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?  

[rolenboy01]

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

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

Oh and what you tried to do falls under https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_fixing.

[kensgiftshop]

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@consolidatingkinsmanwrote:

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Sellers can price their items whatever they want, depending on how much profit they want to make , if any.

If 100 sellers were selling the same item, I would price lower if I could, even if it meant less profit.

[slati_2013]

"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."

Now why would you do that? That is very inappropriate. One thing you should consider is the other sellers acquired their items at a far lower price and are, or willing to accept a lower profit margin in order to move their items.  Buy low, sell high. Maybe you are spending too much to acquire the items you resell. 

[fashunu4eeuh]

The "race to the bottom" is a noticeable concern. I keep an eye on what the competition is doing but i don't sell my items strictly on price. Condition, rarity, and what i think is fair have something to do with it too. Luckily i sell a wide variety of things, including vintage items from my childhood and other collectibles. While I have seen a lot of that market go bust in the last few years, with top dollar items no longer lucrative to sell, i make what adjustments are needed to stay in the game. I move on to other items instead. While it can be frustrating to see this trend, I have not considered contacting other sellers about their pricing. What is your goal in reaching out? Are you just curious about their strategy, or hoping to talk them into raising their prices? 

[consolidatingkinsman]

I've contacted them to let them know what the trending prices have been, and that they could be making much more off of a product by pricing it within a few dollars of their competitors. I'm not sure if they are just new to selling on Ebay, or just don't understand that they could still make a sale and potentially earn a lot more for their item. For example, It's on new beauty items that may retail for say $60 and normally sell on Ebay for about $36, and they have priced it at $20 or even lower.

From some of the responses I received I think that my contacting them was greatly misunderstood.

I appreciate your insight and experience about my question.

[consolidatingkinsman]

I don't think it's insppropriate to conatct a competior, so long as it's done in a respectful and constructive manner.  I've let them know what the trending prices have been, and that they could be making much more off of a product by pricing it within a few dollars of their competitors, vs $20 or more lower.  These are sellers that had a fair amount of stock in one item, not just one or two. 

I'm not sure if they are just new to selling on Ebay, or just don't understand that they could still make a sale and potentially earn a lot more for their item. For example, It's on new beauty items that may retail for say $60 and normally sell on Ebay for about $36, and they have priced it at $20 or even lower.

Based on the extremely low prices on some of these items, I'm not sure how these sellers are aquiring them.  

[consolidatingkinsman]

I don't think it's insppropriate to conatct a competior, so long as it's done in a respectful and constructive manner.  I've let them know what the trending prices have been, and that they could be making much more off of a product by pricing it within a few dollars of their competitors, vs $20 or more lower.  These are sellers that had a fair amount of stock in one item, not just one or two. 

I'm not sure if they are just new to selling on Ebay, or just don't understand that they could still make a sale and potentially earn a lot more for their item. For example, It's on new beauty items that may retail for say $60 and normally sell on Ebay for about $36, and they have priced it at $20 or even lower.

Based on the extremely low prices on some of these items, I'm not sure how these sellers are aquiring them.  

[slippinjimmy]

I'm not sure how these sellers are aquiring them.  

I'm pretty sure!

[consolidatingkinsman]

This is my first time posting anything on the boards.  Perhaps I should have gone into greater detail before posting my question, as I think you have obviously greatly misunderstood.  

On the 2 occasions I've contacted a competitor, I've let them know what the trending prices have been, and that they could be making much more off of a product by pricing it within a few dollars of their competitors, vs $20 or more lower.  These are sellers that had a fair amount of stock of one item.

I'm not sure if they are just new to selling on Ebay, or just don't understand that they could still make a sale and potentially earn a lot more for their item. For example, It's on brand new items that may retail for say $60 and normally sell on Ebay for about $36, and they have priced it at $20 or even lower.

Based on the extremely low prices on some of these items, it makes me question how these sellers are aquiring their stock.  The prices have been driven so low on some items that I have had to stop carrying them altogether.    

[turquoisetulips]

I'm not sure how these sellers are aquiring them.  OP unquote ----------------------

I'm pretty sure! slippinjimmy  - unquote --- ---------------------------------

LOL ! I believe you may be referring to what we use to  call  a '' 5 finger discount '' .  Tulips 

[justafemster]

I buy a lot of things with coupons.  I typically get things for anywhere between half off and free.  

So if I'm getting this $60 item for free, what is my profit margin?  Time.

And if I can get 100 of this item, why do I need to sell them for going rates if I just want a quick buck?

Better to have $20 now than to wait for the manufacturer to cut retail pricing and have the product suddenly sell for $10 in 6 months.

[bigdeals.etc]

Welcome to the boards OP. Thanks for being active here and deciding to post your concern.

I totally understand what you are saying. And like someone previously, I call it a race to the bottom too. Not many items continue to be good sellers on ebay due to seller behavior. I first noticed this over about 12 years ago when I started off ebaying concert tickets. It was tough getting them, and the majority of the sellers paid the same face value for the tix (aside from a few sellers who personally knew the band or something). As popularity grew on this category, many new sellers were just selling their tix at a small fraction of what they normally go for, thus screwing up the market. Those new sellers would then find out that it was tough work for such a small profit of theirs, that they'd leave... then a new wave of newbies would come to ebay doing the same thing. That's why I stopped selling tix back then.

This usually happens with something that's trendy. I have a close cousin who solely manufacturers a unique item and allowed me to sell it on ebay giving me the lowest prices. Sadly I told him no, because I see a bunch of other sellers selling the same thing at pretty much no profit. I wonder how they are doing it too since I know they aren't getting a lower price than I am. Here's the possibilities I concluded: 1) They in fact are a newbie and don't really know they are probably losing money, 2) They are intentionally losing money in order to drive traffic into their store/site. I doubt this is the case though since I see the seller "losing money" on pretty much all their listings. 3) They stole the items. I doubt this if it's a high quantity for a long period of time. 4) They are overseas sellers or sellers who have counterfeited your item and thus selling it at a lower price. 5) They are intentionally scamming buyers by not sending them anything. These sellers are usually found out soon and leave.

[bigdeals.etc]

I personally don't find anything wrong with you messaging your competition about the pricing. Like you said, as long as it's polite and professional. Ideally I would like to keep a good relationship with my competition... I don't mind co-existing. And if you think you have ideas that will help the entire market, then why not? They may just ignore you because you are "the enemy". Just know that some will probably have a cut-throat mentality with you. But you won't know that unless you try it once, right?

I've messaged competition before about some issues... ranging from seeing people stealing their photos, deadbeat buyers scamming sellers of the same product, etc. Sometimes there's enough of the pie to go around... but it hurts when someone deflates the price so much and basically knocks the pie on the ground so no one will end up with anything. I guess that's why they have MSRP's huh and contracts to uphold that price.

[ladykathy100]

Don't worry about this. eBay has a few surprises with the new changes they are making. You shouldn't be watching the prices of good go down, because of the new seller's fees they are planning are going up. Surprise to all the sellers. You might want to pull off your account too!