Thread: Pricing Theories/Opinions

I haven't come across it much consistently on eBay with razors but have had issues in the past where attempting to do a good thing resulted in a non-event and random salesmanship resulted in a sale. The best example I have is when my kids were pre-teen and no longer wanted their swing set we decided to sell it... That was before Craigslist was very popular and when Newspaper Ads were still too expensive so we put the Ad in the Thrifty Nickel... "Swing Set in great shape. FREE! Just contact for pick-up." Absolutely nobody contacted for two weeks. Back then if your stuff didn't sell you got to change your Ad. Feeling frustrated and not knowing what to do as it truly was in very good, nothing broken, usable, likely to last another 10 years type shape, I just don't have a truck to move it so come get it... I put $100 figuring I'd get someone all riled up calling me out on it and I could explain to them I tried to give it away and they were welcome to it. Surprisingly, someone called the very next day really excited about the swing set and would absolutely have none of it when I told her I wanted no money whatsoever but just could not get anyone interested with FREE so changed the Ad... She insisted on paying $50 and it was gone before noon the day after the Ad was changed.

So, then, the same question kind of applies with eBay... Do you put up great items for ridiculously cheap prices and work your butt off to answer emails, buy tape, use gas, etc to sell something for .99 cents or do you put a price on it out of the blue and just see where it goes from there? eBay has free listing until the 27th so I'm trying something similar where I put a price quite bigger than I think something is worth and am just waiting to see what happens.

Are there ethics to the pricing? Obviously there are great examples of obfuscation, mis-labeling, poor/shady photography, ignorance of details, etc on eBay but where do you fall in regards to price? Sell it as cheap as possible hoping to get it to someone who will use it and not flip it or put a price on there that you have no clue about and sit back and see what happens? And, in the end is it just dumb luck/Salesmanship or is there a method used for pricing?

Just random curiosity... Thanks for any and all information!

Shawn
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The last year while browsing ebay for razors I have noticed pricing goes in swings. For a while the biggest junk piles are listed and some sold for outrageous prices. Then out of the blue there are some decent razors on there for a reasonable price. I have a friend whose sister bought some crappy home speakers and wanted me to sell them on ebay. I put a reasonable price on them trying to get some of her money back. I noticed someone put the same speakers on there listed for a small fortune. I think some people put huge prices on there hoping that they will find the "sucker" to buy them. I have always started low and let the auction run its course. I don't think ebay has policy on prices but they do have policy on shipping costs. If similar items are going for extremely less shipping, they may contact the seller and suggest shipping be lowered to the "common" price.

I think as with any auction. The selling price is what someone is willing to pay, not necessarily what the item is worth.

This is my excuse for not selling my razors ! So drop it ! :<0)

Seriously though I have some I am going to have to sell and here is my take on it. I bought it for this much > X, and I put Z< into it. I must get /A to break even. Add 10% to start and see what the auction market bears. This = Y and Y = not going backwards. I will consider offers but lowballers will not even get a reply. Also I would put any info I could think of so buyers know what they are getting.

So in short X+Z _ A x 1/10 = > you got into it. 1/10 can be omitted and may not affect the sum total in this equation. this is due to <demand.

Hope that was simple enough for ya :<0)

I forgot to mention there are selling seasons and the next big one is months away. ho ho ho

I agree....if someone is willing to buy it,Caveat Emptor.

I've also read that when told they are drinking wine that is very expensive, people actually think it tastes better then the stuff they are told is inexpensive. So to the swing set example; no one wanted something they thought was 'worth' nothing. But put a price on it and it magically gains value. Stupid is as stupid does?

I have always been fascinated by people who sell stuff for a buck or five. On ebay I mean. If I'm not getting at least a hundred bucks for the trouble I don't bother.

It is common for a seller with 10 identical items to have 10 separate auctions finishing a day apart, each with a higher price than the last.
With regards to ethics, they are yours.

I really have a hard time with the bay. I put my razors up on them with what I would think is a fair starting price or my absolute minimum. I try very hard to describe it correctly and point out any issues, so someone knows exactly what they are buying. Being honest has probably cost me a couple of bucks but I can sleep at night. I see razors on there that have half a blade rotted, they have chips in the blade, the handles are gone, the blade had rust all over it, they used a wire brush on it,...the list goes on.. and yet they still ask big money for them. Ex. I list a brand razor with minimal flaws, non=restored, but cleaned up, honed to an edge, correctly described, for $30. I get some interest but no bids, yet, a razor of obviously lessor quality starts a bid at $5 less and there's a fight for it. Go figure!
I do this as a hobby and never intended to make a lot of money for my troubles. I have gotten less for some of my razors than I paid but I also had a few that doubled my investment.
You never really know how the pricing goes.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I have always been fascinated by people who sell stuff for a buck or five. On ebay I mean. If I'm not getting at least a hundred bucks for the trouble I don't bother.

It's quantity over quality. Some of these guys seem to be making chickenfeed on the transaction but they have bunches of them and some do very well with that strategy.

People don't want something for nothing because they think it's junk. Put a price on it and it becomes mdse.

A number of years ago a very prestigious Swiss Watch manufacturer decided to establish presence in the U.S. They failed totally, couldn't sell squat. So they withdrew for a few years and came back with a new PR firm and doubled the prices for the exact same pieces and they sold like hotcakes.

This has been my dilemma also. I have to thin the herd. How I do it is the question. How much is the other. I've looked at past sales on E-bay and came up with it's all over the board. Starting at an average maybe. Looking at vintage retail is quite a bit higher of a number. I'm also looking for a strategy. Of course listing them them here as a trade also works. Hmm, I have five name brand full hollows I would like to trade for a "purist"