You know those Ebay sellers that put a crazy high price on something because...

[Iron Patch]

There are times I put a high price on something just to see if it will work.
I have a couple of old phones and phone parts on the bay right now for $165 BIN with a make me an offer.
I paid $5 for the whole box. Even if i get $75 I will be happy.

What urks me (changing the subject, sorry) is I had an offer of $100 which was fine but I countered with $110 expecting an OK or $105. Didn't get anything, not even a "sorry, no thanks"

don't people know how to be polite?

That was nothing to do with polite, they just made their max offer and probably felt like they were getting squeezed. If you're going to do that make sure to add a note that you have near that amount in yourself, so need just a little more. And if they don't bite, you write them and say you'll take the $100 if they're still interested. I too will put some big prices on stuff, but if the offer is reasonable I usually take it without a counter. If I feel an offer is genuine I'll also also add a note if I decline, but if it's not close at all I'll just hit the decline because they obviously didn't take my thoughts and price into account when they offered.

 

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[Silver Searcher]

Don't worry you won't offend me at all. The problem here was I thought I could talk to you like fellow buyers, but now like many other things on this site people have to jump in to defend the person on the other end. But that's ok, as i said it doesn't bother me as nothing on here really raises my temperature.

PS: You really made too much of the win-lose thing. (or I made it sound that way) Makes it sound like it's a big deal when the reality is I've been doing these deals for well over 10 years so it really doesn't matter much. I seen the price and decided to buy them, that's about it, but doesn't make for much of a post.

Well if you have done it for 10 years IP you must be doing it right, and probably a lot of return buyers.

SS

 

[Iron Patch]

Well if you have done it for 10 years IP you must be doing it right, and probably a lot of return buyers.

SS

yes, many, some for many years. I took a fair break not too long ago, but am back steady now and see my customer base growing and new repeat customers starting to happen. That is something that makes a huge difference on ebay, because the more bidders/buyers the better the prices will be. And when some items are only like a 10% profit margin that extra bid makes the difference.

 

[NJ Marty]

Don't worry you won't offend me at all. The problem here was I thought I could talk to you like fellow buyers, but now like many other things on this site people have to jump in to defend the person on the other end. But that's ok, as i said it doesn't bother me as nothing on here really raises my temperature.

PS: You really made too much of the win-lose thing. (or I made it sound that way) Makes it sound like it's a big deal when the reality is I've been doing these deals for well over 10 years so it really doesn't matter much. I seen the price and decided to buy them, that's about it, but doesn't make for much of a post.

No need to defend anyone who puts a price on an item. Your desire of wanting the item plus the knowledge of the item was key, not his price. He got the $ amount he desired and is happy.

 

[Iron Patch]

No need to defend anyone who puts a price on an item. Your desire of wanting the item plus the knowledge of the item was key, not his price. He got the $ amount he desired and is happy.

He had best offer on it, so he got more than expected because I'm sure he didn't expect anyone to just hit the buy it now. He was definitely happy, I could hear it in the text of his message to me.

 

[clovis97]

IP,

I'm kinda dealing with the same thing right now. A seller has listed an item for $100, which is totally the top end of the market. He'll accept $80 with shipping for the item, which he told me after I emailed him.

$80 is still at the top of the market, but I might be able to break it up and sell it for $240, less the ebay/paypal fees.

I'm torn because I have a deep inventory on the shelf right now, but this one would be nice to add to my stock.

Two months ago, I would have never paid $80 for this set, but today, the profit is so enticing.

Thoughts??

 

[Iron Patch]

IP,

I'm kinda dealing with the same thing right now. A seller has listed an item for $100, which is totally the top end of the market. He'll accept $80 with shipping for the item, which he told me after I emailed him.

$80 is still at the top of the market, but I might be able to break it up and sell it for $240, less the ebay/paypal fees.

I'm torn because I have a deep inventory on the shelf right now, but this one would be nice to add to my stock.

Two months ago, I would have never paid $80 for this set, but today, the profit is so enticing.

Thoughts??

In that situation I will always add it, unless I'm extremely hurting for cash flow.

PS: I received my coin lot, and even at the price I paid it was an extremely good deal. It's not sold yet, but I have a pretty high private standing offer from a collector I know on the West coast.

 

[clovis97]

Thanks, IP.

I made an offer to the seller last night, but I made it for $75. I know it is just $5 less, but that is truly where I feel comfortable on the deal. Let's see if he takes it.

 

[Iron Patch]

Thanks, IP.

I made an offer to the seller last night, but I made it for $75. I know it is just $5 less, but that is truly where I feel comfortable on the deal. Let's see if he takes it.

He'll probably counter $5 higher.

 

[clovis97]

I still haven't heard back from him. I suspect he is playing this smart, and waiting until the very last minute to respond to my offer. Someone might just pop on his $100 asking price.

 

[clovis97]

The seller let my offer expire, but what is interesting is that he received 9 other offers, but declined all of those.

While I would like the tool that he has, I've purchased two more in the past week.

IronPatch, do you ever think that you are one of the sole bidders/buyers in the categories you work...and that prices would fall quite a bit if you stopped buying? I feel that way in the tool category that I watch!

 

[Iron Patch]

The seller let my offer expire, but what is interesting is that he received 9 other offers, but declined all of those.

While I would like the tool that he has, I've purchased two more in the past week.

IronPatch, do you ever think that you are one of the sole bidders/buyers in the categories you work...and that prices would fall quite a bit if you stopped buying? I feel that way in the tool category that I watch!

I buy many types of items and am probably just a player in all except for one so it depends how the bidding goes. The one I left out I dominate and basically have a monopoly on because most other buyers don't tend to look at it the same way as I do, and don't make the profit I can. It's usually not a question of whether I win, just what I pay and how much I will make. I used to have something else like that too, but the price dropped a little, competition increased, and now the time involved made it not worth it. So in general it's a day to day thing fighting it out for almost anything I buy, but as I said there's one specific type of buy that is almost always mine.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

When you have masses of people selling things online. Sometimes people don't always know what they have and the value of them. So people will list things to high and also to low on occasion. I'm thinking it was one of those situations.

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[clovis97]

He'll probably counter $5 higher.

After the seller let my offer expire, I emailed him a last night, and we settled on $78. It is still more than I wanted to pay, especially since I have a good stock of these tools on the shelf, but the item he has is NICE.

IP, since you are in Canada: Is there enough of the stuff you look for listed on ebay.ca? I would imagine that you buy quite a bit from the US ebay, right? Is shipping an issue?

I just had a Canadian buyer want to buy two of the tools I have, and I was drop-dead shocked at the shipping price to Canada. A six ounce package was almost $9. That is a high percentage on a $30 purchase. We ship to Canada every week, but I haven't shipped any of these tools yet. I hope my postal clerk was right about the quote she gave me!

Also, with exchange rates...does that ever work in your favor, or against you? Seems that even a 4% difference could cost you or earn you $24 on a $600 item. Just curious.

 

[Iron Patch]

When you have masses of people selling things online. Sometimes people don't always know what they have and the value of them. So people will list things to high and also to low on occasion. I'm thinking it was one of those situations.

Keep @ it and HH !!

I think there's a reasonable chance this seller thought the lower end coins were worth a lot more, but there are some that know the different and list at an insane price just to see what will happen. This is not a big deal to me and my whole point to the post was it was unlucky I had to pay as much as I did, but in the end I made a lot more than what I paid him, so I am as happy as he was.

 

[Iron Patch]

After the seller let my offer expire, I emailed him a last night, and we settled on $78. It is still more than I wanted to pay, especially since I have a good stock of these tools on the shelf, but the item he has is NICE.

IP, since you are in Canada: Is there enough of the stuff you look for listed on ebay.ca? I would imagine that you buy quite a bit from the US ebay, right? Is shipping an issue?

I just had a Canadian buyer want to buy two of the tools I have, and I was drop-dead shocked at the shipping price to Canada. A six ounce package was almost $9. That is a high percentage on a $30 purchase. We ship to Canada every week, but I haven't shipped any of these tools yet. I hope my postal clerk was right about the quote she gave me!

Also, with exchange rates...does that ever work in your favor, or against you? Seems that even a 4% difference could cost you or earn you $24 on a $600 item. Just curious.

I buy from everywhere and anywhere and sell mainly to the U.S, but gradually over the years more and more overseas. The early days like 99% to the US, and now if I had to guess maybe 80%.


As for the exchange rate most Americans probably don't remember, or really paid attention to how strong the dollar was against the Canadian one. I only wish I could have done the volume back then as I do now because it was crazy how much extra I would make. For example in 2002 I sold a button I found for $1,300 USD and the exchange gave me $2,000 Can. Even though that advantage is gone it probably helped me a lot getting going and giving me the experience to easily survive now doing it at par. All that said, so even though I am Canadian the American economy is just as important to me as any of you. My PP account has been in USD since day 1.

 

[clovis97]

I remember the huge difference with the US/Can dollars.

While we never went for the sole purpose of shopping, it was fun to cross the boarder to shop. Several times, we had a ball at W#lmart and some of the shopping malls in Ontario. Seems that $100 worth of items would cost us about $60 US, even with GST.

The most fun was being able to buy the candy and chocolates that you don't find here.

We also had a hay-day eating out since it was so incredibly cheap. I left a $15 US tip for outstanding service, and the waitress literally ran outside to the parking lot to thank us.

I miss those days. We had fun!

 

[clovis97]

I've been trying to branch out into new areas, like Lionel trains.

I have an even greater respect for you IP. It is a little nerve racking to buy something with the hopes of flipping it for more money.

I placed my max bid tonight on an engine set. Two years ago, these were sky-high, but now, the market is a bit flooded, and prices are depressed. I was hoping to flip it for a $75 profit. The engines sold for $22 more than my max bid, and I am fine with that.

Iron, I do have this question:

Lionel trains seem to vary in value, and if we charted certain items, I think it would look like a stock chart. There are lots of peaks and valleys with items. For instance, diesel engines were crazy hot for 4 to 6 months, but now, they are cheap. I suspect that they will go back up in price, which could be in 2 months or next year.

Here is a good example: For a long time, any nice 445 switch tower accessory with a box was $75-$100. Then, for whatever reason, there was no interest in 445 towers, and I bought two of them for $30 and $32, and they remained low for a long time. I suspect that I could flip those easily for $85 each today. I've seen this time and time again with different engines or accessories.

Do you see wide variations in prices like this in the coin market? Are there times when a type of coin is hot, and then later, they're not, just to come roaring back later?

 

[Iron Patch]

I've been trying to branch out into new areas, like Lionel trains.

I have an even greater respect for you IP. It is a little nerve racking to buy something with the hopes of flipping it for more money.

I placed my max bid tonight on an engine set. Two years ago, these were sky-high, but now, the market is a bit flooded, and prices are depressed. I was hoping to flip it for a $75 profit. The engines sold for $22 more than my max bid, and I am fine with that.

Iron, I do have this question:

Lionel trains seem to vary in value, and if we charted certain items, I think it would look like a stock chart. There are lots of peaks and valleys with items. For instance, diesel engines were crazy hot for 4 to 6 months, but now, they are cheap. I suspect that they will go back up in price, which could be in 2 months or next year.

Here is a good example: For a long time, any nice 445 switch tower accessory with a box was $75-$100. Then, for whatever reason, there was no interest in 445 towers, and I bought two of them for $30 and $32, and they remained low for a long time. I suspect that I could flip those easily for $85 each today. I've seen this time and time again with different engines or accessories.

Do you see wide variations in prices like this in the coin market? Are there times when a type of coin is hot, and then later, they're not, just to come roaring back later?

Yes for sure. A good example is counterfeits, mainly halfpennies but Farthings too. About 5 years ago the prices were very good and because there's not too many serious collectors I was able to find hidden ones the big buyers would miss. I was doing this on a very regular basis and it accounted for a decent % of my income every month. But as time went on, more sellers realized the potential of them, the collectors filled most of the holes in their collections, and the prices really dropped. Now it's harder to find a hidden one, and even when you can, it's more like $40-$50 than $200. These days counterfeits do not really account for much of my income, but I still hunt for them, and do hit paydirt now and again. As I said it's a challenge to find ones they do not have, but when I do, it's usually a good result.


Did you set a bid by bidding, or was it a snipe? I never bid early as there's no benefit to it, and if you're going to lose it's better it happens at the end. Speaking of bids, this week I am bidding on something fairly good that's relatively hidden. Not so hidden that I am totally confident it was sneak through, but there is a decent chance. Right now it's just got the opening bids and if I'm right I figure it's worth anywhere in the range from $500-$1,000. (hard to say for sure from the pics) My bid will be around $500 give or take so it's going to be quite a rush when the clock is ticking down those final seconds. It's very hard for me to find deals I can make hundreds off of, but I'm on a pretty good roll so will be keeping my fingers crossed this item stays under the radar.

 

[clovis97]

I happened to bid during the last 30 seconds. I had gotten a notification on my iPhone that the auction was ending in 15 minutes, and I was surprised to see the engines still under $200. I placed a bid of $210.59, with the hopes of flipping it for $300. Someone else bid in the last 10 seconds, so I lost it out then. This morning, in hindsight, I should have gone higher, with the intentions of flipping them for $349.

FWIW, I've been watching postwar Lionel for over 10 years on ebay, and the 'hot today but not tomorrow' phenom is pretty interesting. I long believed that there is some money to be made, but haven't really tried it. Shipping is something to overcome too, since shipping can easily run $20 on a pair of F3 diesels.

The interesting thing about the Lionel 'hot today but not tomorrow' is that the market does rebound, but guessing when is the hard part. I do know that the reissues by Lionel is depressing postwar prices greatly, but an article in Classic Toy Trains can cause prices to spike tremendously.

I suspect it is going to take me a long while to hone my skills and be successful with finding trains on ebay for the sole purpose of flipping on ebay. And when you are as dumb as I am, it is going to be a serious learning curve, LOL.