2026-10-21 A Strongly Worded Opinion on Collecting On The Internet

 A year ago I tried to access the Canadian internet listings on a primarily US site. I have been doing this for years because I had both American and Canadian relatives who could pick up items I won and could be depended on to ship the items to me.
    For the last several years I have been not been doing much bidding. Starting with the primary pick-up agent in the States dying and continuing with the Canadian relative contacting a very serious cancer—bidding on lots had just lost its appeal.
    Then, more recently, one of my weekly thrift friends mentioned some good deals on a site in Edmonton. At the time I apologized to the fellow thrifter, saying, “I don’t usually search on the internet for deals.” 
    I wondered why I had stopped so completely…
    So that night I again searched for the Canadian branch of ShopGoodwill.com in London, Ontario. They were still listed as a site, but didn’t have any photographic items for sale. Just for fun I tried searching on the internet for the Goodwill in London, Ontario and found they are now on Ebay. This led to me wondering if the problems the new president posed had forced a change?
    I decided—following my fellow thrifters tip— to try Facebook Market Place in Edmonton. What a can of worms that unearthed. I found tons of stuff listed, but some of the listings are insulting, some are deliberately misleading, and some are heartbreaking.
    Let’s start with insulting. Telling me “Low Ballers” were not tolerated puts me off. I suspect Low Baller is a term for someone who offers what they think the seller will settle for, perhaps because they hope they can turn around and resell it and pocket the difference. Not because I am a Low Baller—if I don’t like the price I will leave the item—but because the lack of patience indicates to me a certain meanness. 

    Some people have items listed they have marked down. They are playing the game of finding what someone will actually pay for the item they have. People who have a fixed idea of their items value and won’t settle for anything less run the risk of never selling anything. You can choose to work like that, but in your own way you are simply wasting everyone’s time.
    Now on to the deliberately misleading ads. Listing an item for $0 dollars and then changing the price to $1600 at the bottom of the copy is—

• a cheap way to be listed first if the searcher has chosen “Lowest to highest” price
• something others have copied by listing the lot price as $123, then pricing the individual items far higher (is the defence the $123 item sold?)

    Under heartbreaking, you have ads for items few if anyone would want, or items vastly overpriced, or items lumped into a group listing with garbage mixed with one item that might be worth something to someone. Far be it for me to lower the chances the one buyer who has been searching for years for one item is denied, but having to sift through tons of other items means they will tire out and potentially give up.
    As long as there are photographic collectors and enthusiasts, there will be those trying to make some money from their urges. But the sad aspect is many involved in the selling are at the mercy of the buyers. If no one wants it, it isn’t worth much. If everyone wants it, you can make money, but you still need to sell quality and even back it up if the item fails.
    Otherwise it is just a jungle out there with skillfully hidden traps.
    I guess I will stay with thrift stores, the occasional garage sale, and fellow collectors because I can hold the item and have some hope I can make it work. 

Making any kind of appointment to meet a seller in some police station parking lot isn’t worth my time.