ebay items

[FordRodnKustom]

Is there a way to filter individual sellers from your search? If not I sure wish there was!

[w451973]

All good points but it seems to me if you pay half the price of the kit for 1 or 2 parts (including shipping) from the kit then you might as well just spring for the kit. This way you have extra stuff for later. Case in point, I've been looking for a set of wheels and tires from a certain kit. I saw two sets just two days ago on ebay sell for around 20 bucks with shipping for each set. If thats what they are going for then I'de just spend a little extra and buy a whole kit.

Just my .02

[clovis]

It's basically people with no business skills. They don't know how to do the analysis of what they're costs will be, versus the sale price.

A while back someone I knew sent a guy my way for advise on selling on eBay. This guy had a common item with what I imagined as a very limited appeal that he thought he was going to make a fortune selling on eBay. He was planning on buying these retail, as he got orders. I tried to show him that he would be losing money on his proposed plan.

That same guy must be at work selling paint chip charts.

About a year ago, I bought a vintage paint color chip chart book at an estate sale. It dates from about 1935 to 1952, or so. I quickly listed the really good charts, and was blessed to make a small fortune.

For the average stuff in the book, many of the makes and years weren't selling well. Most had their charts listed for $8.99 to $10.99, +/-. I was short on time, and thought that I would list the average stuff later. Maybe the market will have recovered some, and if so, would possibly let me sell mine for $15 or so.

I've spent the last hour looking up the average stuff. There are people selling these for $3.99, with free shipping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somewhere out there, there is a stay at home mom or college boy, on the phone, bragging to a friend that they sold $31 in paint charts over the past month, but don't understand that they spent $9 in listing fees and FVF, plus about $14 in shipping.

They would have been better flipping burgers for a few hours each day, and could have been doing some good in the world, instead of destroying markets as they sit at home and play "mega-seller and profiteer" on ebay. .

[Bob Ellis]

Ebay is good because before, it was much harder finding kits and parts.

Assuming the auction is not rigged, prices are what the market will bear.

One seller that was mentioned shipped exactly what I wanted and fast too. I had no problems.

Yes, it is a lot of work to sell parts at a couple bucks.

[jbwelda]

>instead of destroying markets

exactly what "markets" are they destroying and how are they destroying them? I fail to see any connection there.

jb

[martinfan5]

So let me get this straight, first people whine and cry about how much kits cost, but then, whine and cry when someone sells kits cheap and is destroying the market ?

[Toner283]

>instead of destroying markets

exactly what "markets" are they destroying and how are they destroying them? I fail to see any connection there.

jb

I have to kind of agree with this. if there is an item for sale or $10 and someone else has the exact same item for sale for $5 why would I spend $10 for it? if I buy the $5 item then I have $5 to spend on something else. I need my money to go as far as I can make it go whether I am buying hobby items or whether I am buying groceries. if one store has an item on sale I am more likely to go to the store and buy it at the sale price. I am sure we have all seen eBay ads with outrageous prices and we thought to ourselves "wow you are going to own that forever because it isn't worth anywhere near that"

Or the sellers who think that any old model kit is worth gold. If you have a kit that was not much good to begin with and has been reissued 20 times, it isn't worth anywhere near as much as an original old annual kit that was only issued once. but I see a lot of sellers list them both at the same high price.

[clovis]

Lower prices and the competition is good for the buyer. I am thrilled when I am finding and getting a good deal on ebay, just like everyone else.

But, as a full time seller, it is frustrating to see any competitor literally dump stuff on the market, especially when priced even at the same price points, it will sell if given a little time.

Again, good for the consumer, bad for the sellers. Since I sell on ebay for a living, it gets frustrating sometimes having any chance of making a profit on an item utterly diminished.

It is no different than any other business in the world, but when it happens to you, it will drive you crazy!!! FWIW, it is much tougher in this slower economy when there is lower demand, and thus lower prices, for almost everything.

There is no stopping the practice of undercutting prices by sellers, in which the consumer wins, but it is frustrating when it happens to you....and sometimes, it makes no sense when some sellers destroy a market with ever lower prices. In my example of the paint chips, the competition has driven the price down to where no one can make any money. $3.99 with free shipping? Postage alone will cost at least $1.93, less ebay listing fee of .20, plus about .65 FV fee = $1.18 in profit, yet the guy with an old $30,000 car would gladly pay $9.99 for a paint chip.

[jbwelda]

>But, as a full time seller

oh I see the problem now. you are kind of bugged that someone else came up with your idea of living off of ebay. and you want people to buy a complete kit, from you, rather than mere parts from your competitor.

sorry, not much sympathy from this corner.

jb

Edited August 27, 2014 by jbwelda

[clovis]

>But, as a full time seller

oh I see the problem now. you are kind of bugged that someone else came up with your idea of living off of ebay. and you want people to buy a complete kit, from you, rather than mere parts from your competitor.

sorry, not much sympathy from this corner.

jb

Nope.

[Craig Irwin]

It's simple. If it's overpriced don't bid. I've bought several chassis for kitbashes and saved some $$$. I think the guy was building slot cars.

[Thatswhatshesaid]

eBay wasn't meant to be a career.

[Tom Geiger]

eBay has changed the entire collectibles market. Funny things happen when every collectible in the world suddenly appears in a searchable index. The rare suddenly is no longer hard to find. I can give a dozen examples of things I searched for years, at shows and in magazine classifieds, that now I can enter into an eBay search and several copies of it instantly appear. Sellers see that and price theirs a bit less than the one they see. Then the next seller does that and so on, until things sell for next to nothing. As said above, then it's not worth the effort to sell things.

That has run havoc on the flea market industry, as well as toy and model car swap meets. The legendary Toledo Toy Show is a very small shadow of what it once was. I'm sure that is true in other hobbies as well.

For those of you taking swipes at those posting the reality of this on sellers, nobody wins at the bottom of the market. eBay owns a site called Half.com. This is a book and media selling site. It's free to list and sellers pay a commission upon sale. The competition has gotten so bad that you can buy nearly any book for less than a dollar. When ever I want a book, I go and search. I buy one for a dollar and their standard charge of about $3 postage. Just like eBay it arrives in a few days. Usually brand new books, even hard covers. Selling for a dollar.