The title of this article should probably have been “How to get a great deal on eBay!” but it’s all a matter of perspective. A while back, I was searching eBay using a series of keywords for items that I collect. For some strange reason, these two handsome fellas popped up in a keyword search for “King Kong.”
Huh? I have a pretty good eye for King Kong, and I surely don’t remember those two in the movie.
It turns out that the eBay gods were smiling on me that day, because while searching for one of my collecting passions, another one popped up in the results. Here’s the title of the auction as it appeared on eBay:
Lot of 2 King Features 1976 Mega Corp Figurine Made in Hong Kong
Ah, now I see it–“King” Features… Hong “Kong.” So that explains the King Kong search result, but I couldn’t understand why there were no other bids–those are vintage Mego figures–there should definitely be some interest. Oh wait, those are “Mego” figures, but the listing shows them as “Mega” figures.
The description for the figures didn’t do much to help sell these items either:
“You are bidding on a Lot of 2 King Features 1976 Mega Corp Figurine Made in Hong Kong. Not sure what characters they are or from what show. The red guy has a cut on his shoe and you can see the material under it. They are in decent condition otherwise. We are not experts regarding these item(s) and we may miss some detail(s) so please see the images for more detail on condition. We are selling this as is.”
If you have ever seen one of these figures, you will know that the words “MEGO CORP” are written in all caps, fairly large on the back of the figure. Changing the “O” to an “A” for Mega had to have been a mental slip by the seller, or even worse, maybe it was autocorrected by his computer. And the final straw is that he called them “figurines” rather than “figures” or “action figures.”
This seller had a feedback rating of a whopping 18,800+ so he is by no means, a newbie to the ways of eBay, but the errors certainly worked out for me–no one else bid and I got both of these figures for $9.99. These should have cost me more than five times that amount.
This article was not written to rub the seller’s nose in his mistake or to gloat about my purchase. Hopefully, you will read it and remember these mistakes the next time you sell an item on eBay. Just the smallest amount of research can make a big difference towards getting top dollar for your item.
Have you ever been on the winning side of an error-filled listing on eBay? Have you ever made a big mistake while selling an item?
I totally misspelled Robotech when listing a huge lot of books, DVDs, comics, and a couple nice toys once. It hurt. A lot. Learned my lesson to check and re-check like 50 times before submitting.
Ouch!
I’ve hit the jackpot in the past by searching STAR WARS misspellings. Now.. I can’t catch a break for nuthin. Either collectors have gotten more savvy.. or eBay.. (maybe both).
Anyway….. Nice Score!
I’ve done well by buying items in lots. Most people don’t want to buy five items when they only want one, but I just resell the other four, and usually make my money back!
Gloat away!! That’s an awesome score. The best deals are usually found when you don’t search exactly what you’re looking for.
Yes! I’ve found a lot of items I didn’t even know I wanted. 😉
LOL . . . “The red guy”.
Nice scores tho, congrats!
In addition to my comment above I’ve scored some great deals using the buy it not feature on items that just listed for a fraction of their value! I also recently had a seller pay me to take their Super Powers Batmobile. I say pay me in that he sold a Batman lot that was worth way more then his BIN price. I sold off the dups which left me with a Batmobile and 15 bucks in my pocket. Not too shabby!
An excellent tactic!
“The red guy”
Damn, I never even thought of that. So there is probably ten Oscar Goldman figures listed under ‘Sex Million Dollar Man’? Those Megos are a STEAL at ten bucks. I have never even seen those one. I am thrilled for you and your great score. It’s a rare thing these days to get something cool for next to nothing on Ebay.
Ha! That rare Oscar Geldman figurine is out there somewhere. 😉
A while back, scored a Batman #400 CGC 9.6 on eBay for $24 — I believe that’s less the cost to have it slabbed! I basically stole that thing…
Nice! I see a lot of slabbed comics that only sell in the $20 range and I always wonder if the seller is losing money hand over fist.
I generally sell items in lots and that has probably been a mistake as you mention above that most people may only want one or two items from the lot. Great score otherwise. Those are definitley some nice Mego’s for the price.
Selling in lots isn’t always a bad thing. I sell lots of lots! But that’s usually because i just want to get rid of items in bulk and I’m not too worried about the results.
That’s true and I do sell in lots for the same reasons you do, but at times I have seen individual items from my lots sell for more than the entire lot itself.
Great pieces. Still deals to be found on EBay!?
They’re out there, you just have to dig a little–or be lucky! 😉
I always search mispellings of collectibles to see what pops up. When I was actively collecting my Biker Mice From Mars collection it was always neat to see what would pop up under Biker Mouse. Sometimes it was a waste of Mikey Mousing time but sometimes it worked to find something being overlooked by the small but determined BMFM fans.