ProperCharlie

Just wondered if i have missed out on something here, but i have been looking around at stuff on ebay (mainly hifi) and i'm pretty amazed at some of the prices things are fetching. i would expect to pay no more than 50-60% of the new cost of an item, but i've seen things going for as much as you could buy them for new in a shop. why would you bother with teh uncertainty of ebay when you could go to a hifi shop and buy with guarantee etc? i manily use it for buying records which i have always found reasonable value, and it's a lot easier to find stuff on ebay if you haven't got the time to spend days and days trawling through records shops.

just curious as to why people are happy to spend so much money on things that may well be of dodgy provenenace.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Personally, I think alot of stuff on Ebay is way too overpriced. I think people who sell just don't take into consideration that it's a big risk for a buyer to buy anything unseen privately.

For example, an Auto gearbox I bid on, It was 30years old, and sold as seen, out of the vehicle. I found out that the seller had put a reserve for £120 which is stupid for something that probably needs rebuilding, and in reality is worth £50. Suffice to say the fool never sold it!

There are probably some bargains on there, but you have to hunt far and wide for them

[Edited by ALi-B - 12/7/2003 1:22:48 PM]

Warwick-hunt

i totally agree, i like the x-men phone the siemens mc60, its £99 in the shops, heres one on ebay buy now £185, i've bought a few phone covers for £1 as no one else bid one them but for other stuff its not worth it.

ProperCharlie

Ali - that's exactly my point - you are buying something secondhand, unseen, from someone you never have and probably never will meet. all you have to go on is their description of the item. IMO you should be paying bottom price for this, like you would if it was out of the back of LOOT. However, people seem to get more than they would if it was in the "window" of a breakers or dealer's shop.

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

The answer is, people get carried away bidding.

For example, I bought a gameboy advance SP (for some bizzare reason), 3 games (1 new, 2 used), and about 3 weeks later put it on ebay coz I never used it. Then some guy pays about £10 more than I paid for the lot (brand new), second hand on ebay. It was all as descirbed, ie used, 1 game bought new, 2 used, etc, crazy.

ProperCharlie

maybe i should have sold the scoob on ebay

mj

There are some mega bargains to be had, and as mentioned you have to hunt them down, it also helps if your work involves sitting in front of a PC all day and you can get away with it.Another thing I noticed was look out for items with mis-spelt descriptions, as these will not generally show when searching for a specific item or brand name -they dont get the views, so they dont get the bids.

couple of bargains I had recently:

brand new ( although probly 3-4 years old ) tosh laptop - the guy even delivered it, it was as close to new as you can get, all packaging intact etc. £150 now sits in the magazine rack of the living room with a wireless card for surfing in front of the telly.

shoes - I have had brand new merrell shoes - probly about £50 in the shops for £5 + delivery.

power tools - bought an industrial mitre saw for £120 - put it back on a month later and got £270 as a buy it now .

Have just sold a Kango breaker for my neighbour - he was going to skip it as it had stopped working - £60 spent on new parts and a service - sold last week for £180 - the guy that bought it is in florida

The only thing I can think of with these silly sales is that people do not know the true used value of goods - they must have never seen the "completed items" link on the ebay page -...either that or they are just plain stupid.

In reality there is no true value of used goods - they will only sell at what people are prepared to pay - and if they are prepared to pay, I am prepared to sell it to them

ProperCharlie

this looks like a bit of a bargain for those of us who like decent hi-fi...

scoobydooooo

what a bargain , only £16 so far !!

SiDHEaD

My friend saw a 97P scoob turbo and went up to test drive it etc. It was on 3200 at that point. He offered them cash 3700 and they took it and pulled the item early. Usually a lot of the bids happen in the last few mins so he got a bargain and the sellers were IMHO stupid.

Andy

jono400

Regularly see people bidding furiosly for things that are also available at a " buy it now " price cheaper !! why ?? suppose it is all do do with folk getting carried away / blinkerd ??!!

once seen an old mk3 escort that had a fortune spent on it, to so call " customise it " both the sellers describtion and the actual look off the car was so hilarious that it was subject to a whole thread off its own on here !! but it still ended up with over 20 bids for it in the end !!!! and sold for a stupidly high price in the end also !!!

StickyMicky

ha ha ha
you search for "imprezza" parts as well do you

mj

no, havent got one but I get your drift

AdamK_Cupra

i sold a 1992 mini 1.3 auto on ebay for £1310 :O

would never have got that if i sold it on autotrader.

met

i personally love ebay, i have sold loads on there,
snooker table i would have taken 600 quid for sold for £1220!
broken pin ball machine, would have taken 150 sold for 500, motorola startac sold for £35 quid, etc etc etc. it really is the bidding frenzy at the end of some items i love & a true example that things are worth what people will pay for them.

paulr

One thing i do is look out for ads that have no pics and are newbie's.Dont attract many bidders.
Email them asking for pics etc........

mj

ebay costs me a feckin fortune - forever buying things I don't really need ( but will use eventually, maybe )

sometimes its rude not to

paulr

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...&category=3316

Sony dvd player....£85 +£12.50 p+p= £97.50.

http://www.richersounds.com/index.ph...p&p=dvpns305r2

Instore @ Richer sounds £79.95....

supertouring

It is true - stuff I paid a fortune for now comes on there and no-one bids for it! I have learnt to set a realistic price and stick to it - whatever, and also that even the most rare thing will be listed on there within a few months.

Just don't get dragged into the bidding wars and you should find yourself a bargain. People often pay over the odds for stuff because they can't be arsed looking around the web for anything cheaper. No a problem if you sell a lot of stuff

paulr

Works both ways though.Once sold a book i bought for £175 for £1200.The bidding was only £300 when i went to work in the morning......

darlodge

paulr - What bok sells for £1200?

Darren

mj

1st edition bible?

Kevin Groat

Bought my Hi Fi Amp and CD player from 2 different chaps on Ebay. Both Marantz Signature items with retail when new of around £500 each. Paid roughly £150 each and both are in perfect order. Bought and sold lots of stuff on Ebay. In all cases, dyor though.

Kevin.

paulr

Diana auction catalogue.........(shot up in value after she died)

And i had 2 of them....

Bonehead

When you're selling on e-bay the more 'blah blah blah' you can put on your auction the better the results can be.

Last year I found a copy of The Living Daylights on video still wrapped, which was/is deleted. I put it on e-bay with reviews, pictures and all the bs I could think of.
I bought it for £4.99 and sold it for £26.

The auction before mine had exactly the same thing, but without the bs, and didn't receive a single bid

Another time I put on a hand-made guitar effects pedal I'd had for a few years and sold it nearly twice what I'd paid for it.

When it comes to the bidding wars people just dont seem to think at times.

I've been using it for five years or so and lately the bargins seem a bit rarer and its getting more and more like a shop.
But who cares.......

Tony