EBay & Stamp sets

[danamy]

ok, I'm guilty! I stalk ebay . Though I have never sold anything but I have purchased quite a few stamp sets. I was viewing a few sets over the weekend and noticed that they were all described as "retired" this was not true. I have the current catalog as well as last years and all the sets were in the current catalog (as well as last years). How can this be? How can the seller list that the item is retired when in fact it's not. does e-bay know something that we don't, or do any of you know anything about this? TIA

[basketballmom]

Ebay itself doesn't write the listings ... the sellers do.
And adding the word "retired" makes a set sound more rare. Unfortunately, there are some unethical sellers on ebay. (There are also legit ones).
You may also find that sometimes sets will be sold on ebay for more than it would cost you to buy it from a demo. It's very much a Buyer Beware thing.

You're doing the right thing by checking the catalogue ... If you don't already have a demo, check the demo locator of your favorite stamp company to find one near you!

[snowcountry311]

i believe they do this on purpose-- by listing as retired when someone(as in ds @stampinup) checks on sales of current sets these do NOT show up. i found this out while searching AND turning illegal sellers. i sent demo support over 400 items in-- this was one seller's newly listed items at one time. i have since put this seller and couple others i watch (to turn in) into my favorites. i am watching from them to be closed.

[CherylPenner]

I too think that some do it on purpose, but I do think that some are honest mistakes I mean how many times to you look in a catalogue and see something you never saw before. A few times I have sent the seller a polite message message letting them know that their set is not retired. Some never reply (which are ones that I feel are doing it intentionally IMHO) and others have replied to appologize and said that either they totally missed it in their cataloge when they were listing or that they didn't have a catalogue to check but that they had thought it was a set that retired.

[Cynamom]

I agree with what was said above. I once saw a regular set listed as a "reitired" but it also had the wrong name. I contaced the seller, just to tell her, and she never fixed it. I can imagine the buyer was confused. I know there are some sellers that do it purposely, and some that THINK it's retired. Sometimes I forget... but I don't sell on Ebay, but when I list things to trade or sell here, I forget. It's best to always check for yourself!

Cindy

[danamy]

ohhh I just thought that maybe they knew something that I didn't and I am a new SU demo, (still waiting for my starter kit to get here) I was watching e-bay and 2 different sellers were selling the watercolor mini set and the regular size watercolor garden set as retired. These 2 sets are in the current catalog, last years and a catalog I had from 1996. I have found this to be true for the past few years. I used to purchase a few sets from there before I became a demo. I wouldn't buy it unless I could get it at a cheaper price including the shipping costs. If with shiopping costs it came out to be more than what I could get it for, I didn't buy it.