Ridiculous eBay 'Buy-it-now' and starting bids.

[bleurgh]

My apologies if this topic is already covered somewhere and I've overlooked it.

As there is a thread regarding "interesting eBay auctions," I thought it would be interesting to have a thread for people to post auctions that have ridiculously high starting bids or 'buy-it-now' prices.

The auction below is on Australian eBay and is for a Roland Promars and CSQ-600 sequencer. Usually these days a Promars will sell for about $500-$700 and a CSQ-600 will sell for around $300-$400.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Roland-Promars-M ... 286.c0.m14

[Pro5]

UK SY85 BIN PRICE £350.. over priced by about £200 at least (Mine cost under £100 - going rate around £150) - I watch a LOT of auctions for many synths so I know the average prices and SY85s are always cheap.

Besides that, there are too many to mention really.. I see them daily. Some of the 909s priced at £909 may 'appear funny' to the seller but it just looks like arbitrary pricing to me which is a fools domain (not that they don't go for that price)

[Christopher Winkels]

I routinely come across the dealer ads that list vintage gear (in admittedly very good condition) for twice the going rate. Odysseys for $3,000. Rev3 Prophet-5s for $5,000. That sort of thing. They even play the numbers game of taking that single dollar off so that it's a $2,999 Oddy and a $4,999 Prophet. Usually the instruments are in absolutely top shape, but there's rarely a well-used Oddy bought for $1,000 can't be made better than new for the remaining two grand a dealer wants to charge.

Granted, this has positive effect (for me, at least) of elevating what I can try to ask for when I sell my gear, but it does distort the whole market when people who don't know better think they can do the same, and that all vintage gear is worth several mortgage payments.

On further reflection though, I can't blame the dealers. They're just trying to make money off of a niche and pay themselves a living wage. I save the blame for people who do shell out $2,000 for a Moog Source without considering that they could spend half that amount on Craigslist for a mint example, and perhaps a quarter of that amount for a "used-but-functional" unit.

[Z]

Yeah, right!

[Rangoon]

I was always under the impression that the point of these listings are to solicit bids "under the table" (through private email to the seller via Ebay) and thus avoid the Ebay listing fees, PayPal fees, and other inconveniences of actually completing the transaction on Ebay. I don't think the sellers are expecting anywhere close to their BIN price nor are they even wanting to sell it through Ebay. It's a mechanism to get free advertising....and a pretty clever one at that. Correct me if I'm wrong on this because I've never actually sold anything on Ebay....

[nadafarms]

that is actually a good point, but I think a lot of people would be so turned off by insane pricing that they wouldn't never contact those sellers outside of ebay.

but I do think you can post your website in ebay auctions, so I could imagine that just putting up tons of synths at insane prices and having links to your site where they prices aren't crazy and you could do pretty good business... nothing wrong with exploiting ebay they are the ultimate exploiters 10% with ebay + paypal fees it's hardly worth selling on these days. bastards!!!

it is funny though if I'm listing something for a high price just because I don't really want to sell it, and people get their panties in a bunch. I mean if someone has a nice collection and wants to put high prices and just sit back and wait there is nothing wrong with that. but it cracks me up when some burnt out old rocker gets all pissed and sends crazy emails demanding you lower prices dramatically...

[bleurgh]

I mean if someone has a nice collection and wants to put high prices and just sit back and wait there is nothing wrong with that. but it cracks me up when some burnt out old rocker gets all pissed and sends crazy emails demanding you lower prices dramatically...

True, I suppose. I guess there are times where you could be surprised. Someone may want a particular item desperately and may have money to burn. But you see these high starting bids so often and although I don't get angry about it, my initial reaction is that the person is very silly to expect that someone would pay double the going rate. I always think that it's people not doing their research about prices before listing, but I guess there are plenty of other reasons besides, as has been suggested in this thread.
But still, you have to wonder about this one - nice though it may be:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Original-Yamaha- ... 286.c0.m14

[diezdiazgiant]

I've been seeing a lot of people trying to get rid of their mpc2000 at prices as high as 700. Usually no mention on if there are any upgrades included, or anything included with it to make it worth such a shitty price

[druzz]

Yeah, right!

i bougth this for 300$ CND this year

[druzz]

wait . this one looks weird . they covered up the original front panel in black and put on stickers !???!

[seamonkey]

Although these are interesting to read, I think these could easily be integrated into the "interesting ebay auctions" thread we already have.

[Jack Spider]

Moved to 'Buyer's Guide'.

[vin14]

[quote="Pro5"]UK SY85 BIN PRICE £350.. over priced by about £200 at least (Mine cost under £100 - going rate around £150) - I watch a LOT of auctions for many synths so I know the average prices and SY85s are always cheap.

There's an SY85 going for €400 in Buy and Sell (Irish Ads Paper/website). I think it was €499 originally. I guess some people will start with a crazy price in the hope of finding a sucker. Like most things for sale, it's not ridiculous from the seller's point of view if someone is prepared to pay!

[supermel74]

Of course this CZ-101 is worth $399, a certified tech breathed on it.

[balma]

On further reflection though, I can't blame the dealers. They're just trying to make money off of a niche and pay themselves a living wage. I save the blame for people who do shell out $2,000 for a Moog Source without considering that they could spend half that amount on Craigslist for a mint example, and perhaps a quarter of that amount for a "used-but-functional" unit.

Yeah you put the price you want put to your stuff, but sometimes I have the temptation of using the "send a message to the seller" option

On the EMU roms, I have seen prices for a 32MB ROM on $500. Some ROMs for EMU command station or Audity synths have reached ridiculous prices, especially the World Expedition one