What’s going on with eBay?

[M.C.Glass]

It seems like flea bay is filled with speculators and not bottle sellers. Common bottles are listed for ten times their possible value because of one similar rarity listed. Shipping is off the charts too. Kind of takes the fun out of browsing.

 

[hemihampton]

Yeah, I don't know where some of these people get their Prices from. I had a guy 2 weeks ago list a extremely bad POS Beer tray for $500.00 opening bid but said best offer. It was so bad & worthless I made a best offer of $10.00. He responded with his offer of $499. He knocked $1.00 off. Of course, it ended with no bids. So he reslisted it at $9.99. I was the only one to bid & got it for $9.99. Cheaper then my first offer he refused. LEON.

 

[iggyworf]

It seems like flea bay is filled with speculators and not bottle sellers. Common bottles are listed for ten times their possible value because of one similar rarity listed. Shipping is off the charts too. Kind of takes the fun out of browsing.

Yeah, and when a bottle is priced accordingly sometimes the shipping costs more than the bottle!

 

[DavidW]

The honest truth is that most sellers on ebay don't have in-depth knowledge about a lot of things they try to sell - whether it's bottles, antique jars, marbles, insulators, pottery, books, postcards, you name it. And many of them either don't have time, or don't want to take the time, to research and find out more realistic values --- so they copy off of other sellers and item listings, not taking into account the Actual Completed Auctions prices. Or they see a certain bottle or insulator that sold for a very high price and think "yeah, this one has to be worth some good money too!!!!" .

I really do feel sorry for some sellers because they are just being overly hopeful and clueless. But some sellers know that something is not worth much and they STILL put a very high unrealistic minimum bid or "buy it now" price on it.
They just waste their own time, and every body elses! I saw a listing for a fairly common MASONS PATENT NOV 30Th 1858 jar (maybe worth 15 to 40 dollars at the most) and he or she wanted $1,700.00 buy it now. I wrote to them and (politely) said that was unrealistic, the very most it might be worth is maybe 40.00. And that is stretching it. They got mad and wrote back and said "send me an offer or just shut up!". Ha!!!

 

[hemihampton]

This here would solve all those problems. If someone is not sure what something is worth just list it for opening bid of $9.99 or .99 cents & just let people bid what they think it is worth.

 

[UncleBruce]

This here would solve all those problems. If someone is not sure what something is worth just list it for opening bid of $9.99 or .99 cents & just let people bid what they think it is worth.

This is the best way then the market will set the "value". I've usually set an initial bid of $9.99 for the beginning of a feeBay auction.

 

[M.C.Glass]

Since there was a truly rare NDNR Mountain Dew 1pint bottle offered for $400, people are asking hundreds for the common 10 oz version.
On FB Marketplace, (not the same caliber) there is someone asking $5000 for a few 2001 retro style Faygo bottles. I told her, they say 1907 on them, but they are modern repros. She still asking for the moon.

 

[Canadacan]

I still search ebay and get a laugh when I still see the seller with the common 10oz Canadian Orange Crush bottle for 2k that's been up for over 3 years now...SMFH!!!..lol
But I still like to search because there are some decent bottles or paper signs once in a while, not many but still worth a search.
Real soda signs have all but vanished form ebay and it's mostly reproduction....between soda and oil and gas signs no longer on there ebay has lost so much.

 

[mrosman]

Agree with that Ebay listing.... I thought it might be a 7oz.... anyway, two years ago I wrote the seller to ask why he was asking so much for a commonly found bottle with runs about $20. He said it was owned by a 'prominent' Toronto collector, who I did not know, it was an extremely rare bottle... etc. etc.etc... what a crock of you know what!!

 

[Johnny M]

I get a kick out of the Ebayers who are selling a beat up milk bottle (no offense to milk collectors) or an ABM Pitchers castoria bottle and in the background they intentionally catch group shots of a window or lighted cabinet shelf with colored figural bitters,flasks or other exotic bottles but of course what they are willing to sell is a recycling bin reject.