Comics
The blog’s been neglected lately; it seems I’m regressing to childhood and getting back into my comic book collection. I’m also discovering the wonders of eBay for the first time as a buyer and seller. eBay has to be about the best web application I’ve seen. It lets people interact in the most basic of ways, as “equal” participants in an economy. A well-trafficked storefront for all to hawk in, for all to shop.
Stating the obvious I suppose. I’ve certainly never seen such a thriving collectors community though.
on September 20th, 2006 at 9:46 am
I’m not all that familiar with comic books - never was much into them as a kid, for whatever reason - but I do know that eBay has dramatically changed the collector’s market for, of all thing, Boy Scout memorabilia. For each Scouting event a kid goes to, there’s generally an embroidered emblem he’s given to commerate his participation in the event. When I was a youth, kids would trade patches, 1 for 1, to build collections - based upon geography, themes / designs, events, camps, etc. Since eBay become popular, the entire landscape has changed - people no longer trade patches, but sell them and buy them. I’m trying, for mostly historical purposes, to assemble a collection of the various insignias used at our summer camp over the years; and I can no longer trade for older ones, I need to buy them all - so that means I need to sell other patches I have to acquire capital to buy the patches I need. I think we lost something in this particular hobby when the focus shifted from “trading” to “buying.”
The upside to having patches available on eBay is that I now have access to a much wider inventory than I ever had before. Lots of the old-timers who have moved out of the area, and took their childhood patches with them, put them on eBay. If I relied on word-of-mouth among the local community, I’d never find some of the gems that I find on eBay.
It’s very, very different than how it was when I was a youth. Not sure it’s worse, but it’s certainly different.
on October 8th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
[...] ore boxes to follow. A week later, he commenced scanning, digitizing beloved covers. Enter eBay. Marcus began to buy and sell comic books. Mostly buy. He received four boxes in the mail Thursd [...]
on August 7th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
[...] ore boxes to follow. A week later, he commenced scanning, digitizing beloved covers. Enter eBay. Marcus began to buy and sell comic books. Mostly buy. He received four boxes in the mail Thursd [...]