eBay Demands Barcodes on Posters

David

This discussion was created from comments split from: Camille (Since We Are On A Roll).

David

Bruce said:

 

That is why they are rapidly purging the site of items without ISBN numbers I would not be surprised if they have no vintage posters left after a few more years.

ISBN number? They're for books?

I'd be very surprised if we see vintage posters disappear, they account for a very small portion of their business. Still it would mean people like Loce might find it harder to dispose of their crap.

Still, you may be right, I don't see it as a bad or a good thing. Those with commercial websites may benefit of course.

John

David said:

Bruce said:

 

That is why they are rapidly purging the site of items without ISBN numbers I would not be surprised if they have no vintage posters left after a few more years.

ISBN number? They're for books?

I'd be very surprised if we see vintage posters disappear, they account for a very small portion of their business. Still it would mean people like Loce might find it harder to dispose of their crap.

Sellers have the option of listing condition of movie posters as used or new. If you list them as "new" you are supposed to add an ISBN number which of course you cant do. An ebay rep actually phoned me to advise about the changes and told me to make sure I selected "used" in the descriptions.

David

I guess the definition of used is going to be interesting.

Well an ISBN is for books, no idea what they expect there. I guess they want a barcode which anyone can mock up.

John

David said:

I guess the definition of used is going to be interesting.

That's the problem for movie poster sellers. If a poster is in very fine unused condition, the word "used" might imply pinholes, etc. ebay doesn't consider any of that though.

theartofmovieposters

Does anyone actually look at the predefined ebay tags?  I know I don't...the description, pictures and questions to the sellers for me.

Bruce

"ISBN number? They're for books?"

They are. I meant UPC numbers, which are for everything else.

When items have those, they can be scanned with a bar code. Fewer and fewer items on Amazon don't have them, and since eBay is imitating them in lots of ways, this should be next.

David

Anyone can produce a Bar code and print them out on an Avery label on their home printer although IIRC one needs to join your local UPC number allocator. Not such a big deal if one is making a living from the product they sell.

Bruce

You have to buy the UPC numbers. But Amazon increasingly wants items that already have UPC numbers, and that is a problem with one of a kind collectibles.

David

Bruce said:

You have to buy the UPC numbers. But Amazon increasingly wants items that already have UPC numbers, and that is a problem with one of a kind collectibles.

This is true, in Australia I can't specifically remember what the cost was, I vaguely think it was about $1 per code when buying bulk lots.

Pretty stupid really, for posters - what point do they thin it will serve?