I bought a Sony WM-EX194 walkman brand new sealed in the box a couple of years ago. It was a last minute buy while browsing eBay. I looked for it on eBay today and saw some ridiculous prices, £100 to £250 for new in the box but there are loads of second hand ones way cheaper. Are these sellers just chancers that think the fact that something is new will get that price? It's a super basic no frills player and I want to sell it for the right price but I'm not a rip off merchant and I have no way of guessing an accurate price. I thought I'd start at £50 no reserve. Is this a thing on eBay where people just relist over and over in the vain hope someone stupid enough will pay that money for an item? What's your experience?
Patience is best for buying and selling. You can find amazing bargains if you just wait, sometimes months. It all depends how fast you want to buy or sell
I've been wondering the same thing, bidding behavior has changed over the years and I think it's a partial fine tuning of the sales process. In the old days you could set a reserve and start bidding at .01 cents, it was really frustrating to have a lot of bidding but you still didn't win because you got the "Reserve Not Met" banner. Now guys set a minimum price, which used to be the kiss of death, to at least, get their perceived item value. The professional sellers around here are on several sites at one time and I think if someone wants a particular unit they see it listed on one site at $xxxx, they shop around and see it on another site (even though it's the exact same unit) for the same price, or a little lower, and end up buying it thinking that's the going rate, kind of a poor man's marketing campaign.
What different sites do they use? Price wise I always try and take the time it took to restore the unit into consideration. My time is worth X so the technician’s time is also valuable. Otherwise why would they bother?
Absolutely. The only way to determine real prices is to click the "completed listings" button. I have sold lots of my late Fathers Britains Model Soldiers on Ebay. I am pretty sure that at any time you could buy almost any recent set you wanted "buy it now". However, the difference in price between the buy it nows and auction prices is typical two to four times. Needless to say the buy it nows very rarely sell.
Ebay's Buy It Now is getting confusing when it's also being auctioned. Does the seller want a number higher than the starting bid or lower? I usually go a little low and half the time feel like I'm insulting them and the other half they sell it.
Stuff like this will only drive the sales of the crappy Jensen model being pushed through Target stores right now.
The first wave of unheard of pricing really hit around 2006, pretty much following classic auto pricing, there used to be a ton of threads on how $35.00 TPR 950's were now going for $200.00. The recession hit and prices went down but not a lot because the for sale inventory was still low. I'd scour the ads for Marantz or Pioneer and one box would come up for sale maybe once a year, now there's several. What's different now is that prices are still high but there's also a larger selection of nice boxes available. Some of these guys may not want to, or need to sell but they throw out crazy money prices and see if anything moves. Some of these do get sold for big dollars so something is working.
I totally agree about exaggerated prices on Ebay, but it’s more a measure about how desperate people are willing to bid than what’s being asked for, despite the occasional OTT demands, particularly from E. Europe. Personally, I’m after a damaged DC-2, preferably with a broken gear, to rescue the Dolby chip in order to repair a cosmetically and otherwise operationally excellent example. But can I find even the most dog-eared and abused body DC-2s (usually photographed on a grubby floor - does anyone else shudder when they see this?) for less than £200-or even £300-ish? The answer seems to be a resounding “No”, as evidently, scratched and chipped bodies, worn buttons, broken gears, missing battery doors seem to be highly desirable, suggesting that maybe a Walkman repair and body spray facility exists out there! Please, can anyone in the UK keep an eye out for one that goes for a reasonable price...but preferably not one associated with Ebay.
Oh, you're telling me! I just took a glance at a few SGJ-500s I was watching, after getting suggestion in my email of one selling for $59.00... And as I scrolled down, what do I see? Units selling for $150-$259.00!! WTH!?
Twelve years ago, I bought two of this exact model for the kids. Brand new, they were £1.99 each with free shipping. IMHO, a fiver each might still be a good deal, but not much more. Basic, for sure but both still work fine & now are quite a curiosity for young & old. At the same time, I also bought myself a posher Sony WM-EX506 (for a whole £7!), which is a bit special. It's my car stereo's cassette player
If you feel like exercising your jaw (as it drops to the floor), then just take a peek at current and past DD9 listings. The meters are now going well into 4-figures red, at least on eBay UK, especially when contained in the original (often very tatty) box. As a comparison I paid £308.10 for my mint example, admittedly without the original case - which I’m still on the hunt for. It’s a pity there’s no dedicated website to buy & sell accessories other than haphazard items on...eBay!
I have given up on the DD9. Having lots of other DD's including the DD100 DDII's and III's and a DD33 plus a couple of D6C and D6 I cannot see that the prices asked for the DD9 are worth it. €1250!!.I mean how much better can a 5Mw a channel player sound compared to other great Walkman from the 1980's?. Not prepared to shell out that much and find I think the Boodo Khan and D6C are better!
Yes the DD9 prices are sky high, due to the hype. The hype is not justified but is just my opinion, It’s good but not that good. Again you are confusing its rated power output to sound quality, power output is nothing to do with sound quality. Yes the power output will affect what headphone it can drive with authority, but not how good it can sound. I have never heard a Boodo Khan so can’t comment again for me the Boodo Khan is over hyped, but with regard to sound quality of the DD9 the D6C and DC2 will leave it standing with regard to sound quality. This is only my opinion.
Sure. I know power output doesn't equate to sound quality but it does determine the optimum performance of some headphones as you point out. The DD100 is essentially the DDII with the DOL circuitry added. It was built for the music fan with massive output it drives any headphones but can be a bit boomy on some I've found. I would still like a DC2 and DD9 but these prices are too much of an obstacle now. Cheers B
