Ebay sellers are having a laugh...

I find it astonishing that ebay sellers are selling gear at over-inflated prices. Prior to Xmas Arcam cd192s were being sold at well over £400 (one I seem to remember was £445 + P&P), and I've just scanned the Roksan section and found that someone selling a Caspian M1 has suggested a RRP of £1600. I know you can pick-up the M2 for the same sort of money and get a full warranty.

Are we really that gullible?
 

subseastu

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I've noticed the same, I'm toying (still) with a Roksan K2, why buy it from ebay for £750 or so when I can get from the high street with warrenty. Someone somewhere must be buying them otherwide the prices wouldn't be this artifically inflated surely. I've also noticed a lack of second hand models on ebay recently. Maybe a sign of the times, folk can't afford to upgrade and just hanging on to what they've got?
 
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Anonymous

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Buyer beware :) There's nothing "wrong" in offering a product at an over inflated price, I see it in other areas too. If someone is gullible enough to purchase it, then more fool them.
 

Clare Newsome

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Remember that eBay is global - just because the prices may seem high to us in UK, they may be a bargain for overseas buyers, whom
(a) would normally pay a lot more to buy imported gear and/or
(b) live somewhere with a strong currency compared to the £, so buying at UK price is a bargain.
 

SteveR750

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The problem with selling new stuff on ebay is it has just got too greedy with the sellers fees, which are ridiculous - 10% of FVV capped at £40. I'm afraid most folk will try to go offline and do a cash in collect (the risk is the sale falls though of course but worth the cost of £40 for high value items). This is of course totally against ebay's on T&Cs but probably being broken all the time given the number of items that are mysteriously suddenly no longer for sale. I cannot see the point in selling or buying anything other than used stuff on ebay these days.
 

Overdose

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plastic penguin said:
Are we really that gullible?

In short, yes. Lazy too. People assume that ebay is full of bargains and therefore anything on it is a bargain and they generally do not seek out the real bargains elsewhere on the net.

As for the global thing, well, any online business is global too, ebay is not special in that regard.
 

Cpt.Issues

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eBay can be weird sometimes,

I've had both real bargins and found a lot of things that are actually cheaper straight from a 'normal' retailer.

Having recently sold kit on eBay I found the majority of interest was from places as far as India or Australia, despite shipping costing over a hundred pounds or so..

When selling I usually set the start price at half what I paid for it. Although recently I put a Beresford Camian up for nearly the same price as it could be bought new (the new gatorised version has knocked the standard price right down). Strangely it went within about 20 minutes or so of being posted. There wasn't even enough time to respond to buyers questions so just suggested they check out the beresford site instead where it could be bought new for near enough the same price..

I guess as with everything its just a case of doing some homework and being in the right place at the right time with regards to finding a bargin :?
 

Clare Newsome

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Overdose said:
As for the global thing, well, any online business is global too, ebay is not special in that regard.

But eBay had a much larger reach - it's a huge international marketplace few (if any) can match. Hence its ability to charge higher fees. Not that I am condoning its fee structure - just pointing out the facts....
 

Gusboll

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Clare Newsome said:
Overdose said:
As for the global thing, well, any online business is global too, ebay is not special in that regard.

But eBay had a much larger reach - it's a huge international marketplace few (if any) can match. Hence its ability to charge higher fees. Not that I am condoning its fee structure - just pointing out the facts....

Exactly! It is what it is; accessible for the world and if you do your homework, whether buyer or seller, in my experience it's usually a win-win.
 

jerry klinger

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Clare Newsome said:
Remember that eBay is global - just because the prices may seem high to us in UK, they may be a bargain for overseas buyers, whom
(a) would normally pay a lot more to buy imported gear and/or
(b) live somewhere with a strong currency compared to the £, so buying at UK price is a bargain.

You're so right.

We've let our lords and masters systematically devalue our currency since 2007 without batting an eyelid (or eyelidding a bat). Mervyn King & pals should be guillotined and the banks left to bail themselves out IMHO. For what it's worth.

Moving on.... must be good for UK exports....

Actually, the people really having a laugh on ebay are those who say 'new' when they mean, er, 'used'.
 
jerry klinger said:
Clare Newsome said:
Remember that eBay is global - just because the prices may seem high to us in UK, they may be a bargain for overseas buyers, whom
(a) would normally pay a lot more to buy imported gear and/or
(b) live somewhere with a strong currency compared to the £, so buying at UK price is a bargain.

You're so right.

We've let our lords and masters systematically devalue our currency since 2007 without batting an eyelid (or eyelidding a bat). Mervyn King & pals should be guillotined and the banks left to bail themselves out IMHO. For what it's worth.

Moving on.... must be good for UK exports....

Actually, the people really having a laugh on ebay are those who say 'new' when they mean, er, 'used'.

The ones I've been talking about, especially the CD192s, are UK deliveries only.
 

DIB

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jerry klinger said:
Actually, the people really having a laugh on ebay are those who say 'new' when they mean, er, 'used'.

I know, there's a Marantz NA7004 up on there at the moment, described as "as new". When pressed, the seller admitted the unit is "ex-demo" really. Now then ex-demo is perfectly acceptable, but advertise it accordingly. To push something "as new" is misleading at best.

.
 

DandyCobalt

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It's not just ebay that you need to be wary of, and know your prices/values. Amazon can be equally dangerous, especially through the resellers, but also amazon itself. And the prices seem to fluctuate from day to day too.

Shop around and find out how much things are really worth (new/used) before clicking on the buy button.
 

BenLaw

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DandyCobalt said:
Amazon can be equally dangerous, especially through the resellers, but also amazon itself. And the prices seem to fluctuate from day to day too.

I highly recommend to anyone buying on amazon checking price fluctuations on 'camelcamelcamel', it's superb and very quick. You can get it to email you when a price drops below a certain point and there is a plug in so when on amazon you can check prices with one click.
 

darrenconnor4

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There's somebody selling a pair of Grado SR80i's ATM and they state the condition as new (unopened, unused and all that jazz) and then says at the bottom....

"The box has been opened and the headphones used since Christmas. The box is ripped on the back."

having a laugh indeed!
 

Xanderzdad

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BenLaw said:
I highly recommend to anyone buying on amazon checking price fluctuations on 'camelcamelcamel', it's superb and very quick. You can get it to email you when a price drops below a certain point and there is a plug in so when on amazon you can check prices with one click.

Just installed the camel Google Chrome extension - brilliant. Thanks for the tip
 
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Anonymous

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A year or so ago I saw a scratched CA 840A have bids over £700 plus £25 postage :rofl: :rofl:
 
T

the record spot

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Rick1979 said:
I'm wanting an Aplha 9 cd player. Seen one on there, been listed at.......wait for it!!

£400 :rofl:

Yeah, the Alpha 9 range is way overpriced. Used to be reasonable then someone started talking the 9 up. Wheee!
 

Roby

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just had a look on Ebay but honestly most of the time to me it's not worth it.

I mean for me the personal relationship an advice of my dealer is also important beside the prices are not that cheap an most of the time I can have the same price in the shop an bring it back if there is a problem.

Of course there are some good secound hand deals but have to be lucky.
 

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