Ebay is still...great! (or stuff found on ebay)

Ebay changed a lot. Since 1999, start of my membership, it morphed from an online yard sale / your typical pawnshop into something resembling a big chain store. I used to find a bunch of obscure stuff of so-so quality, bootlegs CDs and completely illegal but great DVDs, fan made compilation of movie trailers etc. Nowadays, it is the biggest online auction site, safe, reliable but somehow…boring. Auctions by particulars are becoming scarce. More and more “stores” are popping everywhere on the website, offering the buy it now option instead of good old auctions. The thrill of bidding and waiting anxiously to see if some sucker out bided us or if the seller shilled his auction or after winning an item the “will-I-received-the-item –or-have-I-been-shafted-by-some-15-years-old-jackass” is now replaced by the “thrill” of clicking and paying right away. Still, sometimes there are hidden gems underneath the monstrous pile of items / trash found on Ebay.

Such items are the recently bought from an American seller, five back issues from the early 80’s of the French fanzine – magazine Mad Movies Ciné Fantastique. This mag, first published in the 70’s and still going strong, deals with “le cinéma fantastique” (horror, sci fi, exploitation, thriller etc.) and was back in my teen years– with Fangoria – the ultimate reference regarding this genre.


On a Friday night, a few weeks ago while browsing Ebay, I came across a seller auctioning a bunch of Mad Movies from the early to mid eighties in mint condition. After a nerve wrecking bidding war to the last minute with some dude, I finally won five of my original eight Mad Movies bids. F**k yeah! Finishing my beer, it’s now time to pay the seller – I’m ashamed to tell you the total price…let’s say … it’s salty. A couple of weeks go by and the dumb ass mailman – I have a bunch of stories about this a-hole – delivers my package. I open the box and take the Mad Movies in my hands. Weird and amazing, they are in pristine condition, almost fresh from the printer and never read or handled. Some nostalgic tears are running down my face…Ebay is again making me very happy pleasing my inner child.


ok...must go and bid on Monsters Attack! # 3...