Buy cheap and sell high??

[gyusher]

This has been bothering me lately. . . Rather than post this to someones thread and get misunderstood or piss someone off I thought I would start a seperate thread to discuss the issue.

We all like to brag about our super deals where we just landed a SX-1250 for 5 bucks in mint condition. Not a thing in the world wrong with that. . .

The problem if it is a problem comes when we resell the piece we just landed for 100 times what we paid for it. . . .

I dont run across those deals and every time I try to sell a "find" I end up eating it. I do try not to brag about how little I paid if I want to sell it to this group. Generally if I have been fortunate to make a killing I try to do it on ebay. . . but I got to say most of what I sell for top dollar I paid top dollar for it to begin with.

There are those who brag about their good fortune then turn around and try to kill us with their high price. I dont know about the rest of you but to me whenever I want some piece that I remember was a "find" then when I want it or I see the same piece for sale for 100 times its cost I kinda feel like I am getting screwed regardless what the piece is worth.

In my mind if someone wants to sell gear to other members for top dollar dont tell them what you paid for it. . . Or at least give the members a break otherwise use other avenues to sell that piece.

Trust me here . . .I am not pointing a finger just talking in general terms. . . It does get to the point with so many threads about these super finds that no matter what is being sold it is in the back of my mind. . I find myself wondering is this 500 dollar piece one that was just bought for 5 bucks by the seller. . .

If I am lighting a fire here someone put it out as it is not my intention just curious about how everyone else feels about it. I understand that the seller has the absolute right to charge what they want and we dont have to buy it if we feel like it. . .

 

[WildWest]

I have to say that I am with you here. Rather like to think of AK as a "brotherhood" so to speak and if you steal something for dirt cheap and then go to sell it here, AK members should get better than market price, not bent over and hosed. Nothing wrong with making a profit and some live by this that sort of thing. But for crying out loud, don't tell me that you got it for a song and then want to sell it to me for my first born. I have run across the "deal" about once a year thanks to the audio Gods but I'm no seller either so I brag and brag and brag about it. LOL

Neener, neener, neeeeeener...Lookie what I stole

 

[Punker X]

Hey, this is America, that's what the US is all about.. Capitalism.

Saying you pick-up up a steal here then turning around an trying to sell it for 10 times more is just bad advertising.

I was recently interested in an offering by a member, then I did a search because this person always brags about his deals. He got it for $40, then tried to sell it here for $400. Even though the $400 was less than the going price on Ebay, I just couldn't bring myself to give someone that much profit.

X

 

[gyusher]

Going rate

I know I have been guilty of this myself but I can count the number of deals I have got on one hand. In the past two years almost every item I stole I either still have it or it is broke or it came back after I sold it. I remember my SX-828 that I bought for 20 bucks and sold it for 159.99 on eBay then it was returned and resold for 79.00 . . . Also on ebay.

Most of my deals have been in cheap speakers that are hard to ship or after you finish with refoaming and the other issues getting them ready to sell by then I am in it so deep the good has gone anyway. . .

I agree about the bad advertising thing. . . Bad form. . .

 

[BlackSwamp]

I kinda found a place where I'm comfortable with both sides of this.

There are occasionally great deals offered here that the greedy bastard in me wants to jump on. I have resisted the temptation to do so if my motive is to resell it anywhere. If I want it for myself then I'll go ahead. I've bought a couple TTs here and both were well below market value. The first I sold after about 4 months when I bought my Well Tempered. The second I use as my second table.

I've sold very little here but have given a few things away to members that obviously are willing to give some effort into making this site better. I'd also sell cheap to those same type of members if I ever seen them post a WTB of something I have.

I do pretty well on selling stuff elsewhere and I have no problem with that. I put time and effort into the "score" and cleaning, repairing, packing.

 

[spkrman57]

Selling to a stranger, I go for the bucks...

But for fellow audiophiles, I prefer to barter my steals for theirs when convenient, that way no one gets a bad deal.

I have more problems selling to friends than strangers, I can do business with strangers with no regret. More times than not, I screw myself selling to friends because I feel guilty and think they deserve a better deal sometimes.

Ron

 

[Rockmonton]

on here people are real nice and friendly and give each other stuff all the time i think its fair that they chould get low market prices, but if its something that will fetch a really high price by all means take some ebay'ers for all their worth.

 

[rek50]

It basically all works out in the end. It doesn't matter what "Label" you attach to what you are doing. Simple enough, if you screw people, you'll get screwed back, one way or another. I've seen it happen a lot. Confucius said: "Don't do to others, what you don't want done to you." In the West, this has been reframed into a directive, more commonly known as the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Bragging, speaks for itself. The inability to feel emotion is linked with narcissism, because narcissists are only concerned with how they appear and not how they feel. They wear a mask, striving to appear in a certain way, even though their underlying feelings are in conflict. As a result, narcissists can be very manipulative, striving for power and control in order to maintain their image. They are focused on their own interests, but lack dignity and integrity. Because narcissists only value themselves, they become the ultimate competitive beings.

A society that sacrifices fairness and integrity for profit and power betrays its insensitivity to human needs. The proliferation of material things becomes the measure of progress in living, and man is pitted against woman, worker against employer, individual against community. When wealth occupies a higher position than wisdom, when notoriety is admired more than dignity, when success is more important than self-respect, the culture itself overvalues 'image' and is regarded as narcissistic.

 

[Haoleb]

A general rule for me is that if i get something for free i will give it away for free. This works for broken gear that ive gotten, and i have given a couple of peices away. But, if i got say a BA5000 for 20 bucks and was so inclined to sell the thing i would probbly like to get decent money for it. Top dollar no, i would at least sell 50 or more dollars below what everyone else wants, since you get the thing for cheap its like money you never had so its no loss! pass your good fortune on to others

 

[Wedweb]

I agree with Haoleb. I have told my friends at work what I have paid for items, audio or whatever, and then when I say I may want to sell it they want 1 dollar over what my "steal of a deal" was. Now is that fair? I try and see what things are going for on ebay and subtract off the ebay fees, packing, and just labor in putting those items on ebay and that is rounded down to a nice lower than market price.

Not being stingy or mean about it but put yourself in the position of the seller.

Be happy for the person who finds the "find of their year" and when they want to see the fruits of their effort let them have some lattitude in the pricing. So the normally $500 receiver he/she sells to AKers for $450 or less. That is a deal also.

I'm sorry if I ruffled anyone's ideals. I appreciate the advice and help on items from everyone here and am glad 'we' have this forum.

Bo

 

[Unican_Eric]

Well the way I look at this is how would I feel if I was the one that was hosed. Well I know first hand cause I WAS the one that was hosed. I won an auction on the bay for a set of Sound Dynamics that I had been looking for and paid $45.00 American plus the shipping and handling. When they arrived i did my usual inspection and found on the bottom of one speaker a swatch of masking tape with $5.00 pair. Now thats $5.00 Canadian.He probably got them at a yardsale and laughed all the way to the bank.

I was so pissed that I swore that I would never do that to somebody else and still to this day I do not.

Now I understand that you have the right to sell for whatever you can get for something, But I always wonder that if these people that go around to pawn shops and yard sales buying up all that they can find working or not, so that they can sell at a higher price on the bay or whatever,realize that this leads to a supply and demand issue driving up the prices of something that could at one time have been affordable by someone with little cash flow. Hell I think that we should all have a chance to own one of the vintage kings of the time SX1250 etc. and should not have to take out a loan to do it.

Do I make any sense at all or am I just a complainer?

 

[Wornears]

Free Markets Are Not Sentimental

It's called capitalism. Do your research before buying. If the price is too high, or you don't want to pay fair market value for a piece someone got a deal on: well, no one is holding a gun to the keyboard.

 

[Unican_Eric]

Agreed, But at least I can sleep at night.

 

[Justen]

Okay, as an ebay seller I was going to stay out of this ( I never post my ebay stuff on AK) but I fail to see the logic here.
Your local grocery store finds a "deal" on their items and you happily pay what they sell them for. You find a "deal" on a hot stock and cash it in for multiple times the value in a few days. Do you begrudge the grocery store, Walmart, your local jeweler or used record store their profit? Are you saddened by other people who paid more for your stock than you did, especially when you sold it? Are you upset your house appreciates in value when you sell it? I suspect most of the answers here are no (okay, maybe Walmart)! Or is it the fact that people say how much they paid for it, and you'd rather not know? But obviously you buy things all the time that cost less than you pay- if you get a good deal on ebay, or a slightly better deal via AK you should be happy, not begrudge the seller!

 

[Wornears]

Slight profit!

Yes, what you said. Quite a "slight" profit on that deal of yours! <G>

I like a deal as much as the next AKer, but for me, if an eBayer or AKer got a piece free, and sold it to me for a fair market value -- the profit on the transaction is their business, not mine. I can always keep looking if the price isn't to my liking.

 

[gyusher]

Prices

My only point is this;

Dont show me a piece and tell me that you just paid two dollars for it now if you want it give me 500 bucks. . .


My feelings are when you make that big score by all means sell it as high as the traffic will bear just dont rub my nose in it by telling me how much money you just made off of me. . .Everyone likes to think they made the best deal they could and it feels great to sell high and buy low. . . I guess some things are best left unsaid. . .

 

[bolly]

Probably true!

I guess some things are best left unsaid. . .

Greg

 

[Toasted Almond]

Wouldn't hurt to learn a little about the equipment that you're selling also.

I don't like it when a individual doesn't know dick about audio, gives him or herself a misleading name, and then hits ebay or whatever. It's freakin' kid stuff from top to bottom.

"Look what I've got!! Everybody jealous?? Good. Can somebody tell me how to work what I just bought?"

TA

 

[Ski]

But sometimes it's a tough call

I love getting and giving deals. I haven't sold too much stuff, but passing along deals is great for the hobby.

Here's a situation I was in last month:
I recently got a good deal on a pair of speakers and am considering selling them. I really like these speakers, but I also need some money. I could put them on ebay and hope to get top dollar (parting them out would be most lucrative), or I could offer them here for middle dollar. Sure I'll make a profit, but some other member would end up getting a great deal (50-75% of ebay cost) on a great sounding pair of rare JBLs. I didn't wind up selling them (the digital camera is busted), but I was torn in a couple of directions while thinking about it.

 

[TWantiques]

I am an antique dealer and I face this question all the time. If I get a good deal do I price it at retail or based on what I paid for it? More often than not I price according to what I pay for it as long as I can make what I think I need to. That allows me to pass on a good deal to one of my customers or another dealer. Either way I win because they will come back and shop again. Even though I am not selling stereo equipment I would use the same philosophy if I did.

Example: I get lucky and find a $500 item for $50 (doesn't happen very often or often enough!). I would probably sell it to another dealer for $350 or a retail customer for $400. Both would be happy and I have made enough to buy a couple tanks of gas (maybe!) and buy more inventory.

As far as the importance of what the seller paid for something, I could care less. If the $400 item is what I am looking for and in my price range it doesn't matter that the seller only paid $40. How many times do we sell something for what we have in it or a very small markup just to have the funds for our next purchase?

His good deal will inspire me to "hit the thrifts." By the way, being new at this I did the other day for the first time. On Saturday the two nearest me were zoo's. Cluttered and packed with people and a selection of not so old, plastic stereo gear. Won't go on the weekend anymore.