Did eBay help or harm?

[Skip]

This is a question for those that have been doing it a while.  Did eBay help or harm?  My mother, who as I mentioned elsewhere, has been at it for like 45 years thinks it harmed. Now, as she usually words it, "they (the thrift stores) don't know what to ask".  She says the "treasures" are few and far between. What say you?

[Magpie18]

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "treasures".

From TS, I buy clothes, purses & shoes to wear, items to repurpose/recraft/upcycle (whatever is the correct term), books to read (still cheaper than e-books), vases & baskets to regift.

I doubt eBay has made that much of a difference.  I may buy on eBay & donate the excesss.  I have bought books by the huge lot on eBay (40+ books) & then donated the excess.  It all works out.

[brianrhc]

Great question; I think it has several aspects, and will offer opinions on each.

-Has eBay led some people who would have donated to TSs instead selling those items on eBay? Yes.
-Are some TSs that previously would have set bargain prices on some items (e.g. collectibles) now either selling them on eBay or pricing them higher in their stores due to eBay price data? Yes.
-Has eBay affected the bulk of TS item prices such as for late-model clothes and books? No.
-Do some shoppers who previously would have visited TSs for both run-of-the-mill items (e.g. jeans) and unusual stuff now instead use eBay? Yes.
-What is eBay's net effect on TSs? Negative but small for TSs that don't list unusual items on eBay or similar site; Positive but small for TSs that do list online.

[Big Daddy Audio]

It really depends on what you mean when you ask, "Has eBay harmed or helped?"

I'll answer from the standpoint of the buyer/collector/part-time reseller.
I used to sell on eBay all the time, but through their confiscatory fee rates and feedback rules, I no longer use them.  Before eBay "hit big" in the early 2000's, I was able to find all kinds of stuff in thrift shops for little to no money.  I was constantly astounded by what Americans thought worthless (or at least not worthy of keeping or otherwise selling).  Since the "awareness" of eBay - that is, the presence of eBay in the public mindset - prices have not only gone up (WAY up in some cases) but there are more people out there looking for what I was - at one time - the only one looking for.  I remember going out on Goodwill 50% off days and combing all the stores in the valley, filling up the back of a full sized station wagon.  This no longer happens.  In 2005, I was able to pay for a Disneyland vacation STRICTLY by selling what I found in thrift shops.  I'd say eBay has been harmful to me, after being helpful to me.

Thrift store prices are way up (in a large part because of eBay) and stock is way down.  The whole pricing issue, though, is not strictly because of eBay, but it has had a great impact.     

[azia88]

I think ebay has harm..My husband and I sell on ebay and craigslist.  Now GW and thrift stores are getting prices higher and higher that is hard to get something to sell.. We see other people getting stuff to sell too..They think we don't notice, but can always tell. lol..I saw the other day a guy you can tell resold stuff how he was looking at ppl as he went by to buy some paintings at GW.. I feel like saying  those don't sell as well you think they do.. lol..We sell stuff for gas, diapers, food. etc.   I think thrift stores go on ebay and try to sell for about same thing as ebay..They don't think that millions of ppl look at same thing. Thrift store don't have that many ppl come in...
  So please don't look on ebay to sell your stuff. Just price it like you use to...

[Frchgrl]

I've been going to thrift stores since high school, so like, last year. haha, not funny. Okay, for about 30 years. I've been selling on eBay for 12 years. Yes a lot of TS know that people resell BUT they don't know everything and not every TS has the same people putting inventory out.

Selling mostly vintage I still score all the time. I recently saw some vintage 40s shoes at a Goodwill of all places that should have been in their "boutique" but someone who either thought they were ugly or too damaged or just didn't know threw them on the shelf for $8. The shoes next to them from Target were like $25. I sold the vintage shoes for $152. (enter evil laugh.)

I STILL find bargains because they just don't know everything. As easy as old days? No. But I'm still gladly surprised at the gems I find.

Today I found a 100% leather black suede jacket with fringes and conchos for $5. Not my style but I'll easily get $100 for that.

So it depends...........

[Skip]

Thanks for the replies/comments. 

Frchgrl, funny my mother says the same thing. I went with her to a Goodwill and she was looking in the back at the pocket books. I asked her why she bothered and she answered,"They don't know EVERYTHING".

Do you have a link or a pic of those shoes?

By the way,  I was at a TS last week and picked up a couple '66 Barbie dolls.  I know that new Barbies are a dime a dozen but I thought the vintage ones would be worth something.  Well, I was wrong they aren't worth much unless there is something special about them.

[Frchgrl]

I'll have to find a pic and show you. The listing ended a couple of months back.

[FleaQueen]

When I started on eBay, it was still possible to a) find good stuff for next to nothing, and b) get a good price for it on eBay.

Now the pickings are a little slimmer, and eBay is just a big waste of time due to the fees, the insistence on using PayPal, and the feedback system.  Now and then I will list something, but it's not like it used to be.  I'm guessing in a few years it will be more or less identical to Amazon. 

Did it help?  Yeah, if you were on it in the early days and getting serious money for stuff people wouldn't even pay attention to at the flea market.  The only people it's really helping today are the shareholders.

Did it hurt?  True, it's getting harder to come upon that awesome find, but you could also blame that on all those cable shows shows that tell people what's valuable and what's not.

[Jay2TheRescue]

So many times I'd see the coolest items behind the counter, and the clerk would tell me, oh we're saving that for Ebay... 

Then there are other times they will find an auction where a similar item in perfect condition fetched top dollar, and have the auction printed out, and they are asking the same price as the ending price as the auction.  In most cases, their item is not the exact item listed in the auction, but they don't know enough about the item to know its not the same, and usually the condition of their item is nothing like the one in the auction.

-Jay

[Big Daddy Audio]

Then there are other times they will find an auction where a similar item in perfect condition fetched top dollar, and have the auction printed out, and they are asking the same price as the ending price as the auction.  In most cases, their item is not the exact item listed in the auction, but they don't know enough about the item to know its not the same, and usually the condition of their item is nothing like the one in the auction.

I've seen that a few times, although not in the Valley GW stores, but IT DRIVES ME UP A WALL!. 

This is the perfect instance when a little knowledge is a bad thing.  What compounds the idiocy is when someone comes in and BUYS the blasted object paying WAY too much money for it, but all the time thinking, "WOW! I GOT A GREAT DEAL BECAUSE I BOUGHT IT AT A THRIFT STORE."

Please.

[FleaQueen]

So many times I'd see the coolest items behind the counter, and the clerk would tell me, oh we're saving that for Ebay... 

Then there are other times they will find an auction where a similar item in perfect condition fetched top dollar, and have the auction printed out, and they are asking the same price as the ending price as the auction.  In most cases, their item is not the exact item listed in the auction, but they don't know enough about the item to know its not the same, and usually the condition of their item is nothing like the one in the auction.

-Jay

What they also don't realize is that in most cases, there's only one person in the entire world who would pay that (usually grossly inflated) price.  So the item sits and sits and sits.

From 1993 to 1999 I had a job in downtown Philly.  A thrift store a few blocks away had an old cabinet plate in one of their cases priced at about three times what it should have been.  Now, I first saw in in 1993, but six years later it was STILL there.

http://fullservicebohemian.blogspot.com/

[Jay2TheRescue]

The problem with one person paying that overinflated price, is that it justifies their reasoning for pricing it that high for eternity.

Then there are other times they will find an auction where a similar item in perfect condition fetched top dollar, and have the auction printed out, and they are asking the same price as the ending price as the auction.  In most cases, their item is not the exact item listed in the auction, but they don't know enough about the item to know its not the same, and usually the condition of their item is nothing like the one in the auction.

I've seen that a few times, although not in the Valley GW stores, but IT DRIVES ME UP A WALL!. 

This is the perfect instance when a little knowledge is a bad thing.  What compounds the idiocy is when someone comes in and BUYS the blasted object paying WAY too much money for it, but all the time thinking, "WOW! I GOT A GREAT DEAL BECAUSE I BOUGHT IT AT A THRIFT STORE."

Please.

[Big Daddy Audio]

Sadly, that's the truth of it, Jay.

[azia88]

I think Ebay has hurt. GW stores and other has put the stuff way high. Thinking they can get what ebays sells for the same thing. It sits for a long time though.. craigslist has hurt too. Everybody sells on the site instead of giving it to GW.. I am guilty of that too.. :-)