feeBay rant - the place to buy expensive items!

[heatemyfather]

Hi,

Has anyone else noticed this.. over the past few months or year the prices of items on there has gradually gone up and up, disproportionately to the seller fee rises, such that things can cost more than they do on the high street.

Take a DVD box set of The Mysterious Cities of Gold for example - in HMV today it was £46, from HMV online it's 39.99 with free postage (same from Amazon); ONE seller on feeBay had a Mysterious Cities of Gold dvd box set, but I think it was perhaps a foreign import or not the same edition at least as the picture was not the same, it was £58 with the postage. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I could go and buy one from HMV online and sell it cheaper than this, and still make a handsome profit! Just crazy, and I don't understand why anyone would be stupid enough to buy from someone like that.

Sorry for the rant!

[razamakaz]

I think some sellers hope you won't notice and just buy it whilst on line.

I wanted to buy the Jonathan Creek DVD set a few years ago. Over there it was more (then the postage was added on top) than going to town to buy it!

[evingartrading]

Yep !

A lot of auctions (buy-it-now or crazy starting / reserve prices) are really not very good value for money for common goods you can get on the High Street or mainstream on line vendors. I agree, prices above High Street levels have been becoming more frequent on ebay.

I also can't see why anyone would want to buy an article in an auction for more than they would pay from a household name vendor - I guess some must do so though, otherwise the stuff wouldn't get offered at those levels !. I suppose it's a bit like email spam. People must be buying from spammers, otherwise they would cease to exist. Ultimately it's up to the buyer, a fool and their money are easily parted (etc).

[kengillam]

In the long run overpricing does a seller more harm than good as buyers will never return if they feel tey were ripped off. A good deal is a good deal for both sides.

[Armstrongs]

There was a seller on here a couple of weeks ago.....complaining of no sales. I did a quick check on a DVD they had for sale, then found the exact same one on Play.com....£5 cheaper!

It makes no sense

Yvonne x

[ChameleonSystems]

I checked the lowest amazon price for my dvds and pitched them at that (except the ridiculous 1p prices). No doubt I will have to go through them all again soon and change prices.

I have seen profiteering going on in roleplay goods too, prices vary widely from site to site. It makes it difficult when valuing items. No good depending on collectors to value some items, they always value them on the low side.

The same thing happens in B&M shops.

[razamakaz]

I usually give them grief - send a question to seller asking why I would buy from them when it's cheaper in the shops with no postage added!

They don't normally reply! (I wonder why)

[melboy]

Hi,

Has anyone else noticed this.. over the past few months or year the prices of items on there has gradually gone up and up, disproportionately to the seller fee rises, such that things can cost more than they do on the high street.

Take a DVD box set of The Mysterious Cities of Gold for example - in HMV today it was £46, from HMV online it's 39.99 with free postage (same from Amazon); ONE seller on feeBay had a Mysterious Cities of Gold dvd box set, but I think it was perhaps a foreign import or not the same edition at least as the picture was not the same, it was £58 with the postage. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I could go and buy one from HMV online and sell it cheaper than this, and still make a handsome profit! Just crazy, and I don't understand why anyone would be stupid enough to buy from someone like that.

Sorry for the rant!

Reality check!...Don't kid yerself, you will find exactly the same problem on here.

[uvgothica]

I've actually been able to list my items cheaper than on feebay and with the postage included in the price as there's no fees! Shame that I still see the odd seller here with inflated postage there's been a few items I'd have bought except for the daft postage. Reckon someone needs to remind them gently that this ain't fearbay and they don't have to hike up the postage to make a profit anymore

[SalusLibrorum]

Why don't you ask them to drop the price if you think it's too expensive? I did that and got $5 off the postage of one item, just through asking and stating that if they did it the seller would get a definite sale.

Chances are they will drop the price to get the sale.