mjmjr25 wrote:However, if you are going to price an item OVER ebay BUY NOW COMPLETEDS, at a a minimum, expect your thread to be ignored....knock off 7-10% for the fees you aren't paying.
I get the point of this thread and think it is great.
But the wording here to "expect" a certain kind of response to eBay-esque prices and then an instruction to "knock off" a percentage strikes me as the kind of statement that can shape the tone (if not the rules) of BST in a way that slants too heavily towards the buyer. This thread, basically, is about how to be a good seller/trader. When we start suggesting how to price things it doesn't take much for those suggestions to become "expectations" or "unspoken rules" for people at the negotiating table.
I think what you're ignoring Dave is that people (buyers, sellers, traders) already have unspoken expectations. When Mick says "expect your thread to be ignored," he's not saying "hey everyone! Ignore threads like that!" He's saying, "in my experience I've ingored threads like that." And "In my experience if my thread has been like that it's been ignored." Again, not to put words in his mouth but that's how I took it -- and agreed with it, even if it was perhaps harsh.
Right, in no terms am I suggesting rules to be followed, i'm suggesting if you are wondering why "the market is dead right now" it may in fact be a lively market, but you (the seller) are either over ebay, not showing pictures, not explaining condition, and essentially not offering me any incentive to buy from you.
Meaning, as many of us scour ebay, if we pull up a page, how many items on that page of 200 do you click on? 5, 10, maybe 20, before going to the next page of items. Why do we click on them? Because they are at or under what we consider to be a fair price, because the condition of the item (via the picture) makes me consider paying their higher price, etc. And those other 190 items didn't do that. It doesn't mean ebay is slow today, it means 190 people didn't grab my attention with their description / picture / or price, or combination thereof.
My comments today were for the "the markeplace is dead crowd". No, it isn't. You are likely doing one of these things that is just a turn off to buyers. Over priced, poor description, for offer, for trade (no trade list), no pictures, etc. If you consider some of these things, my guess is the marketplace will come back to life for you - and be more enjoyable for us all as buyers/sellers.
At JMustang - I know exactly what your talking about. Selling an item low and then seeing it resold high. It's a tough thing. I think a general rule is to try to sell something for what you paid, but if the market has swung up so significantly, then it is certainly appropriate to sell at a higher rate. Example; I bought Earthbound from sevin0seven for I think $85 in trade. I sold it to Chupon for $100 about 4 months later. I believe he sold it for $150 6 months later, and now it is selling for $180-200 - and no one in that process should feel guilty or deceitful in anyway.
Now, as far as buying off of your thread for $10 and then getting it, and then selling on my thread for $20, that's not cool, however what I try to do is make it so the buyer can get a deal, but not so much of a deal it is worth his time to buy it / ship it / flip it / reship it. So if a game is selling for $20, i'll probably list at $17, isn't worth the hassle for someone to flip it as the $3 profit is lost in the shipping and fees.
When I sell bundles, I fully expect to give that person a deal, for the convenience of shipping only one package and getting a large payment at once. If that person is cool doing the extra legwork to split the bundle up and eek out a few extra dollars on resale, I don't have a problem with that. I had that option, but chose to take less up front, for less work and hassle.
mjmjr25 wrote:FOR TRADE: For trade is a cool thing...so long as you list some things you want to trade for. Nothing more annoying than seeing a FT thread, a bunch of cool stuff listed, and then no idea what that person wants in trade. Lame.
I'd like to expand a little on this point, if I may.
FT: It would be helpful to have a Want List with some varying price points. If all you have for trade is a bunch of loose Genesis commons- don't just have "Radiant Silvergun" in your want list. Try to have smaller wants along with more expensive titles.
Question to you guys who make a lot of transactions:
What's the most cost effective way to ship a single Gameboy game? I have a few going out from the charity auction and need to pinch pennies if possible.
Only 2 ways that are under $2, everything else would be UPS / FED EX / USPS priority box and all are more pricey options.
Safest way w/o hassle is a small (3x3 or 3x5) bubble mailer (1oz) and the cart (2oz usually), so about $1.40 usps 1st class.
Depending on the knowledge and or attitude of the clerk at your po, you could put it in a regular envelope with 2 stamps ($0.92). Technically they shouldn't take it since a standard letter can't have solid / rigid / firm materials like plastic and it is supposed to fit between the 1/4 mail slot. Some postal workers would take it though.
I wouldn't do the plain envelope thing, the reason for the rigid versus non rigid is to whether they can stuff them in the automatic sorting machines. Do you want to risk someone sticking one with a cart into the sorter and then having it get chewed up if it gets stuck?
You don't have any bubble packs from inbound packaged to reuse? I haven't bought any in quite some time. Since the flap is usually toast from opening the first time. I cut them down, usually to fit the item and make it lighter, and reuse them.
Huh, noise kinda summed up what I just went through.
noiseredux wrote:this is the one that really bothers me. "For Offer" usually says to me "I'm pretty lazy so the buyer is going to have to do some extra work." When I see lists of games with no prices, I tend to just stop looking at that BST list. Why? Because I don't want to figure out what I think the games are worth, PM the seller, and wait to see if they accept my offer. That's too much work to buy something when I could just go to eBay or another sale thread with less work, even if it means I could pay more in the long run.
I just skimmed through about 20 different sale threads on another forum. MAYBE 3 had prices listed. I finally said "Screw it" and started browsing ebay instead.
I agree w/ noise 100%. I'm not going to do the work of checking prices and hope I get a deal slightly cheaper than ebay.
List your prices, people; it's only in your best interest to do so.
