What’s your ebay ceiling?

timwinters

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So, last spring Someone stole my nice Topcon laser level. I’ve since been snooping around at buying one...perusing craigslist (including for my own), ebay, etc. More urgency has entered the picture of late.

Last week a pretty nice one came up on eBay; starting bid $250. Hmmm, me thinketh to myself, a new one is about $600 so let’s bid on this one. The auction ended today and the winning bid, with shipping, was $425. Har. Not me.

I instead bought a new one off of amazon for $549...free shipping. Exact same item.

Really??? Someone spent 75% of what one costs new and they really don’t know what they're getting?

When I consider buying a used item, especially something electronic, my ceiling is 50% to 60% of what I can pick a new one up for, especially when the new one comes WITH WARRANTY, in this particular case the seller "accepts no returns." Less savings than that and the risk/reward equation just doesn’t make sense to me.

Really???

What’s your ebay ceiling?
 
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I bought a magnetron for about 15% the cost of a new one. Was happy with that. First thing I've purchased through ebay in several years. Only did the deal because the seller had a brick-n-mortar business that was verifiable through other means.

In other words, I agree entirely that the risk on ebay for electronics, tools, justaboutanything is too high to make a significant purchase.
 
It's been a long time since eBay was where the deals were. I have regularly seen items sell for higher prices on eBay than you can get on Amazon or other online merchants, but it is still useful for rare, hard-to-find, discontinued, or refurbished items. I don't have a hard ceiling, as it depends on the item.
 
When I was 8 years old (in 1975), my mom bought me a Radio Shack AM aircraft radio kit:

upload_2017-10-24_20-3-36.png

It may look simple now, but when I was a kid, I thought this thing was awesome. I actually credit this gift with my eventual love of flying and airplanes. So, even though my original radio was long gone, I decided to try to find one on Ebay. A few came and went, and I kept forgetting to bid. Most of the time, the kits were going for an ending bid of about $50. Finally, a nice looking one came up, and I thought, "lets just bid early, bid high, and make sure I get this thing." Its sounds crazy now, but I decided to bid $250, just to make sure I got it (at the time that I bid $250, there were 3 days left in the auction, and my going bid was just $20)....well, believe it or not, someone out bid me! Auctions can make people crazy sometimes.
 
Anything that is in current production I buy new from a regular outlet.

EBay is not a savings engine. It is good for replacements and moving your old stuff.

Amazon is the go to!
 
I mostly use it for hard to find stuff, like printheads for an out of production large format printer (about 25% of retail). Also good for some cheap stuff that ships from China, like bulk aprons (for GF’s art studio). I use vendors with high number of good ratings.
 
I pay pretty good money for the guillows radio control Piper Tomahawk kit. I had one of those when I was a kid and I've been looking for it for years. there was one on eBay once and I missed it by about 2 days.
 
But for current production stuff I'm a super cheap ass and I will usually use Amazon just because I can get it the same day or the next day new
 
It's not just ebay, people do this with auctions all the time. I always wonder if they just don't know what the item costs new or if the few doll hairs they're saving are worth it to them.
 
It's been a long time since eBay was where the deals were. I have regularly seen items sell for higher prices on eBay than you can get on Amazon or other online merchants, but it is still useful for rare, hard-to-find, discontinued, or refurbished items. I don't have a hard ceiling, as it depends on the item.
This.
 
I've had more and more problems with Amazon lately, ranging from clearly used and non-functional units sold as new (sold and fulfilled by Amazon, not a third party) to shipments that get lost, to stuff that makes Harbor Freight look like SnapOn. I pick and choose carefully - Amazon is rarely the low price any more.
 
No ceiling for me necessarily, but I rarely buy anything used on eBay. I can’t recall making an eBay purchase for a few years now, as their prices just aren’t that competitive. We use Amazon a ton for new stuff, and Craigslist a decent amount for used stuff.


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When I was 8 years old (in 1975), my mom bought me a Radio Shack AM aircraft radio kit...

That looks like the same one I had. Later, I put it in a project box with an amplifier (another radio shack kit) and speaker. I think it's still in my electronics junk box.
 
I rarely buy used, especially sight-unseen.

But if I did, my ceiling would probably be ~40%. That way, if the first one is junk, I could possibly buy another one and hope that at least one of them worked out. Also, 40% off new gives me a little extra for the hassle of potentially having to look for another one, and for the aggravation of dealing with someone else's problem.

The more I think about it, I might need to revise downward to around 25-30%.
 
I has its place. Somethings are hard/impossible to find any other way. As far as people paying too much, it is hard to believe these people aren’t aware of Amazon or other options. You would have to living a very sheltered life.
 
I typically don't spend a lot of money on ebay, but I've made several large purchases:

$34,000 for a wooden, triple cockpit mahogany runabout
$27,000 for a Yamaha DC5A (6'7" Disklavier grand piano).
$6,000 for an Avanti II car.
 
It's been a long time since eBay was where the deals were. I have regularly seen items sell for higher prices on eBay than you can get on Amazon or other online merchants, but it is still useful for rare, hard-to-find, discontinued, or refurbished items. I don't have a hard ceiling, as it depends on the item.
I agree. eBay used to be the place, but with Amazon beginning to dominate the online retail space, eBay drives a hard bargain on many items.
 
I recently bought a new handheld radio on eBay from a store/vendor for $30+ cheaper than Amazon. Same make/model, new, delivered in 3 days.

I recently bought a 2M/440 antenna from a local vendor for $35 cheaper than Amazon (both charged tax). And I had it same day.

Amazon may have gotten too big for their britches, and I like supporting local stores (especially when they're less money).

$6,000 for an Avanti II car.

Wait. You have an Avanti?!?
 
E-Bay is typically my vendor of last resort. My last purchase was a couple of replacement ear pads for my Bose headset (the free one I got with my aviation headset). Bose and others wanted ~$35 or so for them. I ended up paying $4 including shipping for the pair.

Years ago I sold my Bang & Olufsen stereo (receiver, amplifier, cassette deck, CD player and speakers) for pretty close to what I paid for them all. Probably about $200 difference or so. That was a real bidding war at the end between an avid collector and a guy that just wanted it. The guy that just wanted it won.

I still regret selling that stereo.
 
Depends on the item, but 50 - 60 percent sounds about right when I'm buying. When selling, I'll usually set the starting bid at about 35 percent and the "buy now" at about 75 percent, depending on age, condition, current utility, and so forth.

Rich
 
48,000 for a used Porsche (best purchase I ever made)
38,000 for my wife's car, used
12,000 for a used motorcycle
A myriad of other things not nearly as expensive

Not once have I ever been cheated.

I looked up my Amazon history the other day....in 2015 I had around 300 orders.

Damn, I need to step away from the internet.
 
I typically don't spend a lot of money on ebay, but I've made several large purchases:

$34,000 for a wooden, triple cockpit mahogany runabout
$27,000 for a Yamaha DC5A (6'7" Disklavier grand piano).
$6,000 for an Avanti II car.

Looks like the only one you overpaid for was the Avanti, but we’ll assume you bid in error. You meant to bid $6 and couldn’t get out of the deal when you saw the extra zeros.
 
Simply bid the item for what it is worth to you, if you win great, if not Oh Well.
 
Looks like the only one you overpaid for was the Avanti, but we’ll assume you bid in error. You meant to bid $6 and couldn’t get out of the deal when you saw the extra zeros.
You should check the prices on those again $6000 is a bargain.
 
Bought my first convertible off Ebay. But I don't think I've even looked at it for anything other than airplane porn since I did the Amazon Prime thing. What a no brainer! In addition to getting all the stuff I want for free shipping they've got all the old HBO shows I always wanted to see but was too cheap to pony up for HBO.
 
I get some great deals on eBay for plants and shrubs from a nursery south of TLH. I do a little landscaping for family and friends but that's about to end as I'm too friggin old to be bending so much lol. Have purchased a number of POHs for under $15 each. Bid on a reel-to-reel just for grins as I have a ton of tapes from decades ago. Tapes are probably no good and I haven't gotten around to seeing if they're still good. Good overall experiences on eBay but I'd be wary about a big ($$$$$) purchase.
 
I typically don't spend a lot of money on ebay, but I've made several large purchases:

$34,000 for a wooden, triple cockpit mahogany runabout
$27,000 for a Yamaha DC5A (6'7" Disklavier grand piano).
$6,000 for an Avanti II car.
You have exceedingly good taste.!
 
$6k is a great price on an Avanti. Was it not airworthy? Both engines beyond TBO? I know it's a canard but that shouldn't bring down the value that much.


Oh wait, you're not talking about the aircraft???
It's NOT a canard, you duck!:D
 
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