Don’t drink and click. Here Ed Karswell tells us why.
Don’t drink and click. Here Ed Karswell tells us why.
Being a long-time eBay fan I’m fascinated with how the site influences peoples buying behaviour, particularly when it comes to collectables. By ‘collectables’ I really mean obsolete items as unlike currently produced goods one can order at any time. The very nature of obsolete goods make their purchase a singular experience.
Just take into consideration knowledge. Knowledge really is power on eBay. For example, if you spot a mis-described model you have the opportunity to bag it for a song. Conversely, if you decide to buy outside your comfort zone you could end up landing a lemon, and paying over the odds to boot. The key is trying to work out if the descriptions match up with the photos which is rarely as easy as it sounds.
The whole process would appear to be an exercise in planned jeopardy. There is a lot of gambling going on, on all sides here, and for some mind boggling reasons to boot. Some individuals bid on items they don’t want just for the thrill of it. They either like they idea of running the other person up or for the danger that they may actually win on a whim. We can blame this state of affairs on dopamine, a chemical released into the body when we experience pleasurable situations. It gives us a high which leads us to seek another hit as soon as we hit a low. However, I’m not sure this will explain why you have 16 identical Dinky Toy taxis on your shelf. “Just one more”... that’s what they all say!
Then there’s the FOMO factor, otherwise known as the ‘fear of missing out’. This being the reason nobody under 30 can go more than two minutes without looking at their phone. Checking what’s just come onto eBay is very similar. One keeps looking at the listings either to jump on a bargain or just to see what’s on offer. I liken it to the people at toy fairs who start to rummage through your stock whilst you’re still setting up your stall. It’s rude but strangely understandable.
All these observations aren’t to damn eBay though, far from it. I well remember first going on there and seeing toys I didn’t know existed and things I’d only seen in books... and all for sale! Far from killing the hobby as some predicted, it opened it up to far more people, and presented them with many more possibilities. Gone were the years one would spend trailing around toy fairs hoping to find that certain model. Now you could have your pick from say, five or so that were on offer at any given time.
The knock-on effect for the hobby would prove far reaching, what with previously unknown variants and makers etc. all coming onto eBay and adding to the wealth of knowledge already harvested. In fact, just visiting regional eBay sites is like a journey into an undiscovered land. My schoolboy French is considerably better having spent many an hour perusing the delights of JEP, Joustra, CIJ and the like on eBay France.
eBay may be known primarily for its auctions but of course there are things offered at set prices, known as buy-it-now.
There are those that have an inbuilt resistance to paying the ticket price on anything. This can even extend to things that are patently under-priced. I’ve seen rare toys for sale at half their market value ignored because of the buy-it-now stigma. As an old dealer once advised me, “stop messing around and pay the man. If something is cheap it can be for a multitude of reasons so one should not immediately dismiss something on a low price alone”.
However, my favourite eBay stories are the ‘drunken purchases’ which are apparently so numerous they have websites dedicated to them. Most people, unless temperance, have at least one. Mine was to rashly bid up on a vintage Matchbox Brooke Bond van that was for sale in the States after downing several beers. In the morning, I realised I’d won the van at roughly 3 times its value. Hangover not withstanding I honoured the deal. There were no, “Sorry, mistake, my five-yearold son got to my computer and bid on it…’ excuses here. Imagine my delight when it arrived with a huge undisclosed factory fault that initiated its return and a full refund much to the chagrin of the seller. A pyrrhic victory as there was a fair amount of angst and self-chastisement involved. After all this is small fry compared to other people who after a tipple splash out on real cars and then have to explain to their spouses and occasionally their bank manager why they did indeed buy that rusty Austin Allegro from a village in Latvia which they now have to go and pick it up.
Luckily mine was a sufficient wakeup call or I too would undoubtably be writing this gazing mournfully out on my drive from some rusted out Allegro. From Latvia.