RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1504

Copyright © Harry Rinker, LLC 2015

eBay at Twenty

Unlike John Van Drufen’s play “I Remember Mama” (1944 / film of the same name in 1948), instead of “I remember _______,” I think in terms of “I remember life before ______.”  I suspect many readers do as well.  Life’s hectic pace prevents daily reflection on “life before” memories.  Yet, these life altering changes transform “life before” to “life after” memories.

I made a mental list of some of my “life before” memories.  I offer the list with some trepidation.  Although an “old fart,” I am reluctant to provide the evidence to this.  My “I remember life before” list includes: Beatles and Elvis, in fact all music following the death of Glenn Miller; the Civil Rights Act; GPS; home computers (portable and stationary); iTunes; the Korean War and all the wars and police actions that followed; pocket calculators; portable telephones; tablets;  television (black and white and color): and, the world wide web.

In the antiques and collectibles field, my “I remember life before” list contains: “AntiqueWeek;” the Atlantique City show, Landmark Communications (a firm that consolidated many of the antique and collectibles periodicals, one of the greatest disasters foisted on the trade); “Maine Antique Digest;” and, the mega mall.  “Forgotten Documents of the American Canal Era,” the first article that I wrote about collecting, appeared in the September 1974 issue of “Spinning Wheel: the National Magazine About Antiques.”  This means I should remember life before the antiques mall.  I do not.  I did not become aware of antiques malls until I became the editor of “Warman’s Antiques and Their Prices” in 1981.  A year or two later, I flew to Fresno, California, to visit one of the earliest antiques malls.  I was fascinated by the concept and felt it would have an enormous impact on the trade.  It did.

I remember life before eBay, which celebrated its 20th birthday in September 2015.  At first, I dismissed the possibility of its success.  In 1984, 8.2 percent of American homes had a personal computer.  It was not until 2000 that a personal computer was found in over 50 percent of homes.  By the late 1980s, I was actively buying on eBay.  By the mid-1990s, the staff at Rinker Enterprises used prices realized on eBay as valid prices for objects listed in the price guides the staff prepared.

The maturity of the antiques mall and the arrival of the mega mall occurred simultaneously with eBay’s launch.  Few remember the angst felt by members of the antiques and collectibles community as the antiques malls spread across the country.  Opponents claimed the antiques mall sounded the death knell for the antiques shops and shows.  In terms of the countryside individually-owned antiques shop, this prediction was true.  There were other reasons why the individually-owned antiques shop sale venue declined, but the antiques mall was the catalyst in the collapse.

The concept in the antiques and collectibles trade in the 1990s was that the sales venue pie was limited in size.  Every time a new sales entity arose, other sales venues lost some portion of the pie.  The assumption the pie is stable in size is a myth.  New sales venues can expand it.  In 1957, “Antique Trader” began turning classified advertising into a major new sales venue.  I do not remember life before “Antique Trader.”  I am old enough but collected as an individual during my high school years, independent of the larger collecting community and its literature.

The expansion of the antiques and collectibles sales venue pie is one of eBay’s major contributions to the trade.  Although I do not have quantitative evidence to support my theory, eBay increased the size of the sales venue pie between ten and fifteen fold.  The number may be conservative.  Even though eBay quickly dominated the pie, those sales venues that initially lost share actually held their own and/or saw increased sales.  The one exception was classified advertising in trade periodicals.  eBay’s arrival was its death knell.

eBay was founded on September 3, 1995, the antiques and collectibles day of infamy.  It took me over a decade to reach this conclusion.  Although I believe this, I still am a strong supporter of eBay first for what it did for the antiques and collectibles business during it first decade and second for what it did in the mid-2000s.

eBay’s arrival was the shot-in-the arm the antiques and collectibles trade needed.  Change was in the wind but proceeding at a slow pace.  eBay accelerated that change.  It breathed new life and excitement into a trade that was mired in a same-old, same-old traditional mindset.  For those who opposed change, eBay was the 1,600 pound gorilla, double the normal size.  For those who welcomed change and market fluidity, eBay was the proverbial breath of fresh air.

eBay’s contributions to the antiques and collectibles trade during its first decade included providing the trade with a platform to enter the digital age, expanding the buyer and seller bases, creating an easy to access global markets, and creating a feeding frenzy that drove up prices even for the most common of items.  Although the digital/information age was in its infancy in the 1990s, it was apparent to those who saw its potential that the old adage of “ignore it at your peril” applied.  It is impossible to document how many individuals bought their first home computers so that they could sell and/or buy on eBay.  The percentage is higher than most suspect.

The antiques mall arrival led to criticisms that many of the dealers were inexperienced amateurs, with the more adventuresome critics whispering “middle age housewives with nothing better to do with their time.”  eBay made everyone a potential seller, housewives included.  The technology was easy to understand.  Dozens of books, even one for dummies, explain how to list, market, collect payment, and ship.  eBay became a second source of income for many and a major source for a new breed of entrepreneurs.  Forget the quality of the merchandise or the inaccuracy of listings.  Sellers listed as much as possible and let the auction system work.

Americans think of eBay in terms of eBay.com.  This is only one of many eBays.  eBay is a global phenomenon.  American sellers quickly learned that international buyers were eager to tap the great mother lode of goodies found in the United States.

eBay revealed how much stuff was stored in America’s attics, basements, closets, garages, sheds, and barns.  The ability buy instantly instead of traveling to the traditional antiques and collectibles sales venues attracted collectors by the hundreds of thousands.  Competition was intense.  Most serious collectors used sniping services.

eBay kept getting bigger and bigger.  A fear developed in the trade that eBay would become so dominant that traditional sales venues would decline and even disappear.  The fear was justified.

All this changed in the middle of the 2000s.  By 2005, there were signs that the secondary antiques and collectibles market on eBay was flooded.  Prices were dropping.  Many listed objects went unsold.  Fees kept increasing.  Rules were instituted to make it harder and harder for the small individual seller to gain a foothold in the eBay marketplace.

eBay recognized the end was near.  In the mid-2000s, it discontinued its Antiques and its Collectibles divisions.  eBay saw greater profits with fewer problems in other merchandizing areas such as automobiles.  eBay began courting sellers that offered multiples of a single item or single items with a higher price point.

eBay’s change of direction proved a godsend for the antiques and collectibles trade.  The threat of eBay taking total control of the antiques and collectibles market collapsed within a year.  The 1,600 pound gorilla shrank to 160 pounds.  eBay moved away from its initial auction venue in favor of encouraging sellers to post “Buy It Now” prices.  “Buy It Now” prices reflect flea market, mall, shop, and show prices.  The “let it fly” auction concept which was instrumental to eBay’s initial success was discouraged.  Finally, eBay kept raising its fees, listing demands, and payment terms to the point where only those individuals willing to work 20 or more hours per week could take advantage of eBay’s service platform.

During its first ten years, eBay actively courted the antiques and collectibles press, at least those who wrote favorably about it.  I was one of those individuals.  However, the moment I began questioning some of eBay’s practices in the mid-2000s, I quickly became persona non grata.

Although eBay still is a player in the antiques and collectibles sales venue, it is no longer king-of-the hill.  In fact, there is no king-of-the-hill sales venue today.  The antiques and collectibles field works best when no one business method is dominant.  I smile every time I think of eBay’s change of focus in the mid-2000s and thank whoever is in control of the universe, if in fact anyone is, for making it so.

[Author’s Aside:  I recently came across the concept of counterfactual history, a concept that asks “what if” questions and proposes potential answers.  What if eBay continued to provide internal support for antiques and collectibles divisions?  What if eBay made a commitment to prop the secondary antiques and collectibles market during the 2008-2009 Great Recession?]

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI  49512.  You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time.  If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live on the Internet at www.gcnlive.com.