Most Robust Ebay Search for only vintage items?

[Paul_Maul]

Can any of you ebay experts give me your best shot at a search that will exclude everything from later than 1991?

wacky (pack,packages)  -2014 -2013 -2012 -2011 -2010 -2009 -2008 -2007 -2006 -2005 -2004 -eraser -school -ANS -Flashback -sketch

seems to work pretty well, pared it down from 18,000+ to a little over 8700 compared to just using

wacky (packages, packs)

Glancing over the results, most of the new stuff this search included was labelled in such a way that it's impossible to catch.

[BumChex]

Most of my saved searches don't work anymore because you can no longer use wildcards. I also think you are catching some extra stuff because it searches the category as well.

[Kook]

Can any of you ebay experts give me your best shot at a search that will exclude everything from later than 1991?

wacky (pack,packages)  -2014 -2013 -2012 -2011 -2010 -2009 -2008 -2007 -2006 -2005 -2004 -eraser -school -ANS -Flashback -sketch

seems to work pretty well, pared it down from 18,000+ to a little over 8700 compared to just using

wacky (packages, packs)

Glancing over the results, most of the new stuff this search included was labelled in such a way that it's impossible to catch.

Given the sad state of the wacky vintage market, I'm afraid if you put too many more minuses to exclude the new stuff, your search results may be close to 0. 

I've been falling behind in my daily ebay search, and it seems that if you miss a day or 2, it takes so long to catch up, and there's so little good stuff listed that I'm losing the desire to catch up.

I had often thought about asking ebay to split the wacky packages category into modern (2004+) and vintage, but even that wouldn't be failsafe since you would have to rely on the seller to get it right & chances are the less they knew about wackys, the higher the chance that they may have come across something nice & also put it in the wrong category.

In past years, if you watched regularly, you could snag a nice deal on a buy it now every now and again, but it's been so long since that has happened.

Are all the finds found? Do all the diehard collectors have all the wackys they want? Has the tail end of the boomers moved on to make the next hot nostalgic thing from the late 70s/early 80s & not the early 70s childhood items? Thoughts?

Sorry to highjack your thread Dave. I do think this topic is somewhat related to your quest for a better search.

P.S. In my desire not to miss anything, I use a generic search like yours wacky (pack, packages, package, packs) to make sure I don't miss anything.

I also sometimes search the "wacky packages" category specifically for "-wacky" since some people actually list in the category & don't put wacky packages in the title since they think it's understood. Then the general searchs above actually miss wacky items in the wacky category. It's not very frequent, but I have picked up a few lots this way.

[Alexeirex]

Given the sad state of the wacky vintage market, I'm afraid if you put too many more minuses to exclude the new stuff, your search results may be close to 0. 

I've been falling behind in my daily ebay search, and it seems that if you miss a day or 2, it takes so long to catch up, and there's so little good stuff listed that I'm losing the desire to catch up.

I had often thought about asking ebay to split the wacky packages category into modern (2004+) and vintage, but even that wouldn't be failsafe since you would have to rely on the seller to get it right & chances are the less they knew about wackys, the higher the chance that they may have come across something nice & also put it in the wrong category.

In past years, if you watched regularly, you could snag a nice deal on a buy it now every now and again, but it's been so long since that has happened.

Are all the finds found? Do all the diehard collectors have all the wackys they want? Has the tail end of the boomers moved on to make the next hot nostalgic thing from the late 70s/early 80s & not the early 70s childhood items? Thoughts?

Sorry to highjack your thread Dave. I do think this topic is somewhat related to your quest for a better search.

P.S. In my desire not to miss anything, I use a generic search like yours wacky (pack, packages, package, packs) to make sure I don't miss anything.

I also sometimes search the "wacky packages" category specifically for "-wacky" since some people actually list in the category & don't put wacky packages in the title since they think it's understood. Then the general searchs above actually miss wacky items in the wacky category. It's not very frequent, but I have picked up a few lots this way.

I watch a show called The Toy Hunter and the hot items are from the 80s and 90s, so yes, the big money has moved past the 70s as far as hot items generationally. There will always be the classics that every collector wants, but some of the prices for even rarer 50s/60s items aren't where they used to be if you can even find a buyer.
A

[jleonard1967]

This is why you are seeing Topps spend more time on GPK

[Paul_Maul]

I do think the heyday of vintage wackys is over. Whether that was helped along by the new wackys I'm not sure. The PSA high grade stuff certainly still brings strong prices, but there's no question that less and less quality vintage material is finding its way to ebay. Let's hope it's just a lull!

[Joe G.]

Dave, I think that nostalgia hits people in their late 30's early 40's and dies down by the 50's.  I think that's a very consistent trend.  There are two vintage collectibles that I went back to collect, Wackys and Captain Action.  I thought I was lucky that both had enough interest that new products came along.  It gave me new collectibles to hunt for and let me share those interests with my kids.