eBay, so sad...

[jimbo]

Do you feel like EBay has taken the fun out of the challenge of the search when you can just type in what you're looking for and a thousand examples show up?

[mourningdoves]

It can if you let it. If there are multiple listings of a particular item, that tells me the item will turn up sooner or later, and I'll wait for a collection or a mixture to come along and I'll look for it in there.

You mentioned recently that you joined a local (or semi-local?) stamp club. Some trading/buying opportunities will come along there. Shows are good for leafing through collections and accumulations, too. Yeah, it's really easy to click on "Add to Cart", but I've learned that the gratification doesn't last as long as when I find something neat-o in some abandoned collection. Mostly, I learned that back in the old days, when the back pages of Linn's were loaded with ads - whoooo, the Arts and Leisure section of the New York Times had stamp ads! ("C'mon, Uncle Stosh, tell us a story about approvals!") More recently, I've spent a lot of times with dogs, and have relearned through osmosis the thrill of the chase and the virtues of randomness. (If you ever see me chewing on a Nylabone, though, do the human race a favor and call the police.) Those ads in the Times meant that stamps were acquired by filling out order forms off of price lists and writing a check. Same thing as eBay, just slower. Ripping the cover off a deck of matches and sending it in with a dime offered a few pleasures and a lot of ¼d stamps from obscure outposts of the British Commonwealth.

Most of my eBay purchases the last few months have been postwar year sets or recent stamps from a few countries with which I like to stay current, like Bulgaria and Serbia. Almost nobody at a stamp show is going to stock recent stamps from those places because 99% of their customers don't care. I appreciate the fact that I can get these stamps - usually from dealers who live in the Balkans - with little hassle, and get some interesting-looking mail to boot.

[rolf]

I have taken a self-imposed break from EBay for a while. Need to catalog what I have before I add more to my To-Do Pile.

As for the challenge, I still experience enjoyment from just looking. A bit like Mrs. Rolf's "window shopping". There is still a satisfaction in finding exactly what I am looking for and getting a good deal at the same time.

[kacyds]

You are wondering if eBay has taken the fun out of hunting/searching for stamps???

I would have to say no....

The reason I say that is because there isn't any brick and mortar shops left in the New Orleans area. The last one here was flooded in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina. So where do go to find stamps for my collection??? Well there is one stamp show that I club has in January and there is one in Baton Rouge in May, other than that, there is no where else to go physically to enjoy our hobby.

Over the last 8 or so years since I been back in the hobby, I have bought many many many many lots form eBay. Early on, I was buy collections/lots and keeping what I needed/want for my collection and I was selling the rest back on eBay.

Now I am selective on what I purchase and sometimes that might be only a couple of listings for that item or none at all. Example is the last few covers that I am looking for my Prexie Cover Collection

So for me, eBay is fun for me!!!

[angore]

I have no issues with ebay. For some it may take the thrill out of the hunt since you can find many issues.