Why do some seller put an item up for 100 x the value?

[siriusrising]

I see some sellers put up a listing that is stupidly priced. Take the Coke Starr X openers. I see them for 999 dollars. 

I know Starr X and this one was made from 43 to 75 when Brown moved to W Germany. Even the early ones are only worth about 25 dollars in good condition. this one is a dime a dozen.  They are with the patent date worth about 10 bucks maybe 15 in really good condition.   Do these people think they will get some crazy bid? Is there something nefarious going on?  This s not a price in any kind of reality.

[rock.star]

Some people don't live in reality.

[doubledz-a2z]

TYPO  with no editing before hitting the submit button.  And it never gets caught on a bulk relist.   

[southern*sweet*tea]

He could be out of stock and priced the item ridiculously high so as to keep the listing running. (this is frowned upon)

He could be setting a ridiculously high price, hoping to take offers so he can vet his buyers.

It could be a typo.

He is an infrequent seller - the account could be hacked. (but I can't see that happening since those type hackings are done with high value, high turnover items like cell phones, expensive electronics, etc)

He could be totally clueless.

Take your pick of the above.

[dhbookds]

place holder.........they are going to redo the listing..........

[a_c_green]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

He could be totally clueless.

I have a nominee in that category.  He has repeatedly listed (over and over and over) a vintage widget that normally sells for around $50-$100 in good used condition, or $150-$200 New In Box. The one he is selling is used and dirty, a key component is visibly broken (and unrepairable) in the photos... and he is asking $425, last time I looked. The only reason I can think of for this listing to exist at all is that he has no clue about what he is selling, and no idea how to look around at other examples. 

[readabouthorses]

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@dhbookds wrote:

place holder.........they are going to redo the listing..........

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Or they are doing what we used to do selling horses ... price it way higher than you actually want and then when someone comes along and says the price is too high you say well make me an offer. So price the horse at $10,000 when you will really take $5,000 and then someone offers you $7,500. You make more than you were happy with and the buyer goes away thinking they talked you down to a "deal". ... Horse tradin' is really fun.

[rabbitation84]

I've seen stuff like that where the item was actually purchased for the ridiculously high amount. These are common items with a pretty defined value, not rare antiques. I've always wondered if it was some kind of scam, but never knew what the angle was.

[lex-talon]

IMO, I suspect the seller hit the 9 key 3 times too many. 

If I was interested in that item, I would message the seller to confirm the actual price.

[bktime]

Some of those are fronts for clandestine sales of other products and services. Meaning, they’re part of a network of buyers that are told what to look for. The buyer appears to purchase the item at the ridiculously high price, but gets whatever the “extra” (real) item is along with it or instead of it. 

[juststuffisell]

Unfortunately, some sellers - and include myself in this group - end up with merchandise they are not familiar with. Sometimes we (see above) over price things thinking it is something it is not. Other times (see above) we under price things and give somebody a super deal....lol Truth be told, most sellers would rather error on the high side than the low. When I buy I mixed lot junk at auction, I am buying it for what I know...the rest of it I have to try and sort out and most of the time, it is stuff I know nothing about.

Nicest thing that happens with me is when someone who is an expert in an item politely contacts me and points me to information that points out my pricing errors.

Cheers

[luckythewinner]

Why do some seller put an item up for 100 x the value?

• Typo / error
• Clueless / guessing
• Out of stock / placeholder
• Hoping lightning will strike
• Something special about it you didn't notice
• Money laundering

[myescape]

Because its theirs and they can ask whatever they want to for it

[ohnojoey]

Looking at the sellers items, most were priced high. Some people think that anything coke-a-cola commands insanely high prices, even a bottle opener.

Also, the seller past sales shows a lot of best offers accepted so maybe the strategy for them is to list high, accept lower, very low!

[juststuffisell]

The list high best offer strategy is one I started rolling out this year. I have also started listing some items closer to the cost I actually pay to ship.

Allows me to run good discounted sales, weed out problem buyers and set a minimum auto decline for best offers. The higher prices have worked to attract a higher quality buyer and really nipped in the bud the buy to wear somewhere return SNAD 3 weeks later for a full refund crowd I was getting due to ebays ridiculous policies. My stuff is to expensive for most of that crown now 🙂

I closed the year out 2018 with more returns from buyers than the entire life of the account with most coming the second half of the year. Crazy....and it was getting expensive.

Cheers