I for one , really dislike high buy it now prices. Now I guess that goes without saying really , but my main point is this :

Why not just get your balls out and start a radio price at 0.99p , no reserve, let the auction run it's course and see what happens.

Maybe in USA it would be interesting.
In Austria it would be no good.
If you are selling a really interesting box, the price would stay low!
For example the 3D i bid on.
I was the only one.
I got it for the starting price of 20euros.
Hitachi 3D

But i started an auction with my old GRUNDIG worldreceiver.
But i guess nobody will buy it.
Not for 5euro at all.
Grundig Ocean Boy

I'm not a fan of the market sellers deciding the collectible value of any item. If it is genuinely of value the buyers will decide this and not the seller.

Unless a radio sells reliably, at a similar price over a couple of years it doesn't have any kind of actual monetary value that is reasonably dictatable by a seller.

It's just that with ghetoblasters theres such a massive gap between what the average person in the street thinks it's value is compared to a collector that these kind of ebay sellers just assume they can make umpteen thousand percent profit on anything with a tape deck and a handle.

They'll learn eventually though, they're in the business to sell them and if people don't buy them then prices will forseeably come down.

Is it the same on every ebay that the BIN disappears as soon as a bid is placed? I know it still works that way here, and it let me get a GF-9000 $300 less than the BIN price.



Rock On.

IMO selling is not about how big your balls are.

Its about earning money. The $1500 bbx is a classic example, clearly way overpriced for the "norm" but there are fools born every day. That is how the capitolism engine runs. Just because most of us CHOOSE not to buy it at such a price, that is our perogative.

If I've paid $150 for a bbx and decide that its just not for me. I feel that if I paid that, then it was most likely fair market TO ME. If I decide to turn around and sell it, your saying I should consider accepting possibly $20 in return because people are cheap? Why should take a $130 loss??

I really understand what your saying royal, but IMO, its not about balls, but for some, economic sense.......would you not agree?

Take your most expensive, valuable, sentimental, hard to find, wouldn't part with it for the world, bbx, convince yourself to sell it........right now.....just do it....come on......start it at $.99.

1:1000000000 odds you'd never agree to that......

And on the other hand.......some people are just plain greedy.....LOL

But I'm not going to judge........

Let's not forget this point either and this is not in all cases because many of the boxes on Ebay are filthy and untouched. But if you as a seller have spent an enormous amount of time and effort cleaning/repairing/restoring a box, then you have a right to ask whatever you want for your time. If you choose to list with a high BIN price and a reserve for that matter then it your choice. Nobody has to buy it. It has nothing to do with getting your balls out. Spend 8-10-20 hours on a box, maybe more. Then see if you want to risk selling it for $20 bucks. As far as the dirty, non-working yard sale crap, usually found on Ebay, well....the choice is still theirs, but they are much less likely to succeed.

quote:

Originally posted by r o y a l ®:
I for one , really dislike high buy it now prices.

If you don't like the BIN on an item (and don't want anyone else to pay it, either), just enter a bid. The BIN will go away (unless there's a reserve price on the item), and the seller will be forced to let the auction run its course and see how much his item is actually worth.

BIN's are for people like me, who:
...can't bear the thought of losing an item and will pay a premium to lock it in;
...are comfortable with it because it's pretty close to what they'd expect to pay for the item anyway;
...have decided that the final price in a straight auction will end up higher than the BIN (it often does);
...Want It NOW (instead of 3/7/10 days from now)!!


P.S. Roman, you snagged an outstanding deal on that 3D50! When I saw that the seller was willing to ship it worldwide, I got really jealous... until I realized I would never have found it by myself... not when the auction is in German, it's in a radio category, and there's no key word in the title like "boombox" or "ghetto blaster." You deserve the bargain you got... just for finding it!!

When I really really really really want someting
I do the buy it now

Unless you forget your paypal password like me

and miss a nice walkman

As a buyer, I want the cheapest price....

As a seller, I want the highest price....

In both cases, it obviously helps to be well informed.

My eBay auction pet-peeve is reserve prices. I hate them!

I have not sold any boomboxes on eBay. Instead, I have a considerable history of selling mostly photography gear and the occasional piece of home stereo gear.

With photograpy gear, I have a much larger market worth of information at my disposal than there is for boomboxes, so setting a realistic BIN is pretty easy. Usually, when I list an item there are at least a handful of similar items out there for me to base my pricing on. I then set the auction start price at my absolute minimum. My BIN price is then set to an amount usually about 20 or 30% higher than the starting value. This way, I feel comfortable that I will at least "break even" in my mind or maybe make some profit.

Only on rare occasions have my items gone unsold. Yea, they may sit there without bids for a few days, but at least the prospective buyers know what it will take to win my item, and my BIN price stays around for a while for more prospective buyers to consider.

Usually, my items are somewhat desirable and in very good condition, so I end up getting pretty close to my original BIN price even when the bidding takes the normal route. Sometimes, I even come out ahead via normal bidding.

For boomboxes I can see how setting those initial values may be more difficult. The only market really is the collector or sentiment buyer. Not so much the day-to-day hobbyist...

I guess I can't blame some of these guys trying to get big money for their boxes. Its kinda like fishing... They are fishing for that collector out there that MUST HAVE that box and is willing to pay whatever for it.

quote:

Originally posted by JT:
My eBay auction pet-peeve is reserve prices. I hate them!

JT, I really like what you wrote about BIN's!

My feeling is different, however, when it comes to reserves. As a buyer, I kind of like it when I run into a reserve price, because, as someone who doesn't mind paying a "fair" price for an item, I know that some cheapskate isn't going to be able to snocker the seller and get something for nothing. When I see "Reserve not met" on an auction that has lots of bids, I assume either that the reserve price is too high (not usually the case) or that a bunch of lowballers have tried to steal the item and been turned away (usually the case). I can then be pretty sure the item will still be there at the end of the auction, ready for me to snipe at a "reasonable" price.

Reserve prices keep the riff-raff out.

IMHO if you see what you like and you can afford it you buy it no matter what. Thats what auctions are all about. Have you seen those Classic Cars auctions some people would give top dollar for a numbers matching 1970 Dodge Challenger convertable. I'm glad in a way we have ebay thats how I was able to get my M-90, everybody wins the seller and the buyer.

quote:

Originally posted by kittmaster:
If I've paid $150 for a bbx and decide that its just not for me. I feel that if I paid that, then it was most likely fair market TO ME. If I decide to turn around and sell it, your saying I should consider accepting possibly $20 in return because people are cheap? Why should take a $130 loss??

If the box you won got bid up to $150, then obviously other people were interested......So why would you be afraid that it would only generate $20 when YOU put it up for sale?

I've never had a problem getting good ending values out of anything I start at 99 cents, and although I haven't sold any boomboxes yet, I've got almost 400 feedback selling a variety of things that most people would consider "obscure". On the US ebay site, there is always plenty of traffic, and half my items are bought by someone overseas, so obviously they're watching too.

As far as boomboxes go, it's not too hard for someone to type the word "boombox" or "ghettoblaster" into an ebay search, and scroll through all the auctions every week. Takes 10 minutes tops. So your auction is going to be seen by everyone with even a casual interest in this hobby.

As a seller, my biggest objection to Buy it Nows is, why give Ebay more fees than they deserve?

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
If the box you won got bid up to $150, then obviously other people were interested......So why would you be afraid that it would only generate $20 when YOU put it up for sale?

Show me where the guarantee would be to start a bid at $.99.......its been proven time and again, that one price you get today is NOT the same price you'd get tomorrow.

M90's prove this all the time, some get 600, some get 1200......for the same "reasonable" condition.

My point is, auctions are volatile, and I'm not going to risk losing X number of dollars because of market fluxuation or emotional response. If you've done things that work out, all the power to you. Someone said it best, want for cheap, sell for high. I for one would never sell without a reserve, I know what I want and what I think I should get for my possession. Its up to the market if they choose to buy it. Nothing more, nothing less........your quote is based on assumption of want.......and that is not always the case.

Since the M90 appears to be the #1 most sought-after box, I would say that if one of them gets $1200 while another gets only $600, then obviously that seller created a horrible listing that people didn't trust.

We all know how stupid most sellers are -- they can't write, can't spell, can't take good pictures, don't take enough pictures (when it would have cost them only $1 for 12 pictures), don't take any CLOSE-UP photos, and most importantly, they don't provide a detailed description that helps people feel comfortable that the box doesn't have problems.

With that kind of "competition", I am easily able to command top value for the stuff I sell. Heck, I've even turned around and re-sold stuff I bought on Ebay for a small profit, because the person I bought it from did such a horrible job on his listing. Not trying to brag, just stating my opinion. 90% of sellers could do much better if they tried a little harder.

Anyways, my main objection to Buy it Now is, I'm not giving Ebay their silly little extra fee for setting a reserve price

quote:

Reserve prices keep the riff-raff out.

This is exactly how I feel about higher starting values as well. If a seller has a reserve, why not just let the buying public know what it will take to win the item?

One thing I forgot to mention before was that early on in my "ebay career" I had experimented with both types of auctions (higher start value vs. low value w/reserve) and I found that more people tended to watch my auctions witout reserve prices vs. the auctions for similar items with reserve prices. That leads me to believe that reserve prices tend to dissuade some buyers.

As a seller, another thing I noticed was that with a reserve price you get more bid activity early on, when then dwindles till the last day or final hours of the auction. With higher start values, most of that activity happens in the final day.

So, I guess, in a way, its the same thing... but with a higher starting value there is no guessing involved for the prospective buyer. As a buyer, I appreciate that. It seems a more straight-up approach. Even if (as a seller) it means that paying a few $$ more to ebay.

quote:

Originally posted by ford93:
IMHO if you see what you like and you can afford it you buy it no matter what. Thats what auctions are all about. Have you seen those Classic Cars auctions some people would give top dollar for a numbers matching 1970 Dodge Challenger convertable. I'm glad in a way we have ebay thats how I was able to get my M-90, everybody wins the seller and the buyer.

Hi Ford93-I agree that if you really want it then you just can go buy it now and for some-it helps you get the box you want right now-no guessing if your going to get it.
By the way an example is:There is a GF-1000 for like 799! This is in rough condition and tape 1 doesn't work.
You can start off at 699.00 I'm sorry but with the economy's the way they are I think this set to high!
I think that he started his price a little high-I know they're rare but in that condition 500 would have been more fair to start at.

By the way Ford93-I bought your "little brother" A JVC M70-Excellent condition-everything working.Now that I have this I want a M90 but just not willing to pay out 800-1,200.
Now if I could get one for 600 then I might consider.
Everyone has to realize now that $ is harder then ever to obtain & keep and prices may taper of in the next few months unless we just have some greedy sellers out here.
That's not always the case either-I have gotten and have missed out on some super deals by not going high enough.
Like for example a really nice 8989 got $80.00 w/sticker !
Man I'm mad that I didn't go high enough on that one.
There're deals out there sometimes.
I do buy alot of boxes on E-Bay so I know what you guys are talking about.
Have a great wek-Ghettoboom777.

Don't know if someone mentioned this already or not. I've noticed in the past 3 years of watching boombox auctions on eEpay. People that put in a high BIN usually don't sell, and the boombox is relisted. And in most cases, the bidding ends up higher then their original BIN. Maybe it's just me?

What about this hypothetical scenario:

You win a boombox on eBay with a BIN price of $350. You pay an additional $50 for shipping. For whatever reason, you decide to sell it within one month. Do you now place a reserve of $350 on it? Or even $400 to include the shipping costs you initially paid? Or do you let other bidders determine what the box is worth to them?

quote:

Originally posted by Fatdog:
What about this hypothetical scenario:

You win a boombox on eBay with a BIN price of $350. You pay an additional $50 for shipping. For whatever reason, you decide to sell it within one month. Do you now place a reserve of $350 on it? Or even $400 to include the shipping costs you initially paid? Or do you let other bidders determine what the box is worth to them?

Hypothetically you ask whatever you like for it. I say $1000!! Hypothetically the worst that can happen is they don't buy it. It's all hypothetical however.