eBay and the Lemming Factor

In the last week or so, a blog guest post by Keith Rabois on Techcrunch has been circulating about the fact that eBay may have lost its mojo. That it isn't fun any more. He's entitled to his opinion, but I think he's looking at it in the wrong context. What's going on with eBay right now is something I call the Lemming effect.

What's the Lemming effect? Very simple - it's all those people who have to run out and get the latest and greatest and newest so they can tell all their friends they were first and smartest. Only in the end they basically fall on their faces. For example, remember all those people who lined up for the first iPhones? And remember how they ended up paying a higher price? Or all the people who seem to line up for Microsoft's newest operating systems? And then suffer from all the subsequent glitches that are fixed down the road?

When eBay was new and pretty and shiny, telling your friends you had to stay up unitl 2:00 a.m. for an auction to close was cool. Or scoring a really good deal like $400 for a new Apple computer.
Nothing has changed at eBay, and I guess all the uncool people are still doing that. But the lemmings have moved on to MySpace, FaceBook and Twitter or whatever other shiny object they see. So even though the lemmings have all jumped off the mountan, the mountain still remains. eBay will probably be around for a long time to come. There just won't be as many people bragging about it.

Fourth of July Fireworks

I love the fireworks on Independence Day. Quite frankly, I wish that we had fireworks for more holidays. Fortunately, I have lots of sparkling jewelry too wear! Take a look!

You Don't Need to Follow the Crowd

If you don't want to look like everyone else, consider wearing vintage costume jewelry. A pretty rhinestone bracelet, and unusual pendant or even an old-fashioned cameo can set you apart. Here's a few pieces that will set you apart from the crowd.

Made in Japan

Did you see the movie Hairspray? Do you remember the jewelry that was worn by Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma Von Tussle? She wore these wonderful strands of beads and matching clip earrings with her dresses. Of course, that movie was set in the mid to late 1950's.

Many beautiful beads came from Japan after the war years. Necklaces were made of two, three, four or five strands. They were mostly chokers so that they would show below the open V collars that were fashionable then. The beads themselves were all different sizes and shapes and could be made of glass, plastic or crystal. They pretty much all had hook style closures.

The beads themselves were in a rainbow of colors. Some sets were a single color, like the white and peach color beads here. Or they could be monochromatic colors, like the browns shown here. Contrasting colors, such as black and white, often mixed with crystals were also popular. There was no end to the many beautiful combinations that were available.

A lot of these sets can be found today and many of them are just as incredible as they were then. These beads can still be worn today even though they are more than 50's years old. Of course, a lot of modern crafters have discovered all this wonderful beads and many modern pieces have also be made by recycling these old beads. Either way, they always make interesting pieces of jewelry to wear.






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Why Buy Screw Back Earrings

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was sad because someone was making a pair of cuff links from a pair of vintage screw back earrings I had sold them. But there's another way to look at it.

Many of the screw back earrings I sell on eBay are are 50 to 80 years old. They were designed by excellent designers and the
materials used were of a much higher quality. That's why they are still around today.


Rhinestones in particular were often better made back then. Often the stones were made of glass rather than plastic. Today's rhinestones seem to darken quickly and the finish tarnish.

That's why many crafters take old screw back earrings and turn them into pierced earrings. They are very easy to convert. Just snip off the screw portion and add a pierced back. The result is often a beautiful and unique earrings. And a small piece of history is given a new life.

Do You Remember Screw Back Earrings?

I sell a lot of earrings on eBay. Most of the earrings have either screw backs or clip backs since I sell vintage jewelry.

Screw back earrings were popular from the 1930's to the 1950's. Clip earrings were popular from the 1950's into the 1980's and remain popular today.

Imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a customer who was unfamiliar with screw back earrings. She asked me how you were supposed to wear them. She had a hazy idea that maybe you screwed them through your ears. Ouch!