Searching Cheapest Prices.

[wan303win]

I've dealt as both buyer & seller on ebay since almost its inception.

Ebay was, earlier on, a lot like Gumtree is now, in so much as it was a great place to sell off unwanted items around the house, & buy at a very competitive price when you wanted a particular item.

As time went on ebay became a venue for people who wished to run a high volume sales set-up from home. This in turn was upsetting to big business (Hardly Normal & their ilk), as ebay sellers were not burdened by having to allow for overheads on the final sale such as paying staff, warehouse rental etc. So some of these firms began selling on ebay also, however, ebay was still a great place to get a good price. 

I've found in recent months that if I research a particular item on ebay, get the best price available, then go to the store, haggle, and offer cash settlement, that the price will be better than available on ebay. Having to attend the store is no more a hassle than having to attend the post office. Perhaps this has a bearing on why some sellers are complaining about fewer sales nowadays.

Some of ebay's policies don't help either.

Just my thoughts on this matter. 

[kopenhagen5]

Your absolutely right.

Like any secret place, it's great when only a few know it and treat it like it should be.

Then the secret is out and every man, Chinese and his dog is there leaving rubbish behind.

Ruined.

And lack of improvements/policing on eBay's behalf hasn't helped.

[digital*ghost]

---

@wan303win wrote:

As time went on ebay became a venue for people who wished to run a high volume sales set-up from home. This in turn was upsetting to big business (Hardly Normal & their ilk), as ebay sellers were not burdened by having to allow for overheads on the final sale such as paying staff, warehouse rental etc. So some of these firms began selling on ebay also, however, ebay was still a great place to get a good price. 

I've found in recent months that if I research a particular item on ebay, get the best price available, then go to the store, haggle, and offer cash settlement, that the price will be better than available on ebay.

---

One of the reasons for that could well be that eBay is not necessarily more cost-effective than running a B&M shop, especially when looking at high-volume / high-value sales.

Running a B&M, many of the overheads are fixed (things like rental, and staff wages where applicable) and these costs don't increase the more that is sold, whereas on eBay, while percentage is fixed, the more that is sold, the more expensive it becomes (warehousing and staff costs are still an overhead for many larger sellers, as well).

I would be surprised if some of the larger stores don't get better rates than us plebs, but this still means that at a certain point, if sales are either growing or at least consistently above a certain amount, there can be more profitability in the B&M sector than on eBay, which provides more room to move if you go in and haggle. 

Not to mention that a few years ago, people were only paying a bit over 5% on the first $75 of a price, which then dropped down to around 4% (I can't remember the exact figure, it was either a bit above or a bit below) for amounts between $75 and $1000, and finally was only about 2.5% on amounts above $1000. Just as an example of the kind of stark difference in costs from then to now, on a $1500 item with say $100 freight costs, a seller would have paid a bit over $50 in FVF, now they'll pay as much as $158~, which is just to eBay alone, so it's in addition to any warehousing, staff and other costs that might still apply. Even if the big names only pay closer to a flat 5%, that's still nearly $80 on top of other costs, and they already have the infrastructure in place for staffing, warehousing and facilitating online orders, so I suspect the cost of selling items in a store - on average - doesn't work out to be the same as what it costs on eBay for the equivalent. 

Not that I have any sympathy for the bix box retailers on here, but it's more than possible some smaller sellers with B&M shops also find that keeping the physical shop is more cost effective and profitable than selling on eBay, though it probably depends on a number of factors. 

[davidc4430]

to see the future of selling stuff to people all you need to do is look at Aldi and IKEA.

if you go to B&M stores you will be greeted by 1 security guard at the front, you'll serve yourself all the way until you wave to the same security guard when leaving showing your reciept for everything your carrying out.

OR

you will buy online and save the walking.

[clarry100]

A couple of years ago we decided to treat ourselves to a new tv as our old analog one was failing.
So did the research and decided on the model and brand we wanted.
So just a matter of finding the best price.
In the end The Good Guys on eBay were the best at $2300.
So tried all the other bigger boys who had that to see if they could beat that but none would so we figured it was as good as we would find.
So went into our local Good Guys only to see it on display for $2500. Asked the salesman why it was cheaper on their eBay store and he did not know. So he looked it up and said ok I'll beat that by $50.
So we said we will be back tomorrow with a vehicle to pick it up.
Went back tomorrow and he said they had had a $50 price drop on it and he would pass that onto us as well. So they readily beat their eBay price but none of their competitors would.
Worked for us tho.

[lyndal1838]

The Good Guys are individually owned and run franchises.   For the most part their ebay prices are the same as their online prices although you can sometimes do better by going in to a store....you can bargain and they will definitely price match.

However, if you want something that is on ebay when the ebay discounts are on that is usually the best you can do.

[wan303win]

I selected the brand & model of vac' cleaner I wanted, looked up the best price on ebay & other sites, then went to Hardly Normal with a wad of notes. I won't go into all the detail...just the final outcome.

My selection was on the floor for $789.oo. After about half an hour of having the salesman run to see his "boss" every few minutes with my latest information & request...I walked out with the v/c under my arm for $595.oo. This was $50.oo better than the best price on the 'net.

You have to pity the poor people who walk in & take the "generous" salesperson's offer of a $40.oo discount from the floor price for cash. You MUST do your homework before you buy anything of value.

Another case was a new watch I selected some years ago. Once again I checked ebay & other sites, then went to a well known jewelers who had it in their window at $260.oo. When I offered cash, the salesperson immediately took 60 bucks off, this still made it dearer than the best price on the 'net, so I persisted, & eventually walked out with the watch for $125.oo. I've been told by a friend who worked for many years in the jeweler's trade that those stores have anything up to a 400% mark-up, so that's a lot of "room to move".

Most ebay sellers now use a "Buy it Now" sales pitch, which became common when the "reserve price" option was removed from auctions some years ago. Probably the most stupid thing ebay ever did, as "reserve" is the whole basis of an "auction".

The buyer will, (or should), always determine the true value of any item...not the seller. An auction with a reserve that covers seller's costs only + delivery proves this system by determining the true value of anything.  

[springyzone]

You're right in that back in the day, ebay was more like gumtree, full of private little home sellers trying to clear bits and pieces.

Nowadays, ebay is mainly organised online shops, either the big stores, small online sellers of new goods or Chinese sellers (also new factory goods).

I can't imagine that back in about 2004, many people would have been looking to buy a new TV or fridge on ebay. A second hand one maybe.

So comparing prices between ebay and normal stores didn't come into it so much.

[digital*ghost]

---

@wan303win wrote:

I've been told by a friend who worked for many years in the jeweler's trade that those stores have anything up to a 400% mark-up, so that's a lot of "room to move".

---

Depends on what the mark-up is on. If it's wholesale price of the item alone, a 400% mark-up definitely does not mean 400% profit. 

I let some products go at or below cost (they still have a mark-up, but cost doesn't just include wholesale purchase price), it's all part of a business strategy, but no business could survive long-term by just covering costs and making a narrow margin of profit on the items they sell, unless it's a marketing strategy and they have massive captital behind them to sustain it (eg Amazon has massive turnover, but returned $0 profit for all the years they've been around until last year, really only surviving by investor funds). 

And yeah... I spend a long time designing and making products (jewellery, as it so happens), I'll be darned if I'll allow people who don't see the years of R&D, the massive investment in tools and materials, nor the hours of crafting, to decide the "true value" of my work (above and beyond out of pocket costs) 

[wan303win]

While accepting your comment, (I was in business for almost 40 years, so I understand your point,) I make the following clarifercation of my point. If you make something and nobody wants it, it's no use claiming how much it owes you. If there's no buyer, your item is worthless no matter how much time and materials you put into it. This is why I say that in the final analysis, the buyer will always determine the value of your item/s. You can't always expect to find a "sucker", as many sellers on ebay do.