I have noticed on ebay that dealers are starting to cut Buy It Now prices, accept Best Offers, and are contacting losing bidders more frequently if they have extra copies to sell or if an item doesn't meet reserve. I'd say it's becoming more of a buyer's market, but the buyers can't afford to buy Still, it's nice to see some dealers stop asking ridiculous Buy it Now prices and just put the item up for a regular auction.
Things are pretty bad here in America; tons of lay-offs, lots of people losing their homes, and even people that aren't getting fired or laid off are having to take pay cuts, lose benefits, etc. Not a good time
"I'm sorry Sam, we had real chemistry. But like a monkey on the sun, our love was too hot to live"
-Becky
The value of the $ has increased 50% over the last two months. I can no longer afford auctions in dollars, have to concentrate on British Pounds instead.
wait, so its easier for europeans to buy stuff in british pounds than dollars?...i thought euro and other european currencies were stronger than dollars...at least for me,its way cheaper to buy things in dollars than euros for example
I haven't felt any price decline here in Germany when it comes to records, rare or not.
Only difference so far, is that it is now an option to order stuff from the UK. Something that seemed absurd in recent years, but since now the pound has suffered most from the finincal crisis.
It's definitely affected me. My own finances have not changed, but I am always putting in low bids on eBay items I want and lately I've been winning a lot more often.
Situation is getting really fucked. Since I depend on interim jobs and they are in the front row when it comes to a crisis, I haven't worked a day since late november. Especially since I was an interim who 'plunged the holes', they use the more permanent interims for those jobs now. Which means I haven't earned a single euro for three months. Which means I keep making more debts and debts. Which means I have to start caring about my financial situation. Crap.
I am sorry to hear that. It's not pretty here (Ireland) either. I just lost a private student because he lost his job. Less for me but I feel worse for him actually...
after purchasing those Master's Hammer re-issues plus the usual hauls I tried to reduce I now really need to shut down everything for a few months at least..
who am I kidding, again.. such purposes are not to be implemented and knowing this doesn't give me the best feeling at the moment..
Down there in the Darkness
Centuries of Evil
And his Arms will take you deeper and deeper
If you look at ebay these days you can see the effect of the euro/greek crisis very clearly. Every week someone is selling a COVEN, SOLAR EAGLE, KILLEN, EMERALD or RITUAL LP. At least for the moment they still get good money for them.
But if this tide continues at this rate then the value of our average rarities like SALEM'S WYCH or HEATHENS RAGE will drop very soon, don't you think? Or is this just a short-term trend that doesn't have any effect at all?
I have seen this too, however, it is not certain if the values will be permanently reduced just because we have a wave of these vinyls right now. It all depends on how long it takes for the Greek government to fix the crisis and how much damage it will cause before it is over. It also depends on how many collectors actually are looking for these vinyls and how many that only buy them to sell again later. Well, at least this is how I see it.
Some records may start to dip in price as more greek collectors have to sell parts of their collection. Salems Wych and Heathens Rage have held their value for years and they've never been that hard to find; you see at least half a dozen copies sold on ebay every year and they always bring $200-300. In my limited experience, I suspect the ones that might drop in vlaue are the more expensive items that are turning up regularly, like Leather Nunn, Solar Eagle, etc. These oscillate a little more in price to begin with and they're higher priced items, which lowers the number of potential buyers at their 'normal' price. Only so many people are gonna pay $750-$1,000 for these records, so if the supply fills the demand, then the price will start to drop pretty fast, at least in the short term.
"I'm sorry Sam, we had real chemistry. But like a monkey on the sun, our love was too hot to live"
-Becky
What I find weird are the extremely inflated prices on private lists. I mean, why would I pay 70 euros for the Egypt LP off a private list when there's been a mint condition Buy It Now for 50 euros on ebay for the last 6 months, that no one wants to buy? And this is just one example. I do realize one point of private lists is to set prices high and have people haggle, but some sellers still get offended when you point out that you're not willing to pay 150% to 200% of the market price for a certain item.
This might change with the ongoing recession though.
Still, it's nice to see some dealers stop asking ridiculous Buy it Now prices and just put the item up for a regular auction. 
*raises pint*
I now really need to shut down everything for a few months at least.. 