Welcome back to the Profiles & Premiums Newsletter!
Two new Photo ID Guides and a brand new Profile courtesy of Susan M. Kelly highlight this month's issue.
This section edited out as irrelevant at time of publication
What About eBay: The unintended consequence of my shutdown was a few weeks after I began shifting items to eBay they broke their major announcements about the changes for 2008. Throughout 2007 I was consciously trying to keep between 700-900 items listed on eBay (between 40-80 at auction weekly, the rest in my store). At the time of this year's big announcement I was already up to about 1,200. Today I just went over 1,800 listings. As I believed I mentioned last issue, I was purposely trying not to comment about all of the eBay changes on my blog, but I will say here that my number of listings will continue to rise.
The bottom line on eBay: I haven't had this much success since I started out in 2000. That was back with my unpicked stock leftover from my baseball card dealer days in a pretty-much frenzied buying environment. So far, March 2008, the frenzy is back for this seller. When I say this though please recognize that every single change they made benefits me in some way. I'm a mid (but rising) volume seller, with a somewhat low turnover, who benefits greatly from gallery, and was lucky enough to have a high feedback and DSR rating without changing a thing. That's not meant to blow my own horn, but if you're lucky enough that your eBay business profile seems similar to mine, then my guess is you're pretty happy so far too!
eBay Feedback Changes: You know, these have either not gone into effect yet (negging buyers) or in other cases only recently gone into effect (Best Match benefits for high DSR). So in reality, the changes are, as of today, nil. If someone stiffs me I could still neg them right now and as a heavy buyer I haven't seen any of my regular searches change much if at all. But I have noticed a few little differences.
First, as a seller. I've had to use the Unpaid Item Report a little more than usual, but so far all of the buyers have come through in the end. I have a few I haven't opened up an UPI report for as of yet that I do have my doubts about, but these are mostly new buyers. The change is small enough that for now I'm just going to chalk it up to an unintended consequence of doubling my listings. Also, a great number of the listings I've added come from an area I personally consider at greater risk of going unpaid (that would be Sports Magazines, especially wrestling, which is not meant as a knock against the good customers of these categories. Just an observation). So as a seller I really haven't seen much of a change.
As a buyer though I've noticed a slight change in my own behavior. I still pay for everything as fast as I ever did, but I've noticed myself really slowing down on leaving feedback. As a seller I still consider it important, but as a buyer I don't really care too much anymore. As a buyer who is a seller, I do want to leave feedback for all of my sellers, but in the real world I get busy and it's been pushed to the position of an afterthought. They'll get it eventually, but after a while when I can do it in bulk. I guess part of my malaise is because in the back of my mind I know they can't neg me (again, even though they still could right now!), so there's no carrot for me to do so as a buyer, basically because they've taken away the seller's stick. It's really only worth leaving feedback as a buyer to be a good citizen now. As time passes those annoying Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR's) become easier to take care of, because I forget the specifics of a transaction and tend to just ace the seller with 5's across the board. Honestly, they've really got to screw up in a way that I remember and that really burns me for me to go lower than a 5 because now I know I have the power to financially harm my sellers with my DSR rating. Who wants to be responsible for that?
I've noticed that attitude seems to have crept over me within a few days of eBay's announcements. I wonder if others feel the same way, have altered any of their usual patterns, or will do so once all of the changes do take effect. Interesting to ponder.
That's about all for now. Let's get you to your features:
Updated Photo ID Guide: 1922 Strollers Cigarettes
This is an updated version of one of those early Photo ID Guide pages which only showed an image or two. The updated page includes images of 21 cards from the 1922 Strollers set, plus an updated description including information compiled from Burdick's ACC Guide.
And here's the 1922 Strollers Cigarettes Photo ID Guide ...
Photo ID Guide: 1936-37 Nestle Large 4.5" X 6.25" Color Cards
I picked up a bulk lot of these not sure if they were going to be postcards or something else. Turns out they're something else. I picked up enough of these to put a slideshow together featuring all I had acquired. Also they're up for sale individually on eBay with several available for immediate purchase and most of the big stars taking bids at auction. Auctions end Tuesday night (March 18).
And here's the 1936-37 Nestle's Large Color Cards Photo ID Guide ...
Sidney Toler
by Susan M. Kelly
Great Literary Detectives Series IV: Charlie Chan
There is nothing more difficult in the Hollywood star scape than trying to take over a role made famous by another actor. Many have tried and failed miserably. Yet this was exactly what Sidney Toler did when he stepped into the shoes of Charlie Chan, left vacant by the death of the great Warner Oland. Not only did Toler meet the challenge, he actually surpassed it, becoming both the most prolific and memorable portrayer of Chan. ...
Read Susan's entire Sidney Toler piece here --
Susan M. Kelly is a freelance writer who lives and works in Dunellen, New Jersey.
That's it for now. Next month will see the return of Tammy Stone and another entry to her Silent Collection, plus new Photo ID Guides. See you then!
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