there has been some discussion lately of ebay being a horrible entity. i have found it to be incredibly profitable and have been able to obtain things i could not have found using traditional means.
collections are much easier to procure as you can buy internationally and from a variety of sellers, be it an individual selling from recent estate finds or a new york or parisian dealer.
among a few crazy things on ebay i have either bought or encountered: an eames saarinen organic design sidechair, a set of ten verner panton wooden "s" chairs, a 20 foot long saarinen executive chair "bench", a large barry mcgee/ phil frost painting for 1200 bucks..
so many more.
it is also quite simple to buy mislabeled or unknown (to the seller) pieces that turn out to be rare or valuable (or both) for very little and sell back on ebay well described and photographed for outrageous profits.
the only bad thing about ebay is the greed from the company of late as the listing fees, final value fees,reserve price fee fees, final fee fees..... fees fees fees.. are getting quite out of hand.
there are also a few sketchy people out there with scams but are quite easily figured out ..
prices on certain pieces are almost guaranteed such as a papa bear chair and egg chair.. always reaching the same price . there are also quite a few pieces that receive as much or more than large auction houses. good for both the seller and the buyer.
that is my opinion for what it is worth.. what's yours?
couldn't live without eBay
Their fees are reasonable considering the fact that you can be in an outpost like i am in Minneapolis and see a world of goods for sale. It's worth their fees for sellers to bring their goods to so many people.
Considering that the buyer does not have to pay local taxes on good purchases from other states or countries, it's a hellava deal.
Sure, some sellers gauge high postage fees, but shipping's getting more expensive ever year.
One does, however, have to be knowledgable to be sure you don't buy bad knockoffs, etc. Condition can also be an issue; you ARE at the mercy of the seller to describe his good properly.
I have furnished 3/4's of my house from eBay sales and it's been a great and useful tool for me.
Navagation is not a problem with me...I have my favorite searches saved and can click on them at any time.
I love ebay I only hit ...
I love ebay I only hit two sites Knoll and Herman Miller and i find most of what i want.
as I said in a earlier thread I have done so good on ebay
www.tulsapeople-digital.com/tulsapeople/200707/?pg=106
Here is a link of a story that a local magazine did on my home and i say how i got such great stuff on ebay.
hate say don't knock it till you try it , you can get some great stuff,
Nice spread, LBF
Lloyd....nice stuff indeedy.
That Courbusier chair in white is really nifty.
The house I bought has 2000+ sq ft, but the living room and dining room are both carpeted with a nubby grey wall-to-wall...not my choice, but I can't rip up good carpeting.
The one room I haven't quite gotten together is the living room.
Yours is giving me ideas, to be sure. I got to do something on the walls....I'm not a Warhol fan, so I'll to think of something else.
barry
a very fine Asian couple both Doctors owned my home for 30 years, They were not the original owner, As he was a architect who graduated MIT in 1963 and contacted Wixon and Kershner to design my home,
The Asian couple chose to do the home in the Asian style with carpet and
tile,
I replaced all the new carpet with Maple floors, I saved all the new carpet they had put in before they sold the house, had it cut up and put it upstairs in the Kids room , This was a great move as it was not only nice, I was able to salvage it , and put the floor in that i really wanted and it truly made the home look great, and made it look so much expansive down stairs,
Just a thought if you think you want to save that carpet in your home,
I think ebay can be a good...
I think ebay can be a good medium to buy and sell, but it can also be bad. I have listed items at bargin prices which haven't sold, and likewise I have sold stuff for way over what it's worth.
Have recently bought a number of items at a good price too including a Colombo lamp and a nice Hvidt table.
I think its great
I love ebay. Being in Australia (yes I havent introduced myself yet - later) I can now purchase items from overseas that I could only dream about before. We just did an extension on our house and i fitted out my new kitchen nearly completely on ebay. All the stuff I purchased had warranty and was the same as I was going to buy in the shops here. I was quoted $18,000 at a retail store and paid $10,000 on ebay. I purchased bisazza tiles that I was quoted $350 a square meter from a local store and I purchased them from the UK for $200 a square meter, delivered in 4 days to Australia. I find it amazing. I have also bought some gorgeous furniture. Not all collectable, like my BLACK VELVET original 70s australian rip off of the b&b italia "le bambole" in perfect hardly used condition, (3,2 & a 1 seater) which I paid $105.50 and I absolutely love it. Ebay also leads me to other sites as well. If i see something on ebay that I really want I will do a little searching around to see if I can find the equivalent somewhere else, which opens up more doors along the way. Go ebay!
Maddeningly Frustrating
But necessary. I've purchased and sold a decent number of things on ebay and I'd say its got some definite pros and cons.
Pros:
-You can find almost anything
-You can see how similar items relate in price
-You can sometimes have a very accurate description of vintage items
-You can get some good deals on less well known designers.
-Anyone can buy or sell regardless of experience or knowledge
Cons:
-You can find almost anything...except that one piece you really want.
-Any major designer name is used regardless of whether a piece relates to them or not
-You almost never get a deal on any major designer.
-You can be given a very detailed description of a piece...but its not always describing the piece you end up purchasing.
-Anyone can buy or sell, regardless of experience or knowledge.
My best ebay buy: a small porcelain Foo Dog that perfectly matched a Foo Dog I picked up in a thrift shop 10 years ago.
My worst ebay buy: an Eames armshell - the photos didnt show that the entire gelcoat had been worn away, leaving itchy itchy fiberglass to sit on.
Best ebay sell: A pair of Eames side shells I paid $30 for - they ended up being very early (1954) and a rare color - sold the pair for $300
Worst ebay sell: An early (1946-7) Evans DCM in a beautiful striped ash finish, with an almost flawless solid steel bar frame - polished with bright chrome, and all four original glides. - it sold for $198, only $20 more than I had paid for it. And I had miscalculated shipping so I ended up losing money. And I had to carry this GIGANTIC box by hand in the middle of an ice storm in February onto the subway to get it to a FedEx location. And the guy who bought it FLIPPED OUT because someone had replaced the screws holding the backrest on and I hadn't mentioned it in the listing. And someone cut and pasted the whole listing (which I had spent hours on -researching and describing each detail) into a new auction for an Eames DCM that bore NO resemblance in quality/vintage to the one I had sold.
Pros....and cons
Pros:
* The fun of searching around for items
* Learning how much items can sell for (by using the completed items section)
* Winning my real Grasshopper Chair and Ottoman for less than $400.00
* Getting my one Eames Walnut Stool for $325.00
Cons:
* Not many, although you do find that many people call everything under the sun 'Eames', so it's difficult to find real Eames items
* Every Howard Miller is a George Nelson design....not
* Sometimes, items are not in the condition you thought they were
* Sometimes, items are not properly packed and get damaged in shipping
On the plus side, though, you can find items that you won't find anywhere else, and if you're not sure, you should go ahead and email the seller with questions before you bid. (Many do not bother to do this.)
On the whole, I have had great success with eBay purchases.
Now...regarding Craig's list, I'm not too keen on that website because you cannot easily search Nationally. I'm in Minneapolis and there's not many people trading on MCM here.
Getting back to eBay....I don't know what all the controversy is, Lucifer.....eBay's a swell selling and buying tool and where else can so many see an item for sale worldwide?
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