eBay

no_zero369 · ‎01-11-2019

Background: Have been looking for a soundbar for a TV. Shopping around and see a wide range of prices. I have identified one model and have been searching using that model number alone to avoid cross comparison issues.

Observation: Prices on eBay are WAY off the chart.

Question: Are sellers that clueless or greedy and are buyers that uninformed?

So started looking for the sound bar late last year, so after BF deals. Right now I can buy the soundbar from Amazon and Target (perhaps Walmart too) for about $79. That is brand new, factory sealed box.

So searching on eBay right now [ and this is typical of what I have seen ] I find 127 on offer. Sort by lowest price.

First 60 are remote controls or power supplies. That leaves 62

Below the price Target offers ($79) there are only 9 on offer! Huh? Thought eBay was the place for low price?

Problem is that a majority of those 9 are "refurbished", New(other), or Pre-Owned

- of the pre-owned or New (other) listings most are missing something: the remote, cables or power supply.

- not sure it makes sense to buy pre-owned electronics?

- descriptions are sparse, thin or non existent.

- oh and several sellers have such terrible feedback that buying from them would be a considerable risk.

So on offer are 53 soundbars that are priced ABOVE what one can find online or source locally! Prices range from the $80s up to $188!

What is going on? Are sellers that greedy? Are buyers that clueless?

paulhua3 · ‎01-12-2019

"What is going on? Are sellers that greedy? Are buyers that clueless?"

I'd say neither. You mention finding it at Az for $79. But I bet if you look around at other retailers you will find it at much higher prices as well. And there are buyers at all different price levels. It's just that way.

hillbillymedia · ‎01-13-2019

@paulhua3 wrote:
"What is going on? Are sellers that greedy? Are buyers that clueless?"

I'd say neither. You mention finding it at Az for $79. But I bet if you look around at other retailers you will find it at much higher prices as well. And there are buyers at all different price levels. It's just that way.

True. As a buyer, if I have money to burn and see something I want, I tend to not bother to shop around for the best price. If I`m looking for something I don`t need right away, I may tend to be more conservative and shop around first. It just depends.

"There`s always barber college" - Dalton - Road House

robot-hands · ‎01-13-2019

I absolutely never want to have the lowest price for anything I sell.

I want to get the highest price.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎01-13-2019

Seems to me that this is the free market in real life. The cheap ones sold over Christmas and the overpriced ones are left because buyers can find cheaper items elsewhere. If eBay forced sellers to sell for less that would be considered price fixing or collusion. Furthermore sellers would leave if they couldn’t sell at a profitable price.

The marketplace is amazing when you see how it works for commodity sales. Econ 101.

creekcoyote · ‎01-13-2019

@no_zero369 wrote:
C'mon Coyote - you are a better poster than that last reply!

Pretty funny that you see in my words that I was telling others what to do. I wasn't.

But hey, also looks like you had no qualms telling me what to do or not do! LOL!

Can we be civil here please? Or is the point wet shoes all around? Sigh.

When you post on a open discussion board you will get people who have different points of view.

We don't all agree that sellers are greedy or what have you.

And as both a seller and buyer I get why prices vary so much on this site.

I have never looked at a seller's price and thought that they were greedy. That was the price they felt that they had to have for an item.

Some people may find that price perfectly acceptable. Some one else won't.

And that is the beauty of this site.

And I think either I mentioned this before or someone else did, trying to compare E-bay sellers to bb stores just doesn't seem to be a valid argument.

I dis-agreed with your opening post. If that is hostile, my apologies, but it is still not going to make me think that sellers are greedy or whatever.

COYOTES RULE!!!

janet9988 · ‎01-13-2019

"What is going on? Are sellers that greedy? Are buyers that clueless?"

Buyers can also bee greedy if they wish to pay a lower price than what is already for sale for locally or from several other retailers.

Why not just pay the 79.00 for a brand new item (as you say it is the going price)....and get it from Target and be done.

For some......It seems wisdom has been chasing you, but you have always been faster.

vtrsire8i0 · ‎01-13-2019

You have to become intimately familiar with the way ebay works, specifically the search engine and how to drill down through the chaff and weed out the spam so as to find the good deals. Guaranteed, if you can buy it on Amazon for 79 then ebay has it for half that but again you have to become extremely well-versed in parsing the listings down to the few choices (or in some cases wade through the many).

fuzzface50 · ‎01-14-2019

"I would love to know what Wal-Mart, Target etc. pay for the item in question and the quantity they must purchase to close the deal."

I work at a smaller Walmart supercenter and we sell a soundbar for $78 that we buy for $62.40 for a 20% gross profit(gp). We sell 6 different soundbars at our store at the present time. They are:

Selling price purchase price gp

$78 $62.40 20%

$48 $29.04 39.49%

$98 $78.40 20%

$148 $117.79 20.41%

$229 $190 17.03%

$198 $182.50 7.82%

The one for $198 was originally $228 recently for a bigger gp but local competition lowered their price on the exact same item so we lowered ours to compete against them.

These numbers are from last night.

These prices are not set in stone and can change at anytime and may be different in your local Walmart or they may offer more selections than us being a smaller scaled store.

I like it when I can buy clearance sale items for less than what they paid for them. Like right before black Friday to make room I brought swimming pools for $25 each from them that they paid $77.56 for that they normally sell for $150 each during the summer months. I also brought a leaf blower 2 weeks ago for less than they did and a chain saw just a few days ago. Noticed that same chain saw will cost the general public $11 more this spring going from last season price of $166 to $177 when this years new stock comes in.

Back on track.

The O.P. did his due diligence by taking time and price searched around so he could save. Some people don't take the time to search for bargains and just buy when they see or find an item so why not let the ebay seller or whatever seller wherever make a profit for making the item easy to be found? Some people have more time, other people time is money so they just buy when they see it.

ujokinme · ‎01-14-2019

@no_zero369 wrote:
Background: Have been looking for a soundbar for a TV. Shopping around and see a wide range of prices. I have identified one model and have been searching using that model number alone to avoid cross comparison issues.

Just a suggestion. If you want a warranty make sure that you buy from an authorized re-seller.

snowic_49 · ‎01-14-2019

@southernsun-56 wrote:
The seller probably bought it for $79, are they not allowed to make a profit?

Bottom feeders really have ruined this place...

too true!

no_zero369 · ‎01-14-2019

Thank you for adding to the discussion! Much appreciated.

Also thanks for sharing that "behind the scenes" info from WM! VERY interesting!

fuzzface50 · ‎01-14-2019

You're welcome. I was going to respond sooner to this thread but I decided to wait for when I got actual figures.

Notice the markup range from only around 7-39% with actually the cheapest one being the most profit % wise. But electronics is a heavy competitive field so our profit margin is smaller in that department or I should say on these type of items.

Otherwise on other items especially the little items the g. profit % can be up to 250% but the bigger box items that everyone sells can be very little g. profit % margins but they try to be a one stop shopping spot with hoping when you buy that 5% profit item you also grab other items at a higher markup value

paulhua3 · ‎01-17-2019

I buy certain commodities to resell on eBay in one of my stores. There are manufacturers of them all over the country with widely varying distributor prices. I choose to buy from a supplier who does not have the lowest prices, but does provide excellent customer service, quick delivery (2 days, generally), and whose CSRs are friendly and helpful. Sometimes the service you get is more than worth the price difference.