Is it me, or, does there seem to be more deals to be had on Ebay than here?

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that because the average eBay user (even one in the market for pool cues) is not as well informed about pool cues as the average visitor to this site, they will be less likely to understand a fair market value for pool cues and will try to undercut what would normally be considered a reasonable price. We've all dealt with people who don't play pool who are flabbergasted that we'd spend more than a hundred dollars on a cue, or that we'd need more than one cue, or that we'd spend hundreds more dollars on a case for all these expensive pieces of wood. These people might want to buy a cue for someone but they'll have no frame of reference for what constitutes quality or a fair price, hence them turning to eBay. That general lack of knowledge is going to drive prices down.

Also, I've read threads on here about stolen cues turning up on eBay. Most people aren't going to have the gall to steal a cue and then visit a site like this trying to sell it given that there's a much better chance of running into the original owner here than on a site like eBay or craigslist. I don't know how many of those super deals are actually stolen cues, but I'd trust someone on this site more than someone on eBay when it came to the veracity of cue ownership; I'd hate to purchase stolen merchandise just because it was a better deal.

I've bought 3 cues on ebay and two on CL. Two from different internet stores. All turned out well. But just getting back into the game I didn't want to break the bank on my first few cues. Since cues are a trial and error deal that seemed the best way to go about it. Funny thing is my favorite cue is the one I paid the least for. Once I get a bit more comfortable I'm sure I'll make a few purchases on here. Good deals are relative to the quality of the purchased product. Often ebay prices are higher than other vendors of the same product.

Usually the path to selling a cue seems to be AZ-Ebay-Craigslist... It seems that you are most likely to get your money out of a sale on here first since most members are knowledgeable and will know what they are looking at and be willing to pay a little more or have cool stuff to horsetrade. Plus there are no auction fees... Ebay comes up if no one seems interested here. Craigslist gets the cues if there are no auction bids or they cannot meet a minimum and the seller doesn't want to keep paying fees.

But deals are found everywhere right now. I have seen lots of people on here starting to cull their collections. Wait until right before and right after Christmas and you won't be able to shake a stick at them all. And I'm talking about one of those LD shafted sticks that you can shake real real fast without worrying about missing what you are shaking at.

There are lots of good buys because a huge number of consumers don't have jobs.

ceebee said:

There are lots of good buys because a huge number of consumers don't have jobs.

Click to expand...

BINGO.

I have watched a Jack Maddon cue from someone in Tucson on craigslist go from an asking price of $350.00 to $260.00 over the course of 3 weeks.

Patience and Cash will get you a deal every day of the week.