Eric. Posted May 16, 2016 Report Share Posted May 16, 2016 53 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said: Isn't the point of an auction to 'artificially inflate the price'? It's not artificial if two people agree something is worth more. The point of an auction is to get fair market value for an item, no more, no less. And that's what people get every single time they sell something at auction...fair market value...which is only what people decide it's worth. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted May 16, 2016 Report Share Posted May 16, 2016 I put my bid in, and walk away. My Max bid doesn't come up unless someone else outbids it. If I don't get it, I don't see any reference to it any more. If I win, I pay when I check the next day. Most of the things I get come in for less than my max bid. I forget how many hundreds of items I've bought that way. I like "Buy it Now" too. I bought a pristine early Stanley no. 8 for 75 bucks BiNow with free shipping. I was the second person to view it, and probably hit the button before the first viewer. The 24" Centauro I bought for $600, which was the starting bid, I put in a max bid of 900, and no one bid against me. I bid on it maybe a week before the end. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted May 16, 2016 Report Share Posted May 16, 2016 Most recent purchases have been Buy It Now and Make An Offer. Make An Offer is usually fair. Buy It Now is usually fair compared to Prime. You pay a little more, but get better service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted May 17, 2016 Report Share Posted May 17, 2016 Oh, 1996-1999 Ebay was a pretty civilized place. I don't think I ever heard of sniping until 2001ish. My current account, which was opened in October 1998 (my second account, the first was lost forever due to catastrophic circumstances beyond the control of mortal men and women.) There certainly were not services dedicated to the behavior. As a result of this dickish practice (no offense to any of you fine upstanding gentlemen who partake ) I quit doing anything other than Buy It Now for several years. Then just stopped using the service all together, though that was related to "wow look at this thing for $30" and then you win it and get "Thanks! Please send $90,000 s/h!@!" I don't know or care about the mentality of folk who bid $50 on something that will go for over $300. Probably because they have heard of other people getting good deals. Sometimes stuff slips through the cracks. Who knows? But mostly, it's not up to me or anyone else to decide how someone chooses to bid. If the item is going to go for over $300, then it doesn't affect you at all if someone bids $50 immediately. Also, some buyers put their stuff up for a week or ten days - then cancel the auction if they don't get any bids right away. 6 hours ago, wtnhighlander said: Isn't the point of an auction to 'artificially inflate the price'? I used to have my roommates bid on my items to inflate the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob493 Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 ebay has also ruined pawn shops. Anytime i go to a pawn shop and try to haggle they simply show me an ebay auction and tell me "no thanks". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 5 hours ago, bob493 said: ebay has also ruined pawn shops. Anytime i go to a pawn shop and try to haggle they simply show me an ebay auction and tell me "no thanks". It wasn't to a pawn shop but i tried trading a camera lens with a shop not that far back and they priced the thing off of ebay auctions. Offered me roughly 25% of the value of the thing. I told them where to stick their pricing method and walked out. I personally don't believe that ebay reflects the market value of a used item. I'll pay more for an item sold through a reputable means or even craig's list than i would off of ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 Just now, Chestnut said: I personally don't believe that ebay reflects the market value of a used item. No it absolutely DOES...it reflects the global market value of any item. That won't be the same as local market value. There are pros and cons for both sellers and buyers. Sellers can find a buyer for almost any item in the world, and get top dollar for rare or unique items. Buyers can FIND almost any item in the world, and often get exceptional deals, especially when the market is saturated. The market is still free and completely driven by supply and demand, so there's no room to whine about it unless y'all are ready to switch to communism. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 10 minutes ago, Eric. said: No it absolutely DOES...it reflects the global market value of any item. That won't be the same as local market value. There are pros and cons for both sellers and buyers. Sellers can find a buyer for almost any item in the world, and get top dollar for rare or unique items. Buyers can FIND almost any item in the world, and often get exceptional deals, especially when the market is saturated. The market is still free and completely driven by supply and demand, so there's no room to whine about it unless y'all are ready to switch to communism. There is no such thing as a completely free supply and demand market. If there is i want my free lunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gixxerjoe04 Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 5 hours ago, bob493 said: ebay has also ruined pawn shops. Anytime i go to a pawn shop and try to haggle they simply show me an ebay auction and tell me "no thanks". I don't see how pawn shops stay in business, at least the ones around me, I have never seen anything close to being a deal at any around me. Just about every one I've been to has their stuff priced at new prices or over which doesn't make sense. Saw a small set of used crappy router bits for $150, no way they were more than $75 new probably. First thing I bought on ebay was back in high school, butterfly knife and a switch blade, they were pretty sweet haha. Then when I was 18 I bought a motorcycle off of ebay which was pretty crazy, but I got an awesome deal on it and the guy lived in the next town over which was pretty lucky, wouldn't have bought it if it weren't. Was less than a year old and barely broken in and got it cheap. Nothing like having a sportbike at 18, never went down on it and put over 20k miles on it, did get quite a few speeding tickets though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 10 minutes ago, Mike. said: I don't know you mean by that, but the more participants in a market, the more efficient it becomes. Ebay brings participants together and creates a more efficient market with better price discovery. So yeah, Ebay does reflect the fair value of an item. There are some frictions with ebay (shipping costs, inability to inspect an item) and those should, in theory, result in items trading at a discount to fair value. But like Eric said, the fair value of an item in a global, liquid market may be different than your local market so you may or may not see that discount. All that being said, I will never understand the anger directed toward ebay or CL. People seem to think that there is a 27th amendment granting all Americans the right to cheap stuff and that somehow CL and Ebay are denying them constitutional rights. If you don't like the prices or rules, shop somewhere else. The outlet that i was dealing with wasn't local it was a US and Canada mail order shop, I'd hit the same market with ebay, cause lets face it ebay is still somewhat regional. I'm not going to sell something to a guy in south Africa. A free supply and demand market would basically mean that no outside influence would control the price of an item in x condition with y features. All items that meat that bill would fetch the exact same price. On ebay the seller rating comes into play as does location, listing quality, pictures, ect. The buyer also takes into account the means in which he's buying it and the hassle of dealing with a return or a bad item and will adjust payment accordingly. Also ebay is not the complete market as much as you argue it is. I honestly know very few people that deal with ebay regularly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted May 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 55 minutes ago, Mike. said: All that being said, I will never understand the anger directed toward ebay or CL. People seem to think that there is a 27th amendment granting all Americans the right to cheap stuff and that somehow CL and Ebay are denying them constitutional rights. If you don't like the prices or rules, shop somewhere else. Fair point... In the end it is an auction site. Have to deal with the people in the room so to speak... On 5/17/2016 at 7:17 PM, Cliff said: I used to have my roommates bid on my items to inflate the price. And this is what I was getting at. This does artificially inflate what the price should be on eBay. In the end, with enough auctions pricing has a trend line. I am not against paying a certain amount for an item, and I don't expect a "discount". Quite frankly, I don't need a discount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 58 minutes ago, Chestnut said: I honestly know very few people that deal with ebay regularly. Clearly, because you're wrong about almost everything you said. I'm not gonna get into a big debate about it because I don't have the time or interest. Ebay and Amazon are as close to truly free markets as the world has ever seen. But I will say this...just because YOU don't ship to South Africa doesn't mean every other professional online seller in the world doesn't. As long as an item isn't so heavy that it's nonviable to ship, it's available globally. And in the very near future it will be available globally in less than 24 hours. Count on it. If the retailer you've been using can't keep up, it will die. Count on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 29 minutes ago, Eric. said: Clearly, because you're wrong about almost everything you said. I'm not gonna get into a big debate about it because I don't have the time or interest. Ebay and Amazon are as close to truly free markets as the world has ever seen. But I will say this...just because YOU don't ship to South Africa doesn't mean every other professional online seller in the world doesn't. As long as an item isn't so heavy that it's nonviable to ship, it's available globally. And in the very near future it will be available globally in less than 24 hours. Count on it. If the retailer you've been using can't keep up, it will die. Count on it. Not just heavy...plants take longer as agricultural models require wait times when crossing seas and borders. Tulips are another matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted May 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 26 minutes ago, Eric. said: As long as an item isn't so heavy that it's nonviable to ship, it's available globally. And in the very near future it will be available globally in less than 24 hours. 75% of my ebay shopping is for videogames.. yeah yeah.. blah blah blah.. Point is, I can order games from Japan on ebay and they are at my front door in less than a week in most cases. Most of these items are not available in the US. I've had stuff get here in three days to my door. And I am one day from the USPS hub in Wisconsin. Generally the hangup is Customs. I've had things take a day, and other times a month in Customs. No idea what they do with those items. Other times, US sellers take 10-13 days. I ordered a textbook on Amazon, and it took 12 days to arrive. Media mail needs to go away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 I apologize i was wrong i was confusing fair value with free market. I'll also concede that ebay would cover the market value of an item at auction very closely. After researching i realized my grip/opinion was between fair value, market value, and retail value. @Llama Are you doing with collectable game, like old NES cartridges? I've also had stuff shipped in from Hong Kong and it took like 10-12 business days which translated to a couple weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 37 minutes ago, Chestnut said: I apologize i was wrong i was confusing fair value with free market.@Llama You always get fair market value in a truly free market. Retail price, on the other hand...yeah, we can all whine about that, especially when price fixing is going on. Perfect example is like what Festool does. They tell retailers you WILL sell this product for X dollars or we WILL terminate your contract and you'll no longer sell this product. How they can get away with that, I'll never understand. That's not even close to a free market as far as I'm concerned. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted May 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 1 hour ago, Chestnut said: Are you doing with collectable game, like old NES cartridges? I've also had stuff shipped in from Hong Kong and it took like 10-12 business days which translated to a couple weeks. Mostly Japanese exclusive titles. I've bought a bunch of Neo-Geo and Saturn stuff from over there recently. I don't collect games, I just buy the ones I will be playing. Now I have a fountain pen stuck in Customs... It never ends. That's the game though, I suppose... I have enough crap that lives on shelves and it drives me nuts. The upcoming move will be a nice purge of useless stuff. All this free market, fair value talk makes me feel like I'm in school again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 2 minutes ago, Llama said: Mostly Japanese exclusive titles. I've bought a bunch of Neo-Geo and Saturn stuff from over there recently. I don't collect games, I just buy the ones I will be playing. Now I have a fountain pen stuck in Customs... It never ends. That's the game though, I suppose... I have enough crap that lives on shelves and it drives me nuts. The upcoming move will be a nice purge of useless stuff. All this free market, fair value talk makes me feel like I'm in school again! Sounds cool. I really enjoy video games but i quit cold turkey 3 years ago and started woodworking/house projects. I feel better about my self, i was very obviously addicted to them in one way or another and it started making me unhappy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted May 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 21 minutes ago, Chestnut said: Sounds cool. I really enjoy video games but i quit cold turkey 3 years ago and started woodworking/house projects. I feel better about my self, i was very obviously addicted to them in one way or another and it started making me unhappy. I don't let it get to that level. I have way too much else to do. I maybe play an hour or two a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JosephThomas Posted May 25, 2016 Popular Post Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 6 hours ago, Mike. said: The only real problem is people who are into model railroads woodworking are (usually) socially challenged to begin with. Take away their swaps meets forums and meetups and they are just another guy living in the basement, either buying trains festool or building another mountain scene jig Made some adjustments for ya 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob493 Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 31 minutes ago, JosephThomas said: Made some adjustments for ya Funny man over here.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 Just now, bob493 said: Funny man over here.... New father here, just working on my "Dad jokes", don't mind me =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob493 Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 1 minute ago, JosephThomas said: New father here, just working on my "Dad jokes", don't mind me =) careful... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Gilbert Posted May 26, 2016 Report Share Posted May 26, 2016 I wonder If Mel ever sold that porkchop? maybe try ebay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted May 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2016 1 hour ago, Gary Gilbert said: I wonder If Mel ever sold that porkchop? maybe try ebay I gave it to my dog. For free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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