albertabrightalberta
mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
@marcipolett0 wrote:What if there is a heart medication that people need? A store sells it for a $1.50 a pill. Then Joe-Make-A-Quick-Bucks comes along and buys all the pills then puts them on sale for $5.00. An elderly person does not use the internet or doesn't drive. Her only source of medication and information is from Joe. That is Ok with you? Hey, that's capitalism. Don't tell me that's different. It is the same reasoning.
That's completely different.
Ebay sellers cannot sell prescription drugs.
@marcipolett0 wrote:What if there is a heart medication that people need? A store sells it for a $1.50 a pill. Then Joe-Make-A-Quick-Bucks comes along and buys all the pills then puts them on sale for $5.00. An elderly person does not use the internet or doesn't drive. Her only source of medication and information is from Joe. That is Ok with you? Hey, that's capitalism. Don't tell me that's different. It is the same reasoning.
While your example is an extreme overstatement, this type of item can't even be sold on Ebay, so your story would not every happen here for that particular item. Prescription meds can not be sold on Ebay.
You are confusing Price Gouging with simple overpriced items.
There are laws in place about Price Gouging through times of natural disasters, Pandemics, etc.
What you are concerned about is overpriced items. As a consumer you are welcome to just bypass those listings and find what you need elsewhere. No one is forcing you or any other buyer from purchasing on this site.
You are going to be very disappointed when the Holiday Season arrives. Especially if you need to purchase any of the Hot Toys for the year. There has been many years that the manufacturers have underestimated what stock they would need for a particular item or items. So they become harder and harder to find before Christmas. When that happens some sellers have been able to locate some stock and their prices will rise way above what retail would be for the item. But no one or very few can find it in the stores due to being out of stock. The only hope they have is to find it online.
You seem to want to apply your theory to everything that is sold on the site. Not sure why.
You seem to think that because most don't agree with you that we are in favor of taking advantage of buyers. That absolutely is not the case. Most sellers are good, hard working people that are here to supply whatever it is they are selling to customers.
It is highly unlikely that any seller would survive here if they had to pay full retail for all their inventory. But by your standards you would expect that seller to sell the item for no more than full retail and just eat the costs of selling here. Not sure how that is fair. Sellers provide a service and there is no shame in wanting to be paid for our work.
If you have made the choice that you will not sell anything above full retail and you paid full retail for the NEW item. Then you will be PAYING your buyers to purchase from you. If that is what you want to do, that is your right.
BUT since you are new to selling, you might just learn some valuable things by opening up your mind and actually process what some are telling you. Again, NOT a soul here is condoning taking advantage of a buyer, EVER. There are however some things that will easily sell for over retail price.
I hope you will decide to try and learn from all the experienced sellers that have been trying to help you better understand this. However if your mind is closed and made up, there isn't much any of us can do to help you. You just need to decide if you want to be a short term seller or build yourself a little business here.
@monica-sells wrote:from books to heart medications.....seriously?
BTW: When "Joe-Make-A-Quick-Bucks" buys up all the inventory, the manufacturer drops the price to accomodate/increase sales (knowing they can beat Joes price)...in other words, they bury "Joe-Make-A-Quick-Bucks" and stick him with all the inventory he bought...forcing him to lower his price and decrease his profit margin
That's capitalism
no government controls
oh, and Joe is offering a personal service in your example
They are new to Ebay and don't understand that you can't even sell prescription items here. So their story wouldn't happen here.
And we should note that sellers with the mindset of Joe-Make-A-Quick-Buck don't last long on this site. They will end up damaging their seller stats and therefore the health of their selling account.
@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:Ever notice that the 'outraged by' scalping or gouging threads are always about items that are very definitely wants not needs? And roughly translate to outraged that sellers aren't selling what I want for the price I'm willing to pay?
The OP hasn't said they were shopping for anything in particular. They mentioned books, but they sell some books.
