Ebay: is it me or the market is drying up?

tigerstyle

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Is it me or it seems that there are less and less game pcbs being sold on ebay? A few years go, there was wayyyy more stuf available, but now interesting games are very scarce.. I wonder if there's some sort of shift in the market.
 
I've noticed the same thing. Use to see way more boards and games being sold a couple years ago. No doubt excess fees and BS has added to the decline of arcade stuff on ebay.
 
I haven't really checked as I haven't been looking for PCB's on Ebay much anymore. I used to get sick of the bidding wars and stopped looking altogether.

I am set on boards, I don't need anymore since I have purchased spares over the years.
 
Eh, it seems to me like the GOOD Jamma boards don't show up on eBay frequently, or are terribly overpriced when they do. Also seems like the same has happened with some of the older stuff as well.
 
People got tired of paying good money for junk. For example pac boards, if they are on ebay they are usually thrashed or overpriced repaired.
 
Ebay had a ton of arcade stuff 10yrs ago. So much has been parted out, Ebay's structure has changed, some people turned off by Paypal only, etc...things have slowed down a bit.
 
Are Tron PCBs really going for $250? (eBay)

I'm treating mine like delicate gold from now on...
 
eBay is dead as a market. Has been for years. Ever since they got away from auctions and starting screwing over all their smaller sellers who made the site what it is. Ebay is all overpriced retail stuff now unfortunately.
 
eBay sales have basically gone down the shitter. Take a good look at the classics ( Pacman, Defender, Asteroids ) that "were selling" for $800+. Not even close to that in the last 2-3 years. Unless maybe you had an immaculate one.

Face it...the market is dead. Hopefully someday it will re-bound for all of us. Better off holding onto your classics right now.

Dave
 
eBay is dead as a market. Has been for years. Ever since they got away from auctions and starting screwing over all their smaller sellers who made the site what it is. Ebay is all overpriced retail stuff now unfortunately.

I'm sure it's comfortable to think that way because you're unhappy with eBay fees and want it to fail, but as a market structure it's flourishing as ever. Why? Because there's nothing else around to take it's place. eBay isn't going anywhere when people have no better alternative. The reality is that most people arn't bothered by the use of PayPal or eBay fees.

To the origional topic, you would offer the evidence that there was more Arcade material on eBay 10 or so years ago as proof that eBay has declined. To me that just says the hobby has declined. 10 years ago we we're just coming out of the 90's, arcades wern't the distant memory that they are to many people today in 2010.
 
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Like anything,ebay has gone through changes over the years.Some I like,some I don't. As far as the decline of good arcade stuff for sale,I would say it's declined somewhat.And there isn't as much quality as there used to be but what gets me are the arcade sellers who consistently list and relist their games for outrageous prices.You would think they would at least budge on price a little.It has to cost a pretty good penny to relist a game over and over at $1000,$2000,and more.
 
Arcade stuff has moved from the realm of ops to collectors by and large. Most of the best deals on stuff is now found on the collector sites (like this one.)

10-12 years ago, on eBay, collectors and ops were both bidding on games. All I've seen ops do lately is liquidate or go out of business.

Some deals can still be had, though. I picked up a Centipede PCB and ARII board for $35 last week. Both work.
 
Some deals can still be had, though. I picked up a Centipede PCB and ARII board for $35 last week. Both work.

This is the reason why I don't sell boards and stuff on E-Bay. I don't need to put up something that should sell for $50-100 and only get $35 for it...
 
I think that a lot of people aren't getting the prices they'd like on ebay so aren't listing as much stuff on there. Look at the CPS2 games, a couple of years ago any game you could think of would have started at $80+ shipping. Nowadays they're going for $60-$70 shipped. That's great for buyers but a seller would rather hold on to their boards at those prices. I know I would.
 
This is the reason why I don't sell boards and stuff on E-Bay. I don't need to put up something that should sell for $50-100 and only get $35 for it...
Wish I had typed a little faster now. Your post makes my previous one seem a bit redundant. :(
 
this is a hobby, not an investment. I wouldn't expect much arcade related stuff to appreciate greatly over the years. sure there are exceptions but the exceptions you hit will likely average out with the stuff you buy that loses value. I would guess there are less boards on ebay because there are less operators dumping a ton of stuff. The more hands something touches the more likely it will stay where it is, with the person who really wants it instead of who just wants to flip it for a profit.

Also the new blood that gets into collecting arcade stuff is likely near an end. Mostly only people who played these games growing up are the ones who want to own them. So fewer new collectors and the collectors who are out have what they want. It doesn't help that this hobby takes a lot of space, sure we would all love to own 100 games, but where the heck to put them. Most people view this as a silly hobby.
 
I agree that the CPS boards are much cheaper now. But one the same note, I've noticed that MK and SF boards have gone up.
 
This is the reason why I don't sell boards and stuff on E-Bay. I don't need to put up something that should sell for $50-100 and only get $35 for it...

Why should they sell for $50-$100? Whatever happened to the old posts about value being "what someone is willing to pay for it"? that phrase was used often when prices were on the up and sellers were trying to justify why they could ask $200 and $300 prices for 20 year old hardware.
 
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