eBay getting ridiculous...

People have the same coins...over and over.

Same high starting price.

Over and over...they never sell.... they get relisted a dozen times...with no bids...because the starting price is way too high.

Start it at 99 cents and see where it goes...that's it's true price...stop selling the same thing over and over at the same price when you never get a bid.

This coin...has a value of $58.00...Starting bid is $78.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Half-Dollar-1952-Franklin-NGC-MS-64-FBL-UNC-Silver-/150805366291?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item231cb34613#ht_1304wt_1037

Value= $41.00.

Starting bid is $60.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRANKLIN-HALF-DOLLAR-1963-NGC-MS65-/330722921933?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item4d009f4dcd#ht_500wt_1287



This stuff goes on and on....

It will be on auction this week....and next...I've seen the same coins on for over 3 months, with the same price...and NO BIDS.


But the funny thing is...

I can BUY stuff cheaper than bidding on it.

I've gotten outbid on 3 coins today...I had a bid of EXACTLY the same amount, for a buy it now, on the same year/type/grade.

Why the #%#$ do you outbid me? When you can buy the SAME EXACT coin for the same price?

Are you some kind of sadistic jerk that just outbids people so they just end up buying it?

 

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I picked up a 52 Franklin NGC 64 FBL for even less than $58.

The 63 Franklin in 65 was $35, last summer when I got it.

 

I hear ya. If you want to start it for something other than $0.99, then start it for somewhere between $0.99 and what you figure it will sell for. But not 20% over what they've been selling for. How hard is it to search completed listings? (That's the poorman's version of the Redbook/Grey Sheet)

Another thing I hate is reserve prices. Don't do a reserve price. Instead, start the auction at what would have been your reserve price. I don't know how many times I've bid $50 on a $0.99 item with a reserve price and nobody else bids on it, so it never reaches the reserve price.

I list all of my auctions starting at $0.99. It attracts more bidders and for some people, once they bid on an item, it's already theirs in their mind. When someone outbids them, they say to themself "Oh no you don't, that's mine!"

 

Ancients are bad too. A run of the mill denarius thats usually $60 or less is listed at $225. Whats funnier is nasty bronzes fresh from the dirt worth $2 with BIN of $50.

 

i def. understand your frustration. I think what they want is for that one person to buy it at the overpriced price. i think they're looking for a sucker. or a novice.

 

This begs the question, why exactly would you bid the same price as you could have bought it with BIN? That seems more sadistic to me.
Guy

 

if you dont like it then dont bid on it. It's that's simple. People as you are already aware, can put whatever price they want. Why are you letting what others do get to the best of you? You probably spent more time figuring out the value and posting this thread then what it's worth. By letting the sellers get to you is letting them win...

 

Ebay is a feast or famine world, kind of reminds me of general retail box stores. People set all ranges of prices that they feel it could go for, hence the term "fair market value". Fair market value is an undetermined amount of money for a product or service. People often pay less money for less quality or if it doesn't meet a need, and people pay more for the absolute top notch quality and service. Even for those items that have been on there for 3-4 months, I guarantee there will come a time when someone will pay that money. It might just not be today...

 

Some people will relist the same item repeatedly at the same opening bid price because that is the least amount that they are willing to accept in order to part with that coin.
Very simple
Starting auctions for 99cents would be murder for me since I provide free shipping which always includes delivery confirmation.The least expensive way to ship 1 coin with delivery confirmation is $1.64.
If I allowed a coin to potentially sell for 99cents , I would still have to pay over 20% of that to eBay & PayPal. So that takes the proceeds down to 79.2cents.Then I pay for free shipping and that takes the final realized amount down to negative 77.56 cents.
As you can see that is not a good way to generate capital to buy the coins you really want.

 

If they paid Detecto to take it, he'd still work hard to find something to complain about.

 

:yes:

 

You should check the listings for Canadian coins - asking prices are ludicrous.
One dealer (who I won't name) used to offer nice coins at a fair price. Now his asking prices are way over Trends.

 

Unfortunately, starting items all at 99 cents and seeing where they go to achieve the "true price" of the item is mostly poor marketing and planning by a seller. Saying that items on ebay should not have reserve prices is also a stupid thing to say, as some items need to have a reserve price by the seller so that the seller doesn't simply give it away or take a loss.

I think you need to remember that, amid all the changes in rules from ebay and paypal, that euphemistically "encourage" sellers to be more friendly by shipping free, or other things, sellers still have a right to make a profit on their items. Shipping costs are not going down, and neither are the costs of supplies to ship items with. Even if you forget the item cost to the person who bought it to sell on ebay.

Even though there were some items I sold that I started at a low price, to "encourage" bidding, and sometimes I won on it, and others I lost, there were some items I knew had the value and could not afford to have it hit ebay during a week where the potential buyers either were on vacation, not looking, or at the last minute when they wanted to bid, were experiencing a power outage or something.

I will give you an example. I was at an estate sale, where I purchased some items. One of the items I purchased to resell on ebay happened to be a buffalo skin. A quirky item that I thought would get me a profit of some kind. I paid about 100.00 for it at the estate sale.

After I took pictures and did my research, I found that most ones were selling for anywhere from 200 to 600 dollars, and that shipping to anywhere in the US would cost a certain amount. This was before ebay "encouraged" sellers to offer free shipping on near anything. It was also at a time that after listing and putting pics on and all, that ebay's commission would be somewhere around 8 percent or more. I decided that this would be a reserve item, and I put my reserve at 200.00. The first time I listed, it did not get it's reserve price. I think the highest price bid was about 120.00. If it had sold with that, I would not have recouped my cost, as I had to consider the time and money (gas, etc) I spent travelling to estate sales to find things, as well as the time I spent photoing, and storing, and all in there as well. I relisted, again with the same 200.00 reserve and the next week it sold. I think I charged 40.00 for shipping/handling (have to buy boxes and pay for the size of the box along with weight, and insurance, etc). So I made money on that one, but not too much.

You may be picking up on some items that are too high priced, but the solution is not universally to say sellers should never have a reserve price, and should start their items at 99 cents.

And the ultimate test is if a seller ends up not selling an item, then the seller gets to learn the lesson. Doesn't mean the seller has to "give away" their lesson in failure to someone who wants the coin.

 

Guarantee it. How many of these senseless rants do we get each week? I firmly believe that his posting here has nothing to do with coins and is only about getting attention.

 

I don't get the repeat items. If an item has been in an auction over 6 times, with no bids, then either...

A. Keep it.
B. Lower your starting price and try...try again.

Although I do see SOME sellers lowering the price when listing, some do not.

I never liked reserves. I think reserve auctions make people scared.

The last 2 coins I bid on, sold for more than a similar coin in buy it now.

Maybe the basement dwellers give themselves a sense of accomplishment when they win an auction. Maybe they like the winning part.

 

Why do you always take your auction losses as personal attacks?

 

'cause he's the hobby ambassador. Needs to keep an eye on stuff so everyone can get edumacated by his wisdom.

 

In other words, there's more fish in the pond than just one guppy. And the guppy's opinions on things and outlook in life doesn't necessarily translate to other fish that have lived longer and had a lot of more or different experiences. The guppy is upset when the other fish get his fishfood.

 

I don't blame sellers for trying to get what they can. Especially if it's something nice. If you want it, you have to pay. If not, the seller has to sit on it. Who cares? Ebay and paypal fees are harsh. At least 12% off the top that the seller never sees. Then they usually have to pay shipping which can be another 5 to $10. People aren't going to list a coin for the fun of it and lose money in fees, just to give somebody a deal. Otherwise, what's the point? The buy it now price covers everything so this isn't a surprise.

Most of these sellers have ebay stores which offer sellers significant discounts for listing a certain number of items each month. They set it up so that if the item doesn't sell, it automatically re-lists itself. I don't think they have to physically do anything so this shouldn't come as a shock that things are re-listed many times. This is what ebay businesses do across the board. It isn't just coins.

Somewhat prevalent with car parts as well. There may be a little cheap piece of trim somebody has for sale that should only be worth a couple bucks. But if they're the only ones on ebay selling one, they can list it over and over for $50. Eventually, some month, somebody is going to come along that needs that part and they'll pay $50 to get it for the sake of convenience. Nobody forces anybody to buy anything.