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nightsblood wrote:
John- I don't know of anyone still putting out sale lists, but my connections are not as good as others around here. Why do you say Ebay may not last but a couple of more years? Just curious; I know their policies have become increasingly frustrating to sellers. Do you think people would really go back to the more limited audience they get with private sale lists?
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Well My 2 cents. On the future of Ebay

Ebay will turn to a set sale only (Amazon) site
First they have made it very hard for NEW people to sell on the site.
And have been trying to scar off all the Mom/Pop Garage sale sellers for the last year now.

Second I beleave we are not that far off from seeing a sales tax on internet sales(Which everyone should have been doing on there own anyway) I think this will start to be inforced by the new USA goverment.
which will be easy to imply with the Paypal Only method that ebay has taken.

So there will always be an Ebay but I dont think it will be an auction house and it will have a built in WatchDog for taxes (which in effect will scar off most small dealers)

MassOfKthulu wrote: i dont know if u noticed but records are getting sold for less than 2 years ago.
Im really curious as to why ebay's going down the drain? John? your predictions?

I dont think people like the current market.
Either they dont have the cash or they are not so fast to spent it.


Also since people NEED money there has been a big flood of good records hitting the market, TOO much to keep all the prices high.

If you have the cash / Too me this is the time to buy.
I have bought more records off Ebay this year (2 1/2 months) then the last 2 years combined. And YES I hope to be reselling them at some point.

Good points John, thanks for the info. You may be right about internet sales tax- as other revenue streams dry up, this is one area that will probably be targeted to bring in new revenue.

And you're right that more good records are showing up in the last 6 months or so. People are strapped for cash and are selling more IF they can still find anyone willing to buy. I've also had pretty good luck getting stuff at decent prices so far this year; I'm lucky in having a good job this year that should (fingers crossed) be secure for a couple more years, so I'm willing to spend a little on some records right now. Definitely starting to look more like a buyer's market than it has in the last 5 years or so.

Well if eBay goes to the shitters, sellers will have to find a new way to get exposure, or prices will probably drop. Is it far fetched to assume that competing (auction) sites will appear? I'm sure there are plenty of loop holes to avoid being charged sales tax.

Khnud wrote:Well if eBay goes to the shitters, sellers will have to find a new way to get exposure, or prices will probably drop. Is it far fetched to assume that competing (auction) sites will appear? I'm sure there are plenty of loop holes to avoid being charged sales tax.

Competing sites might pop up. Yahoo! Auctions did ok for awhile. Other sale sites like Gemm might get more traffic too, although I've never had much luck on that site- people price records for truly insane amounts.
If a sales tax is put on internet items, it will probably come with more vigorous enforcement. Like John said, Paypal records could be accessed to see if you've paid taxes on the stuff you've bought, and online businesses- even ones that accept checks and money orders- will probably have to provide more detailed sales records with their taxes.

One potential side-effect will be a drop in online transactions, which is ironic b/c online sales haven't dropped as much as retail sales in part b/c there is no sales tax. Thus, implementing an 'e-tax' to try and get the govt a share of online business will actually reduce the online business! Not a good way to stimulate the economy

Sellers could distribute sale lists via the internet, but they'll also then be subject to the e-tax and will either have to charge it, or skip it and hope they don't get caught.

msp wrote:
I have seen this too. I was watching a MASQUE "Dead of Night" auction the other week. The guy who won it is a dealer who sells on ebay and used to on Netsounds. I think he won the LP for £40 or so. I expect it will be on his ebay listings in a few weeks for £80-£100. Not the most reliable chap either.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MASQUE-THE-DEAD-O ... 240%3A1318

Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MASQUE-THE-DEAD-O ... 240%3A1318

sort of funny but STILL a killer good price. Would buy at once if I did not have it already. Also the currency conversion is great in moment, British pound is weak

nightsblood wrote:Whether you're shopping for an Accept CD or a yellow Avatar, you have to remember that the copy you just found is not the last copy on earth. If the price isn't right, wait for the next one.

yeah, I agree with this. It happens all the time.

A rare item (or anything as a matter of fact) is only worth what one wants to pay for it.

What i think is only a $10 record someone else here may be willing to pay $100 for it. Each to their own, hopefully it's all about the music & the art in the end?

One week I may buy something on impulse & then discover that I may have ripped myself off, then the next week I discover I got the deal of the century.. so it all balances out in the end... RECORD KARMA as John puts it.

One man's trash is another man's treasure!

Another thing regarding taxes: In e.g. Sweden you only have to pay sales tax if you've earned more than 50000 Swedish Crowns (about 6000 USD) in a year selling stuff online (at least that's what I've heard, I've never studied economy or law). If eBay implements a sales tax, it will probably drive all non-US sellers away (and probably most US sellers too!). On the other hand, auction sites based outside of the US might not be subject to this kind of tax.

Khnud wrote:Another thing regarding taxes: In e.g. Sweden you only have to pay sales tax if you've earned more than 50000 Swedish Crowns (about 6000 USD) in a year selling stuff online (at least that's what I've heard, I've never studied economy or law). If eBay implements a sales tax, it will probably drive all non-US sellers away (and probably most US sellers too!). On the other hand, auction sites based outside of the US might not be subject to this kind of tax.

Yeah, one of the big questions regarding e-taxes is where jurisdiction lies. Are taxes set by where the buyer is? The seller? The server that hosts the website?

nightsblood wrote:

Khnud wrote:Another thing regarding taxes: In e.g. Sweden you only have to pay sales tax if you've earned more than 50000 Swedish Crowns (about 6000 USD) in a year selling stuff online (at least that's what I've heard, I've never studied economy or law). If eBay implements a sales tax, it will probably drive all non-US sellers away (and probably most US sellers too!). On the other hand, auction sites based outside of the US might not be subject to this kind of tax.

Yeah, one of the big questions regarding e-taxes is where jurisdiction lies. Are taxes set by where the buyer is? The seller? The server that hosts the website?

I think It would be more along the lines of a Federal Income Tax.
Which would mean it doen't matter what state you are in (USA) Paypal can show your amount of Income. It's really pretty easy since these records already exist, and when you signed up for Paypal you agreed to let the goverment have these files if they ask.

I am not saying this will happen or not. Just that it is do able. And with the hole the USA is in for cash it makes cense. They say they are not going to raise taxes (but) they did not say they weren't going to Tax stuff that has been over looked all this time.

Implementing it now is political suicide. You simply can not justify as a politician to pump billions of dollars into the bank system and push a regulation which is negative for Joe Sixpack at the same time.
When the economy goes up again in a few years, you might get fucked in the ass though.

John- yep, some groups in Washington are lobbying to start using the GPS/Onstar systems in cars to begin taxing people by the mile to make up for lower revenues from gas taxes

nightsblood wrote:John- yep, some groups in Washington are lobbying to start using the GPS/Onstar systems in cars to begin taxing people by the mile to make up for lower revenues from gas taxes

Crazy

But at this point nothing suprizes me.

Jan Svanhill still does his list. Never sells elsewhere that I am aware of. I just bought a couple of things off it, first time in about 5 years, for 2 reasons: 1 the euro is down a bit and 2. he actually had something off my wantlist that wasn't at least twice what I was willing to pay for it.

That being said he does have a lot of records that are not super high priced this is nice to still see.

glockose wrote:How many people still buy off of RARE RECORD sale lists?

How many still do sale lists?