Lets be very realistic about this topic and finally put this to rest.
This has nothing to do with selling the "best" items on ebay or at the
shows. It has nothing to do with bringing your garbage to a show or
listing it on ebay. The bottom line is that collectors have it easy at
home shopping from the comfort of their computer chair. Click and buy.
No gas, no traffic, no hotel, no bad weather. In some cases it makes
sense, but to those of us that bring the "best" (and the worst)of
everything to a show only to have a poor turnout can only be blamed on
the Internet. You cant blame it on the economy because if you track the
sales on ebay, cards are selling for unheard of prices and people are
coughing up tons of $$$ to buy what the want. Before the Internet, the
lines would be out the door an hour before the start of a show and
collectors would even pay extra for the "early in" to get the best picks
from the dealers. Collectors would be sitting on the floor for hours
trading amongst themselves and having a great time making a sweet deal
go their way. Remember the late 90's when Parsippany or Philly or even
the Nassau Coliseum collectible extravaganza would bring thousands of
collectors, not a couple of hundred.
So lets put the blame right where it belongs, no more dancing around
the truth. Not on the dealers who pick and choose the cards they sell
at a show or even on ebay. If the Internet was disconnected tomorrow,
where would you go to get your Buffy cards, or that LOTR pieceworks card
that you desperately wanted, or the Disney binder to store the card in.
You would either support your local card store, or you would be
standing in line in the snow, rain or sunshine at your local card show
in any city across the country spending your cash a dealers table who
took the time to bring it there for you to see and buy.
Michael



Jon Doyle wrote:
It's not that I don't feel for you guys. . . and it isn't like one
dealer can change everything, but it's a big picture thing at this point
-- in my opinion.

Since many dealers do sell their best stuff on eBay (I like buying in
person -- you know that, Dave :-) ) it has become the place to go to
buy the high end stuff. . . and when someone is looking for high end
stuff on eBay they often come across the other stuff they are looking
for. The only way to change what is happening online is to change it on
a dealer by dealer level. . . you aren't going to beat eBay -- it's just
not going to happen, so dealers need to focus on customers, and give
people a reason to stop at their tables -- ie. Dave -- he knows some of
the things that I like and I know that he has interesting stuff so his
table has become one that I plan on spending money at. At the last show
I attended Dave was the only person at the entire show to sell me loose
cards -- it's not because I ran out of money, or was being picky about
what I bought -- it's because he was the only one that had what I was
looking for.

Unfortunately I am forced to do shopping on eBay 9 months out of the
year as there are no dealers around here. Luckily there are a handful
of decent shows during the summer . . . actually it's probably good a
dealer like Dave isn't set up around here as I'm sure I'd end up
spending many times what I currently spend on cards.

In that same vein. . . it surprises me how few dealers direct market to
people. . . if someone were to send me lists of things I was interested
in I'm sure I'd be buying a lot more than I have been -- plus they
wouldn't be paying eBay fees, or table fees, and they'd be building a
relationship with a customer. . . the only thing I ever get from dealers
are press releases on new products.

Jon