The hobby, for all sports, will never die as long as society and sports exist. The hobby may change, but it won't die. As long as there is professional sports, then there will be sports cards of some kind, and people will go nuts to buy these little pieces of cardboard, or whatever the card of the future is, as a momento, as a piece of history, all for the love of the game and the athletes that play the game.

People's love of sports and their fanatical desire to get closer to it, that will not go away unless society changes dramatically.

[CubsFanInTX]

Originally Posted by 37Jetson

The hobby is in large part dying, but that is not the fault of Ebay.

Over the years Ebay has been great for the hobby. For the collector is has made Supercollecting possible with access to countless versions of every player. For the seller it provides opportunities to sell their cards for the best possible price to a mass audience. It has truly defined the value of cards whether we like it or not.

I disagree with this statement. As someone else has stated, you have to flip to make money back for the insane prices that boxes are at this point. When cards are flipped and buzz for the product increases, so does the price of a box. Its a neverending cycle and this is what has made the hobby a business and it has lost its essence. There are few young people in the hobby, too many old guys trying to make a buck, thats whats killing this hobby and thats Ebay's fault.

[foreverLFC]

i really think the willingness to sell regardless of price is whats ruining the hobby. ebay is just a platform to sell but when i can buy a /10 or /25 card for $4 delivered. There is a problem. Everyone is in such a hurry to recoup that they let go of cards for much too cheap.

i understand that some players arent as hot as others so they dont have as much demand but if i have a card that is /10 there should be a minimum that i sell that for based on that fact and not because 3 other people were willing to sell it for .99 cents.

[centereacan06]

It would be darn near impossible for collectors to complete a colleciton if there were no eBay.

[XL5]

Originally Posted by foreverLFC

i really think the willingness to sell regardless of price is whats ruining the hobby. ebay is just a platform to sell but when i can buy a /10 or /25 card for $4 delivered. There is a problem. Everyone is in such a hurry to recoup that they let go of cards for much too cheap.

i understand that some players arent as hot as others so they dont have as much demand but if i have a card that is /10 there should be a minimum that i sell that for based on that fact and not because 3 other people were willing to sell it for .99 cents.

All it takes are some sellers who are willing to sit on a card and wait for the right price. Collectors will pay if they want the card, espeically if 3 of the other /10s are gone. Either flippers bought them so the price will go up or collectors did and they're out of circulation.

I think part of the "problem" is that a lot of buyers are just flippers so there's endless churn as they sell buy the same cards over again amongst themselves.

[Tugarpj]

I think it is on the rebound due to ebay and chase cards. Honestly, without autos or patches, who would bother with modern cards? An auto or patch brings the fan closer to the player...at least in their mind. They own a piece of him. Like a share of stock.

[calculusdork]

Originally Posted by CubsFanInTX

I disagree with this statement. As someone else has stated, you have to flip to make money back for the insane prices that boxes are at this point. When cards are flipped and buzz for the product increases, so does the price of a box. Its a neverending cycle and this is what has made the hobby a business and it has lost its essence. There are few young people in the hobby, too many old guys trying to make a buck, thats whats killing this hobby and thats Ebay's fault.

Non sequitur, IMO. If there are too few young people in the hobby, it's because the product (as it currently stands) is either unaffordable or unappealing - or both. I don't see what this has to do with eBay.

[jmhenderson17]

Ebay is to cards what iTunes is to music. It's helping the business of both because now you can sit home drunk and buy what you normally wouldn't.

It's pay day and I have leftover Sandy beer to finish!

[ArsonCuff]

"Does Ebay help our hobby?" - is not a yes or no question the better question would be does it help or hurt it more -

Personally I found collecting as a kid when there wasn't Ebay to be more enjoyable. I got back into the hobby as an adult and found it quickly to be no fun at all.

Having a bigger collection due to Ebay does not sound appealing to me. Bigger is not better in my opinion and a lot of enjoyment and awe is lost knowing that whoever has the most money or happens to have more money can have the best (subjective) collection due to easy access to anything and everything there is...at that point to me it just makes more sense to collect money over baseball cards. But you could then say well, the rich guys lost out because I found a deal or won an auction woo-hoo! But that's not the fun to me, that's deal finding and auctions as a hobby..lol Of course deal finding in a card shop was always fun, but not the driving force behind my collection. For those who say card shops would rip people off, well, that's what Beckett USED to be for, a nice collectors tool.

The mystique and magic in card collecting to me was not just straight up mass hoarding, the cool factor was what you were able to find and the collection you were able to build from that - with Ebay the treasure hunt is streamlined and dull, addictive, but overall dull and any sense of accomplishment one has from finding pieces of something on Ebay and buying them all up isn't so Willy Wonka and the golden ticket, mostly just whoopie doo, and you could have bought something better, because there will always be something better that pops up that you will want/need as opposed to wow I discovered a treasure! (at least to a lesser extent) - merely opinion I did not say you cannot enjoy the hobby as it is or that the hobby stinks overall, nor did I say I'd ultimately say Ebay hurts the hobby at large more than it helps

[mainerunr]

Originally Posted by centereacan06

It would be darn near impossible for collectors to complete a colleciton if there were no eBay.

well, I've got a collection and I dont have an ebay account so I guess you are wrong.


I think one thing that ebay has done is enable people to buy and break cases by giving them an audience that most people simply would not reach. It's good and its bad. The problem comes in when someone buys cases and then panics and sells too low driving down the price for future sales.

Of course, I also think that cards are still overproduced and it is driven by the chase for the 'holy grail' of whatever set. Guys will rip and rip and rip selling the hits while leaving the base cards to rot. The way some of you talk, Topps might as well issue full boxes with a set number of hits and leave out the base. Its like you break a box and might as well only have the color and autos...Topps Chrome could consist of 4 packs to a box, 4 cards to a pack, all color and no base...would save on resources by using less paper, ink, lower shipping cost, etc.

[imnotded]

I think the question should be if the Internet is helping or hurting the hobby. If there wasn't ebay then there would just be some other site.

[abcd1234]

Whats interesting about the internet is that you have people from many countries having access to ebay and online card shops. I think knowing that makes sense that the internet is helping the hobby globally thrive with new collectors. On the other hand, I just recently bought an original bvg graded allen and ginter card on ebay for way less than I ever thought it would be. We are talking less than $200 dollars for baseball history dating back to 1887. The internet is helping collectors line their pockets with sweet deals but we must remember that the hobby is only as valuable as the amount buyers are willing to pay for cards. If everyone started to pay more, the hobby would be worth more, likewise paying less makes the hobby not worth as much.

[cowboyzqna]

There is alott about ebay I don't much care for (fees, shilling, $4 best offer on a $150 obo ) but all in all I am a fan of ebay.

Just for me and my example I built up a collection of near 90% of a players total cards (discounting 1/1s) This included Auto's to base. Would have been impossible without ebay.

[freeman2jackson]

Actually Beckett Price Guides ruin the hobby. That is just my opinion but I'm sure lots of others would agree.

[alpine]

Unless there is saturation of a product, Ebay definitely helps It's an important medium. I remember pre-internet & Beckett, buying some fantastic 50's & 60's collections back in the early 80's for great prices. Prices were left to the seller & buyer to hash out.

Everything permanently changed right around 1985 & about the time Beckett & Sports Collectors Digest took off. It became a national hobby instead of being regionalized.

As a kid, I remember scanning the Sporting News for the card ads in the back from Larry Fristch & others. The only other place to get cards was of course the local grocery store & some toy shops.

[CubsFanInTX]

Originally Posted by calculusdork

Non sequitur, IMO. If there are too few young people in the hobby, it's because the product (as it currently stands) is either unaffordable or unappealing - or both. I don't see what this has to do with eBay.

You actually made my point there. I probably didn't write it in the most concise way possible, but it was 3 in the morning and I couldn't sleep so, eh.

I believe there are too few kids in the hobby, because prices are too high. Ebay is an avenue where everyone can see a card and bid on said card forcing the card higher and higher. This will create more of a demand on a box of whatever that card's brand was. So Ebay is, IMO, the largest contributing factor to high demand for a product. This causes prices to go up which forces kids out of the hobby. That is the way Ebay is hurting our Hobby.

[LegSpoLim]

The internet has helped me greatly as a collector and a dealer. It has helped me see that amazing cards exist besides my amazing wade boggs collection that I have kept since I was a kid. Today I am happy to use ebay to help connect me with other collectors (or even the dealers who are on there to buy cheap for resale). I have sold cards to Japan, Taiwan & Australia and it makes me feel like our hobby is world wide instead of just at the local show or local card shop.
I love this hobby and I love what it is to me.

[Ziveus101]

IMO half yes, half no.

Yes it's helping because it helps collectors get cards that they could only dream of ever getting and getting a great deal on PC stuff every once in a while.

No because it makes collecting a little "too easy" for collectors now. You can just sit there behind the screen, click a few links and you've already got some cards being sent your way.
Plus it's re-enforcing the fact that people can't separate baseball cards from having a price tag on them.

[mainerunr]

Originally Posted by freeman2jackson

Actually Beckett Price Guides ruin the hobby. That is just my opinion but I'm sure lots of others would agree.

once upon a time, Beckett prices were based on actual sales in card shops and at shows...it is a little harder to do that with ebay because do you base it on the last sale? the highest and lowest recent (and for that you have to define recent) sale? the average sale?

I know people looking to buy are always going to point to the lowest sale they can find.

And dont get me wrong, I agree that Beckett pricing is fantasy at this point but everyone has different criteria of how they determine a card's value based on ebay too...

[LegSpoLim]

Great Point. I really hate it when I ask a dealer for a price and then they first say "Let me look it up" in the beckett. That is great for beckett, but is that the best way to price cards - the beckett way? Ebay and this forum in particular is what helps me stay in touch with a real card's "value" in my opinion.

[Tpm2780]

I think that eBay has helped us and am glad as a collector to have used it for the past 5 years plus! It has really given me an excellent opportunity to add some sick cards to my Griffey PC which I'm sure would be very hard to get otherwise such as at local card shops or even card shows! It has also been a great place to sell some of my cards that I was willing to part with in the past and the audience for selling them being worldwide has been a success. It's great to have an online site that brings collectors together for buying and selling and I wouldn't want it any other way!

[csmtampa]

Let's go back to the days of Tuff Stuff and buying/trading with fellow collectors through their classifieds ads. When I was 10 or so there was a lady I would send cards to and she would send me Ripken's back. I ended up sending some 76 Topps and she surprised me with a Fleer Ripken rookie..... Ahhh the good old days.

[LegSpoLim]

Lets get back to Tuff Stuff, Teletrade and Mr Mint!!!

I remember calling into teletrade on a 52 topps Feller.... You had to call again and again to see if you were the high bidder. Those were the days. I do thank ebay for making that part easier and more user friendly.