When searching for an item, and ordering the search by the highest price first, the results, are often astonishing! I would expect a wide range of prices from high to low, but within a range that most people would consider normal.
I have often wondered.... Do these sellers asking thousands of dollars for an item which often sells for less than a hundred, actually get what they are asking for?
I have heard a saying long time ago, "It's not how much it's worth, but how much someone is willing to pay". Perhaps the seller listing an item for what most people would consider outrageously high price, is only fishing for the prospective buyer who is willing to pay that much for the item, and that cost is not an important factor to the buyer.
I once asked someone how much a piece of furniture I was considering to sell through the local newspaper, and their answer was just that, it's not how much it's worth, it's how much they are willing to pay. If they offered a million dollars for it, and you only valued it say a couple hundred, would you turn them down their offer?
I will often look a the high's and low's of pricing for an item, to get an idea of the average price of an item. if a potential buyer is making a "Best offer", eBay will report an average of what the item is selling for. This is also true when a seller is placing a price on an item when creating a listing. These are just averages based on listing and sales. So an extremely higher price for an item of the same kind is listed, the averages computed can become distorted, and the average price may be higher than the norm. The seller could list the item again in another listing, with a price that is closer to the new average. And they need not worry about anyone purchasing that same item from a higher listing for a like-kind item. If someone does, that will only benefit the seller.
As for anyone willing to spend thousands of dollars for something that is ridiculously cheap, I am not one of them. But I have always wondered what fool would do so. Perhaps the seller of these high price listing is waiting for a fool to come along and pay their asking price.
My views and/or theories may be totally wrong, and I really don't know why the reason for extremely over-priced items on eBay exist. That is why searching for the answer, I found this topic of discussion being presented by others who are wondering too.
Looking at averages from high to low, helps see what the market will bear, that is accept in pricing. Maybe these "extremely high prices" at the top of the search results are being used to increase the averaging cost, for the same item.
