topic Buyers' mentality these day? in Selling

Buyers' mentality these day?

774553 — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 06:04:55 GMT

Warning, this is a rant.

It has come to my attention that it seems that it is increasingly hard to earn a decent net profit* on used items. It appears that buyers like to offer prices that only covers or barely cover the shipping cost, which leave me with nothing or negative balance.

Also does no one realise what the seller had to pay for those items which they are selling? To illustrate that, let use the following example:

I sell games most of the time. Now, when I bought them new in the shop, it cost $100 to $150. Or if they need to be imported, I went to Play Asia and paid for $150 to $200 (not including Shipping). Now, say that I want to make a bundle of them old games (bought from both places), would you not say is fair to price them around $500? Unfortunately, as of today, some idiot offer me $20 for them and call me a troll.

So my question here is, is the idea of trying to get half back from what I paid for is nothing but a fantasy?

Also, base on the formula logic below, it is easier to archive a net profit with a negative value and impossible to archive a positive value, even just for as little as $5 (net profit).

*in case you don't know what net profit mean. Net profit = selling price - price that the seller had paid - shipping cost

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

davewil1964 — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 06:09:17 GMT

Don't offer 'best offer'. Or set the auto-decline to the minimum you are prepared to accept.

Simple, pain-free.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

amber-eyed-girl — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 06:18:35 GMT

What Dave says.

Don't let buyers play with your emotions. Not worth it. There will always be people trying to get something for next to nothing.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

cathyjoyjoy — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 06:23:59 GMT

Some sellers of second hand items sell for 10 times the amount they paid for it.

Some people sell items they obtained for free.

It is important that you list an item for the price that you are willing to let it go for & no less.

As others have said, only include Best Offer if you are willing to manage the Best Offer option.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

saarzi — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 06:46:49 GMT

In my opinion your items are WAYYY overpriced. Did you research what each game is selling for on Ebay and elsewhere before putting the price on them?

Your first listing, for example, the "PS3 Games Collection" - each game sells for between $10 - $15 second hand.. theres a couple that MIGHT sell for $20. (Deus EX Human Revolution sells for about $10, Bioshock 2 you cant get brand new sealed for $20 with used for $5-8, is around $10-$15, etc etc).

Thats $105 total for the games youre offering, but you have them for sale for $345.

In other listings you have Genji Days of Blade for $35 (inc. postage), but average price on ebay is $12 (incl. postage).

So yeah, it does kinda look like youre trolling.

25% off RRP for a USED game, thats not real popular, AND several years old is pretty expensive. You can get that in store for a brand new game thats on sale.

You can choose to sell them for whatever you want of course... but youve got to expect people offering you much less, and low sales.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

imastawka — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 06:59:56 GMT

Add to that the fact that 3 out of the 7 games you, yourself bought 2nd hand

The 'pre-owned' labels give that away

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

774553 — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 07:55:50 GMT

Yes and I paid over $300 for them, brand new. All I want is half back of my initial investment. And I based my pricing on market value based on popular site like Play Asia.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

774553 — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 07:57:32 GMT

What if they are so? Their retail price are still at high, according to Play Asia, Would not be logical to sell them half of what PA is selling?

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

imastawka — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 08:07:33 GMT

You can only get what people are prepared to pay.

You have listed them 5 times already, and couldn't get a $50 starting bid

Yes and I paid over $300 for them, brand new. All I want is half back of my initial investment. And I based my pricing on market value based on popular site like Play Asia.

$345 is not half of $300

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

digital*ghost — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 08:20:08 GMT

What a seller pays for an item has always been irrelevant to buyers, pretty much since the dawn of retail. The only time it really comes into play is when there is blatant profiteering on items with limited availability (eg the practice of ticket scalping, which many people find offensive).

Here's the real question - what makes the games you're selling worth more than the same games others are selling at a fraction of the price?

If the only point of difference is what you paid, no one (and I do mean no one) is going to pay more for it just so you don't lose too much of your initial outlay. That's just not how this works... (I'm not trying to be harsh, just realistic).

If, on the other hand, there is something different about the versions you have (in terms of content, not place of origin), then the only thing you can do is make that clear and wait / hope that a buyer who puts the same value on that point of difference that you do eventually comes along.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

saarzi — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 08:30:21 GMT

You're not on Play Asia, you're on Ebay. You are completing with Australian sellers in an Australian economy, and selling to mostly Australian buyers (even if you sell internationally).

Buyers searching Ebay are comparing your prices to prices on Ebay (and probably places like EB Games, where you can regularly get those games for under $20).

If you paid over $300 brand new, and want half your investment back, why do you have them listed for $345? even with best offer, thats a pretty crazy price. I mean its almost TRIPLE what they are worth.

Its like, I have a car worth $5k. I paid 10k for it. Wanna buy it for $12k??? 😄

no?

ok... its only worth $5k,... but since I bought it for 10k, wanna buy it for 8k???

Rhetorical questions.. Im not looking for an answer. But, you have already indicated something isnt working for you, and that should tell you that something is wrong with the listings, and you have people here suggesting what the main issue is.

Good luck!

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

*tippy*toes* — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 08:32:53 GMT

@774553 wrote:
What if they are so? Their retail price are still at high, according to Play Asia, Would not be logical to sell them half of what PA is selling?

Not sure how logical it would be. Second hand games are a dime a dozen. If other sellers have them for between $10 and $20 and you try to sell it for $100 (just plucking numbers), then you don't have a hope in hell of selling them. What you want for them and what people are prepared to pay for them is often 2 different things.

If you want a much higher price for them that what the average is on eBay, you'd probably be better putting them on Facebook.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

kopenhagen5 — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 08:48:10 GMT

Also the fact that your feedback is at 75% doesn't help with buyer confidence.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

bakeandfry — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 09:09:26 GMT

Some of your games you have listed i could offer at atleast half of the price, (not the titles but the number of games in a pack) (not having a go at you, but its supply and demand when it comes to games)
One game you have listed i noticed its japan, does the game come with a dlc code? And if it does did you know the dlc code wont work for any playstation network account that is registered in australia?

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

samjess54 — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 09:11:12 GMT

So my question here is, is the idea of trying to get half back from what I paid for is nothing but a fantasy?

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I do think trying to get back 50% is a fantasy - I don't know anything about computer games but I would think "getting back" even 20-25% on a "new never used ", much less a used item, would be an ask. Unless of course it has a collectible value etc.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

*tippy*toes* — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 09:30:30 GMT

I thought you were talking about me at first and nearly gagged when I saw 75%!! I wondered what the heck had happened to my feedback since I checked a week or so ago!

The first neg down the page from last June wouldnt give me confidence. Seller goes on a cruise and leaves listings active, then gets upset when the buyer complains they didn't get their item.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

kopenhagen5 — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 09:53:46 GMT

Sorry, I have a habit of clicking on the most recent reply button as do others.

Besides if you had 75% and zero, THAT would be a real worry.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

*tippy*toes* — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 10:09:17 GMT

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

davidc4430 — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 11:34:09 GMT

i think your over valuing your items by a lot. the only way you would get high prices for games that are old is they would need to be new in original packaging and rare, and then you need a collector who wants to pay a high price for a rare game. once its opened, value drops to prolly half. play it, value drops by another half to three quarters, lose the packaging its almost valuless. we all want to believe there are hundreds of buyers just waiting for our listings to hit the market place but truth is even if you have rare collectable toys finding buyers who will pay what they are worth is difficult.

Re: Buyers' mentality these day?

*tippy*toes* — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 11:53:08 GMT

Very similar to buying a brand new car. You pay $50,000 for it, once you drive it out of the yard, the value plummets. Try and sell it 6 months later and see how ~~little~~ much you get for it. You'd be lucky to get half. I'm talking regular run of the mill cars, not 10 only limited edition Lambos or Jags. It's as you said, unless it's something rare, you're not going to recoup costs on a second hand, used, product. Even then, rare doesn't always mean valuable.