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Why the bleep is eBay so expensive??

One of the ways I try to search for deals is by excluding the word "Vintage" from my search. I try to think like someone who has no idea what they are listing. They may not even realize that it's old.
 
[*]Price more than cost of computer it came from.
Does anyone know what's going on there?
I've noticed this recently with floppy drives and hard drives. Some people may easily want more than $100 for a pair of floppy drives. Yet a computer CPU unit with the same drives might be slightly less, although with more shipping. I suspect some sellers are removing drives from perfectly fine machines and discarding the rest just because they are easier to ship. (Of course, if it was a rust bucket, that's fine).

Now, if the parts were coming from a reliable seller that tests and warrants them, that might be one thing, but I don't believe that is usually the case.

BTW: I just went and checked something. I just bought a buy-it-now item for $9.99 (not including shipping) with "seller offer". But the sold item listing still shows "$13.99". De-cep-tive.
 
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BTW: I just went and checked something. I just bought a buy-it-now item for $9.99 (not including shipping) with "seller offer". But the sold item listing still shows "$13.99". De-cep-tive.

To be fair as a seller I think thats actually a good thing. Why? Well lets say maybe you have alot of one product you are looking to sell but lately it hasn't been selling much. So you make an offer and some takes it for less than asking price. If everyone out there knows what you sold it for, they will all make the same offer and noone would buy it at asking price. Sometimes all you need is a sale, and then next time a random person sees the listing it says things like "1 sold in 1 hour" or " 2 sold in 24 hours". People are strange sometimes they feel better knowing they are following the crowd, not wanting to be the only one they perceive doing something... I'm the complete opposite on that, but I have noticed alot of people behave in this way.
 
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If it's a lie it's a lie. It's unfair to the buyer to report anything other then what the item sold for. The seller has the liberty to take less for an item with any given circumstance. He's at liberty to ask whatever he wants (this thread is all about super inflated prices, keep on asking maniacs). The buyer is also entitled to refuse to pay what a seller is asking. Attachment to inanimate objects is a form of mild insanity. Justifying an over expenditure because you're mildly insane is the reason for price gouging. The fatties here in South jerky clear the place of bubba burgers as soon as a someone says they saw a flurry 90 miles away. OMG you can live without it. Look for the deals like I do.
 
To be fair as a seller I think thats actually a good thing. Why? Well lets say maybe you have alot of one product you are looking to sell but lately it hasn't been selling much. So you make an offer and some takes it for less than asking price. If everyone out there knows what you sold it for, they will all make the same offer and noone would buy it at asking price. Sometimes all you need is a sale, and then next time a random person sees the listing it says things like "1 sold in 1 hour" or " 2 sold in 24 hours". People are strange sometimes they feel better knowing they are following the crowd, not wanting to be the only one they perceive doing something... I'm the complete opposite on that, but I have noticed alot of people behave in this way.

You've explained why it's beneficial to sellers. That doesn't make it fair.
 
Well guys if you cant empatgize as a seller or see both sides of the street.. Maybe thats the problem. You vant have your cake and eat it too. Arw you happy you paid less than asking price? Then why complain? If you guys are primarily buyers and never sell on ebay on at least a semi regular basis.. You certainly dont have all the facts..
 
I suppose they could at least do what eBay Germany does (according to this post anyway)- just show "offer accepted", without the actual price paid, but also without misleading and creating a false perception of the item's 'going rate'
 
I am a seller, not constantly. I've made very good money selling things on eBay. But eBay is *all* about eBay, and will stack the deck in their favor with every possible opportunity. Making money isn't a crime. I'm a proud Republican Capitalist. But I'm a conservative with sanity. Fair is fair. A lie is always a lie. In all honesty though I've often seen "best offer accepted", and if that policy has been altered it must have been recently.
 
To be fair as a seller I think thats actually a good thing. Why? Well lets say maybe you have alot of one product you are looking to sell but lately it hasn't been selling much. So you make an offer and some takes it for less than asking price. If everyone out there knows what you sold it for, they will all make the same offer and noone would buy it at asking price.
Sold items on which the seller had accepted a best offer used to have the full asking price crossed out and stated "best offer accepted" below it. It didn't specify which price was accepted, but at least let other people know that an offer had been accepted.
 
Heres something noone seems to have really mentioned. Shipping fees!. I just boxed up a computer to send to California (from new england). Of course I compare rates and prices. Normally this weights between 45lbs and 55lbs (this was 50.5lbs). Cheapest rates I could get were with UPS for $78 dollars!!!! I mean for the past year on average I have been paying about $50.00 for shipping a computer, somewhat more to the west coast or pacific northwest. Good thing I upped the shipping fee for this item, but in truth, with the money ebay takes from what I charge for shipping (yes ebay takes a percentage of everything you make including shipping) some of this came out of pocket! I can understand now why so many sellers have a flat rate of $100.00 for shipping.

What is going on with shipping rates?!
 
Heres something noone seems to have really mentioned. Shipping fees!. I just boxed up a computer to send to California (from new england). Of course I compare rates and prices. Normally this weights between 45lbs and 55lbs (this was 50.5lbs). Cheapest rates I could get were with UPS for $78 dollars!!!! I mean for the past year on average I have been paying about $50.00 for shipping a computer, somewhat more to the west coast or pacific northwest. Good thing I upped the shipping fee for this item, but in truth, with the money ebay takes from what I charge for shipping (yes ebay takes a percentage of everything you make including shipping) some of this came out of pocket! I can understand now why so many sellers have a flat rate of $100.00 for shipping.

What is going on with shipping rates?!

FWIW I went though a similar situation last Christmas when shipping to one granddaughter in Albuquerque [FONT=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]and the other in Salt Lake City from Michigan. The lady at the post office said it was the weight that was the determining factor. Completely opposite of their no weight limit 1st class boxes.[/FONT]
 
Not that you'll necessarily save a lot. But I was always inclined to believe that the PO is nearly always cheaper. Fedex can be cheap also, but you have to have a Fedex drop off location nearby. If you're selling a bunch of items and opt for fedex, list those in a group, this way there's only 1 trip. There may be fugazzi drop off locations around here, but the closest FedEx Kinkos (if they still call it that) is at least 25 miles away.

I always use the PO. It used to be so cheap to send stuff. People have theorized that "we" are subsidizing the cheapo shipping rates from China. I don't know if that's true. Not even sure it makes any sense, as everything shipped cheaply from China takes a million years. You have to wait for that ginormous shipping container to arrive.
 
FWIW I went though a similar situation last Christmas when shipping to one granddaughter in Albuquerque [FONT=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]and the other in Salt Lake City from Michigan. The lady at the post office said it was the weight that was the determining factor. Completely opposite of their no weight limit 1st class boxes.[/FONT]

I wasn't even aware there was such thing as a 1st class box. I guess. But the way it was explained to me a 1st class package can be any size, ANY SIZE. Just as long as it isn't over 13 oz it's legit.
 
I thought the limit for First class was 16oz (or 15.9oz)?

Tipc I use USPS first class shipping for all my small items and cables, yes it s by far the cheapest, but for actual Parcels? Its pretty damn expensive. For most of the lockdown Fedex Home has been the cheapest, but as of late its UPS (today by about $20.00 savings). I used to use USPS exclusively when I sold Business Class computers online. Flat rate boxes I did pretty well. But times have changed and so has my merchandise.
 
Not 1st Class - Priority Mail box. All you can stuff in a box for one rate. 3 to 4 days on delivery. Very good deal.
 
I've learned a simple trick on Ebay to always "Watch" an item first, and for items with no rush to purchase required due to demand/ scarcity it almost always yields me a seller discount offer within minutes to maybe an hour. Generally some kind of generic 10-20% off discount, but it almost is a 90% assurance of happening with major sellers. That usually covers shipping. And it allows for making a direct counter-offer that does not show up as an offer to the masses which could trigger other watchers into buying. Ebay requires some psychology knowledge of how people act/react in competitive auction environments. And that includes sellers too.

I often look up sellers, see what they are selling, and how much they sell so that I can judge how likely they would be to accept certain offers. My methods do seem like a lot of work, but it surely pays off for me in cost savings. I don't get everything I'd like, but I'm always pleasantly surprised how easy it can be to talk down a seller, especially bigger ticket items they have held on to for too long. Or the people obviously offloading an estate.
 
Lol, you assume too much. The mark up always covers the cost of you percieved discount. Sellers are making good coin knowing that buyers believe they are getting a deal.

Ymmv

I've learned a simple trick on Ebay to always "Watch" an item first, and for items with no rush to purchase required due to demand/ scarcity it almost always yields me a seller discount offer within minutes to maybe an hour. Generally some kind of generic 10-20% off discount, but it almost is a 90% assurance of happening with major sellers. That usually covers shipping. And it allows for making a direct counter-offer that does not show up as an offer to the masses which could trigger other watchers into buying. Ebay requires some psychology knowledge of how people act/react in competitive auction environments. And that includes sellers too.

I often look up sellers, see what they are selling, and how much they sell so that I can judge how likely they would be to accept certain offers. My methods do seem like a lot of work, but it surely pays off for me in cost savings. I don't get everything I'd like, but I'm always pleasantly surprised how easy it can be to talk down a seller, especially bigger ticket items they have held on to for too long. Or the people obviously offloading an estate.
 
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