What am I Missing, by Not Using Insanely High Prices?

[mabie_todd]

I am puzzled.  I've noticed, within the tool catagories I peruse on a daily basis, many common items priced at insanely high prices.  In some cases, prices at several times the RETAIL price.  The items (HVAC tools, in this case) are not particularly scarce, low on stock, or highly saught after...just good solid, common, reliable tools that are available from your local supply house, many on-line venders, and (in many cases) from Amazon.  And, all available at prices much lower than that offered by these "Power" sellers on eBay.  On checking farther, I have also noted that these particular vendors have not actually sold any of these tools for their asking price (no offers accepted nor tendered).  My question is; What is the profit motive?  Doesn't it cost them something to offer an item at a price-point that has been proven will not sell?  Do they imagine they will all blunder into an incredibly uninformed buyer, who will pay any price for their item (even though there are many others, of the same thing (on the same screen), listed for less)?  Perhaps there is a scam element...draw someone to question the price, and then sell it off-eBay?  Anyone have any insights they can share?

[partial*eclipse]

For multi-item listings, sellers will increase the price to a ridiculous amount if they are nearly out of stock and they actually want to have no sales.  Then they adjust the price back down when the item is back in stock.  This is a way of keeping a "Good until canceled" item running so they don't lose that nice "Sold" total.

This technique is actually obsolete.  About a year ago eBay introduced a Site Preferences option called "Out of stock" that will automatically hide a listing from everyone except the seller  when the quantity available hits zero.  Then the listing will be visible to potential buyers again when the seller adjusts the quantity

[mabie_todd · Accepted solution]

Wow! Good answer! Thank you for the reply.

[gloryglorygifts]

I see that all the time with items that I sell (for example - holy water bottles). The mark up on some vendors is so high all I can do is shake my head. Surprisingly people do buy them. I think that free shipping has a lot to do with it too. It does seem that some people would rather pay $5.99 for an item with free shipping, than $1.75 for the same item with a shipping cost of $2.61.

I still consider myself a newbie as there is so much to learn about selling on here. I didn't know that about the good til cancelled, and I use that all the time.

Good luck to you in your sales!

[tamaralea]

Sometimes I wonder if it is "visibility".  I just sold an $80 platter when another seller had the same thing for $50 OBO.  Our shipping costs were the same.  

[ebbyisme]

I know of a seller who specializes in a certain type of collectable items and he lists everything (seemingly) very high with best offer. It may be an item other sellers sell for under $10 and he will list it for $49.99, $69.99 or even 99.99.... about 5% of his items sell at full asking price but when that asking price is $90 and someone else is selling it for $5 it makes huge difference. He does quite well. I thought at first he was using best offer to vett buyers and he had a lot of steady customers who offer lower bids knowing the high price was in place to stop non-approved buyers.... I don't know why someone would pay 69.99 for an item that has sold twice for $5-10 and there is one listed for $5 free shipping. Been following him for awhile, not a business model I seem to be able to copy, I sometimes get some of same models he has listed and have trouble getting $10.

[vacogi54]

I've been finding, lately, a lot of retail and more pricing going on. I have also laughed at the "Make an offer" people who will give you $1.00 off a $50.00 price. I don't know where ebay is going, but ,I,  with my 4500 plus purchases have been looking at other auction sites. If I want to pay retail I will. Ebay used to be a place to get great things discounted. Not any more. I will continue to buy from China as AC Moore and Michaels only offer items from China so, this way, I can skip the middleman. 

[evry1nositswindy]

@tamaralea Maybe the location was closer.  Maybe the fb looked better.  I know I try to shop the "little" guys from the US and I would choose a closer state if I was buying a gift. I wouldn't pay $30 more though.

[papyruspapillo]

Wow! You should go on Family Feud!

[duggmills]

The original poster asks;

 My question is; What is the profit motive?

Profit is the motive.  That's why businesses exist.  It's not just to rid the oceans of fish for cat food.

The idea that sellers with multiple quantities of an item raise the price exponentially as they near depletion so as not to make a sale doesn't make sense to me.  Why would they want to raise the price just to have unsold inventory on hand.

This is not the same as raising the selling price based on replenishment costs.  Sellers know that the cost of goods generally rises before their next order is placed with their supplier.  Therefore, to maintain selling margins a seller should raise the price of their remaining stock as they the next batch will cost more.

Since the  "out of stock" thing eBay has come up with can supposedly, only seen by the lister is apparently not the case or the OP would not have posted the issue.

[zariasells_7o7]

High prices means nothing...its the amount of items sold in a week

[jason_incognito]

So many on eBay list from massive catalogs. They buy the listings so they don't even need to go through and do that themsleves. 

If they list a million items, and 6 sell for hundreds over what they should, the seller wins. Meanwhile there are a million listings for overpriced stuff.

I was buying pieces to finish our wedding china. I would say that there are times when 90% of the listings on eBay are for more than if you went to the manufacturer's site, or even Macy's.

For vintage, some still use old price guides that are out of date. Something might "book" for $1000 in a 1998 price guide but only sell for $75 today.

[sockmonkeydave]

@jason_incognito

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@jason_incognito wrote:

So many on eBay list from massive catalogs. They buy the listings so they don't even need to go through and do that themsleves. 

If they list a million items, and 6 sell for hundreds over what they should, the seller wins. Meanwhile there are a million listings for overpriced stuff.

I was buying pieces to finish our wedding china. I would say that there are times when 90% of the listings on eBay are for more than if you went to the manufacturer's site, or even Macy's.

For vintage, some still use old price guides that are out of date. Something might "book" for $1000 in a 1998 price guide but only sell for $75 today.

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According to my Beenie Baby price guide I am worth a mint...

[lookng2015]

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@vacogi54 wrote:

I've been finding, lately, a lot of retail and more pricing going on. I have also laughed at the "Make an offer" people who will give you $1.00 off a $50.00 price. I don't know where ebay is going, but ,I,  with my 4500 plus purchases have been looking at other auction sites. If I want to pay retail I will. Ebay used to be a place to get great things discounted. Not any more. I will continue to buy from China as AC Moore and Michaels only offer items from China so, this way, I can skip the middleman. 

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"skipping the middleman" means you're also skipping QC and safety issues.

[lookng2015]

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@jason_incognito wrote:

So many on eBay list from massive catalogs. They buy the listings so they don't even need to go through and do that themsleves. 

If they list a million items, and 6 sell for hundreds over what they should, the seller wins. Meanwhile there are a million listings for overpriced stuff.

I was buying pieces to finish our wedding china. I would say that there are times when 90% of the listings on eBay are for more than if you went to the manufacturer's site, or even Macy's.

For vintage, some still use old price guides that are out of date. Something might "book" for $1000 in a 1998 price guide but only sell for $75 today.

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Fwiw, older stuff quite often does sell for more than original retail as it's no longer available in stores. How do you think Replacements built their business?