Hello all,

I am now a present member of the Acaeum. I have enjoyed reading and learning from you elite collectors for some time.  Until recently, I also enjoyed my sortie into Ebay reselling.  I am here to do to things:  1.  To inform you that indeed I am ending this escapade and 2. To give some detail about how it started and why it will now end.  I do this with the utmost respect for the site and for all of the members.  Although you may despise me, I am from the same cloth as you.  I love RPG's and wargames.  I love collecting. I love meeting people.  And I especially love meeting people who love RPG's, wargaming, and collecting.  That was where it all began...because of a loss of this love...it must now end.

Firstly, some background for those of you whom I have not met.  I began playing wargames and RPG's in elementary school with my cousin.  I was introduced to Dungeon at about 6 or 8.  From there, I went on to Traveller, D&D, dozens of wargames, Cthulhu, Warhammer, Stormbringer, MERP, and many others including many which my cousin created.  In childhood, my teens, and young adulthood, I had ample time to play.  Then my cousin (hi Mark) moved to Pittsburgh to pursue his doctorate at Pitt (congrats!).  We began to move apart, played less frequently, I started a family, and gaming became less and less important.  As the LOTR movies approached and we grew much apart, I made a decision to attempt to comlplete a full MERP collection in MINT/SW condition (I still need a few, but have really given up...some will never be in factory condition again).  I purchased many from Barnes and Noble and other online dealers.  Then, I found Ebay.  I purchased a couple of huge lots.  Having many doubles, I resold the extras.  It was then that I noted a profit (for better or worse).   I started buying more lots and more singles from BN.  I researched Mike Chapman's website and wathed the prices of those current auctions.  I made a chart based on all the research I collected for what each book was selling for on average.  From there, I started each auction.  I bid on any books with a maximum bid of my chart average, minus 10% to cover Ebay/Paypal fees once they were relisted, minus another $5 to ensure profit, and minus shipping and handling ($5 for US/$10 for international if not listed and minus $10 for missing maps/extreme damage, except for Ardor and Umbar which I cut in half). I bought a vendor's license and claimed this income on my taxes once I started doing it for profit rather than collecting purposes.  Understand however that the past few years, I worked only two days a week, getting full time pay.  I did this so that I could spend more time with my daughter (she is beautiful and perfect and will soon be 5).  Early on, she slept more than not and this gave me the extra time so many of you point out that I have on my hands.  I had to do something.  You can only clean and dust, vaccuum and polish so much.  I have to admit, I have profitted.  But, not at all compared to what I could be making had I chosen to work more at my "real job" (I work 24 hours a week getting paid for 36, 25-40 being time and a half, and over that being double time).  It was not for the money to start however.  I had so much fun meeting people with similiar interests and giving them which I thought at the time was a great service (please note my auctions....I take a lot of time to describe each book to the fullest possible extent I could.  Also note that although I bid on a lot of MERP auctions....I win only about 5-10% depending on the market and am almost always outbid by more than one person on the auctions I lose!  At any rate...I ramble...my apologies.... To get back to the point....I have lost interest...my daughter is more important to me than anything in the world...she gives me life....I no longer play with my cousin as we have had a schism....and unfortunately, I have evidnetly pissed a lot of people off  (I had not noted this until this year).   The benefit of meeting people with similiar interests has been lost.  I have become a dullard.  Much time has been lost answering emails about my ethics.  I can now admit I have made a terrible mistake...but not for the wrong intentions.  Antoher reason I began The Elf's Shelves was because I was so fed up with people misdescribing or purposely misleading buyers.  I put it on myslef to give a quality product with excact descriptions...and no charges for Paypal or for crazy s/h fees.   Rambling again.....To the point once more:

2.  I hereby swear to all present/and not that I will soon end this cycle of reselling.  I had intended to stop last month, but I had two huge auctions/lots that I had already committed to.  From this point 10:21 EST on June 07/2004, I will no longer bid on any items I do not intend to keep for personal use.  I also as a show of faith will be dropping my prices to reflect cost rather than profit.  I should have another big auction up on Thursday.  Once my stock is diminished....I am through......

3. I will admit that reading your posts regarding morgansurname has greatly influenced this decision.  Being called childish names and attacked hurt me deeply.  No joke...  I really thought I was helping more than hurting.  Now I can see your viewpoint.  Not because of the cussing and name calling....but because I spent some time thinking about things from your viewpoint.  I would really dislike most of my tactics also.  Just as I dislike some of your tactics in getting your points across.  I am still openminded however.  Please feel free to email me.  And by all means...if I do not hold true to my word and start bidding on MERP books...and reselling them at high costs...email me as well....if I get out of hand...shill me.   I suppose I deserve it.  But at least give me the chance to prove myself and rid myself of the stock I have.  I am even going to sell off my D&D collection that I purchased over the past few years and many other games....I am getting out.  I will spend my spare more with family...and perhaps a moment or two on the online LOTR game and Empires in Arms when able.  Perhaps we can even cross swords.  I will also become a postive figure on the forums if you would have me.  If not...please let me know...and I will not return.....

Until then..  MAY ERU'S LIGHT SHINE UPON YOU ALWAYS!!!!!

Oh....one more note......I had intended as sworn to 19hand that I would end my reselling since I lost much love and was not having fun.....then I bought a lot from erod....they guy live just a half an hour drive away....he delivered the lot personally and we had a nice MERP/LOTR chat...that brough some life back into my reselling and I started again....this time...I am done....crap...I have a daughter, carreer, new house, pup, pool, and niece on the way!  Here I am trying to be a great reseller!?!??! No wonder I feel stressed/depressed!  Also note that a earlier post regarding sellers/resellers (maybe a year or two ago) gave me some pride.  I thought at the time I was doing something honorable and fun.  Even an old buddy from the UK sent me a email congratulating me!  Wish I had never read it now.......

The Hand doth speak the truth. While monopolizing a market and inflating prices is perfectly legal, it is immoral, unethical, and bound to anger those people who are driven out of the market from a collection standpoint due to lack of funds. Believe me, I have been sorely tempted to shill some ridiculously priced selling auctions.
However, everyone deserves a chance to back words up with deeds. As long as I don't have to pay $40 for Woses of the Black Woods, I don't care WHO resells. If you are truly turning over a new leaf, I tip my hat to you.

Thanks for all of the constructive input.  I appreciate the tone being more level and helpful rather than heated and hurtful.  If anyone else has any opinion or view, please reply to the post.  I will be better able to learn the hearts and minds of my peers and grow as a fellow collector/RPG lover.  Be open and honest.  I can take criticism in any form.  I shall reply at a later time when I have a few more moments.  For now....I am off to swim!!!

The Dalai Lama speaks.......
Jon is right on the money (no pun intedned) as usual. People don't hate OPEC because they sell oil. They hate them because they control the market and inflate prices as they see fit. They could make a staggering profit and still sell oil at a really good price, but instead they want to make absurd amounts. That is greed. Buying something cheap and reselling it is smart. Buying EVERYTHING and reselling for much more than it's worth is manipulation.

I have no problem with whatever you charge for opening bids or BIN's.  (though I think Frank is teasing due to the fact that you said you would lower your prices this time around)

Every seller has the right to decide what he thinks is good selling strategy and what a fair (or smart) opening price or BIN for his wares is.  I'm really not one to sit in judgement of that.  (It is annoying when sellers misrepresent their items as "rare" and put a high opening bid to sucker newbays but that is not what is happening here.)  A free unmanipualted market will decide whether that strategy was correct or not.

The only problem I have ever had is the feeling that the market is being manipulated by resellers who bid on everything of a certain type of item, up to their desired selling price point.  Since morgansurname is not currently bidding on anything, let him charge whatever he wants without grief.  I would hate to have my opening bids questioned as I'm sure most of us would.

I think it bares stating that though this has been a MERP discussion the D&D collectable market is very susceptible to this kind of reselling.  Someone could decide to buy or at least bid up every woodgrain or white box set to a certain price point and start selling them just above that price point.  How would you all feel if one reseller changed the price of the OCE from @$50 to @$300 or more?  You are probably skeptical but it could easily happen.

Deadlord36 wrote:He's right, I AM just teasing. However, Shelob should be $10 or so. Not that it matters to me much, I am pretty sure it will go unsold.

Ok...but how did you come by this figure?  Via what sources?  Or is this a number that you just magically arrived at?  Here is my source:  Page not found | ICEWEBRING

The auctions on that site are 2-4 years old. Hardly a reliable source.
A simple eBay search will do. Discount the fact that you had bid on every one of them and it comes to roughly $10-12. I go low, I'm not a profiteer.

Ardor is $80. No more than that, unless it was (ugh) shrinked or SUPER MINT.
I could use long-term numbers for everything from gasoline to bread. 4 years ago gas was around $1.20, now it's $2.00+. Is it worth $2.00+? No, market manipulation and stock speculators have combined to drive up prices as usual. What is gas worth? From a retail point of view, it should be $1.30 or so.
There is an inherent flaw in using one resource to determine pricing. We have all heard the "But the Acaeum says it is worth this much" line.