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Authenticity is Everything
What's with eBay sellers overpricing?
eBay makes it incredibly easy to check past sales figures, as well as to see many times unsold pieces have been relisted. Other auctions also make this information public.
So is why are so many eBay dealers insisting that their identical (or sometimes inferior) pieces are worth 2-4x more than they actually are?
This is the second time today where I've gotten into an offer/counter-offer situation with someone who doesn't understand that they don't control the market value.
Common sense note: the existence of a bunch of high priced listings doesn't mean that your piece is worth that much--it means that people aren't willing to pay that much, or else they already would have.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on
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Ebay is a world all to itself. No other explanation. I buy there and I sell there. And, the scope of people and the fees make a difference. It a strange place to do business.
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Permalink Reply by Mike White on
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That's why my main source for eBay's market is eBay itself.
A lot of these prices aren't in line at all with sold listings, but instead with listings that get renewed over and over because nobody's buying.
What really got me was when I looked through the completed listings and saw the same exact piece from the same exact seller getting relisted over and over at different prices (past ones lower than current).
So I used the "Make an Offer" to offer them the equivalent of the lowest that they had listed it during whatever time period eBay keeps those records for (I was willing to pay that much, but not the higher, current price), and the seller flat rejected it. No counter. Just a flat rejection.
It makes no sense. They were willing, at one point, to sell it for that much. They COULDN'T sell it for that much (hence their still having it), but nope, that price wasn't even worth their time to counter all of a sudden.
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You think it's odd for buyers there, selling is even more interesting! Believe it or not, I have found out the higher the price I list something at, the more interest it generates. Strange as it seems, I sell better when I list at higher prices. No rhyme or reason. Baffles me sometimes. Although, I will say that when someone makes an offer, I try my best to make the sale. Sometimes though people offer $20 for a $300 item and get upset when I reject it. Strange environment to sell in for sure.
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Well, in one of my arguments today, I offered the seller $40 for a piece where they didn't want to go below $110 (they listed at $125). I didn't get offended when they didn't accept it, but my offer was within the FMV range (for the piece in question, sales top out around $60--everything else sits unsold).
In offers where the seller's asking price is realistic within the FMV range (though generally on the high side), my offers don't go lower than 50% (which usually ends up coinciding with the low side of the FMV). Some will accept, some will decline, most will counter--usually it ends up somewhere around 10-25% off their original list.
I also usually explain why I'm offering what I'm offering. With autographs, it's generally "these examples sold for $x, you have no reputable COA backing it up/increasing the value, it's dedicated to someone who's not me, etc." Generally, people understand. Over the past few days, though, I've hit a rash of terrible luck in terms of sellers who either don't read my offer note or flat out ignore both that and the market.
As far as high prices equating to more sales go, I can't speak to starting by listing high, but there's a psychological element in raising your prices. People will see them going up and, if it's really something they want, they'll start to panic and buy before you can raise them again. "Raise your prices" is actually really good advice for unsold merch...but too many sellers seem to forget to accept market value offers on those pieces once they do that.
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Permalink Reply by Paul on
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I've had my balls broken on ebay before. It's just to painful.With some sellers the deal isn't there.
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Not getting a good/great deal, I can live with.
Not getting the item because the seller refuses to acknowledge market value and sales histories smarts a little bit. I suppose it'd smart more if it was something I had to have, but I'm yet to have a case where I couldn't walk away and wait. And the good deal almost always presented itself eventually.
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I think sellers who know what are doing will do what is reasonable to make the sale. Of course, there are those who could care less. I just move on when someone won't do what is right. It is not an easy market to sell in so making a sale nowadays is a big deal.
I rarely even allow the "make offer" option because I get so many silly offers. But, I have come to know that if someone wants an item I have they will still contact me with a reasonable offer. And, more often than not, send them a individual offer to complete the deal. That's a great feature ebay has added to their messaging system.
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I think sellers who know what are doing will do what is reasonable to make the sale.
Yeah, but it gets annoying to see such a great piece with a seller who won't listen to offers below what they (wrongly) think it's worth.
I'm always willing to move on, but it just smarts a bit to lose out on a nice piece that, logically, should be affordable.
I rarely even allow the "make offer" option because I get so many silly offers.
You can set it to autoreject everything below a certain amount. That way, you don't have to see unreasonable numbers unless they go through the effort of sending you a message.
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I've found that interested buyers will contact me with a legitimate offer if they are seriously interested. And the deal is usually done quickly. Just works better for me. Hopefully, my prices are not so high that collectors think I am out of my mind!
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Permalink Reply by nico79 on
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paul, do not you do me a favor, you would not say in pj on gumtree.au write to me at nicoespress@gmail.com who are interested in his subject and to that of the Old mugshot bars I want to buy it? you'd want to do it? nic
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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on
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Nico,
Please use a translation service or ask a friend who can help you, because posts like this one are impossible to understand.
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