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Need HONEST opinions re: selling on EBay

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Need HONEST opinions re: selling on EBay
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disneycolleen

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Hi fellow pin collectors! I need some honest opinions please- is it possible to be a Disney pin collector/trader AND EBay seller without being known as a "shark"? I am fairly new to all this and heard that term used recently. I have found that having a Disney pin "business" on EBay has allowed me to work at home so I can stay home with my kids and continue to homeschool. I am also a pin LOVER/collector and would NEVER try to take advantage of anyone for a profit. What do most big collectors really think of EBay sellers? I love going to the pin trading events at WDW/etc. and meeting people but afraid to tell people because I don't want anyone to think the only reason I am there is to take advantage for a profit. This is also a hobby for me and my kids so is it possible to have the best of both worlds without being frowned upon? I know there are obviously a lot of big collectors who buy on EBay because I have quite a few "regulars" who spend a good amount of $ on a weekly basis. Would love to get some feedback on this please. I know in actuality does it really matter what people think? Probably shouldn't , but in my heart it does!
Thank you! :)
 
A shark, regardless of weather they sell or not, is a person who takes advantage of other people. A shark wants your best pin from your book for a pin from their book that can be gotten elsewhere easier. A shark wants your LE 500 highly sought after stitch for an LE1000 upsidedown trade/want Mickeymouse. A shark trys to get 3 pins for 1 that isnt worth that much. Being a seller does not instantly make you a shark, behavior does.

I trade/collect, but sell on evilbay as well. I don't trade specifically thinking of how much I can make, so my behavior is not "sharkie" while trading. I trade to increase my collection, sell things that I think will do better sold than traded, and use that money to buy things I can't find trading. ( holy grails, older LEs ) Do I make a bit extra, sure. And I do occationally buy pins specifically for re-selling at markup. PODM's, DSF's, Annual passholder excusives... But I do not try to trade up just to sell like some people do. Those are the sharks, not me.

I do not however, discuss it with traders.... Some folks make blanket assumptions about evilbay sellers. They don't think about folks like me who sell nice hidden mickey sets to non-park local buyers. Buyers who cannot get these pins without an honest seller like me. I strive to sell nice, authentic pins to people who cannot get them any other way.
 
I have bought many pins off of EBay over the years. Mostly framed sets, but also some individual pins. The SELLER has the right to price things as they want, and the BUYER has the right to bid/not bid on the pins. If the Price is set too high IMHO I just do not bid, period.

Being on EBay and also a Trader/collector are mutually exclusive in my opinion. As long as the pins you put up for Sale are original not scrappers or fakes, people will choose whether to bid or not, its their choice.

Mike S.
 
figment919 said:
I have bought many pins off of EBay over the years. Mostly framed sets, but also some individual pins. The SELLER has the right to price things as they want, and the BUYER has the right to bid/not bid on the pins. If the Price is set too high IMHO I just do not bid, period.

Being on EBay and also a Trader/collector are mutually exclusive in my opinion. As long as the pins you put up for Sale are original not scrappers or fakes, people will choose whether to bid or not, its their choice.

Mike S.
Click to expand...

I agree with the above post, it is up to the buyer how much they pay for the pin it does not make the seller a 'shark' in any way :)
 
I have a lot of pins in my collection I wouldn't have gotten if it weren't for E-bay sellers. I recently bought the WDI Orange Bird Earth Day I never would have been able to get otherwise.
 
I think Ebay is a great marketplace. It is a lot easier sometimes to buy a pin rather than trade for it. I have bought and sold pins on ebay myself. Most of the time I only sell pins when I really need the money - or when I am looking to use the money to buy other pins :0) I can say that without ebay - I wouldn't have my holiest grail and becasue it has such a special meaning to me - I couldn't imagine the frustration I would have tryign to trade for it. So I don't think that being a seller makes you a shark at all.
 
peterpanfan said:
In my opinion, I kind of prefer it if I know i'm buying from a seller who is also a trader!
Click to expand...

I second this, it is more comfortable. :)

I also occasionally sell pins on the Bay, if I do they are UK LE edition, and I ONLY ever sell if I can't find a trade on here for the pin. I am fairly new to the UK pins, and I don't ever overprice things... as long as I get my money back it's fine, and if an auction gets out of hand in pricing, I don't complain, but I don't agree with it because this kind of crazy auction just escalates the price of a pin, which is good for the sharks and people out purely for profit, and bad for those who want a pin badly. It's also nice to sell UK to overseas, because someone might want a pin for a good price, and it's nice to help people out if they can't trade. :)

I do love eBay though, however crazy that may sound... some grails can't be gotten anywhere else, and eBay is a good place to look if you can tell between reals and scrappers/fakes. Just my opinion. :)
 
I don't think there is anything wrong with traders selling on ebay and it doesn't make you a shark unless you go around behaving like one.
As many have said, some pins just can't be obtained without ebay as they may well not be in the trader community or they're super hard to trade for due to value it might well be easier to just buy one.
I know that if any of the UK LE pins I've bought or will be buying 2 of to get a trader that don't trade I'll put on the bay to get my money back if I need the cash, I'd prefer to hold out until my next Disney holiday and trade it there but I never know if they'll be traders there when I go or not.

I also agree with the whole "liking the seller to be a trader" thing, makes me feel much more comfortable when buying from them that I'll be getting an authentic pin and it'llbe posted to me safely.
I just managed to get 8 DLRP princess pins on the evilbay for a mere £8 so i can't complain!
 
I am thankful for Ebay sellers! There are some bad apples out there, but sometimes it's much easier to just buy a pin than trade for it. No one is forcing people to buy on Ebay so you can decide what a pin is worth to you.
 
I am a huge collector but have also sold pins on ebay and here as well. I see nothing wrong with it. Sometimes you have to sell things, sometimes to pay bills and other times to fund more pin buying...lol I do not try to cheat anyone nor do I ever try to take all of somebody's best pins and give them my worst. I always try really hard to be fair to everyone and want everyone happy with buys and/or trades. I love pin collecting. It is a huge passion of mine, one I can not give up, try as I may...lol

Now, I don't sell on ebay all the time, just occasionally if I need to and I try to be fair with any prices and just judge by other recently sold items, sometimes even going lower to help others out who need pins to complete sets.

Long run, I feel it just depends on how you do it, are you fair or are you trying to cheat people? I have no issues with anyone selling though. You do what you have to do. A buyer makes the choice whether or not to buy and had it not been for ebay I would not have met several people that I have bought from for years now and even become friends with. :) I value it greatly!


FYI, the only people I do not care for are people who are here and never post anything but browse all the time and then post only to people's selling threads when they want to buy things from them just to take to ebay. I have missed pins from members here on more than one occasion b/c of ebay sellers who were stalking the sells threads constantly! THAT really gets me.
 
For me, it's up to everyone's personal discretion on how they feel about selling and markups. Myself, I do not buy with the intent to resell at a higher price. I trade for fun, I collect for fun. I have the privilege to shop at certain CM only stores and know their policies (which state that one CANNOT resell at a higher price). The policies are blanketting their websites, and I do not wish to lose any special priv's by doing so. Nor do I wish to.

I don't judge those who resell at a higher price, I just don't. I trade purely for fun :)
 
There is nothing wrong about being a collector and having to occasionally sell pins. Sometimes it will be for financial reasons, or to set up the purchase of new treasures. That's life, and you are still firmly in the collector / trader catagory.

But if your primary motivation shifts to retail / reselling of pins and keeping a few that catch your personal interst, you have become a MERCHANT. Again nothing wrong here, merchants are a necessary element in any hobby. However, they DO NOT call themselves collectors. To use an old quote, "it's just business, Mr Bond." It is also a short, very slippery slope from there down into the shark tank. As a merchant, you will need to turn a profit, that means getting a return on your investment, by buying pins under their retail value to sell at higher prices. It is also when trading quickly goes from being fun to being WORK. You have to build and maintain an inventory. You also have to start keeping track of income/expenses and pay appropriate taxes on those sales - both state sales/income taxes and federal Income tax. While you can sell as a hobby, you don't get to report your losses on the tax return for hobbies. As a merchant if you do not have a realistic plan to show a profit after a few years IRS can and will reclassify you as a hobby and come looking for those past taxes.
 
I hate how Ebay has become such a benchmark for valuing a pin for TRADE. Trading is trading, not selling. If you want to put a dollar amount to a pin, do not bring it to the trading table.

And trading is difficult at times, but also a lot more fun. I traded a pin for a chimichanga, and another for a root beer yesterday. They got pins, I got lunch. Everyone's happy! The guy trading next to me, he traded for a turkey leg. They're happy, too!
 
I have never sold anything on ebay. But I don't have a problem with buying off it. I just try and be careful to avoid scrappers. But if its a UK based pin I will always go to the disneystore website rather than ebay
 
I sell on ebay. I often buy my allotted 2 sets of pins and sell 1 to help pay for my own keepers. I sometimes trade them but more often than not I'm not really willing to tie up too much money unless what I am trading for I was going to try and purchase anyways. I am always willing to give a better price to someone on the forum or someone I know but I've received some flak for listing new pins for sale here so I stopped and most people don't know my eBay ID. I'd rather sell them here and avoid evilbay fees but there is obviously a larger market of shoppers there.
 
I sound like a broken record, but when things got tough I went to eBay and had to sell some of my collection - pins literally fed my kids when I was a new single mother! I think many collectors have, from time to time had to sell, done 'third party trading' (sell some to buy some when the trades just aren't flowing) or just decided to thin the traders.

Right now, I had an unexpected large bill hit (I do hate to sound like I have bad teeth, but all it takes is no insurance + popcorn and WOW is there a whopper of a bill to be paid!) but this time I went to the sales board here on DPF and am hoping to pay the bill that way. The fees on eBay are crazy high so then I have to charge 'limbs' to get back what I paid. :/

Anyway - my opinion is I'm a trader, but I've sold as well and I know a lot of people who have. It doesn't make anyone evil.

Also, it's all supply and demand. If the price is ridiculous, pass on it, no harm, no foul - the seller will eventually come down in price until they find that spot where someone is willing to pay "x" for it.
 
I also have sold pins on eBay from time to time. Often it was to pay for other pins. Trading is fun, but there are just some pins I can never find otherwise.
 
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