Things that irritate me • Collecting General • The Acaeum

The Acaeum Forums • Collecting General

Things that irritate me
	Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2

Author

BaconTastesGood
Active Collector

Posts: 98
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Last Visit: Dec 12, 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 8:44 pm

1. Sellers that try to get some "Vig" on shipping. I have a local comic shop that has been sitting on some 2e inventory for probably 5+ years -- I'm talking some shelf worn Birthright stuff, Cyberpunk, etc. Probably several hundred items. They've been selling their stuff on eBay and getting bids of $2-3 on average, but then they charge $3.95 for shipping. Since I'm local, I asked if I could just pick up winnings every week, and they _refused_. They said it was "too big a hassle"...I dunno about you, but I'd rather

2. Sellers that WAY overvalue their stuff, thus littering my eBay browsing with stuff I don't care about. I wish there was a filter for "[x] Ignore stupid auctions" =) You know what I mean, things like worn out 1e Monster Manuals with a starting bid for $9.99 and an "EX+ B2 Keep on the Borderlands OOP RARE!" for $9.99 :roll:

3. "How to host a murder..." Ugh.

4. Why can't minis be in a separate eBay area?!

Okay, don't mean to sound grumpy, especially since I'm new here, but I had to vent a bit.

BaconTastesGood
Active Collector

Posts: 98
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Last Visit: Dec 12, 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 8:50 pm

Oh, and related to #1, what's with the $30-40 shipping that some want for small lots of like 8 books?! I swear many of these sellers don't even know what Media Mail is.

dsaunders
Prolific Collector

Posts: 270
Joined: Dec 17, 2003
Last Visit: Dec 18, 2022
Location: Upstate New York

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 9:25 pm

What about the "Super Ultra Rare Near Mint Never Been Used Module" that turns out to be a beat up copy of X1?

-dave

BaconTastesGood
Active Collector

Posts: 98
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Last Visit: Dec 12, 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 9:44 pm

dsaunders wrote:What about the "Super Ultra Rare Near Mint Never Been Used Module" that turns out to be a beat up copy of X1?

Yeah, that's up there on my list too. OOP RARE!!

Unfortunately, I think I've done that as a seller before, unwittingly. I had an Marvel Superheroes Judge's Screen MINT in Shrinkwrap that I couldn't find anywhere else on-line -- NobleKnight, etc. No one carried it. Nothing recent on eBay. So I figured, hey, it's GOTTA be valuable...not a single bid at a whopping $1.99 opening price.

I'm sure some guy was looking at my auction thinking "Oh puh-leeze".

The flurry of auctions that are effectively buy-it-now exclusives pretty much take forever to wade through. You know the ones, opening bid of $14.99, BIN at $16.99...not sure what the seller is thinking on that.

dsaunders
Prolific Collector

Posts: 270
Joined: Dec 17, 2003
Last Visit: Dec 18, 2022
Location: Upstate New York

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 9:52 pm

yeah, some of those BIN auctions get annoying. i see the same resellers selling the same junk BIN every week. the one that annoys me the most is the "12 Forts Dragons Advanced Dungeons" auction. i can never do a search of the BIN auctions without seeing a couple dozen of auctions from that guy. i keep searching though, every once in awhile it's worth it. Found 30 old copies of Dungeon BIN for $30 once.

-dave

BaconTastesGood
Active Collector

Posts: 98
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Last Visit: Dec 12, 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 10:00 pm

That leads me to a more interesting question -- how does everyone else manage their searchesd? Right now just browsing new items are added almost as fast as I can read the listings! I hate relying on keyword searches since you often miss some gems that way. I do look for "lots" though, and do "-miniatures" and "-minis" to cut down on some of the noise, but still, with over 10K Role Playing auctions...I just dunno how to deal with it all!

Also, I've heard people mention they get lucky with "estate sales" -- how are these different from garage sales, and how do you find them?

BaconTastesGood
Active Collector

Posts: 98
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Last Visit: Dec 12, 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA

Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2004 10:16 pm

Oh, another one -- "lots" that consist of two books. :roll:

deimos3428
Long-Winded Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 3066
Joined: Jul 09, 2004
Last Visit: Apr 30, 2015

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 8:35 am

BaconTastesGood wrote:Oh, another one -- "lots" that consist of two books.

Ooh, I think I like this thread. At least I'll have something to post everyday.

1. Sellers that use the words "lot of" in the title to mean "plenty" instead of "a set/group of". You know who you are.

2. The word "rare" applied to anything after 1978. With several obvious exceptions.

3. The acronym "OOP" applied to anything worth collecting. No kidding, do you think I'd bother buying it from eBay if it were still in print?

Just to balance things out, things I like:

1. Unknowledgable sellers who don't know "first print" from "first edition" and mislead other bidders away from their auctions.

2. Knowledgeable sellers that have low shipping and have done their homework regarding printings.

3. $10 BINs on ST1 at 3am when everyone is asleep

deimos3428
Long-Winded Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 3066
Joined: Jul 09, 2004
Last Visit: Apr 30, 2015

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 9:03 am

BaconTastesGood wrote:That leads me to a more interesting question -- how does everyone else manage their searchesd?

My "main" search is currently as follows:

(ad&d, d&d, dungeons, dungeon) -jammer -spelljammer -volo -"van richten's" -gurps -planescape -ral -"role aids" -judges -mayfair -d20 -minis -dice -mini -"giants of legend" -miniatures -"harbinger" -miniature -"dragoneye" -"archfiends" -"giants of legend" -magazine

You need to tweak this stuff from time to time when you get a glut of garbage that has snuck in there, and your tastes may differ.

dsaunders
Prolific Collector

Posts: 270
Joined: Dec 17, 2003
Last Visit: Dec 18, 2022
Location: Upstate New York

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 12:57 pm

i use several different searches. one of my favorites is to take into account the sellers inability to spell. try doing a search for "Dungoens", "Dungens", or "Dungons" one day

-dave

frankfromgermany
Prolific Collector

Posts: 280
Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Last Visit: Oct 11, 2021
Location: Well, you guess...

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 1:23 pm

dsaunders wrote:i use several different searches. one of my favorites is to take into account the sellers inability to spell. try doing a search for "Dungoens", "Dungens", or "Dungons" one day

aha! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 5921721657
Now that is a fun find!!! congrats!

Great tip. Just did a small search and here's my favorite:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 5924292725
DUNGENS & DRAGEONS indeed!

I personally like the saved ebay searches with notification mails.

Zenopus
Verbose Collector

Posts: 1702
Joined: Sep 03, 2003
Last Visit: Mar 31, 2024
Location: Portown

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 1:37 pm

Deities and Demigods is commonly misspelled as "Dieties"

There's often 3 or 4 up on Ebay spelled this way at any one time.

Although I'm not sure if that reduces the number of people who see it if they are just searching "demigods".

frankfromgermany
Prolific Collector

Posts: 280
Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Last Visit: Oct 11, 2021
Location: Well, you guess...

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 1:43 pm

Also try dnd adnd, plane scape, dragon lance.

BaconTastesGood
Active Collector

Posts: 98
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Last Visit: Dec 12, 2005
Location: Atlanta, GA

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 1:50 pm

So it sounds like most people rely on the search engine instead of manually browsing? I generally manually browse with keyword removal filters, specifically -minis -figures -25mm -painted -miniatures -murder, but I'll keep adding to that list over time. I collect all brands of RPGs, so I can't key on TSR or AD&D, etc.

I wish I could put in more heuristics over time, like "don't show me anything this particular seller has for sale".

dsaunders
Prolific Collector

Posts: 270
Joined: Dec 17, 2003
Last Visit: Dec 18, 2022
Location: Upstate New York

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 2:27 pm

thanks, i don't mind paying 15.50 for Queen of the Spiders. The other junk is just a bonus. Most of it i don't need or want, it will probably end up back on ebay. That will make the cost of my Queen of the Spiders just a little lower

>aha! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?
>Now that is a fun find!!! congrats!

-dave

frankfromgermany
Prolific Collector

Posts: 280
Joined: Sep 07, 2004
Last Visit: Oct 11, 2021
Location: Well, you guess...

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 2:37 pm

Another one of my favorites is this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 5923016687
D&D 3E Conversion manual for 7 Euro!???
You gotta be kidding!

nev
Prolific Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 427
Joined: Nov 05, 2002
Last Visit: Aug 27, 2022
Location: Sydney, Australia

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 3:58 am

Man, you guys have gotta start using AuctionSieve! It's precisely wading through all that crap that made me write the program in the first place.

With AuctionSieve it's as simple as highlighting the words "how to host", click the "Add to TrashWords" button and you'll never have to see How to Host a murder games *ever* again!

eBay auction search software tool | AuctionSieve
- "It's the next best thing to having an 'Ignore Stupid Auctions' option on eBay"

nev
Prolific Collector
Acaeum Donor

Posts: 427
Joined: Nov 05, 2002
Last Visit: Aug 27, 2022
Location: Sydney, Australia

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 4:04 am

Here's a small selection of Trash Words I have :

1000 magic items!
1000 magicweapons
1000+
1000+magic items!
1000+magicitems
1000+weapons
12 fortresses
12 castles
12 fortresses
12 forts
12castle
12fortresses
12forts
12temples
20 dungeons!
20 dungeons
20 lairs
20% off
20caves
20dungeons
20dungns
20fortresses
20lairs
20mazes

The Acaeum Forums • Collecting General

Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2