Prices on eBay Lately

DavidR8 said:
On a related note why do some sellers offer the “Make an offer” option when they really aren’t interested in accepting offers unless they are within a dollar or so of list price?
Edit: to be clear I make offers that are usually 10-15% off asking.

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I think this "Make an offer" is total BS,because like you said,it's almost never more than a dollar they are willing to accept. Total BS.
 
Many have screwed themselves with the make an offer. If I see it, I woill make an offer, even if I would have paid the full price, usually 5 to 20%. But when they come back with 1 to 2% off, I will not even pay the asking price. If you do not intend to bargain, do not put the make offer.
 
I think there’s also a 15% premium paid to EBay for the sellers. Might even be closer to 20% now.

Ebay definitely isn’t what it once was.
 
Superburban said:
Many have screwed themselves with the make an offer. If I see it, I woill make an offer, even if I would have paid the full price, usually 5 to 20%. But when they come back with 1 to 2% off, I will not even pay the asking price. If you do not intend to bargain, do not put the make offer.
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I fully agree.
 
Superburban said:
Many have screwed themselves with the make an offer. If I see it, I woill make an offer, even if I would have paid the full price, usually 5 to 20%. But when they come back with 1 to 2% off, I will not even pay the asking price. If you do not intend to bargain, do not put the make offer.
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being the kind that’s not into haggling the only time I’ve used the make offer is when somebody has something I really need and can’t get anywhere else and something is way out of whack. I’m really tired of these folks who have a bargain price and the shipping is outrageous. As if the process isn’t complicated already..........
 
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Just a few minutes ago, I made a comment to another fellow that falls directly into the thread here. I quote what I just wrote:

There are many variables regarding the pricing, several of which get into my "political perspectives" so I can't really go into them here. I'm a "radical liberterian" for lack of a better description. When I went to sea in the late '60s, a pack of Camels was $0.13, 13 cents. My income never rose as fast or as far as that pack of cigarettes.

The value of your pulleys falls into the same catagory. The best analogy I have found is by Rob't Heinlein where he compares prices then and now to a loaf of bread. That is the bottom line, something to eat. In my childhood, that loaf of bread was 12 cents at the grocery. That was then. . . By the time I had enlisted, it was up to near 20 cents. A different location, granted. But "used" bread at the day old store was 10 cents a loaf so we got by.

I could preach for hours on the subject, so I best leave now. Just remember, the eBay seller is a salesman at heart. They're out to make a profit, from their perspective. The true value of what they sell is irrelevent to them.

.
 
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I would rather sell privately thru websites and yard sales but I have used the bay in the past . Nowadays , I'm concentrating on more specialty tools such as drills , taps , end mills etc and it's not worth the 20% Ebay and PP take out of the deal . For the small stuff , if it doesn't sell , I'll either re-pack it away , bury it in the back yard , or scrap it . I sell quite a bit of stuff on Craigslist and do most of my purchases there . People who are buying and selling can see the actual part and set the price ……………………..most of the time over a cold beverage .
 
Bi11Hudson said:
Just remember, the eBay seller is a salesman at heart. They're out to make a profit, from their perspective. The true value of what they sell is irrelevent to them.
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It sux to get old and not to have lost your memory of what something cost before things went haywire in the 70’s. When the stock market and GDP were no longer tied to wages of those of us who worked with our hands.

The most galling aspect of the used stuff is how opportunistic it is. I’m seeing HF stuff being passed off as “vintage”. These folks who are buying stuff at yard sales then selling it sometimes for as much or greater than new.

My old boss said something to a guy who was complaining about the cost of the gas out on the islands. He said “I’m not trying to make a living, I’m trying to make a killing”. Needless the guy had no reply.
 
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