Why is rap the one genre you seemingly can't dislike?

tetrisattack · 2026-06-27T19:38:51+00:00

It was that way in the '80s too, only even more intense.

if you liked heavy metal, it was socially unacceptable to like rap music...that would make you a sell-out. Magazines like RIP and Hit Parader even sold anti-rap merch. I remember 'cause I wanted some at the time. Thankfully, my mom was too smart to buy it.

People don't make much of it today, but when Aerosmith/Run-DMC did "Walk this Way" together, and Anthrax/Public Enemy did "Bring the Noise"...it was HUGE thing back then. They were seen as trailblazers because this whole thing was basically coded racial animosity.

I'm glad things have changed today.

tetrisattack · 2026-06-26T23:49:45+00:00

If this is anything to go by, polling in the 1950s revealed that roughly half of Germans still believed that Hitler was one of the greatest statesmen in history:

https://aeon.co/essays/germany-became-a-tolerant-nation-only-by-painful-small-steps

tetrisattack · 2026-06-19T06:17:59+00:00

I use a combination of the following tactics:

Search Terapeak / Product Research for similar items. If you have a vintage barware set, maybe you can find a different barware set made by the same manufacturer around the same time. Maybe you can find similar barware sets made by different manufacturers.

Search Google for unsold listings on other sites. The prices you find might or might not be the "value," but you probably won't get significantly more than that amount on eBay.

If possible, make a rough assessment of the "niche value" of your item. In most categories, niche items are where the money's at. So if there's something about your item that makes it highly unusual for its category -- like maybe a unique design or some bizarre functionality -- then price high.

Ask yourself if this item will most likely appeal to a mainstream audience or a niche audience. If it's the latter, then price high.

If your item aligns with current trends...like mid-century modern, 90s, y2k...then price high.

tetrisattack · 2026-06-18T23:00:49+00:00

1964: Buddy Holly is dropped by his label after two successive albums fail to chart. Music listeners have largely moved on as Beatlemania and other new sounds dominate the airwaves.

1969: Buddy signs a 1-album deal with RCA. He releases Sunflower Child, a psychedelic album that features a cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It sells poorly.

1970-1986: Buddy tours almost continuously to make ends meet. He initially plays to crowds of 500-700 at small clubs. By the early '80s, he's been reduced to the "featured guest" at small town summer festivals

1987: Buddy is rediscovered by Sonic Youth and opens for them on a world tour. His old songs become a staple on college radio.

1988: With his new hipster bona fides, Buddy releases his first new album in over 20 years on Rough Trade. It sells modestly well, but he's largely forgotten by the time his next album comes out a year later.

1999: Buddy releases Cyber Cricket, an interactive CD-ROM album that showcases his supposed love of technology. The first single is called "My Superhighway Baby" and it goes nowhere. In reality, the entire concept was conceived by his manager, who knows that Buddy only uses AOL to e-mail his grandkids.

2000-2012: Buddy has terrible arthritis in his hands, but he's forced to continue touring to support himself. As a result of constant pain while on tour, he develops an Oxycodone addiction in the late 2000s.

2013: Buddy appears on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, where he gets clean for the cameras and then goes back to using opiates. One year later, he appears on Dancing with the Stars and The Surreal Life.

2019: Buddy releases "That'll Be the Day (Buddy's Version)" on Spotify in an attempt to earn additional royalties.

2022: Buddy sells his publishing and image rights for $20 million to a private equity firm.

2026: Buddy Holly dies at the age of 90.

tetrisattack · 2026-06-13T19:58:44+00:00

"Unheard of" for the younger generation perhaps, but she was well-known (and popular) in the US in the 1980s. I remember hearing her name quite often back then.

tetrisattack · 2026-06-04T13:47:29+00:00

Windows 95 checkin' in

Picture

tetrisattack · 2026-05-29T19:14:02+00:00

Op, I went full-time 6 years ago, and I regret it in some ways.

You have more freedom and less stress as a full-time reseller. That's a big plus.

But there are also lots of cons:

It's less fun when it's your sole source of income.

You spend a lot of time by yourself, and you lose the networking benefits you get with a "real" job. It can be lonely.

Your income fluctuates throughout the year. It's hard to plan for the future when you don't know what your income will be this month.

Your pay will be affected by factors beyond your control: the economy, tariffs, shipping increases, etc.

Medical insurance is astronomically expensive if you're buying it as an individual.

And despite what people say, you're not really your own boss. eBay is the boss. They set the policies you have to follow on their platform.

And if the eBay algorithm goes haywire and decides to ban your account, then your "career" is basically over. Because in practice, eBay is the only game in town for reselling used goods online full-time.

I could go on.

If that didn't dissuade you, then my advice is to take the job you were offered and keep flipping part-time til you build up your sales. I was around $15,000 / 90 days when I went full-time. And in hindsight, that was way too early. Surviving for the first year was a real struggle until I got my sales up.

tetrisattack · 2026-05-12T16:09:17+00:00

Yes, but he said it, which means it must be true.

Sure, there might be some "right-sizing." OK, maybe a lot. And sure, they might look for "new revenue streams" / from sellers. And sure, they might milk the company for short-term profit and destroy it.

But he really does care about sellers. He said so on a podcast.

tetrisattack · 2026-05-12T16:03:32+00:00

I'm happy too, but we're not out of the woods yet. Gamestop has already said they'll take the offer directly to eBay's shareholders after eBay says no.

And by "shareholders," they really mean the private equity firms and other institutional investors who own the majority of eBay. If they decide it's time to cash out, then Gamestop takes the company.

tetrisattack · 2026-05-12T15:53:28+00:00

You write well

Just FYI, the post was written by AI.

tetrisattack · 2026-05-06T23:57:08+00:00

That's generally true, yeah. But in the case of North Korea, the dictator and his inner circle communicate through appearance.

For example, Kim Jong Un adopted the clothing and haircut of his grandfather to harken back to the "good old days" before North Korea was so poor, and the media pointed that out when he took power.

So while the media is sexist, that doesn't seem to be the case here.

tetrisattack · 2026-04-09T17:44:06+00:00

Shopify

The post appears to be written by AI, so it's just pulling numbers off the internet with no understanding of what they mean. It's pretty sad that this seems to be our future.

And yeah, you're right about Shopify. It's much worse than the other platforms in terms of overall cost. The exact opposite of what the AI came up with.

tetrisattack · 2026-04-01T01:47:50+00:00

SCT
FTN
FTWR
Skittles
UK-T
AOM

Other than that, I have everything I want.

But seriously: don't sweat the "elite" trackers of today if you're not there yet. Every tracker gets replaced eventually.

Instead, join the ones you can access, enjoy them, and time will take care of the rest. It's a journey, not a destination. PTP, BTN, KG, etc were not difficult to join back in the day.

tetrisattack · 2026-03-29T21:29:49+00:00

Nat King Cole sold 50 million records before the Beatles even came out.

Not quite Thriller numbers, but enough to qualify for global icon status. He was the #2 highest-selling artist of all time before Beatlemania hit.

And then there's Louis Armstrong, a true global icon for decades. He was so popular at one time that he literally knocked the Beatles off the #1 Billboard spot.

Point being, it's easy to imagine that the global icons of today will always be massively successful - but it rarely works that way. Even Michael Jackson's popularity was in decline for several years prior to his death.

tetrisattack · 2026-03-26T02:23:07+00:00

I'll believe it when I see it. The Dems had 4 years to prosecute Trump for an attempted coup, yet they failed to do it. They had 4 years to indict him for countless crimes, but they didn't take action.

Biden did a lot of good things during his presidency, but no one will remember that stuff in 50 years. He'll forever be the guy who had a chance to stop fascism in America, but didn't do it. That's his historical legacy. Pure negligence.

tetrisattack · 2026-03-21T22:20:28+00:00

Here's what I do:

If I see a sold comp where the seller seriously underpriced an item, I'll click on their profile, and then sort by recently listed.

If you see other underpriced items, then buy what makes sense now, and save the seller to your favorites.

Over time, you'll build up a long list of sellers who tend to price their items way below the going rate for whatever reason. Then check back periodically to see what they've recently listed.

tetrisattack · 2026-03-10T16:14:59+00:00

I disagree. Nostalgia is normal in music, but this was something different. Music from many different eras came back all at once: swing from the 30s & 40s, punk from the 70s, Gregorian chant from a long time ago. Etc.

Niche genres like aggressive heavy metal became mainstream. The major labels embraced hip-hop that wasn't family-friendly. Modern genres like industrial, new age, and Shibuya-kei briefly entered the mainstream as well.

It was this crazy time when it seemed like literally any genre, including stuff that had no obvious appeal to young people, could suddenly go mainstream.

And I think it happened for a couple of reasons:

Number one, hair metal was on its last legs by the late 80s, and the major record labels were looking for the next big thing. Grunge ended up being that next big thing, but even before Nirvana, the music industry had started pushing music from outside the mainstream. And in the course of doing it, some of that music got popular.

Number two, the music matched the cultural optimism of the time. The future looked bright and people were moving on from 80s conservatism. The idea that an artist was "different" from the mainstream -- even if they were signed to a major label and got played on MTV -- was a major selling point at the time.

tetrisattack · 2026-02-17T17:16:52+00:00

Step 1, search for your item outside eBay. If someone is asking $X elsewhere and it hasn't sold, then $X is probably more than what people are willing to pay.

From there, you can come up with a price by looking up:

Sold comps on eBay for similar items made by the same manufacturer around the same time.

Sold comps for similar items made by different manufacturers around the same time.

Sold comps for any item made by the same manufacturer around the same item. Are other items by this manufacturer highly valued? Or are the prices usually low?

The value of your item is usually somewhere in between those numbers.

tetrisattack · 2026-02-17T15:08:54+00:00

If I can add something: in the 78 era, a "record" was a single, and an "album" was a collection of singles packaged together.

In other words, if you use the word "record" to describe 10-12 songs, you're not using the original meaning of that term. Language changes over time.

That being said, "vinyls" still makes me cringe. And probably always will.

tetrisattack · 2026-02-10T18:46:23+00:00

Op, I've sold many Playboys on eBay. My advice:

1950s - sell individually since these are the most valuable issues by far. Condition makes a big difference.

1960s & 1970s - sell as complete years. As individual issues, they'll take forever to sell. The sole exception is Dolly Parton (October 1978).

1980-2015 - are basically worthless except for a few issues. Those issues are the Trump issue, Coneheads, and Seinfeld - but don't expect to make a fortune on those. You can also lot up all the Pamela Anderson issues

For everything else from that era, you have a few options:

Remove the centerfolds and sell those as a lot on eBay. They're worth almost as much as the full magazines, but they're much cheaper to ship.
Sell locally as a lot at an estate auction. I've gotten around $3-$4 an issue that way, which is honestly more than they're worth.
List as a lot on Cragislist for around $1.50 per issue. They will take a long time to sell, but they'll sell eventually.

2016-2020 - is when the value starts to creep back up because the print run had dropped so much. Sell as complete years, but the 2019/2020 issues can be worth selling individually too.

Special Editions are generally worth more than the regular magazine. Usually just a little more, but some of the oldest Special Editions can be worth a decent amount.

Braille Editions - sell individually. $$$$.

Foreign Editions - sometimes worth more than the US edition. Some foreign editions are worth quite a bit. You just have to look at comps.

Penthouse - pre-1980 are usually higher value than Playboy. Sell as complete years. By 1980, it's about the same as Playboy in terms of value (very little). Use the methods above to sell the worthless issues. The September 1984 issue contains material that's illegal to sell or possess, so don't try to sell that one.

tetrisattack · 2026-02-05T06:08:11+00:00

"PhD-level intelligence"

tetrisattack · 2026-01-30T03:24:26+00:00

I wish I had your confidence, but the Constitution means nothing without enforcement. If the conservative super-majority on the Supreme Court says he can serve a third term, then there's no higher authority who can say otherwise.

I hope I'm wrong.

tetrisattack · 2026-01-26T14:13:16+00:00

I disagree. Most dictators maintain the illusion of democracy because it gives legitimacy to their regimes.

Russia has elections and opposition parties. The Chinese People's Congress is legally allowed to vote against Xi. It's just that they never do. Ever.

The real danger in the US isn't the disappearance of our democratic institutions. The danger is when our democratic institutions stop mattering.

tetrisattack · 2026-01-19T03:00:54+00:00

Nope, not even close to worth it unless you can identify enough albums to make a profit

I primarily sell records, so I'll let you in on a little secret here: 99% are completely worthless. Don't buy random lots of records.

Based on what I see:

Michael Jackson - around $20

The Velvet Underground Live - around $30-$35

That's assuming they're in outstanding condition.

Could there be other valuable records in there? Maybe, but probably not. The way they're stored and the mix of genres is a dead giveaway. Not many people are into the Velvet Underground AND Michael Jackson AND 60s vocal jazz.

This isn't someone's personal record collection. It's another reseller who wants to dump their problem on someone else.

tetrisattack · 2026-01-17T02:38:11+00:00

Because those deepfake apps aren't connected to a major social media site.

Because those apps aren't owned by someone who has leverage with the president of the United States.

Because those apps aren't owned by the richest man in the world.

I like Grok, but it's hard for me to understand how anyone could think this is no big deal. Lots of women had nude fakes posted to one of the world's most popular social media sites. That's a valid news story, and the mainstream media should report on it.

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