Feature: Questing for Collectibles Online

For HeroQuest fans who want to buy Milton Bradley's original Quest Packs, some extra components or even an additional copy of the Game System itself, online auctions have become an important way to find sought-after items. This article discusses some considerations that are worth keeping in mind when using the services of eBay and similar online auction sites.

Before we begin, it is worth stressing one point: stay alert and exercise common sense. Take reasonable precautions when dealing with a stranger over the internet. If something seems wrong with an offer, don't be afraid to back away from it. We will provide more specific safety advice later in this article, but remember that any risks you take online are your own.

Where to Look

Although eBay ( http://www.ebay.com ) is the biggest and best known online auction site, it is not the only option for finding game sets and used miniatures. Here are some additional possibilities:

Yahoo Auctions ( http://auctions.yahoo.com/ )
Up 4 Auction ( http://www.up4auction.com/ )
On Track Auction ( http://www.ontrackauction.com/auction.pl )
Amazon.com Auction ( http://www.amazon.com )
Auction Universe ( http://www.auctionuniverse.com )

Most of these are very small. While you will not find HeroQuest on these sites very often, fewer people use these auctions than use eBay. If you are patient, and check the sites often, your chances of getting a bargain are much better. If you are interested in these smaller sites, there is a free newsletter you can subscribe to that announces the creation of new auction sites. You can subscribe by visiting http://www.filterlist.com .

Additionally, private websites such as

crusader29's auctions ( http://home/earthlink.net/~crusader29 ) or
bartertown ( http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~darkwolf/trading.html )

can yield results.

Finally, it may be worth scanning newsgroups such as

rec.games.miniatures.misc
rec.games.board.marketplace
rec.games.frp.marketplace

for leads.

Getting Started with eBay

Here are some tips to help new eBay users get oriented quickly. The first step is to become a registered user. Go to http://pages.ebay.com/aw/register-by-country.html to register. For buyers, registration is free.

Next is finding an item you want to bid on. This can be accomplished two different ways. From eBay's homepage (http://www.ebay.com/ ) you can click on the category you want to look at. If you are interested in just browsing around the auctions, this is the way to do it.

On the other hand, if you want to look for something specific, such as HeroQuest, you need to go to eBay's search page. There is a link to it on the top of all of eBay's pages, or you can go to http://pages.ebay.com/aw/search.html . When searching, you may need to do a little bit of detective work to search out an item. For instance, what spellings might the seller be using. For HeroQuest, you should search for 'heroquest' (1 word) AND 'hero quest' (2 words). The game gets listed both ways. If you are looking for miniatures to go with the game, you might try 'warhammer' and occasionally 'war hammer' for Games Workshop miniatures.

When you have found something you want, you will need to scroll down and bid on the item. eBay is a proxy bidding service. What is meant by that is that you must enter the highest amount that you are willing to bid for the item. eBay will then bid for you against other bidders until that amount is passed, and then you will no longer be bidding. For instance, if you have found that rare quest pack that you have been looking for, and you bid $30 for it. The high bid at the time is $20. Depending on the increment chosen by the seller (let's say that in this instance it is $ 0.50), you will bid $20.50. If the other person's high bid is above this amount, he will then bid $21. And so the bidding goes until either the bid gets above your highest bidding amount or your bid is the highest.

There are a couple of other rules to the bidding that you should be aware of. The first is Reserve Amounts. The seller has the option of setting an amount that he wishes to make on the auction. He does not release this amount to the bidders, though. This is the reserve amount. You can bid under this amount, and the note 'Reserve is not met' will be displayed at the top of the auction. If the auction closes and the reserve is not met, the seller doesn't have to sell the item to you, even if you have won.

The second rule has to do with the bid increment. In the example above, the bidding is moving in $ 0.50 increments. What if I set my high bid at $30.01, and you set yours at $30.00. You bid $30, then I bid $30.01 (even though this is not the increment) and I am the high bidder. Next time someone bids their first bid will have to be at $30.51 (my high bid plus the increment).

Protecting yourself on eBay

The FTC has come down on eBay recently because of some scams run on their high stakes type auctions (antiques, coins, etc) and some words of advice might help the novice, plus reassure the old hand. Before bidding, you should do the following:

1) Check the Seller's ratings. Every item listing page includes the seller's name or handle. Beside this is a number. This is the seller's rating (number of positive comments by separate people minus the number of negative comments). Clicking on this number will bring up the comments posted for that seller, along with the number showing how many of the comments are positive, neutral, or negative. If a seller has some negative comments, take this into consideration. If he or she has very many, avoid this person!

2) Games like HeroQuest have many pieces. Often the Seller does a cursory check and everything appears to be there (Skeletons? Yes, there they are. Orcs? Yes. Spell Cards? Yes.) Email the Seller. Ask him to do a complete inventory check and the amount present for each item to make sure everything is there. Most Sellers are willing to do this. I have never encountered any that were not willing, but it could happen. If it does, beware.

3) Even if the package says 'shrink-wrapped', this does not mean it hasn't been opened. Shrink-wrapping is easy to do. The Seller may be advertising an item as shrink-wrapped, and may believe it is unopened, but this may not be the case. Sellers will probably be unwilling to open the package and check for a complete inventory if the box is shrink-wrapped, though.

4) You may want to ask the Seller what his policy is if the item does in fact turn out to be incomplete. This is especially true of shrink-wrapped items that the Seller is unwilling to open for you. Most Sellers will attempt to make the deal satisfactory to you, either by sending you the missing pieces or giving you a break on the price.

5) eBay is located in the US, and most Sellers are located in the US. If you are from a different country, email the Seller and see if he is willing to ship to you and what the shipping cost will be.

6) Ask the Seller if he is willing to take out insurance on the package. It is well worth the cost, even though the Seller will probably pass this cost on to you. Besides paying for a lost item, it gives both the Seller & the Buyer the assurance of knowing that a package has been shipped and picked up (neither can claim that they didn't send it/receive it).

I have had fairly good luck buying items from eBay this past year, but you still must practice caution on eBay or when making any other purchases over the Internet. A little bit of time spent on your part contacting the Seller can make sure your transaction is a happy one.

eBay has been in the news lately because some of the higher priced items for auction have turned out to be scams. Since the Buyer is required to send the Seller money via the mail, any scam is considered Mail Fraud. The typical scam artists is not willing to risk this for a game that sells from 20-50 dollars.

Pricing

One final thought: prepare for sticker shock. In early 1999, bidding on eBay for the European HeroQuest expansions "Wizards of Morcar" and "Against the Ogre Horde" exceeded $350(U.S.) and $300(U.S.) respectively. If you are a die-hard collector, these are the kind of prices you may have to pay to "collect the whole set." If you simply want more quests and spells for your game, you may find you'd rather download homemade ones for free rather than pay auction prices for Milton Bradley's "official" ones.

Quest Packs and other Fantasy Boardgames

Elsewhere on this website, we've provided more assistance to HeroQuest collectors. Take a look at our ever-increasing coverage of the HeroQuest expansion sets and other fantasy games. Our fantasy games profiles libarary is small but growing. As we add entries, we'll look at the miniatures and cardboard components that each game includes and, if appropriate, the quality of the quest writing or rules.