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News Update I'm currently trying to blast through sales of all my Jyhad and Vampire the Eternal Struggle cards. Also selling a few of the more valuable collectibles and used clothing items around the house. From there, it's on to lots and lots of Tiger Beat and other teen magazines from the late 60's and early 70's.

I've still got the remainder of the stamp collection started by my great aunt, and maintained by my mother and myself, which has been packed away untouched for 15 years. I'll probably get back to finishing selling that off before too long.

Floorplan

• Who Is The Doctor?
• Tips for eBay Traders
  • General Buyers Tips
  • Tips for Buying Board Games/RPG's
  • Tips for Buying Magic Cards
  • General Seller's Tips
  • Tips for Selling Board Games/RPG's
  • Tips for Selling Magic Cards
• What I Buy on eBay
• What I Sell on eBay
• Feedback on Prunesquallor from other Ebay users
• Listing of My Auctions

My ebay handle of "Prunesquallor" comes from Doctor Prunesquallor, from one of my favorite sets of books, the Gormenghast trilogy of Mervyn Peake. Oh, and I am a PhD, so I can call myself a Doctor if I feel like it :-P

When selling and trading, I try to be brutally honest about the condition of what I have to offer.

• Please, don't support price gougers! With popular items like Furbies and Beanie Babies, if people would just refuse to pay ridiculous inflated prices for goods that are still in print and are still being released, we'd all be a lot better off! Think of it - why is it hard to walk into a store and buy a Furby? Because people are buying them all up (often before they hit the shelf) in order to resell them for a profit. If you then pay that person several times the list price, you've rewarded him for making the item harder to find.

• Some popular out of print board games that sell for good amounts have been reprinted, or may be reprinted soon. Reconsider if it's worth paying top dollar for the original.
• If you sense that the seller knows the game well, and decide to trust their opinion that it is complete, then great. If you're not sure, or you think they're not sure, ask them to check for you. Most games give a complete listing of all components in the rules, so even someone who's not too familiar with the game should be able to compare that list to the contents of the game.

• Know what you're buying. If the seller doesn't say anything about the condition of the card, ask them about it. They may not be saying because it's been on the bottom of a bird cage or a baby's teething toy.
• Find out how the seller ships the cards. I've gotten well-packed cards before, and I've gotten cards that were dropped in a regular envelope with no protections at all.
• Know what you're buying, and beware of "grab bag" or "repack" offers. If someone tells you that they're selling you a grab-bag of "30 cards, including rares, uncommons, and commons", they might send you 2 junky rares, two junky uncommons, and the rest commons. If the cards come from "Arabians through 5th edition", everything that you get might come from 5th edition! If they promise that some of the packs contain Beta Moxes and such, think about it a little harder. If they take 30 cards, each worth $100, it's a value of $3000. Now, mix those hot cards in with the TONS of CRUD that most card vendors have left over after doing all their singles sales. Say they assemble 3350 sets of cards out of this CRUD with the sprinkling of good stuff, and start selling them for $3 apiece. Sell them all and they make $10000, over three times the price of the good cards, PLUS they clear out all the CRUD that no one would ever buy otherwise. Meanwhile, the buyer has more than a 99 in 100 chance that their $3 nets them fabulous cards like a Purelace, 2 Erosions, and a stack of Mons Goblin Raiders. Whoopee. Additionally, WHO is watching over the seller's shoulders? How do you KNOW that they even sold a single pack that really had a hot card in it? How do you KNOW that they didn't set aside the packs with the hot cards and sell them to their buddies (or people who paid extra..."I'll pay you $75 for one of those, hope it's a good one, wink wink"). MANY OF THESE OFFERS ARE RIPOFFS, TAKING MONEY AWAY FROM GULLIBLE HOPEFUL GAMERS - DON'T BE ONE OF THEM!

• Learn enough HTML to be able to do line breaks, bulleted lists, and headers. Your browser should let you look at the HTML source, so pick a simple page like this on, look at the source, and pick up a little of it. Now, use some simple HTML to make your auction descriptions easier to read.
• Now, also make a generic form letter for finishing an auction. Write it carefully so it's informative, easy to read, complete, and friendly. You can cut and paste this when you mail to the winning bidder, and just fill in the cost and shipping info.
• Make sure information on payment that you will accept, shipping costs, any lag time between receiving payment and shipping, etc is all clearly spelled out in your auction. Also, put a breakdown of charges in that email so the buyer knows what they're paying for, and so they can check your math.
• You'll also want a form letter to send to buyers who fail to respond initially to the email that they've won the auction. Give it enough teeth to get them moving, but be polite - most of the time, they just overlooked your message or something like that.
• Before you list an item, search to see similar items that are currently being auctioned and items that have recently finished. You don't want to compete with a near-identical auction, and you want a good idea of what kind of price to expect.
• If your spelling is poor, use a spell checker, or ask a friend to look over your posting before you put it up. Lots of misspelled words make you look like unprofessional and stupid. If I have a choice between an item sold by someone who's organized and neat, and one sold by someone who's just slapping stuff up there and can't spell worth a darn, I'll buy the first item every time.

• Know your game well, and tell people honestly about its condition. If the board is warped, make a judgement call on whether it's warped enough to affect play (I refrained from bidding in an auction that mentioned a warped board, but maybe the warp was really slight. The seller wasn't descriptive enough for me to be sure, so I skipped the auction). If it's out of print or otherwise unusual, share your knowledge about what makes it special.
• If you don't know the game well, and it's used, check the rules for an inventory of the game components. Check the contents of the game against that inventory. Comment on the condition of any/all pieces, not just the box. If you give a picture, use a picture of the contents laid out attractively, not just of the box cover.
• Always list the publisher, and a date when possible.
• Spell the name of the item correctly, else no one will find it if they use the search capability!

• In large lots, be descriptive - list the rares, comment on overall condition, organize lists by expansion, and so on.
• In all cases, know your cards. Know how to determine what edition your cards are. Grade them honestly so that collectors aren't upset with the quality of their purchase. Use a card list or price guide to help you figure out what set a card is from.
• Ignore the book values given by Scrye and other sources - they are completely imaginary, and held artificially high by store owners who can sit on cards for months or years. They are stubbornly trying to preserve the value of these cards by not shaving the prices down to what people would actually pay, and so many of the cards sit there a long time collecting dust. I only use book values to get an idea of what hot or popular cards are for expansions that I don't know well. It's also handy for finding uncommons that are powerful and popular enough to make it worthwhile to sell them.
• I say, set your minimum bid low, don't use reserves, and let the market determine what a card is worth. If you won't sell for what they give when you do this, then don't list in the first place. If you set the minimum bid too high, or list individual cards that aren't popular, you might not get any bidders and will be stuck eating the insertion fee.

• Big Boss

With my favorite TCG being Mythos, it won't surprise you that I'm also a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft.

User:procopiousi( 185)  Date:Feb-09-10 15:15:05 PST Praise: Items arrived quickly, in excellent condition. GReat Deal! A+ seller! User:procopiousi( 185)  Date:Feb-09-10 15:13:09 PST Praise: Items arrived quickly, in excellent condition. GReat Deal! A+ seller! User:procopiousi( 185)  Date:Feb-09-10 15:11:54 PST Praise: Items arrived quickly, in excellent condition. GReat Deal! A+ seller! User:marigoldshopper( 240)  Date:Feb-09-10 13:00:49 PST Praise: Quick delivery, no hassles. Thank you. User:tnriyaag( 28)  Date:Feb-09-10 09:01:44 PST Praise: smooth, no worries transaction, thank you! User:tallestjr( 84)  Date:Feb-09-10 07:04:31 PST Praise: Great seller, zero problems, would buy from again. User:tallestjr( 84)  Date:Feb-09-10 07:04:31 PST Praise: Great seller, very fast shipping, would buy from again. User:snaponef( 3 )  Date:Feb-08-10 03:23:22 PST Praise: Good seller! User:nweeky( 5 )  Date:Feb-08-10 02:46:18 PST Praise: Item in perfect condition, fast international shipping User:chico-light( 226)  Date:Feb-07-10 23:05:45 PST Praise: A++ To see all feedback for this member, go to the Member Profile page.

To protect bidder privacy, when the price or highest bid on an item reaches or exceeds a certain level, User IDs will be displayed as anonymous names. For auction items, a bold price means at least one bid has been received. Note: Anonymous names may appear more than once and may represent different bidders. Items I have up for Auction Item Start End Price Title High Bidder/Status 250504990508 Sep-26-09 Feb-23-10 21:16:48 $5.50 Aids Awareness trading cards Chase Card Sticker B 1993 Available 250504992836 Sep-26-09 Feb-23-10 21:32:35 $5.50 Aids Awareness trading cards Chase Card Sticker D 1993 Available 250504993633 Sep-26-09 Feb-23-10 21:36:27 $5.50 Aids Awareness trading cards Chase Card Sticker E 1993 Available 250504993923 Sep-26-09 Feb-23-10 21:38:20 $5.50 Aids Awareness trading cards Chase Card Sticker F 1993 Available 250505102812 Sep-27-09 Feb-24-10 04:56:07 $3.25 Monty Python's Flying Circus Act I Promo P1 And Now For Available 250505105874 Sep-27-09 Feb-24-10 05:05:56 $3.00 Ren & Stimpy Prismatic Cards Cheesy Chase Card # 3 Available 250505111721 Sep-27-09 Feb-24-10 05:18:30 $4.00 Sumatran Tiger San Diego Zoo 1993 foil chase card Cardz Available 250505114241 Sep-27-09 Feb-24-10 05:26:28 $4.00 Komodo Dragon San Diego Zoo 1993 foil chase card H-1 Available 250505115977 Sep-27-09 Feb-24-10 05:31:49 $4.00 Cheetah San Diego Zoo 1993 holo foil chase card H-3 Available 250505144168 Sep-27-09 Feb-24-10 06:49:33 $14.00 Aids Awareness trading cards full set : Benefits AMFAR! Available 250506657766 Sep-30-09 Feb-27-10 06:22:43 $3.99 CMJ New Music Monthly Vol 36 Aug 96 Rev Horton Heat ++ Available 250506660532 Sep-30-09 Feb-27-10 06:30:47 $3.99 CMJ New Music Monthly Vol 33 May 96 Gillian Welch +more Available 250506660623 Sep-30-09 Feb-27-10 06:31:02 $3.99 CMJ New Music Monthly Vol 21 May 95 Joan Osborne KMFDM Available 250513228137 Oct-13-09 Feb-10-10 08:58:15 $20.00 Tiger Beat's Fave! Magazine February 1968 Monkees Sajid Available 250513801034 Oct-13-09 Feb-10-10 20:24:23 $8.00 GURPS Magic 2nd Ed Steve Jackson Games 1994 Available 250513796042 Oct-13-09 Feb-10-10 20:28:52 $12.50 GURPS IOU Illuminati University Kaja & Phil Foglio illu Available 250513999182 Oct-14-09 Feb-11-10 08:13:47 $12.00 GURPS Traveller 1st Edition Paperback Steve Jackson Available 250515836638 Oct-17-09 Feb-14-10 15:49:41 $22.00 Sixteen 16 Magazine August 1967 Beatles Elvis Raiders Available 250515877536 Oct-17-09 Feb-14-10 15:54:38 $11.00 Sixteen 16 Magazine June 1967 Herman's Hermits Monkees Available 250515873012 Oct-17-09 Feb-14-10 15:56:44 $18.00 Sixteen 16 Magazine October 1967 Herman Hermits Monkees Available 250515825619 Oct-17-09 Feb-14-10 15:59:18 $22.00 Tiger Beat's Fave Magazine January 1968 Monkees L Nimoy Available 250516431724 Oct-18-09 Feb-15-10 17:50:18 $24.00 Tiger Beat October 1967 Monkees Available 250518093299 Oct-21-09 Feb-18-10 21:26:02 $2.75 Arwen METW Unlimited Middle Earth the Wizards CCG Available 250518094330 Oct-21-09 Feb-18-10 21:26:57 $2.75 Cirdan METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth the Wizards CCG Available 250518095008 Oct-21-09 Feb-18-10 21:33:09 $1.75 Denethor II METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG Available 250518103678 Oct-21-09 Feb-18-10 21:36:16 $2.00 Morgul-Knife METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth Wizards Available 250518645036 Oct-22-09 Feb-19-10 21:02:17 $2.25 Anduril Flame of West METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth Available 250518646150 Oct-22-09 Feb-19-10 21:03:28 $2.25 Army of the Dead METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG Available 250518647991 Oct-22-09 Feb-19-10 21:05:33 $1.75 Dwarven Ring Bavor's METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth Available 250518649790 Oct-22-09 Feb-19-10 21:07:15 $1.75 Eagle-Mounts METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG Available 250518650338 Oct-22-09 Feb-19-10 21:08:10 $1.75 Gollum's Fate METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG Available 250518105859 Oct-22-09 Feb-19-10 21:11:21 $1.75 The Balance of Things METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth Available 250519102772 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:02:18 $3.00 Tom Bombadil METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG MECCG Available 250518643850 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:04:00 $2.50 The Pale Sword METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG Available 250519100899 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:05:37 $2.00 The Arkenstone METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG Available 250519100528 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:07:18 $2.50 Skinbark METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG MECCG Available 250519099141 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:11:36 $2.00 Paths of the Dead METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG Available 250519110559 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:14:07 $1.50 Minas Morgul METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG MECCG Available 250519110188 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:15:06 $1.50 Isles Dead That Live METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth Available 250519109664 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:15:52 $1.50 Easterling Camp METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG Available 250519108476 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:17:34 $1.50 Dol Guldur METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG MECCG Available 250519102321 Oct-23-09 Feb-20-10 21:33:35 $2.50 The Mithril Coat METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG Available 250519465234 Oct-24-09 Feb-21-10 16:56:04 $1.00 Bairanax At Home Rare Middle Earth the Dragons CCG Available 250519477116 Oct-24-09 Feb-21-10 16:56:15 $1.00 Dragon's Hunger Rare Middle Earth CCG the Dragons MEtD Available 250519466225 Oct-24-09 Feb-21-10 17:03:50 $1.00 Earcaraxe At Home Rare Middle Earth the Dragons MECCG Available 250519467154 Oct-24-09 Feb-21-10 17:03:57 $1.00 Fever of Unrest Rare Middle Earth the Dragons MECCG Available 250519480190 Oct-24-09 Feb-21-10 17:04:05 $1.50 Morgul-Rats Rare Middle Earth the Dragons MEtD MECCG Available 250519468411 Oct-24-09 Feb-21-10 17:05:51 $1.00 Passion of Wrath Rare Middle-Earth CCG the Dragons Available 250519469007 Oct-24-09 Feb-21-10 17:06:00 $1.00 Prowess of Might Rare Middle-Earth MECCG the Dragons Available 250519481469 Oct-24-09 Feb-21-10 17:07:47 $1.00 Scatha At Home Rare Middle Earth the Dragons MEtD MECCG Available 250519478758 Oct-24-09 Feb-21-10 17:09:48 $2.00 Staff Asunder Rare Middle Earth the Dragons MEtD CCG Available 250520600208 Oct-26-09 Feb-23-10 18:22:36 $3.00 To Get You Away Dark Minions Rare Middle Earth CCG Card Available 250520600937 Oct-26-09 Feb-23-10 18:22:42 $2.50 Tribal Totem Dark Minions Rare Middle Earth CCG Card Available 250521200597 Oct-28-09 Feb-25-10 07:30:17 $8.50 Animalism X50 Wolf Companion Raven Spy ++ VtES Jyhad Available 250522885566 Oct-31-09 Feb-28-10 15:08:53 $1.00 Anarch Troublemaker Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250522949751 Oct-31-09 Feb-28-10 15:09:05 $1.00 Betrayer Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250522942544 Oct-31-09 Feb-28-10 15:11:35 $3.25 Morgul-horse METW Unlimited Rare Middle Earth CCG MECCG Available 250523653315 Nov-01-09 Mar-01-10 16:07:07 $1.20 The Black Council X2 The White Hand Middle Earth CCG Available 250523740595 Nov-01-09 Mar-01-10 19:37:20 $1.00 Fragment of the Book of Nod Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250523738973 Nov-01-09 Mar-01-10 19:37:27 $1.00 Curse of Nitocris Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250523140021 Nov-01-09 Mar-01-10 19:37:36 $1.10 Blood Puppy X2 Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250524316398 Nov-03-09 Mar-03-10 09:11:53 $4.00 Golconda Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250524856554 Nov-04-09 Mar-04-10 08:26:36 $2.75 Smiling Jack the Anarch Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250525389622 Nov-04-09 Mar-04-10 20:41:41 $1.00 Society of Leopold Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250525388067 Nov-04-09 Mar-04-10 20:43:46 $1.00 Succubus Club Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250526038726 Nov-06-09 Mar-06-10 07:29:06 $1.00 Temptation of Greater Power Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250526041561 Nov-06-09 Mar-06-10 07:29:24 $1.00 XTC Laced Blood Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250526590665 Nov-06-09 Mar-06-10 22:00:05 $1.00 Pulled Fangs Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250526597606 Nov-06-09 Mar-06-10 22:00:12 $1.00 Hell Hound X4 Ally Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250526596982 Nov-06-09 Mar-06-10 22:01:06 $1.75 Ritual of the Bitter Rose Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250526984165 Nov-07-09 Mar-07-10 20:59:49 $1.00 Ghoul Retainer X2 Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250526985256 Nov-07-09 Mar-07-10 21:01:35 $1.50 Ghoul Escort X2 Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250526989153 Nov-07-09 Mar-07-10 21:05:04 $1.20 Jackie Therman X2 Mr. Winthrop X2 Jyhad Rares VtES Available 250526547504 Nov-07-09 Mar-07-10 21:32:04 $20.00 16 SPEC Winter 1969 Star Trek Yellow Submarine Monkees Available 250526552568 Nov-07-09 Mar-07-10 21:38:03 $18.00 16 SPEC Nov 1970 Jacksons Osmonds Partridge Brady Bunch Available 250526515844 Nov-07-09 Mar-07-10 21:43:53 $18.00 16 SPEC Fall 1969 Dark Shadows Tom Jones Bobby Sherman Available 250527412183 Nov-08-09 Mar-08-10 13:14:15 $1.90 Bring Our Curses Home Rare Middle Earth Dark Minions Available 250527306468 Nov-08-09 Mar-08-10 13:17:39 $2.75 Many Sorrows Befall Middle Earth the Dragons MECCG CCG Available 250527526426 Nov-08-09 Mar-08-10 17:20:02 $30.00 Shadowfist Flashpoint Sealed Booster Box Flash Point Available 250527497778 Nov-08-09 Mar-08-10 17:48:14 $1.00 Aaron's Feeding Razor Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250527503679 Nov-08-09 Mar-08-10 17:51:14 $1.00 Monocle of Clarity Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250527506283 Nov-08-09 Mar-08-10 17:53:37 $1.00 Rowan Ring X2 Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250527519848 Nov-08-09 Mar-08-10 17:55:42 $1.00 Sengir Dagger Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250527541173 Nov-08-09 Mar-08-10 17:57:09 $3.25 Soul Gem of Etrius Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250527543593 Nov-08-09 Mar-08-10 17:58:15 $1.00 Talbot's Chainsaw Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250528153443 Nov-10-09 Mar-10-10 16:24:39 $1.20 Rumors of Gehenna X4 Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250528032828 Nov-13-09 Feb-11-10 20:07:25 $24.00 16 Magazine March 1969 Dark Shadows McCartney Elvis Available 250530401273 Nov-13-09 Feb-11-10 22:30:40 $1.25 Espers vol 2 #2 : Paradigm Shift Halloween Comic 1996 Available 250530403057 Nov-13-09 Feb-11-10 22:31:51 $1.25 Espers vol 2 #3 Quiet Desperation Halloween Comic 1996 Available 250530407768 Nov-13-09 Feb-11-10 22:39:32 $1.25 Espers vol 2 #6 : Revelations Halloween Comics 1997 Available 250530408892 Nov-13-09 Feb-11-10 22:40:33 $1.25 Espers vol 3 #2 : Pieces Image Comics 1997 Available 250530674795 Nov-14-09 Feb-12-10 11:43:54 $1.20 Whole Villages Roused X2 Middle Earth card CCG MEWH Available 250530826431 Nov-14-09 Feb-12-10 18:48:08 $1.00 Distraction X5 Jyhad Celerity Rare VtES Available 250530815004 Nov-14-09 Feb-12-10 18:48:56 $1.00 Psychic Projection X4 Physchic Jyhad Auspex Rare VtES Available 250531242664 Nov-15-09 Feb-13-10 11:27:30 $1.00 Behind You X6 Obfuscate Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250531198894 Nov-15-09 Feb-13-10 11:32:56 $1.50 Kine Dominance Dominate Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250531248001 Nov-15-09 Feb-13-10 11:38:31 $1.50 Psychic Veil Obfuscate Jyhad Rare VtES Available 250531455626 Nov-15-09 Feb-13-10 18:08:02 $3.00 Bone #14 Jeff Smith Cartoon Books 1994 1st Printing VF Available 250531459923 Nov-15-09 Feb-13-10 18:08:40 $3.00 Bone #16 Jeff Smith Cartoon Books 1994 1st Printing VF Available 250531465909 Nov-15-09 Feb-13-10 18:09:17 $2.50 Bone #21 Image Comics 1995 1st Printing VF Jeff Smith Available Go see all current items for sale by this member.

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