Buyers' mentality these day?

[774553]

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

[saarzi]

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!

[*tippy*toes*]

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@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?

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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.

[kopenhagen5]

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

[bakeandfry]

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?

[samjess54]

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. 

[*tippy*toes*]

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.

[kopenhagen5]

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.

[*tippy*toes*]

[davidc4430]

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.

[*tippy*toes*]

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.