When non-chess players sell chess equipment -FAIL-

Take it easy on David.  English is not his native language so we can certainly give him some space on his writing errors, especially when we can understand what he writes.

All he was doing was asking why not have the set on sale at eBay.  He then mentioned seeing high end sets for sale there all the time.  And he just mentioned HoS and a poster here as a couple of sellers.

No, David's all right.  Sure, he sometimes has a poor choice of words to say what he means because of his limited use of the English language, which you must admit is difficult for a lot of people with other native languages.

Just give him the benefit of the doubt.

And, keeping with the topic it sure is better when Chess players sell stuff than non-Chess players.

I check ebay 2 or 3 times at week.

I do find silly sales there, that is what this forum is about, you are offtopic.

However I constantly find great deals on ebay. And other users on this forums do find them too. For example here is a nice deal:

A Drueke board 2', and ebony/boxwood set for $250:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ebony-Boxwood-Staunton-Chess-set-3-5-King-w-Drueke-Board-2-Squares-/171913154109?hash=item2806d28e3d

But just a couple of pages before this deal there was a hand carved in Italy set, the seller is asking $3500 for it, I have seeing this offer pop up few times before:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-HAND-CARVED-TEAK-WOOD-CHESS-SET-32-p-RARE-1960s-ITALY-KING-IS-11-TAL-/181847801579?hash=item2a56f93eeb

But honestly what I am looking for is for people who doesn't know what kind of set they have, because they are not into chess and they end up with a chess set and they don't know if it have collectors value or not. I have pick up a couple of nice deals this way... make sure you educate your kids about the value of your sets or otherwise they will end up on ebay, with silly pictures awards descriptions and for dirt cheap.

Finally, as I pointed out this forum line is to laugth about people who fail at ebay selling. No for you to sell your stuff.

I don't really like to take pictures of my stuff, because I don't like to brag, but to show you why I like Ebay, I piked up this set few days ago for $25, see my post number #64:

I'm still tickled at having found this for $30, shipping included. 

Now, that is a sweet deal.

Let me guess, a Fisher/Spasky 72 repro?, HOS ebony/boxwood?

It always trow me away that the head of the black horse is darker than the other pieces. I recall a discution about this topic before, aparently the horses are "eboniced" boxwood.

Congrats on the finding.

Oh, that would be nice, but no. It's from The GameKeeper. I discuss it at #44. If it were an HOS set, it would be the Legend Series; they are absolutely identical. The only difference would be that HOS does not offer it in ebony. (Nor with a box.) The black pieces are striped ebony. As for the knights, the bases are striped ebony and the heads have, indeed, been stained. I cannot say with certainty if they are of ebonized boxwood or not, but I own ebonized sets and the heads of these knights seem different. I guess the only way to know for sure would be to cut one open.

It might not be a Fisher/Spassky repro, but for thirty bucks, hey, I'm more than happy to make believe. 

Edit: Happened to look again since I was at the HOS site. While they're really close, they're not identical.

104 are antique German chess pieces and the tall pieces do seem to be Queens, though they might be Bishops; I'd have to see the rest of the set. Coloring them would ruin their value, though they don't have much value as is unless someone needs them to complete a set. A complete set of those pieces is a serious collectors' item worth actual money... though all in all I agree that listing is a fail.

As far as eBay goes I haven't shopped on there in a long while, but in the past I've gotten all of my best sets there. I would say it's a terrible place for sellers but usually a good place for buyers.

HOS sets are the same mass-produced modern Indian pieces everyone else is selling with a different label and higher cost. If you look hard you can usually find the exact same set from other places. Once upon a time they had better quality control... well probably that's a debate I don't want to get into. If you mean high-end playing set I guess I don't disagree, but floating the idea that they are collectors items I do dissagree with as there is no evidence to support this. If the kind of price the seller is asking used is the same or more than a new set of the same quality... well I'll be surprised if that happens and I don't feel it would be a fair price.

This one is an auction going on... An 1826 edition of Philidor's book, Analysis of The Game of Chess.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1826-Analysis-of-the-Game-of-Chess-by-A-D-Philidor-WOW-/271978032959?hash=item3f53276f3f

Ok... what this have to do with chess?

"VINTAGE GUTMANN 291 JAPAN FIGURAL CHESS KNIGHT DIRK DAGGER HUNTING BOWIE KNIFE"

I forgot who it is Ben Finegold always quotes in his videos... "or as .... used to say 'Knife to f5'." I had no idea he was talking about this product.

Finegold's "Knife to f5" is a reference to a Greek grandmaster from the '80s or 90s. I forget his name but would immediately recognize it.

Here is a bargin that certainly we should not miss. A set made in China going for just $7300. Even with the $12.99 for shiping still a great deal:

"Mandarin Chess Set Early 20th cent. Original ~ Excellent Condition"

(On the description it eventually comes out the condition is not really that exelent.. but who cares?)

Unfourtanly the extra info doesn't tell us anythign about the material, but still we get the valuable information that the set is from the 50s and it is recomended that the players are from the 50s as well:

"Year:1950

Brand: Mandrin

Recommended Age Range:1950's" 

And now a couple of pictures:

*********************

Some people are just tripping with how much they think their stuff worth...

Anyway I leave here the link. If anything, we can see what other ultra valuables this seller is offering:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mandarin-Chess-Set-Early-20th-cent-Original-Excellent-Condition-/252084300971?hash=item3ab1652cab

Or maybe I put my feet down for this one:

"Chess King Training 3 Levels Chess Tactics"

Yeah ivory sets on eBay have gotten weird since the new eBay regulations and then actual new laws. You can't even sell antique ivory on it. Everyone gets around it by avoiding saying what the material is, but the actual value of ivory has taken a big hit because of the laws. Certainly if that set's real that seller can't sell it legally and you can't buy it legally. That's not stopping people from doing it in public on eBay but it's certainly questionable more now than ever whether that kind of set is worth that asking price. I don't think it will sell.

In the second listing I assume the foot is there so people can see the size of the sizes... after all people were complaining about putting currency in the pictures. A food is more universal, and without it who knows how big those products are? :p

I agree, we all or most of us have feet... Foot size is universal?  Last i checked shoes still come in many sizes. 

Plus, putting your bare foot in the picture does not exactly scream, "BUY ME!"

Those are some interesting theories.

I don't think the Chinese set is Ivory. on the pictures it just doesn't look like it. The low quality box/board pretty much give away that the set should be of match quality. Also this kind of sets are not rare at all, they pop up all the time.

Nothing on the pictures even give the idea that it is from 1950. How the seller know?

I think this guy made up a lot of fantasies about his set and seriusly over value it. I don't think the guy is being fraudulent, just imaginative.

The second picture. I had no idea why there is a foot in there. But I totally take your thery... all the crazy stuff people trough on the picture to help scale... Before I saw the chinese set I was going to comment in another set the seller have a mug cup on the midle of the board, to help with the scale... Then I saw this crazy chinese stuff and whent for it.

I usually ignore pictures that have not chess set on them. This means all the Books and Jazz... However I though it was priceless how perfect the focuse is on the foot and off focuse on the books... why?

I think the best thing to put on a picture is a ruler. But even better is to just type down the measurements on the description.

I am goign to title that picture: "coffee Vs chess" and by the fact that the board is in wrong position I will say Coffee is winning.

But seriusly... I am looking for sets of 3.75 King hight... how this is sopouse to help me????

I though a chess board only have 64 squares... someone can find the sneaky powns on this 66 pieces set?

"BAR-ZIM CLASSIC CHESS SET Weighted Bottoms 66 pieces Board Classic Staunton desi"

From the Description:

"Hello and welcome to my auction! 

This is a used Bar-Zim Classic Chess Set with 33 of each black and white pieces. Each have a weighted bottom with green felt. The board is cardstock. There are no instructions. The largest piece is 3-3/4". It says on the box that it is the Classic Staunton design. Good condition."

I am thinking if we make a rule that the black square goes on the rigth hand then all of the suden all this sellers will manage to swiths over just to get it wrong.

Looking at the black side of it... You can be the king of the small size or a pown on the big size.

Regarding the Chinese set I can't tell if it's real or not from the pictures but my guess would be it is. There's absolutely no point to selling a fake a set as real with the eBay rules as they are. The buyer will get their money back nad the seller will have to pay for shipping both ways. I don't like those sets so I don't know what one should be worth, but that's certainly not the worst or newest-looking one I've ever seen, not by a mile.

Regarding the food in the picture... Now I can't tell if people are taking my jokes seriously on purpose as a joke in itself or not. I have no idea why the foot was there either and I think the picture is funny. (Well my real guess is the photographer didn't realize her foot was showing.)

Why you think it is a woman?

I suppose I'm being sexist with that assumption as I have no problems at all with that color nail polish on a man.

I should say I have a small Chinese ivory Staunton set which I got off eBay before they started policing ivory quite so hard. It's real, and I won it for $10. Both of those sets are what I would call "bad ivory" though, if real, meaning less than 100 years old. The law is even different now making it harder; I'm just saying under the old laws, when I bought my chinese set, I don't think it was worth much more than I paid even then.

hmm... using a ruler to show scale... what a novel idea! 

Hmm... seems to work well, don't you think?  Ahh... I'll just use my foot!