You know you keep reading that eBay was just a fad, that is on the way out, that no one uses it anymore, etc? What if this is all an elaborate ploy?

Remember when I said that prices were still really good, especially at this time of year. Take a look at this. Hey, I love Princess Tiffany as much as the next gal but $610? She usually wouldn’t go for more than $150 on a good day. She isn’t the only one. Prices are up all over eBay for collectible items like this. But what gives?

Well, I have a theory.

John Doe hears that eBay is on the way out, is a fad, it done-zo or whatever is being spread around there by people who don’t know their head from their rump. Most of the bad press in particular is about auctions (which is where the biggest rise is occurring). John says to himself, "Oh good! Since bidding was just a fad, I should be able to score such and such a collectible for a great price. Let me go bid on that."

This may be a totally far fetched theory, but what if people who aren’t on eBay before think they are coming like vultures to pick off the last of the dying prey but, in actuality, they are keeping it more alive than ever before? What if all the bad press is making people think that there are great deals to be had, so much so that they are driving the prices up instead?

It’s a wacky theory, but there might be something to it.