ranfordfan No worries, I'm neither offended or upset. Please don't be offended or upset with me for presenting the other side. This is a healthy discussion with differing opinions, I'm just trying to understand yours and others while offering an opposing viewpoint that I don't believe you've come to fully understand or realize yet. Tell me if and where my logic fails me and I'll tell you where I believe your logic fails you.
You indicated a listing for the Hartnell card at $2.66. I assume that was to indicate the card is available for less cost than the $5.85 the other card is offered at. I assume this is the card offered at $5.85 you speak of. Correct?
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/SCOTT-HARTNELL-2011-12-Black-Diamond-Dual-Jersey-PHI-SH-Philadelphia-Flyers/322435832039?hash=item4b12ac58e7:g:ZnwAAOSwLEtYiZOU
A few things jump out at me about this comparison. If it was a straight up $2.66 vs. $5.85 card there'd be no discussion. The card offered at $2.66 is obviously a better deal and you should have bought that one. But that's only half the story. You have to include the cost of shipping, right? Now let's do the math. The card listed at $5.85 is local for you and has a shipping cost of $2.50. If you bought it at his offer of $4.00 that's a total cost to you of $6.50. The card you gave as an alternative that's listed at $2.66 is from a US seller and sports a shipping cost of $23.49 for a final cost to you of $26.15. I'm guessing that's why you didn't buy the $2.66 card. It really ends up costing you over $25. Unless I've got the shipping charges wrong, what we're really talking about is $6.50 vs. $26.15. You need to consider the whole cost of the card to make a fair price comparison. That includes the shipping costs to you. Tell me if my logic is wrong here. Aren't these the 2 specific cards you're talking about?
You also failed to mention that the original listing was for $13 and at $5.85 the seller has already taken 55% off his original asking price. Maybe that's an inflated original price, but the value listed for the card here at TCDB is $10 so it doesn't seem too unrealistic. Besides he was willing to part with it for $4.00 + shipping. That seems fair to me.
spazmatastic I don't see the issue with adding OBO to a card listed at $5.85 and refusing to take less than $4.00. The original listing was for $13. Taking $4 would be 70% less than the original price. You stated "Don't make people think they could get it cheaper" when in fact at $4.00 you could have gotten the card cheaper. Almost 32% cheaper than the $5.85 listed. There's no deceit there. I'm sure the seller listed the card that way because he believed that was the way he had the best chance of completing a sale. After all, the sellers are there to sell. But there's no point in going through all that effort with no profit in it for them. Where's their incentive. I think buyers fail to realize there are costs to the sellers for listing items too. Perhaps it's more affordable to list the item at $5.85 BIN with MAO than it is to have an auction that starts at a $4.00 initial bid. I don't remember all the different listing fees. I haven't bought or sold anything on eBay for a long time.
I'm not sure where the arbitrary "they should be willing to sell it for anywhere above 50% of their listing price" comes from. There's no basis for that. If that were the norm, than it would only serve to force the original listing prices even higher. No one wants that. It doesn't get any more transactions completed that way.
The fact of the matter is eBay is a central marketplace where sellers can offer items for buyers to purchase. That same marketplace will determine the true value of the items. Buyers will only pay what they are willing to spend and sellers will take what they need to make enough profit to remain in business. That's the beauty of a free auction marketplace, no one is forcing transactions at any specified levels. Those levels are determined by a buyers willingness to buy and a sellers willingness to sell. Can you tell I was both a floor broker and trader, buying and selling soybean and wheat options at the Chicago Board of Trade for a living for over 30 years? I've also been on both sides of the transaction through eBay, so I believe I have a pretty thorough understanding of both buyers and sellers and what motivates them. Did you find any flaws in my logic here?
My Autograph Collection Website Emphasis is on the 1969 Cubs. This is still a work in progress as is my collection here at TCDB.
Value what you collect, don't collect for value.
