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Shill Bidding on eBay: A Case Study (Reply to this comment)
by philipcohen
For anyone that is interested, a detailed case study of an instance of blatant shill bidding on eBay, and a detailed comment on eBay’s disingenuous attitude thereto, at http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=24033
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Jun 08 '09
2:30 am PDT
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Only for barbie collectors collecting new in line dolls (Reply to this comment)
by heavenkittykat
yeah your review is very helpful but in my case i don't think that this is appropriate because i find early 1990's dolls more appealing than new released doll though i have some new ones. The stores that you have mentioned like KB toys, Target, Walmart and Toys r Us only offers new dolls only ebay gives you a line of modern dolls in 1980 to 1999. These barbies cannot be found in these stores that you have mentioned. I am also new in collecting barbie but i try my best to educate myself on barbie and i can know original and fraud. Ebay offers laws and disputes against fraud and offers an insurance coverage against fraud. So i think it's a safe place to buy dolls. Yes you have to look at different stores and magazines but i still think ebay can really give you quality dolls at a bargain price.. For now, i have won a bid on a complete (10) collection of great eras collection at 200 dollars. These dolls are sold in the online market for 750 dollars for the 10 dolls. so i think it's really a bargain. www.barbiecollector.com also recommend ebay to barbie fans and collectors. the bottomline is, I do agree that you have to be a smart buyer but you can really get bargains in ebay...that's all thank you..
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Jul 18 '05
7:47 pm PDT
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A Few More Reflections on This Subject... (Reply to this comment)
by indigospot
A few more thoughts have come to me since I wrote this review, I would like to share them with you.
If you need to obtain a particular Barbie on eBay and don't have time to go through the extensive process of comparing prices that I suggested, you can attempt to estimate a "fair" price by comparing multiple auctions of the same doll (assuming there's more than one such auction occurring, of course). But beware of inflated pricing for currently "hot" dolls that are in short supply (some more on price-gouging below)
I primarily collect Barbies produced from the mid-nineties to the present, so my advice is geared toward those who collect recent dolls. For those of you who are interested in obtaining earlier Barbies--particularly the very early lines--much of my advice applies to you, even more critically. Find an experienced collector or dealer of "vintage" Barbie for advice on buying the older dolls (Reading Barbie Bazaar Magazine and some books on Barbie collecting wouldn't hurt either). In this instance, don't use eBay for buying those classic Barbies until you know what you're doing!
A personal observation: I previously advised in my review "Tips for New Barbie Collectors" that it would be to most buyers' benefit in the long run to avoid getting caught in the frenzy of buying new Barbies on impulse, and instead wait out for markdowns. Having said that, it's possible that some dolls may be purchased by the public rather quickly and disappear from shelves, so the issue of timing is often a tactical decision. As I said, most Barbie dolls don't sell out--there's usually some place you can get the doll you want if you try hard enough.
But how many eBay sellers are going into retail outlets and scooping up popular Barbie dolls, making them harder to find in the stores, while jacking the items' prices in auctions?
A case in point are Mattel's recently released answer to MGA Entertainment's Bratz doll line, the My Scene Collection. My Scene dolls are apparently hard-to-find in the stores, but theres no shortage of them on eBay. While the sellers are within their rights to sell away (and you would be within yours to buy) these dolls, I ask you,why give the sellers the satisfaction of manipulating supply-and-demand? I suspect that Mattel will likely continue to produce more quantities of My Scene dolls well into the early half of 2003, so there's no need to panic.
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Dec 15 '02
4:26 pm PST
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Re: Hi.... (Reply to this comment)
by indigospot
Thank you! I try my best!
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Nov 14 '02
1:35 pm PST
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Hi.... (Reply to this comment)
by melissasrn
Nice job on this editorial! You've certainly included everything consumers need to know about choosing Barbies for purchase on eBay.
Keep up the great work :-)
Melissa
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Nov 13 '02
7:10 am PST
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