ebay?


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:D lemme give you some background...

a few days ago, i found this guy selling an OLD computer (pismo powerbook, g3 500mhz). one guy offered $500, which is a good deal considering it's age. he wanted $800 for it :o

so i posted and told him that if he wanted ebay prices, he should sell it on ebay, as the forum he was trying to sell on was a mac enthusiast forum. i told him that i could buy a computer 2x as fast from apple for the same amount.

he got ****ed. it was funny. it still is... but anyway, here is the question:

last night, he tried to tell me that what something sells for on ebay is what it is worth.

what do you think of that idea? that what something sells for on ebay is what it is worth, no questions asked?

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I agree.... an item is worth what the buyer wants to pay for it. To you the item may only be worth 500$, but to someone else, they might think it is worth 800$ to them.

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kind of like getting an item appraised and then actually putting it up for auction.

if there aren't two people at the auction that want the item it is obviously not going to sell for the appraised amount. if there are 10 people at the auction that want the item it will probably sell for way more than the appraised amount.

i have won many items off of ebay for way below their "normal" price. 1200$ retail bass for $600. $25 knee pads for $6 new. just depends if people want the item or not.

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:rolleyes: I usually sell something (in good condition) for around one-third it's original price. And I can see why the guy got p**sed. No matter how fair the price you ask, there's always some joker who has nothing better to do then tell you, "oh I can get the same thing [somewhere] for half that !"

I always tell them, Great, go buy it there then. *click* :rolleyes:

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Ebay is about the best thing that exists as a free market for odds and ends. Ultimately, things sell at the highest price anyone is willing to pay for them at the time, and Ebay is about as public of an auction as there can be.

There is a bit of selection bias, however, regarding what people are looking for what things on Ebay at any given time (e.g., not everyone has computers, or finds it worth their time to repeatedly scour Ebay for something they seek), and sellers aren't always geniuses when it comes to how well they describe things / sell things.

There are also Ebay "addicts" who just like buying things from Ebay thinking they're getting a good deal, yet they don't know how to reasonably search for things elsewhere.

Sometimes one can get a far better deal on something than what it's truly worth.

Very often, people superficially like to "win" on Ebay, and they actually end up paying more for something than they could buy it from a store elsewhere with minimal research.

Depending on item, prices on Ebay can even be lower than "market value" as there's risk of lack of support, fraud, etc. unlike happens with purchases from most formally established operations.

Anyway, I'd say Ebay can come to approximate what something is worth due to the relatively free market / public auction system (and it can be a great way to find some things without scouring garage sales and classified ads for years), but I do not think the system is perfect and an unquestionable reflection of item "worth".

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Ebay is about the best thing that exists as a free market for odds and ends. Ultimately, things sell at the highest price anyone is willing to pay for them at the time, and Ebay is about as public of an auction as there can be.

There is a bit of selection bias, however, regarding what people are looking for what things on Ebay at any given time (e.g., not everyone has computers, or finds it worth their time to repeatedly scour Ebay for something they seek), and sellers aren't always geniuses when it comes to how well they describe things / sell things.

There are also Ebay "addicts" who just like buying things from Ebay thinking they're getting a good deal, yet they don't know how to reasonably search for things elsewhere.

Sometimes one can get a far better deal on something than what it's truly worth.

Very often, people superficially like to "win" on Ebay, and they actually end up paying more for something than they could buy it from a store elsewhere with minimal research.

Depending on item, prices on Ebay can even be lower than "market value" as there's risk of lack of support, fraud, etc. unlike happens with purchases from most formally established operations.

Anyway, I'd say Ebay can come to approximate what something is worth due to the relatively free market / public auction system (and it can be a great way to find some things without scouring garage sales and classified ads for years), but I do not think the system is perfect and an unquestionable reflection of item "worth".

Froogle's a good place to start for researching prices.

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What is worth?

If the guy who pays $800 for it makes $1000 through working on it then sure it was worth the 800.

On the other hand if the guy uses it only to play games on really slowly when he could have payed the same for a much better PC then no it was not worth the 800.

Its the same principle as how MS can charge over ?500 for Office 2003 pro but less than ?100 for the student licence.

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My feeling is that something is worth what people are willing to pay for it.

Okay, thats a purely financial viewpoint. It does not take into account anything else.

I mean I have an old 15 inch monitor. Nobody in their right mind would give me ?10 for it, so it's worthless? Not when you find a use for it, then it's worth something (just non-financial).

Also, if I have a rare item, it's supposedly worth ?300 but nobody will buy it - whats it worth now?

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