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Is it just me or has anyone else encountered this?

I'm looking for something on the Bay and there are like 3-4 pages of what I'm looking for and almost all of them say "Rare" or "Hard to find" in the description. I'm sorry but I can see about 50 of them right here, that's not what I would call scarce or one-of-a-kind.

I chalk it up to all of the spec sellers...

Whenever I'm running out of things to say in the eighty character title, I've been known to resort to using such terms as "RARE!", "HTF", "Hard to Find", etc. I mean, it's not going to hurt the final sale price, right?

In a related complaint, I find it strange when I'm on Reddit or other message board and someone says how they've been searching for some specific item for years. Yet a simple ebay search shows that item is everywhere, in abundance.

I assume that those people aren't accustomed to buying books online, or were adverse to it so never did, therefore their "looking for years" usually resorts to local/regional shop hunting etc.


Now- even then, there was a modern book that I HAD been looking for... sometimes up to 2-3x a DAY **almost** every day for **almost** 2 years.. and one finally popped up the other day............. 10 minutes after I blew my budget on back issues (I have a kid in college now :p ) and the damn thing was slabbed on top of it. -_- .. Not even a major book just a run fill. ( Batman 251 Fan Expo "Vancouver" ) so.. some things just never pop up it seems.

And of all those damn variants- I have ALL But the Denver and New Orleans ones, and I missed BOTH of them during a week I was neck deep in work and missed a search day and once again, have never seen them for sale since..)

True, but I just find it odd that people who are internet savvy enough to post on Reddit or social media about comics are also not savvy enough to buy comics online. Really, if you refuse to buy online then there are going to be portions of your want list that will never, ever be filled.

Back in the late eighties and nineties when I was hunting for Frank Miller's Daredevil run, I was convinced they were legitimately hard to find. Local shops never had them, and I always came up empty at the local comic shows (particularly issues #159-167). The dealers who did have them at shows wanted way above guide for them. I was convinced they were rare, and the high Overstreet valuation was justified.

Then ebay came along, and suddenly they were everywhere. EVERYWHERE. It was then that I realized that most comics are not hard to find. It's all about location.

I have done it... It is because I personally do not see it often, and while searching for a market price, the condition of mine is better and gets more looks as a result.

There is a current eBay seller who lists certain artist books and CONSISTENTLY sells them at over $20.00ea, yet you will see them almost EVERYWHERE on eBay for 30% off cover price of 5.99

The problem is MOBILE. Sites like this scale well NOW, but did not before. EVERY order I encounter that has a problem when asked for a screenshot is via MOBILE. MOBILE is a crippled clunky system, yet most people use it because it is their ONLY computer.

Both of you 2 (Howie, Thuinderchron) by the way help me out more than you know and keep me grounded with wise words and thoughts that sometimes I forget.

Thanks for being in the sandbox, and this is my reminder that you are 'silently noticed'.

-MobTownJoe

Aww, shucks....

Thanks for the kind words!