OT: Will eBay's Managed Payments Destroy the Seller

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by Buythatcard

Thanks Rick. In my 10 years plus as a member of this forum, I don't think that I ever visited the water cooler section.

Yeah, the market for prewar water coolers seems to be drying up.

[seanofjapan]

As someone living overseas (Japan) it does suck to read this thread. I totally understand the logic and concerns that sellers have with shipping internationally and why you'll only be shipping domestically so I'm not blaming anyone (except Ebay).

But it does suck for those of us on the outside. 10 years ago I used to regularly buy a lot of lower value (under $50) cards on Ebay from sellers who were willing to put them in an envelope and toss them in the mail for 2-3$ shipping. It made collecting US cards feasible even if you were overseas.

Now, nobody on Ebay sells singles with shipping rates under about 20$ per card. So the math basically eliminates you from bidding on or buying anything under $200 or so since the shipping fees make it not worth your while. I haven't bought any cards on Ebay in a few years as a result and have more or less given up on my US collection, save for a few trading-by-mail relationships I have.

At a broader level, its probably stunting the growth of the hobby by cutting off the entire international market for US cards.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Yeah, the market for prewar water coolers seems to be drying up.

Water coolers are most needed with outdoor activity in extreme heat. Other than that there is some pretty good stuff over there sometimes.

As for the ebay mandate, I don't (haven't in a long time) sell there so we will see how ti goes.