2008
was the death knell for collectibles in a GENERAL sense. Coupled with that are changing views of what's important within differing social, economic, and hobby strata as the world evolves or devolves depending on one's view. World keeps changing and so do people's interests.
Add into that FeeBay's lack of attention to the collectibles market and their focus on fixed prices and free shipping - choosing an Amazon type model over what was initially successful in allowing a free market exchange of stuff. I also think eBay and so many auction houses now saturate the market at a time where there is a time lag regarding people who have all this stuff they bought as well as people buying stuff to sell to those people who are now selling what they bought to those same people who no longer want their stuff! Also the fact that people - many people - who bought things when the prices exceeded what their things would bring now - haven't learned, are stubborn, or can't afford to let things go for pennies on the dollar. Their purchases may have been prudent before but when the bottom falls out - they are still on the hook. There's only so much "good stuff" to go around. The specialty niches are the most susceptible to catastrophic descent.....
Just a little stream of consciousness. Likely I could have stopped at the first sentence. I have 50 or so searches (down from over 100) and for sure - I see very little willingness by sellers to actually list things as a true auction which of course will depress final sale prices. I'm also buying less (that depresses the market for sure!) as I get into the over 60 crowd that realizes that all too often stuff is just stuff - and that health and family are what's important. Don't scoff. The 40+ buyer tends to have the disposable income but the over 60 crowd today are the people who were in their 40's when the money was flowing and views of collectibles as a commodity was popular.
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