I don't believe eBay will ever be what it was for the simple reason that stuff gets "collected up" over the years and by the time it comes back onto the market it's in a collection deemed valuable enough by auction houses to go into a catalog. For many years I made a living, more or less, off of bottom-feeding on eBay and selling at shows. Of course, I always had plenty of competition for the good stuff, but it felt like there was always plenty to go around. It helped that I had a niche--D.C. sports--that few others cared about (or knew the true market for), but still, it was amazing how easy it all seemed as long as you didn't mind spending a few hours a day scouring a ton of eBay bookmarks and then humping stuff on the road on the weekends. It sure beat having a real job, I figured! That all changed starting about ten years ago when eBay started squeezing sellers for more of their profits, resulting in fewer of them (duh!), and I also think that America's attics and basements began to be depleted of many kinds of things as word got around of their value. I can't tell you how many things I used to see with some regularity in the good old days that I will now realize it's been years since the last one surfaced. I'm retired now, but I still scan a few listings a day out of nostalgia and rarely see anything interesting anymore. And if there is something cool, it's usually wildly overpriced. Oh well, it was great while it lasted...
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