I know this has been hashed many times but why do I feel there are quite a few eBay respectable sellers that sell crap with high BIN or high starting bids? I feel these are uneducated sellers and try to prey on new collectors. I think it's pretty sad. I feel like the Indian from the '70's that cries when he sees pollution. There is so many wacky auctions filled with pollution that I feel bad for the uneducated collector. I understand the tactics behind some sales but I don't understand the mentality behind these selling decisions. As an example, I see sellers starting their sketch auctions around $300 and when they don't sell they list them at $25 auction style. Then I see another seller trying to sell for $300 for 30 days and when it doesn't sell they will try selling it again for the same price. I see the same lame auctions for a dozen Lynch OLDS2 sketches with a $300 tag when I ended up selling all my doubles for less than $5 each. I see the same sketches for ANS8 and OLDS2 trying to get $300-$400 each, why? I see sellers trying to sell obviously easy stuff asking more than twice what it's worth just beating their heads against the wall. They keep doing it and I'm sure they can't understand why they aren't selling. It just blows me away.
I think there are a few reasons for these auctions
1. I've spoken with some people who list things in the stratosphere with the intention that it will generate off ebay offers once they are contacted directly. It's a way of putting the item up for sale without paying ebay a final value fee. If someone is crazy enough to buy it at the listing price, the fee will be chump change.
2. Some people are delusional or have wishful thinking. Self explanatory.
3. Others haven't changed as fast as the market. As a seller, you're going to be slower to lower your prices. As a buyer, you'll be quicker to pay less. The sketch card market is very fickle. When people are building their sets, they will pay crazy prices to get the sketch or artist they are looking for. Once the series is "closed" and all the musical chairs are filled, the leftovers are a tough sell unless they are truly something unique. Everyone who seriously collects is on to the next series.
I found out the hard way about this. I had a bunch of olds2 keepers that I thought were really nice. I decided to sell them and keep just a few and purchase some nice original series items that became available. A few of the sketches brought in ok money, but most which would have sold between $100 to $200 EASILY during the olds2 series time period weren't getting a yawn on ebay. I ended up selling most at 66% to 75% discount from my original ask. Had I not wanted to raise the cash, I might have left the prices where they were or just pulled them.
4. Some people simply are hoping an uneducated or desperate buyer comes along and buys a sketch for waaaay more than they should. While there may or may not be many auctions that are listed with this intent, I think it is truly the rare exception when someone overpays for the sketches. If you look at completed auctions, you'll be lucky to find a sketch that sold & is way over priced. There are just too many of them out there that are dirt cheap.
With the sketch market getting flooded lately with sketches from olds & the postcard series, I think the "wacky" sketch card auction is here to stay. I believe the prices, however, will continue to decline for most, if not all sketches.
