This week has certainly been an education in eBay (as well as a further education in the world of trading card collecting). I was amazed, for example, to find a very nicely balanced set going for FAR less than its component parts are worth (if I were a "trader", I'd turn around and sell the rare/holos/promos for 1-3 bucks a piece, getting back a 400% return on the auction!), and yet see "pig in a poke" sets of cards (not even counted) going for serious money. It is mind-boggling to think that some of these trading cards are valued as high as $35 each ... that's just amazing ... I actually did buy a few of the "more valuable" cards because I ran across auctions that were, for some reason or another, getting no "action" and the cards were going for (with shipping, even) one third of "their value".
I managed to keep most of my purchases in the under-7¢-per-card (with shipping) range, although my cumulative 10 "wins" from the one source came in at under 3¢ per card, due to the remarkably low levels some of those closed at. This is compared to the approximately 30¢ per card that it costs (around here, at least) to buy Pokemon cards at retail (although, to be honest, that figure is slightly skewed in that each 9- to 11-card pack should contain one holographic card, whose "value" would be, even new, in the $1-and-up range ... so the remaining cards are, perhaps, more accurately described as 20¢ at retail).
I'm also a bit surprised in the slowness of feedback. I've come to understand the importance of feedback in the eBay world, but so far I've only had two new feedbacks, despite having six of the buyers immediately paid via PayPal! I'm noticing this, since I'm now just one more new positive away from getting my first star, which seems to have some weight there. Perhaps they are waiting for me to post my buyer's feedback, which, of course, I'm not going to do until the cards actually arrive!
Gee ... how come I feel like an anthropologist collecting my field notes all of a sudden?