EBAY - selling is easy
GregD/OASYSCO
if you want to sell something at a good price fairly quickly, eBAY is the
only way to go. I hate saying that as I feel eBAY is the WalMart of the
virtual world, stifling competition and pinging you at every turn for money
what with owning PayPal and all and then brainwashing folks ito only
accepting instant PayPal payments or nothing at all.
But HC has become a source of fraud (I've got a counterfeit cashier's check
for more than 3x what I was asking to prove it) and selling on HC has
become such a hassle.
I'm finding more HC'ers who will only buy if you let them pay with PayPal -
like PayPal gives them some sort of protection or they can use plastic
instead of cash.
Buyers like to lowball on HC - I know, I've done it, but it's just so much
easier for me just to slap it on EBAY and be done with it. In fact, of the
last 10 items I've sold on EBAy, 5 of them have gone past my BIN price -
bidders hit the reserve price and actually drove past my higher BIN price 5
of the last 10 times. Crazy, man, crazy.
I still go to HC sometimes, but I've not sold anything there in a long
time, yet everything I slap on EBAY sells in a hurry.
I guess the type of buyers on HC has changed - typically bargain hunters
who are mroe tire-kickrs than serious buyers. And with folks wanting to
only pay with PayPal... well, I guess you can't escape the reach of eBAY.
If you can't beat, join 'em... ugh, I don't like that.
Greg
VA3UX
on eBay that I would only have received a fraction of the price if I had
sold it locally - if I could have sold it at all. It's my belief that
the *average* price something sells for on eBay - with certain
provisions - is the true market value.
For musical instruments, the listings in the local classifieds have
dwindled to virtually zero, courtesy of eBay. The exceptions are piano's
and other large items that can't be easily shipped if they were sold on
eBay.
Phil
mark
news:DbVzd.917$0y4...@read1.cgocable.net...
>I have to agree. I've sold quite a bit of radio parts and related junk on
>eBay that I would only have received a fraction of the price if I had sold
>it locally - if I could have sold it at all. It's my belief that the
>*average* price something sells for on eBay - with certain provisions - is
>the true market value.
>
> For musical instruments, the listings in the local classifieds have
> dwindled to virtually zero, courtesy of eBay. The exceptions are piano's
> and other large items that can't be easily shipped if they were sold on
> eBay.
Definitely true. I once in a while see a post where someone says they got a
great deal out of a local classified on a guitar or amp and I think to
myself, "What?!?" Ebay has killed the local classifieds.
I have had trouble selling through harmony-central. Not scammed, but the
buyers are, quite frankly, pains in the asses. I was selling a Mesa amp a
few weeks ago. I had posted it everywhere for a couple of weeks. I posted
detailed pics of it on my website. Posted and reposted on harmony-central,
webervst, etc. Got a couple of tire kickers but that was it. Then, on a
Friday night, after having had virtually no response for the 2 weeks other
than a couple of tire kickers, I get an email from a guy with a bunch of
questions about the amp. He lives about 90 minutes from me too. I think,
great! I answer all of his questions, and then we swap emails for another
couple of hours, about 10 emails in all (it was late at night otherwise I
would have just wanted to talk on the phone, as much as I hate talking on
the phone). Then he's about ready to buy via paypal but has one last
question. It was something to the effect of: "Mark, is the amp noisy when
you turn it up? I had a Subway Rocket that was way noisy." So I email and
tell him that, yeah, it is a noisy amp but less so than all the other Mesas
I've heard. So I didn't hear back from him the rest of that night, the next
day, or the day after that. So the following week I say screw it, I need to
sell this thing so I put it on ebay. Within a day of putting it on ebay, the
knucklehead emails me saying he was busy over the weekend and couldn't get
back to me, but he's ready to buy the amp! And then of course he wants to
talk down the price all of a sudden, and he conveniently forgets the
original ad and what it stated as far as tubes, etc. Too much hassle IMO.
I'd rather just sell via ebay from now on.
oasysco
want extra pix, want you to send COD and then you never hear from them
again. I noticed JAZ posted several items here that are now on EBAY;
it's jsut easier to slap it up on EBAy were you know it'll sell and you
don't have to spend time messing with one prospective tire-kicker like
you do on HC.
HC wasn't always like that, though and I'm not sure why it's changed.
BTW, your story gave me a good chuckle, especially when the tire-kciker
wanted to talk down the price and forgot the original ad.
Greg
oasysco
want extra pix, want you to send COD and then you never hear from them
again. I noticed JAZ posted several items here that are now on EBAY;
it's jsut easier to slap it up on EBAy were you know it'll sell and you
don't have to spend time messing with one prospective tire-kicker like
you do on HC.
HC wasn't always like that, though and I'm not sure why it's changed.
Granted, it was never as easy as selling on EBAY, but it used to not be
as bad as it is now. Heck, I put up a guitar on eBAY for $200 less than
I got for it on eBAY a week later and still HC tire-kickers wanted it
for free.
BTW, your story gave me a good chuckle, especially when the tire-kicker
Dan Adler
ken
mark
with guys like me, who scan the ads all the time looking for great deals.
I'm pretty savvy on what things go for pricewise on ebay (not that that
takes any great skill...doing completed auction searches). If I see
something that is going real cheap on HC and I have some extra cash I'll buy
it just to play with it for a short while and resell it for profit. When my
wife stopped working to stay at home with our kids last year, money was
tight and believe it or not as slimey as I felt doing it, I made a couple of
hundred a week buying and selling stuff for profit that way.
I think that's the problem - HC and the other boards are filled with one of
two guys:
1. Lowballers looking to resell for profit
2. Gear hounds with constant GAS who want to try stuff but are also well
aware of market value
And also, the buyers are anal about things. The slightest scratch or nick on
the underside of an amp sets them off. Fortunately I only know of that from
hearing the whiners when they post about it on webervst :)
"oasysco" <oas...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:1104179493.7...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
mark
searchable musician ad section, accessable via the gear classified link
(makes sense, I guess...) that is pretty popular.
"ken" <kubo...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1104201928....@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> harmony central?
>
GregD/OASYSCO
I don't know about whiners on HC since it's where I did all of my
business originally, but as for tire kickers, whew, that's all I see
now. It has never been as easy as selling on EBAY, but nowadays HC seems
near impossible for selling unless you are giving it away. How you made
a living on HC is a wonder. Yes, there are some good deals to be had
buying stuff there sometimes, but selling on HC? Or did yuo sell
elsewhere? If elsewhere, then you've helped me make my point. If on HC,
then more power to you.
HC 'aint the same place it used to be. The other poster was right - HC
buyers ask a zillion questions, demand extra pix, kick the tires and
they;re gone. Put it up on EBAY and you have way less hassle, sell for
more, and sell faster.
So, I guess I'm saying, it's best to buy on HC and sell on EBAY.
BTW, I'm not above making a buck and did much of the same thing as you
did, but not at the level you did it. It took me years to get to the
point that I could upgrade my gear buying and selling. At least, I had a
number of fresh pieces of gear in my hands along the way. see
http://www.geocities.com/oasysco/gearidx.htm for a partial listing.
I don't like having to rush to eBAY, but it's quickly becoming the only
game in town for selling. Add to that, Guitar Center's auction site
which makes it appear that guitars are made of gold and eBAY becomes
even stronger in attraction.
Greg
GregD/OASYSCO
@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:
> What is HC?
>
> -Dan
> http://danadler.com
>
>
http://www.harmony-central.com
Greg
mark
news:Xns95CD2583...@68.1.17.6...
> mark,
>
> I don't know about whiners on HC since it's where I did all of my
> business originally, but as for tire kickers, whew, that's all I see
> now. It has never been as easy as selling on EBAY, but nowadays HC seems
> near impossible for selling unless you are giving it away. How you made
> a living on HC is a wonder.
LOL unfortunately I wasn't exactly making a living on it. I did however pull
in $100 to $300 a week for a while there, just buying and selling stuff. It
was solely to finance my own gear purchases. I'd bet that there are
definitely a lot of people who actually do make a living out of it though.
If you buy and sell enough stuff, and don't care about the packing and trips
to UPS, and the hassle, then when you consider how many times you've seen an
archtop that should go for $1800 go for $1300 or $1500....make a few deals
like that a week and a single guy with no kids would do allright : )
Yes, there are some good deals to be had
> buying stuff there sometimes, but selling on HC? Or did yuo sell
> elsewhere? If elsewhere, then you've helped me make my point. If on HC,
> then more power to you.
>
I have sold some stuff on HC recently but I'll probably never bother again
due to the hassle. But here's a deal for you - and I *think* it will be my
last deal for a while since I'm no longer in a band and don't need
anything...I just bought a couple of weeks ago a Blues Junior. It is a tweed
one, Made in the USA, green board (amazingly enough there is a huge
difference in the sound of these amps depending on when they were made and
what color circuit board they have due to circuit changes over the years). I
got it for $200 and it is mint. And believe it or not I got it off HC. The
seller wanted to sell it locally, but since I was the first to commit to
buying it (he said he had about 10 people after me) and I was fortunate
enough to look at HC right after he placed the ad, and no one locally
committed to buying it, I got it. I could easily sell this amp for $400 on
ebay tomorrow and I figured I would because I've tried these amps in the
stores and they always sound terrible to me but this one is phenomenal. I
also recently sold a Boss CE-2 chorus pedal (made in Japan - very nice if
you like chorus, I don't) that I bought locally from someone for $25 and I
sold it for $100 online. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. : )
> HC 'aint the same place it used to be. The other poster was right - HC
> buyers ask a zillion questions, demand extra pix, kick the tires and
> they;re gone. Put it up on EBAY and you have way less hassle, sell for
> more, and sell faster.
>
> So, I guess I'm saying, it's best to buy on HC and sell on EBAY.
>
The deals are there on ebay but they are a pain because you don't know what
something's gonna sell for until it is over due to the snipers. Also, I've
never had a problem with something bought via ebay but did have a problem
with an amp (Peavey classic 30) that I bought via HC and also a Traynor amp
(had malfunctioning reverb when turned past 2). These were both HC
purchases. People talk down about the ebay feedback system, but I do put my
trust into it much more than HC.
> BTW, I'm not above making a buck and did much of the same thing as you
> did, but not at the level you did it. It took me years to get to the
> point that I could upgrade my gear buying and selling. At least, I had a
> number of fresh pieces of gear in my hands along the way. see
> http://www.geocities.com/oasysco/gearidx.htm for a partial listing.
>
> I don't like having to rush to eBAY, but it's quickly becoming the only
> game in town for selling. Add to that, Guitar Center's auction site
> which makes it appear that guitars are made of gold and eBAY becomes
> even stronger in attraction.
>
Guitar Center has an auction site? I"ll have to check that out.
Michael L Kankiewicz
What I don't get is, the "Reserve." I mean, I know very well what it is
and how it works, but then why not just start your auction at the reserve
price? What am I missing?
MK
thom_j
idea because all it does is let many nonbuyers play auction.. Especially
when anyone starts their Gibson L5' off at $0.99... I don't get this one
at all? always curious tee'...
anon
> "Michael L Kankiewicz" wrote:
>
>>What I don't get is, the "Reserve." I mean, I know very well what it is
>>and how it works, but then why not just start your auction at the reserve
>>price? What am I missing?
I think it just gets the ball rolling, auction wise. And I think there
is a component of the listing fee that is based on the initial price, so
starting low makes some sense.
pmfan57
I'm glad somebody asked that question. I had no idea either.
I thought it stood for Hunt's Catsup.