Unrealistic expectations of value of an item

[Andymsa]

I got my eye on a couple of items on eBay, the prices set for them are to high. I messaged the seller to see if they were open to offers but it appears there selling for a relative who I guess have no real idea what the price should be, the price seems to have included any eBay fees. It’s for an item that’s not made anymore and a premium is being placed on it for this reason. It’s not the first time I have noticed this with pricing but it does make me wonder at unrealistic prices being set, at this time the item has still not sold after 6 weeks. So is eBay really the best place to sell items now as fees have gone up so much

Edited October 17, 2022 by Andymsa

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, Andymsa said:

 but it appears there selling for a relative who I guess have no real idea what the price should be,

 

Believe that if you will.

It seems that all of a sudden a lot of eBay seller's relatives have, a, got a lot of things to sell, and b, lost the ability to do it for themselves.

 

Mike.

[Nearholmer]

Some eBay traders are amazingly patient in order to secure ‘top dollar’, and others simply advertise things at stupidly high prices in order to set expectations and ‘pull up the market’. Both best ignored.

[Andymsa]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Believe that if you will.

It seems that all of a sudden a lot of eBay seller's relatives have, a, got a lot of things to sell, and b, lost the ability to do it for themselves.

 

Mike.

as the reply hints at, I don’t believe it lol

[Hal Nail]

There is already an e bay madness thread which tells you that some totally unrealistic pricing is not a new thing!

 

Demand has really dropped away recently though so it may need a collectove reset. I'm seeing things im watching fetch very low prices or not sell. A 7mm unmade parkside gwr van kit sold for £20 yesterday - these were nudging 35 a few weeks back. Sods law I'd forgotten about it!

 

I had been intending to clear out a load but if anything its a buyers market at the moment so im holding off. I listed a few things at prices based on previous sales and had loads watching but no one offering. Ive rarely had anything last past the first weekend previously.

 

 

 

 

[Tallpaul69]

Given the current economic climate, we shouldn't be surprised at prices being depressed!

 

Today's economic news will likely accelerate this process.

I think I am going to sell as much as I can, as soon as I can, and hold off any purchases for a few months, unless i see any real bargains on items I really need, not those that would be nice to have.

 

A bigger worry is what will happen to the new items in the pipeline and those that have yet to break cover.

 

I do hope that our newer suppliers who on the whole are doing good things survive what, unfortunately, is fast looking like a real recession. I don't think this is going to be a short one- hope I am wrong!

 

Cheers everyone,

Paul

[Andy Hayter]

Notwithstanding all of the good points made above, there are some items that really do seem to command a massive premium.  The Rapido Stirling Single is a case in point where starting prices around 2 x the original sales price are being asked and frequently exceeded.  Glad I got mine from the original sale - at what was considered a ground breaking price at the time.  

[DCB]

There are always things which command premium prices and people who buy things because they are expensive,  Like a brand new never run Wrenn City for £500 when they could get a well sorted Romford wheeled repainted Hornby Dublo one for £150.  "That cost me A Farshund Quid" they lie/boast.   I also suspect some of these transactions are about distributing commodities other than those listed to  allow purchase from your own home, payment by credit card and delivery by Hermes/ Royal Mail instead of having to meet your dealer in some  dingy back street in order to score.     
There are people out there trying to sell their relatives railways, Often they lack the knowledge to list things correctly and end up selling them for well below the price an item listed correctly and accurately would command.  I spend hours searching for these on eBay.  Sometimes the seller sounds genuine and ( and out of my up to £10 price range) I will message to tell them what what they have.   If I see one more Gaiety Pannier described as kit built I think I will scream.  But there's always someone who believes completely wrongly, that you only get what you pay for, it's worth paying a bit more.    But its great fun buying something cheap taking new photos relisting  and selling on for a profit,
 

[Phil Parker]

13 hours ago, Andymsa said:

I got my eye on a couple of items on eBay, the prices set for them are to high

 

Too high for you you mean. Someone else may be willing to pay that much, and the seller might be happy to wait for that person to come along. They might have "unrealistic" expectations, but your expectations might also be unrealistically low.

 

I've put stuff up for sale at high prices in the past on the basis I'm not that worried about selling. If I get the price, fine. If not, that's fine too. 

 

Ultimately, the market will ensure the price finds its correct level. Stick a watch on the item and if no one wants it, the price will eventually come down. You just have to be patient and take the risk there isn't someone keener out there...

[jjb1970]

As with any trade, the seller will seek to maximize the selling price, the buyer will seek to minimize it and the sale takes place when the two overlap. It is what it is.

[Andymsa]

5 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Too high for you you mean. Someone else may be willing to pay that much, and the seller might be happy to wait for that person to come along. They might have "unrealistic" expectations, but your expectations might also be unrealistically low.

 

I've put stuff up for sale at high prices in the past on the basis I'm not that worried about selling. If I get the price, fine. If not, that's fine too. 

 

Ultimately, the market will ensure the price finds its correct level. Stick a watch on the item and if no one wants it, the price will eventually come down. You just have to be patient and take the risk there isn't someone keener out there...

Yes I guess everyone has there price for me this item was too high, but the other item I didn’t mention was listed as £5 below what you could get it for as new. And yes they didn’t sell it, not sure what happened to it as it disappeared from eBay maybe someone did buy it.

[Michael Hodgson]

4 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

Stick a watch on the item and if no one wants it, the price will eventually come down.

... only if the seller really wants to sell it.   I agreee Phil, in the case of traders, that should be the case, but it doesn't apply to all private sellers like us.

Sometimes people list things that they would prefer to keep, on the basis of I'll reluctantly let it go if somebody's daft enough to give me a lot of money for it.  I have a few things on ebay that have failed to sell for well over a year, but I'm not at all bothered that they haven't sold.  It isn't costing me to advertise them (they only get listed under free listing rules).  The ebay fees are built into the starting price, and even so I only relist them when there's a discounted fees offer.

 

A lot of folk seem to believe just because things offered at a grossly inflated price, they will actually sell - you have to check completed listings to see whether or not they did.  The reality is that if people list items for silly money, they generally don't sell.  The asking price on ebay is sometimes excessive simply because of finger trouble when listing - they meant to type 99p, but accidentally list it at £99.

 

And as DCB mentions above, ebay is a useful tool in certain illegal activities, such as drug dealing or money laundering.  A forest is a good place to hide a tree - the volume of ebay transactions is such that the authorities can't easily investigate what's really going on when somebody appears to have sold something for far more than fair value.

 

 

 

[6990WitherslackHall]

I normally set myself a spending limit when buying stuff on eBay. Currently, I don't go higher than £25-£35 

[Michael Hodgson]

3 minutes ago, Andymsa said:

Yes I guess everyone has there price for me this item was too high, but the other item I didn’t mention was listed as £5 below what you could get it for as new. And yes they didn’t sell it, not sure what happened to it as it disappeared from eBay maybe someone did buy it.

People don't generally bother to check what the original price was when buying second-hand, and they don't all shop around when buying new - that's why some model shops get away with higher prices than the "box shifters".

 

If an ebay listing ends "not sold", you can't tell whether or not it did ever sell - it might have been sold outside ebay, it might have been listed again under a completely different description, for example put into a job lot.

 

 

[Phil Parker]

17 minutes ago, Andymsa said:

Yes I guess everyone has there price for me this item was too high, but the other item I didn’t mention was listed as £5 below what you could get it for as new.

 

I've seen kits offered on ebay for more than they can be bought new from the manufacturer. It's basically a tax on people too lazy to use Google. But then I know a lot of people for whom online shopping=ebay and they don't bother looking anywhere else. In this case I think, "Well done that seller."

 

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Andymsa said:

Yes I guess everyone has there price for me this item was too high, but the other item I didn’t mention was listed as £5 below what you could get it for as new. And yes they didn’t sell it, not sure what happened to it as it disappeared from eBay maybe someone did buy it.

There's been two or three sellers recently with a load of Roxey kits on a £60 BIN - funnily enough they sat there for ages unsold, as the same kits are £60 or £65 new directly from Roxey.

[Colin_McLeod]

On 18/10/2022 at 01:35, DCB said:

 I also suspect some of these transactions are about distributing commodities other than those listed to  allow purchase from your own home, payment by credit card and delivery by Hermes/ Royal Mail instead of having to meet your dealer in some  dingy back street in order to score.     

 

I think a few e bay sellers and buyers may find this to be a defamatory slur on their character. Unless, of course, you have some evidence to back up that statement.

[Michael Hodgson]

13 minutes ago, Colin_McLeod said:

 

I think a few e bay sellers and buyers may find this to be a defamatory slur on their character. Unless, of course, you have some evidence to back up that statement.

He doesn't need evidence, because it's not a slur on anybody in particular.

It's perfectly reasonable of him to suspect that it occurs, as it's a sound workable method of hiding certain types of iffy transactions.

 

So if you happen to be one of those advertising things with unrealistic expectations as to price, and you consider it a slur on your character, sue him for defamation and see how far you get.  But given that he didn't give any indication whatever of who in particular was doing it, just be prepared to have to pay his legal costs as well as your own.

 

[Colin_McLeod]

16 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

He doesn't need evidence, because it's not a slur on anybody in particular.

It's perfectly reasonable of him to suspect that it occurs, as it's a sound workable method of hiding certain types of iffy transactions.

 

So if you happen to be one of those advertising things with unrealistic expectations as to price, and you consider it a slur on your character, sue him for defamation and see how far you get.  But given that he didn't give any indication whatever of who in particular was doing it, just be prepared to have to pay his legal costs as well as your own.

 

 1, Not very workable as it requires such "iffy" stuff to be sent to home address, and with a paper trail.

 

2,  I happen not to be, so I will not be suing.

 

3, Legal costs not relevant

 (see 2 above)

[MrWolf]

Actually, there was somebody who was busted on related charges who was laundering drug money selling cars and other vehicles. It's the paper trail and public advertisement of a tangible item for sale or auction that gives it a legitimacy of course they were "selling for a friend".

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by MrWolf

[Blandford1969]

The price anyone lists at is the price they would like to achieve. Kits are interesting as often they are listed at less than their new price but the ones which sell are far below those prices. Many of us would like a bargain and we just have to look at things at the prices we are willing to pay. 

 

One thing that works for me is if something is at more than I would want to pay, watch it, if it does not sell and is relisted watch again and sometimes the price starts coming down. On those you can then end up with a conversation with the seller which gets what you want at nearer the price you want. 

[Mallard60022]

Not used Ebay for anything 'expensive'  for ages. Loads of asking prices are silly (to me).

However, random items at smaller Auction houses; not the huge Toy sales where stuff is almost always daft prices unless you are on site; bit of a gamble, but.....

Most recent for me has been an unboxed Baccy Standard 5 (73109); one lonely loco, of about four model items amongst all sorts of other stuff. Bourne Auctions as well! It looked perfect from what I could see.

Bid £25, nobody else bid, Cost me £13 for postage and fees! Arrived today, perfect condition, beautifully wrapped with care. The Owners had also kindly held onto it for me as I was away after the sale. They posted it as agreed, after my return date. I'll look at their sales again as it and their service works perfectly and I could actually go to the actual  sale as it's not that far away. 

Auctions are a source of some really great bargains, but sadly the big and often specialist Toy Sale ones are dominated by (I am sure) Trader buyers who then sell on at a profit...somewhere.

I have got ex shop stock items at Auction for half their actual price, even after packaging and fees. However I'm buying for me most of the time with items I really like or need.

If I had money, time and youth I'd be at these Auctions and running a sell on 'business'. There is one auction coming soon with boxes of 'various items'; probably some RIP things? One lot must have a crate full of Packaged Decoders with other electrical (DCC?) stuff that is worth on my estimate, around   £500 - £600 maybe more. That's the stuff to get for (say) £200 and sell on.

It is also fairly obvious at Auctions, where the Firm know their MR Stuff and then those that are the Toy Train style captioning. 

Finally I have 'won' quite a few Loco's, with DCC Fitted and that wasn't mentioned. Fine for me and that is often a little hidden bonus of £20 to £40 that usually covers fees and post. I've yet to get any 'lame dogs', however I have been rash and bid too much and not made any saving as opposed to perhaps buying at a Show.

Little warning though. Most Auctions must be run by The Borgh as 'resistance is futile!'😬

[pete_mcfarlane]

On 18/10/2022 at 10:38, Nick C said:

There's been two or three sellers recently with a load of Roxey kits on a £60 BIN - funnily enough they sat there for ages unsold, as the same kits are £60 or £65 new directly from Roxey.

With Roxey kits you sometimes see the ancient vac formed ones listed at not much less than you'd expect to pay for the newer etched kits. Similar to people expecting 1970s Hornby Flying Scotsmen to be worth the same as the latest superdetailed ones.

[The Johnster]

Some people really do have ill-informed expectations, though, and of course the traders, selling grandpa's much loved collection built up over a lifetime of dedicated enthusiasm (or, as we call it here, house clearance) are happy to exploit them.  Typical scenario in pub; 'really, you're into model railways, are you'?  Show the guy some phoneshots of layout and appreciative noises are made.  'Bet that's worth a bit'!  'Dunno, don't really keep records, but probably not as much as you'd think if I were to sell it on'.  'But I saw on telly a while ago, one of those antiques shows, old Hornby  tinplate set went for thousands*.  Actually, I've got a Duchess of Montrose 3-rail set up in the attic, years old, must be worth a bit, you interested'? 

 

So you explain that, even if it's in mint condition and never been taken out of the box, these are so common that it's not worth the thousands that the £ signs rolling around kerching in his eyes tell me he thinks it is, that all my stuff has been altered, detailed, weathered, and messed about with and the secondhand dealers like stuff in 'as new in box' condition.  'But all that work you put in must be worth something, surely'?  'Not to anyone except me, really'.  'You must be mad'!  'Quite possibly, it would explain a lot, most hobbyists are a bit wierd, you spend tens of thousands on fishing gear and don't catch much, and your mate follows Cardiff City for his sins, season tickets, all the gear, travelling to away games, hotels, all that.  Colin over there keeps chickens in his back yard; at least he gets eggs out of them'! 'Yeah, suppose so'.

 

 

*maybe Bassett-Lowke or Marklin.

[ikcdab]

On 18/10/2022 at 08:44, 6990WitherslackHall said:

I normally set myself a spending limit when buying stuff on eBay. Currently, I don't go higher than £25-£35 

For me, this is always the approach.  Taking the postage into account, decide what the maximum I would pay is. Then, in the last few minutes submit that bid. If I win, fantastic, if not then another one will come along. It's only a hobby.

Ian