Amusing and bewildering pattern on eBay.

[steve B]

The points about not everyone seeing everything are good ones. And Ebay can be very strange. I looked at a non card item, listed at $100. Asked a friend who is really into that sort of stuff (16mm films) and he said "maybe $50-75" No bids at 100, relisted with a $50 opener. Sold for over $400!
I think it all depends on who sees an item and when they see it.

Sometimes it can just be marketing. A dealer I knew had an odd card, they didn't know what it was. Had it at a few shows for five bucks with no takers.
On a whim they priced it at $50 for the next show, and it sold in the first hour or so. This was before most price guides. All they could figure was that at $5 people figured it couldn't be all that odd or valuable. But at $50 it MUST be valuable! Made no sense to me, and still doesn't, but people arent always logical.

Steve B

[Leon]

I think it has to be PSA's fault.

[prewarsports]

I echo what Glyn said. When you list something in an auction you get 5-7 days of exposure, in a fixed price scenario you got 30 days and it only takes one person who wants something. The other issue is that people on ebay are bargain hunters and if you have something for 150 they will offer 100. If you have it at 100 they will offer 75. Not that the strategy works every time, but it does work enough that people keep using it with some success.

[Exhibitman]

Sort of like losing $0.02 per unit but hoping to make it up on volume...