February was an interesting month, and not just because of the decks that went off. Don’t get me wrong; there were some great decks going off, but none for the crazy prices that we saw in January. No, February was more a return to normalcy. However, there were some interesting doings outside of eBay. First I got asked to write an article for the Canadian skateboard magazine SBC Skateboard. It’s a short piece specifically for folks who don’t know anything about skateboard collecting, so my loyal readership here probably won’t get anything out of it, but I enjoyed writing it. It was tough keeping it to 700 words though! Just as a reference point, this column is running to over 6000 words these days! I also got asked to write a piece for a Portuguese/English online magazine, and I’m doing that one as we speak. We’re also planning on putting together an eBayWatch Facebook page, so look for that and become a fan if you would! T-shirts and stickers are also in the works, so watch this space. Finally I’d like to thank Nick for his box of goodies. It’s much appreciated, thanks!

January was a fun month overall. Normally we get the post Xmas letdown in January because everybody is all spent up, but not this year. We got plenty of high priced decks in every category with a number of decks going for over $2000. Alva decks of every description were going super high, and we had a couple of classic Chinese rip-off graphics. Plus a great selection of bargain decks too. Editor’s Note: This marks the first appearance of eBay Watch on the new back end for the Features section. It’s a work in progress and a bit buggy but I decided to push forward regardless. Right now you won’t see the comments in the “Recent Comments” on the sidebar. It’s segregated right now, but it will come together soon. Same thing goes for the search function, segregated for now, but when the whole site gets integrated… I’ll have to actually make features again.

December 2010 was a great month on eBay. There were lots of great decks: some classics and some more unusual ones that don’t get seen too often. I’ve left out some of the “classics” this month, because let’s face it. How many more times can I show a PP Lance Mountain Future Primitive? Yes it’s a great, classic graphic, but after a while it gets dull for me to write about, and probably for you reading this. If I see one in a truly outstanding colorway then perhaps I will show it, but otherwise it has gone the way of the Hawk. And I don’t care if it did fetch over $1000, if I’m not excited about showing it then it’s not in here, whether that be due to over saturation or a poor photograph. I often get emails asking why I didn’t feature a certain auction. Normally it’s because the photo sucked. If the photo is super small, fuzzy and has bad color, then it’s not allowed in here. My readers have to be able to look at the deck as well as read about it. That’s part of the deal.

Things get back to normal this month. Bargain Section? Check. Assorted Crap? Check. 5,000 words? Check. Lots of great looking decks and some surprises? Checkmate. But before we get to the meat I want to look at a couple of things that left me amazed and disgusted in November.

OK, like I said last month, October was going to be a difficult one for me. I was on vacation in the UK for 2 weeks, with no access to a computer, so there was a very good chance that there would be no October Baywatch at all. I had already harvested some decks however, so I decided to change the format a little this month just to get something out. First there will be no Bargains section. I didn’t have time to look, and I don’t even know if you all like seeing that section anyway. Also, there will be a minimum of commentary on the decks. That is what takes me the longest, so this month it’s going to be very minimal: make, name of deck and price; that’s it. I know it’s not what you all expect, but it was either this or nothing. Sorry

Well I’m really excited about the selection again this month. July was an awesome month for 80s decks, but I think that August was just as good. A little more varied perhaps, but still as good, and I hope you agree. I decided that I was going to go with quality and not quantity this month. I had probably another 20 items in the maybe pile, but I decided that I was just going to go with decks that I felt strongly about and not worry about how much they sold for. Not that there’s not some big hitters this month, because there is. There are lots of decks that break the $1000 barrier, and to me that’s the real dividing line. Overall I think things are looking up after a few down months there at the beginning of the summer. People were complaining back then that the pickings were getting pretty slim on eBay, but July and August have seen bunches of very desirable decks hitting the market. Some have gone high, and some have been pretty reasonable, but nobody can complain that there hasn’t been a great variety.

Boy, my comments last month sparked a lot of discussion didn’t they? I want to thank Michael Brooke, the owner of Concrete Wave for taking the time to come on here and answer some of my criticisms. We might not agree on the quality of the content or the average age of his readership, but his passion for the magazine came through, and I really hope that the next few issues are as compelling as he says that they are, and that the magazine can find its way again. I think my final comment on the subject would be that you can’t appeal to everyone, and if you try to do that you will end up with a mediocre product that nobody feels excited about. I think you have to know your target audience, and the put out compelling content that will appeal to them and build a buzz. And thanks to everyone else that contributed comments too. Check out eBay Watch: July 2010

I want to start off this month by addressing something that’s been on my mind for some time, and it might piss some people off, but it needs to be said. I want to look at two of the “older generation” skateboard magazines, Concrete Wave and Juice. I’ve been getting both for years and years, and boasted for a long time that I had every issue of Concrete Wave ever printed, (including when it used to be called International Longboarder). But the product has gotten so stale that I stopped getting it about 6 months ago, and really haven’t missed it at all.

Well I’m really excited about the selection this month. April was tough, but I really enjoyed mining for decks in May. There were tons of interesting decks, some that went for big $, and some that didn’t, but were interesting nonetheless. And lots of cool colorways too! This was actually one of my favorite columns to write, and a lot of it was written while I was waiting to be called up while at jury duty! At least I put the 3-hour wait to good use!

Well, despite what I said last month, I was able to pull together a full and complete BayWatch for April 2010. It was a tough month though. I’m assuming lots of people owed on their taxes in April because almost all of the big-ticket decks available went unsold. Only a few decks went for over a thousand. Actually, I don’t think I’ve seen so many decks go unsold with no bids in a single month before. Lots of decks were terribly overvalued with ludicrous starting bids, so there was no action on those. It did make for an interesting month though because I had to dig deeper than usual, and I unearthed some stuff that normally might not have made it in. Hopefully you’ll enjoy looking at what I found. And not to worry, from what I’ve seen so far May looks to be a return to normalcy with lots of interesting decks going off for normal prices. I’m excited about some of the stuff in May already.