2004 Annual Over-Used Ebay Term Count

[David Stinson]

It's time once again for our annual count
of the descriptive words
made meaningless by overuse and abuse in Ebay titles.

Term Last Year This Year

Vintage: 228227 421013
Rare: 182368 282727
Deco: 15501 222190
Mint: 144747 211060
Antique: 45956 89050
L@@k: 52905 82961
Special: 26215 33943
Collectable: (new) 32868
Unique: 19527 31024
Retro: (new) 30350

Sadly, we can no longer keep track of the
amusing over-use of exclaimation points
(Rare! Rare!! R-A-R-E!!!!!!!!!!!!)
as Ebay's search engine no longer counts them.

Among radio listings, "vintage" is still the champ
with 2335 listings.
"Mint" has yielded third place to "Deco,"
which has come out of the bush leagues
to rocket up the chart.
The new buzzword, "retro," is one to watch.

Regards,
Dave S.

[Mike Schultz]

I notice the eBay search no longer distinguishes between L@@K, L@@@k,
L@@@@K, and so forth. How sad.

--
Mike Schultz


"David Stinson" > wrote in message
...
> It's time once again for our annual count
> of the descriptive words
> made meaningless by overuse and abuse in Ebay titles.
>
> Term Last Year This Year
>
> Vintage: 228227 421013
> Rare: 182368 282727
> Deco: 15501 222190
> Mint: 144747 211060
> Antique: 45956 89050
> L@@k: 52905 82961
> Special: 26215 33943
> Collectable: (new) 32868
> Unique: 19527 31024
> Retro: (new) 30350
>
> Sadly, we can no longer keep track of the
> amusing over-use of exclaimation points
> (Rare! Rare!! R-A-R-E!!!!!!!!!!!!)
> as Ebay's search engine no longer counts them.
>
> Among radio listings, "vintage" is still the champ
> with 2335 listings.
> "Mint" has yielded third place to "Deco,"
> which has come out of the bush leagues
> to rocket up the chart.
> The new buzzword, "retro," is one to watch.
>
> Regards,
> Dave S.
>

[Phil Witt]

Ph@@ey!!!!!!!!!!

I use them all the time.

You didn't answer my email so I guess you don't know the answer.

Ok.

Phil

On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 14:58:12 GMT, David Stinson >
wrote:

>It's time once again for our annual count
>of the descriptive words
>made meaningless by overuse and abuse in Ebay titles.

[Bill Morris]

Don't forget the term, "minty," whateverthehell that is.....:-)

I use the term vintage all the time in my auctions. Sounds nicer than
old....

"David Stinson" > wrote in message
...
> It's time once again for our annual count
> of the descriptive words
> made meaningless by overuse and abuse in Ebay titles.
>
> Term Last Year This Year
>
> Vintage: 228227 421013
> Rare: 182368 282727
> Deco: 15501 222190
> Mint: 144747 211060
> Antique: 45956 89050
> L@@k: 52905 82961
> Special: 26215 33943
> Collectable: (new) 32868
> Unique: 19527 31024
> Retro: (new) 30350
>
> Sadly, we can no longer keep track of the
> amusing over-use of exclaimation points
> (Rare! Rare!! R-A-R-E!!!!!!!!!!!!)
> as Ebay's search engine no longer counts them.
>
> Among radio listings, "vintage" is still the champ
> with 2335 listings.
> "Mint" has yielded third place to "Deco,"
> which has come out of the bush leagues
> to rocket up the chart.
> The new buzzword, "retro," is one to watch.
>
> Regards,
> Dave S.
>

[Buck Frobisher]

"Bill Morris" > wrote in message
. ..
> Don't forget the term, "minty," whateverthehell that is.....:-)
>
> I use the term vintage all the time in my auctions. Sounds nicer than
> old....

Yeah, and what about "Eames", or "Eames era"? All those $10 '50s (oops,
make that "Mid-Century Classic") clock radios would go in the trash without
that special additive.

--
"Stay calm. Be brave. Wait for the signs."

regards,

Frank Johansen
Aurora, Ontario

[Scott Dorsey]

Buck Frobisher > wrote:
>"Bill Morris" > wrote in message
. ..
>> Don't forget the term, "minty," whateverthehell that is.....:-)
>>
>> I use the term vintage all the time in my auctions. Sounds nicer than
>> old....
>
>Yeah, and what about "Eames", or "Eames era"? All those $10 '50s (oops,
>make that "Mid-Century Classic") clock radios would go in the trash without
>that special additive.

RADIO SHACK TUBE MIKE PREAMP!!!! JUST LIKE NEVE, ALTEC!
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Jim Menning]

"David Stinson" > wrote in message
...
> It's time once again for our annual count
> of the descriptive words
> made meaningless by overuse and abuse in Ebay titles.
>
> Term Last Year This Year
>
>
> Collectable: (new) 32868


Don't forget "Collectible".

jim menning

[Buck Frobisher]

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> Buck Frobisher > wrote:
<snip>
> RADIO SHACK TUBE MIKE PREAMP!!!! JUST LIKE NEVE, ALTEC!
> --scott
>
>
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Yes, but the "just like" thing is agin th' rulz though. We are not amused
when it makes scrap turn up in a search for something nice.

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et très, très précis, mais cher en
tabbarwit!"

regards,

Frank Johansen
Aurora, Ontario

[David Stinson]

Jim Menning wrote:
>>Collectable: (new) 32868
>
>
>
> Don't forget "Collectible".


OOPS! (Blush...)

[Jim]

David,
Thanks. I found this interesting. As "search terms" any of those words
would give overwhelming results, for sure. As descriptive add ons, I
guess they have a place.
For radios, I suppose a purist would say there is no such thing as an
antique radio (over 100 years old), but that dead horse was beaten
many threads back.

I just did some quick ebay searches:
"collectable": 9,528 items available now
"collectible": 15,741 items available now

I did manage to find:
-- one "collectible unique rare deco" item. A "must have"!
-- 89 "vintage rare deco" pieces, including a cool radio poster, a
microphone, an RCA radio, a Zenith radio
-- "piece crap" yielded a paltry 2 items
-- 389 antique radios or related
-- 588 unique antiques

This is fun! Thanks for the inspiration.

Jim (one of them)

[Robert Casey]

David Stinson wrote:

> It's time once again for our annual count
> of the descriptive words
> made meaningless by overuse and abuse in Ebay titles.
>
I've heard that ebay has ruled out the use of "RCA not Zenith".
As it spams someone looking for Zeniths. One could get around that
by saying "RCA !Zenith". "!" means "not" in some programming
circles.... :-)

[radiok3pi]

Two of my personal favorites

Worked great last time I used it.

Couldn't find any batteries around here to test it.

[DaveW]

Bill Morris wrote:

> Don't forget the term, "minty," whateverthehell that is.....:-)
>

That's for all the green radios.

Regards,

DAve

On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 00:58:53 UTC, (Jim)
wrote:

> David,
> Thanks. I found this interesting. As "search terms" any of those words
> would give overwhelming results, for sure. As descriptive add ons, I
> guess they have a place.
> For radios, I suppose a purist would say there is no such thing as an
> antique radio (over 100 years old), but that dead horse was beaten
> many threads back.

The horse is coming back to life.

I was just researching early radio for my own reasons:

Here are some contenders for the "1st Wireless Transmission"

1892 Willion Preece
1894 Oliver Lodge
1895 Marconi
1901 Marconi - Transoceanic

1904 is the cut off for some folks idea of "antique". It's not
mine. I believe that my SX-101A is an antique and I don't care what
furniture people think or say. Furniture folk do not own the
English language or the legal system. They definitely do not have
the final say.

At best all they can do is state, "in some circles, by convention, a
piece of furniture is not considered an antique until it is 100
years old." They should add, "This has no legal standing or
general agreement, although some folk might like to imagine it
does."

By 1916 there seems to have been commercial radio broadcasts with
news and music and thousands of avid listeners.

One surprise for me was discovering that the transcontinental
railroad was completed in 1869 trailing Western Union's
transcontinental wire telegraph which was in 1861. The Pony Express
started in 1860 so it probably lasted about 1 year.

de ah6gi/4

[Brian Goldsmith]

"Robert Casey" wrote


> It's time once again for our annual count
> of the descriptive words
> made meaningless by overuse and abuse in Ebay titles.
>
I've heard that ebay has ruled out the use of "RCA not Zenith".
As it spams someone looking for Zeniths. One could get around that
by saying "RCA !Zenith". "!" means "not" in some programming
circles.... :-)


*** If Ebay did rule that out,then it does not apply in this case:-
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3087876797&category=1502

Brian Goldsmith.

[linguine@noodlefactory.com]

On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 02:21:40 GMT, Robert Casey >
wrote:

>David Stinson wrote:
>
>> It's time once again for our annual count
>> of the descriptive words
>> made meaningless by overuse and abuse in Ebay titles.
>>
>I've heard that ebay has ruled out the use of "RCA not Zenith".
>As it spams someone looking for Zeniths. One could get around that
>by saying "RCA !Zenith". "!" means "not" in some programming
>circles.... :-)

The boffins at eBay call it 'keyword spamming' and devote a few pages
to the topic.

[Dbowey]

ah6gi posted, in part:
<< I believe that my SX-101A is an antique and I don't care what furniture
people think or say. >>

Some of us radio people believe it's silly to think an object that we bought
when it was new, is an antique while we are still alive. It certainly is
becoming old, it might be becoming rare, it might be collectible, but antique,
it's not.

Don

[kashe@rahul.net]

On 30 Mar 2004 10:37:47 GMT, <No Spam > wrote:

>1904 is the cut off for some folks idea of "antique". It's not
>mine. I believe that my SX-101A is an antique and I don't care what
>furniture people think or say. Furniture folk do not own the
>English language or the legal system. They definitely do not have
>the final say.
>
>At best all they can do is state, "in some circles, by convention, a
>piece of furniture is not considered an antique until it is 100
>years old." They should add, "This has no legal standing or
>general agreement, although some folk might like to imagine it
>does."

Actually, in many circles, antique means specifically "made
before the beginning of the industrial revolution", not a specific
number of years old.