Rare Book Monthly
Buying on eBay -- It's all in how you look
Rare evidence of a bygone era.
Here are a few examples of what you can find on eBay. The first is a raised relief map of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is dated 1872 and is complete, an exceptional survival in very good condition. On eBay it cost $524. It is worth much more.
Another is the Wallkill Valley Railroad Directory for 1888. In the OCLC [online computerized database of more than 39,000 libraries and their holdings] there is one copy for a version of the directory done in 1903. It has printed boards and is missing three leaves of advertising at the front. It cost $96.
Both of these items were won on the same day recently.
Think of it this way. Trash baskets all across North America and Europe are being emptied onto eBay. The material comes and goes. If you have created an effective matrix of search terms you will see your personally selected tiny fraction of it. Who knows? You may find the exercise as rewarding as I do.
There are two ways to do this. You can do every step manually on eBay: www.eBay.com or you can build your search criteria in a Premium Subscription account on AE. To help you develop keywords we provide Get Keywords, a standard option in all AE Database searches. You then build a term list in our MatchMaker module and we run your terms against a complex group of eBay product categories and subcategories each night. Once matches are identified you then save the "good" ones to an eBay account. eBay then informs you as your lots approach their final day and hour. Toward the end of the sale you may commit yourself to a bid.
On eBay your full bid will not show unless there is another bid within one click. Let's say the item has a starting price of $10 and the auction is 10 days. After three days someone bids $15. The bid that shows will be $10. Then a second bidder joins 2 days later and bids $12.50. The bid will then jump to $13 and the original bidder will still be on top. With an hour to go two more bidders join. One bids $20 and the active bid moves to $15.50. Finally, with a few seconds to go another party bids $40 and buys the item for $21. No one knows how much the winner would have paid. Of course if you put a $40 bid in early it may encourage bidders to up their bids and you will then pay more and potentially even lose the item altogether. Bidding late saves money and wins more often.
