Competitors Pricing Items Way Too Low and Driving Down the Selling Prices of Items

[consolidatingkinsman]

I've noticed a trend of a lot of sellers posting items for sale way below trending selling prices, which is driving the prices of a lof of the items I sell much lower.  I have messaged a couple of sellers regarding competitive pricing and trying not to drive down the prices of items, but have gotten no response when I have messaged.  I really wich other sellers would pay attention to the trending prices and price completitivley, instead of just trying to make a quick buck and driving down profits.  I see no way these sellers could possibly be purchasing these items, if they were they would be losing money.  I guess I'm just wondering if other sellers have been experiencing this problem?  

[jklfindings]

Keep in mind every seller is different.  I buy large lots of items through different means, and I typically end up with a lot of items that are not my main focus.  If I ended up with 100 beauty products, I'd throw them up on ebay insanely cheap to get rid of them quickly.  Not every seller is interested in getting the highest price for each item.  Sometimes it's about turning the product as quickly as possible, and recouping your money to go buy more.

[fuzzface50]

who's making more? you selling 1 item for $60 in the same time frame that they sell 4 items for $20 each?  sometimes you can make more selling less  items at a higher price but then there are times you can make more selling more items  for less $'s.

I know where you are coming from though.  i had items here i was getting good dollars for them then all of a sudden it stopped and i just kept relisting. After a long time of only selling 1 here and there i decided to recheck my competition that i knew i had none or very few before. Sure enough i had competition selling the same items for 10%-50% of what i was getting for it.  i had to decide do i stop,  drop my price to be competitive again or keep my price up and just take the fewer sales.

Sometimes you hold out, other times you give in, all depends on the product. Each one is different based on acquisition cost, holding cost, size of the widgets, how many competitors, rarety,  etc.

my dad in his business tried banding his competition together years ago to try to keep the prices up but nope they wanted to undercut us badly so we just downsize our business instead. By doing less work, we kept our equipment in good shape and made a profit so we could replace it when it wore out. The competition  beat their equipment to death because they were so busy but guess what? they had no money to buy new equipment or even supplies when the price of steel went up. a few of them went bankrupt because they weren't making no money even though they had plenty of work to keep busy.  they still can't figure out how we can afford new equipment all the time and do less work then them.

[thatsallfolks]

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@thefriedp_24wrote:

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@consolidatingkinsmanwrote:

I've noticed a trend of a lot of sellers posting items for sale way below trending selling prices, which is driving the prices of a lof of the items I sell much lower.  I have messaged a couple of sellers regarding competitive pricing and trying not to drive down the prices of items, but have gotten no response when I have messaged.  I really wich other sellers would pay attention to the trending prices and price completitivley, instead of just trying to make a quick buck and driving down profits.  I see no way these sellers could possibly be purchasing these items, if they were they would be losing money.  I guess I'm just wondering if other sellers have been experiencing this problem?  

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Why not buy their stock and corner the market

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The billionaire Hunt brothers tried that with the silver market back in 1980. It might have worked, if they hadn't run out of money. They lost over a billion dollars, and declared bankruptcy a few years later:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Thursday

[ozarkjoe]

I see my books at the River for $2 and think that I wasted money at the thrift store and then a few months later they rise to $30.  Many prices move in cycles.   There is nothing you can do about a race to the bottom other than join them or wait it out.  Many need money in a hurry.  Some people are moving and need to get rid of things.  Your best bet is to focus on unique and quality items.  Also for consumers life has never been better and we all need to buy things.

I will also say that price fixing is illegal unless you work in medicine, legal services, higher education, Big Pharma , airlines, beverage distrubution or petroleum.   (It's a rigged game).

[percgrabbe-0]

OP doesnt understand how selling works.  Seller can sell for whatever price they want even at a loss to drive customers to their listings. Period. 

[bubbleman2010]

New merchandise sellers will find it very hard to compete with the crackhead shoplifters selling here. The local P.D. couldn't figure out where all the stolen scrap copper was going. I told the one search ebay zip code closest first they did and they uncovered a nest of copperheads...

[squinkercat59]

So, I buy a box of widgets at an estate sale for ten bucks. There are 50 widgets in there. They're currently selling for 20$ each on Ebay. I'm going to list them at $8, because it's still a huge profit for me, and I want to move them. You're saying I have to price them at $20 because everyone else is? Maybe everyone else has OVER paid. Just sayin'.

I'd be terribly offended if someone messaged me to tell me my prices are too low. I'm here to sell and make money, not to have my stuff sit for years.  If I can make a decent profit from a lower price, I'd rather move it.  Who sets the market price, anyway?  I've seen particular items where several people have priced something in the $10-$20 range, and some nut has the same thing priced at $400.

[bubbleman2010]

and for the folks that say thats not true liar liar liar pants on fire.. Just do a price check on batteries and razorblades on ebay then at your local wallyworld.... I suppose some ebay sellers can purchase their wares 75% below walmarts selling price.. They have more buying power than walmart...

[ladykathy100]

What a mature response! Name calling.

[tunicaslot]

I wouldn't doubt that it happens here and it's been happening on Facebook and Craigslist too. There are so many venues to unload stuff now and unless it's a bigger organization - the people are just selling it online locally.

A well known seller was stopped by the cops for selling stolen merchandise he bought from a guy on one of the local selling apps. 

[thefriedp_24]

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@bubbleman2010wrote:

and for the folks that say thats not true liar liar liar pants on fire.. Just do a price check on batteries and razorblades on ebay then at your local wallyworld.... I suppose some ebay sellers can purchase their wares 75% below walmarts selling price.. They have more buying power than walmart...

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A few years back my local Walmart discovered a huge theft ring being ran by employees.

What they would do is take any item that they knew be a fairly steady seller, and knock the price down with the hand scanner.

An off-duty employee come scoop up all the discounted items. The employee with the scanner would then mark the price back up

When the whole thing was finally discovered, a store manager had passed away and his girlfriend had been trying to return all the merchandise that he and his cohorts hadn't sold online.

The estimated value of the merchandise was just over 2 million dollars and they're still not sure how much they had sold because they all used different eBay accounts, and they aren't positive they have all the members of the theft ring.

[mistwomandancing]

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@ladykathy100wrote:

What a mature response! Name calling.

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???     What are you even talking about?

I just finished reading down through this entire thread and don't see where any poster has called another *names*

[mistwomandancing]

I am definitely not in the "We all have to stick together and price everything the same" camp.   I've been in retail sales practically forever and sourcing merchandise brilliantly has always been the name of the game when it came to success.   Finding what is coming into popularity, buying in the quantities that will stock you up for a low wholesale price, pricing for the sale! and then repeating it all over again and again.

Lots of eBay sellers buy beauty and health products by the pallet-load of overstocks, returns, slightly damaged so perhaps without the outer packaging, etc.   When done right, you can obtain this stuff for pennies on the dollar, sell it off very, very profitably.. and quickly.. and do it all over again.

And, we aren't just competing with others here on eBay.   We're competing with online sellers all over the internet.   There is no way they can be corralled and told what prices they have to hold their inventory to, and below which they are not to go.   As has always been the case, if you can't compete... out you go.   When we run into a hard time in one area, we hunt up another to deal in, and off we go again.   Competition has always been the hardest thing to face, and it isn't fading away... it's exploding now.   This isn't going to get any better or easier.   I think we're in the *Separating the Men From the Boys* era of selling on eBay and online.   (On the other hand.. Man!  I can sure find some great bargains by shopping online, so that helps our household budget bottom line.)

[tunicaslot]

I think she was referring too the liar liar pants on fire comment. Just because we sometimes disagree does not mean that I don't believe a poster - we've just had differences in the past.

[ripcityresell]

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@consolidatingkinsmanwrote:

I've noticed a trend of a lot of sellers posting items for sale way below trending selling prices, which is driving the prices of a lof of the items I sell much lower.  I have messaged a couple of sellers regarding competitive pricing and trying not to drive down the prices of items, but have gotten no response when I have messaged.  I really wich other sellers would pay attention to the trending prices and price completitivley, instead of just trying to make a quick buck and driving down profits.  I see no way these sellers could possibly be purchasing these items, if they were they would be losing money.  I guess I'm just wondering if other sellers have been experiencing this problem?  

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This has only been  happening since the beginning of capitalism. You ever heard of Walmart?

I have a few in my category that are way low. When I research prices, I just omit them from my calculations and pretend they don't exist. 🙂 Works fine for me.