Urban Art Association

You can deal with people you kinda know. I'd rather give a deal to someone who contributes here than on ebay, less formal.   

Between ebay and paypal fees, you're losing 10% on everything you sell. That said, ebay is easy and hassle free. When I sell something, I generally don't care if I get top dollar. I usually just want to get rid of it.

When we buy off each other face to face, we can do the meet in the pub and get pissed.
Ebay doesn't offer that service.

simple answer: www.fees.ebay.com/feeweb/feecalculator

Cutting out extra fees helps both buyers and sellers and paypal offers protection to the buyer and seller regardless of where the deal was struck.

This.

Nothing to do with fees.

T R U S T

Simply put your ass is way out on a limb if you buy something from any forum there is no one to hold anyone to anything , you better trust them because thats all you have trust ! Safe bet ebay fees and all at least they will fight for you if action is necessary...

23,244 items are listed on ebay under Banksy as i write this of which 24 are actual pieces I would be happy to call genuine.
christ alone knows what the postman would turn up with if I bought any of the other 23,220 bits of tat.

After a quick look I'd say all or most of those 24 pieces are being sold by forum members and regardless of your view on their pricing it's a fair bet that you'd get something nice and in good condition.

If you've got time to wade through thousands of listings to get to a smattering of highly priced gallery pieces and a very small handful of collector owned prints then I wish you luck in your search for meaningful employment.

However, if you'd like to find exactly what you want in seconds then this is the place to be.

If you don't see what you want then place an ad and get direct replies in no time at all from people who share your passion and will have a fair price in mind.
If you've spent any time at all on these boards you will be armed with a fair idea of who to trust and who knows what they are talking about. (And that is a lot of people on here)

Life's too short for ebay.

It's a useful tool and I use it regularly myself but this is the place for Banksy.
It does what it says on the tin.

Tend to think the same, except real collectors or long time members. Good to hear you don't plan to sell art here because I am not sure I would buy from you @streetfart (that's a joke)

But, it reminds me that when I first arrived here, I bought few pieces from guys on the forum using bank wire transfer ! WTF !  

Lol bigboss, no worries as I'm pretty sure Africa is off of my preferred shipping list

I was more specifically talking about the recent rash of first time posters selling stuff immediately.

The more this forum acts like freebay the more people talk about ONLY prices, flipping, hyping, etc and less about sharing the art we have or want

It seems that you can obtain the same rare item in many ways: Gallery, Auction, Direct from Artist, Ebay, Direct from another collector. Other collectors have no overhead, are not in this to squeeze the last dime out of the piece, are as likely to have a reputation you can rely on thanks to the internet and you can get the same protections on your purchase through paypal. There are plenty of forgeries or inferior pieces passed on by galleries, auctions, and certainly ebay. So buying from an actual person seems like a great low cost route

BUT

it seems like the more interesting question is why buy from ebay or the board rather than direct from the artist. I get it Banksy, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons wont return your emails to sell you something, they are jerks that way But there are a lot of awesome artists that will. Pick an up and comer you like, get something really special from them, maybe visit their studio. Usually a better story behind the piece when you do it that way than "i handed a dude money and he gave me a thing". Maybe in a few years someones jaw drops when they see you have a marquee piece from the new hotness and you knew him/her when...

My 2 cents, i do love the liquidity and democratization of the board. It makes it easier to get what i want at a price i am willing to pay. 100% gallery markups and 30% buyers premiums on hammer price + local sales tax are for the birds, and i only pay the 12% ebay markup when i have to.

Side note:  the title of the thread is why sell on the board, the question asked in the message is more of the why buy on the board.  One reason to sell on ebay is if you are uncomfortable with your asking price or are looking to move something that is unmovable. There is always a chance you will find a willing dupe who does not know the item can be obtained cheaper.  I.E. open edition obey posters at 100% markup.

Ebay also has WAY more traffic than any message board so if it is a thin market you have a better chance of finding the right buyer.  

But all told you should always be able to obtain any item listed on ebay for 10% less if you buy direct and less yet if you pay cash and meet in person.  On the same day on the same item the price for ebay should NEVER be the same as the board.  If the seller wont give you a "cash" discount move on to the next seller who will.

hahahah, not knowing who the artists is, i imagine they it would be interesting to see how they would respond and if they know how incompetent their team was.  Seems like my experience is more binary:

response or no response.  Seems like the rarity to get a response and it is incoherent

i concede it is hit or miss, but that is sort of what collecting is about, the hunt, the war stories to tell others over a beer.