I was scanning EBAY, looking to buy a cordless drill (mine just broke, after many years of service). Anyway, I found a couple I liked (Milwaukee, Bosch, Black and DEcker). In bidding, I noticed something very strange-the final prices (invariably) are HIGHER (substantially) than the retail prices…and to to this, you must pay the shipping charges. I concluded that I was better off buying at my local SEARS. Why do people pay MORE on EBAY? I don’t get it-you can check pricing on the net!
Some people believe that EBay is the ultimate place for good deals and don’t even look any further than EBay for items they want. EBay on the other hand is capitalism at its purist. It is very easy for vendors to figure out how much people will pay there and they adjust their prices accordingly. Some people think they are being savvy by shopping online at auction sites while many don’t even think to check the retail stores for the same thing.
That is not the fault of the EBay vendors, it is just simple capitalism at work and some people volunteer to pay more at EBay than driving 5 miles to a retail store that has a better price. The same phenomenon has always existed since time began and it is the consumers fault if their primary goal is the lowest price possible. However, there are people that are shut-ins or live out in the sticks that welcome any price that is reasonable as long as they get what they need.
It used to be a good place to get a good deal when buying, and you used to get a good amount for selling.
Now? Not so much. Just another site, really.
-Joe
If people need the item quickly, but are in an area that doesn’t have a store that carries the item, they’d certainly be willing to pay a premium. I’ve bought items on eBay before that you can only find in metropolitan areas when I lived in Arkansas. You’d be surprised what you just can’t find in certain parts of the USA!
Wait, how can both be true?
I think it can be pretty good if you know the right questions to ask. For instance, I’ve bought jeans a few times, and I’ve found, there, that it helps to have tried on an actual pair in a store before you make a bid on eBay. Or in my case, I already owned a couple of pairs in the same style. You also need to ask the right questions. I’m partial to Lucky jeans, but some of the jeans you can buy in their stores have intentionally made holes and other distressing. It’s the same on eBay. If you don’t want the holes and ripped hems, you need to confirm that the pair you are buying isn’t the kind that does.
Because if you have something in the basement that you were going to dump and manage to sell it, you’ve done well. If you’re trying to find same item and the stores want stupid money, but your seller has it and is selling for less, you’ve done well also.
A win-win, so to speak…but that was back in the day.
The conclusion which I came to over the course of about three years while using that site was that the buyers there are overwhelmingly idiots.
Or, at least, there are enough idiot buyers so that given the bidding on each item there will be one or two people that due to bad purchasing information and/or ego will drive up the bidding on items well above their actual value from another venue, even other online venues that are just as convenient or even more so because they’re instantaneous without waiting for an auction to end.
That’s the only rational explanation I could come up with.
I sold about 30 items and bough two, and both times I wish I hadn’t.
[Moderator Hat ON]
I think this will get more opinions, so off to IMHO.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
I once saw a $100 gift card that sold for $100.07.
For the most part, when people tried to sell things, especially collectables, pre-eBay, they would go to a dealer. The dealer would have the network of buyers, and other dealers to be able to pass the item on to a customer who would be more willing to pay what the nominal value of the item was. Of course, simple economics would mean that the dealer would pay the original owner only a fraction of the value he expected to eventually receive. Call it 50% for the sake of argument.
By using eBay the person trying sell can offer an item to the collectors scanning eBay’s lists at, say, 75% of the nominal value. The seller gets 25% more of the nominal value, and the buyer saves that same 25%. Both of them have gotten substantially better prices than they would have done going through specialized dealers.
Back in the early days of eBay, a FOAF was so baffled by the bidding on eBay that he went and bought a lightweight golf bag at Costco. He put it up on eBay and made a$20 profit, thus proving to himself that people were idiots. The guy was an engineer, and it wasn’t worth his time, but he wanted to test his theory.
Not all buyers are equal. Some do their homework, and others do not. eBay is no different than a live auction, in that respect. As a contractor, I’ve attended many business dissolution auctions, and watched people pay more for a used piece of equipment that I could get it for new, from a wholesaler. I see the same thing on eBay.
The recent changes that eBay has made really screw sellers, but that’s a different topic.
I looked at eBay early on. I bought nothing after figuring in the shipping plus bid as the price of the item. The local stores were cheaper or the same and I had easy resolution for a broken product. I also knew I wasn’t being scammed. When I heard people tell others about their great purchases I found they weren’t considering the added shipping. A year later I found most of the items were selling for over the local store price before adding shipping. I would go to eBay for a specific item if it hadn’t been made for two decades, but not for any other purchase.
I buy off of eBay every now and then. My rule of thumb is if I can’t get it for 50% (shipping included) of the item’s current price in stores then it isn’t worth it. I still manage to find good deals but it has gotten harder. The uneducated buyers are making it harder by driving up the prices.
You can still get good deals on eBay. I just bought a brand-new Columbia rain jacket for $5.50, $13.50 with shipping. I always do my homework though.
I also sell periodically, but haven’t done too much lately because of eBay’s new policy that buyers can no longer receive negative feedback. I’ve seen people pay way too much for things before. I once bought a silk Banana Republic sweater on eBay for something like $7.50 plus shipping. It was new, with tags ($79 new, I think?). I wore it for a couple of years, and decided to sell it. I got $23 for it. The thing about eBay is that people attach their own idea of worth to an item. If they want it, they decide they’re willing to pay up to a certain amount for it.
Not that I don’t believe you, but a link to the auction, and a link to the identical product at Sears would add a lot of oomph to your story.
And, to that of the “FOAF” from Daryl Lict’s story.
I know there are dummies out there, but it takes two people acting in concert remarkably stupidly to make that happen.
There’s something about letting someone else get away with an item I guess. I’ve had people outbid me when another similar item has been available ending not long after the first.
I buy and sell on ebay all the time.
I sometimes see items sell for more than in brick and mortar stores, but so what? ebay is convenient - I can buy what I want without having to go shopping, and have it arrive magically at my doorstep. By ralph124c’s reasoning, all retail stores should sell the same item at the same price, but we know that’s not true - just take a look at nextag, to see the range of prices on a given item.
I find that most times, items on ebay sell for what I would consider a fair value, even though one needs to be wary of shipping rip-offs.
I think I get pretty good deals on ebay, but then again, I seldom buy anything that can be found easily in brick and mortar stores.
I use ebay to fill in my collection of glass birds (I prefer items from the 1940s through the 1970s), trinket boxes (I look for small boxes made from semi-precious stone–my favorites deals were beautiful boxes made from jade and rhodochrosite. I also like trinket boxes of any material that come from foreign countries not already in my collection.)
I also buy houseplants and garden plants I can’t find locally.
Only occasionally do I buy “ordinary” items on ebay: I’ve gotten some cosmetics (including my favorite, discontinued perfume), a few books, some clothing, and a couple of home furnishing items, but that is it.
For high-ticket items, and things I actually need, I don’t like to take chances. Brick and mortar stores or established online retailers are the way to go for me.