1 - Spazmelda
- Key Master
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
I've been looking at typewriters on ebay and some off he prices seem insane. Like Hermes 3000 listed for $300+, not refurbished or anything. Or what looks like a pretty common smith corona listed for $125 also, not refurbished. If you look at completed listings, lots of these end with the seller accepting a 'highest offer'. Or end with it not being sold at all. I wish I could see what some of these are really selling for,
Do any of you ever make an offer on what you consider to be an overpriced typewriter? If so, how does that go? Are the offers successful?
- beak
- Key Master
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- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
I'm afraid that many of these 'make offer' flags are not what they seem; many sellers set them to reject automatically anything not a few dollars less than the BIN (buy it now) price. This is a bit of a trick, since you only have three chances to make an offer before your only option is BIN, and that persuades some to just go for the BIN.
It seems to be more or less the rule that very high BIN figures are never met, and the lot passed in. These stupidly high BIN prices are just there in the hope of catching someone unawares, and the things very rarely sell.
As with anything - just pay (or bid) what you are willing to pay, and no more. If you don't win, there will be another one along before to long. EBay works very well if you have patience, and ignore the stupid prices completely; I never make an offer on these listings, since if someone has set a BIN of $500 on something that should be $50, you are never going to aceive a sensible trade with them, IME.
After over 500 trades on EBay, with only one or two problems, ever, I have met and traded with some charming people, and I can say that it is a great place to buy and sell, as long as you just ignore the ridiculous folk entirely.
Last edited by beak (17-3-2015 05:54:31)
Sincerely,
beak.
- Spazmelda
- Key Master
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
Re: New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
Good advice. Part of my issue is that being new I don't really have a sense of what things _should_ go for. This is okay though, as I'm not sure how deep into colleting I want to go. I've purchased two typewriters off of ebay. One was local. It was priced too high, though the machine was in excellent condition. When I went to look at it the price decreased to a reasonable amount, though I still probably overpaid a bit. The other was a standard bid auction, and I waited till the last minute and got it for $30ish, which was reasonable IMO.
There is a local Hermes Baby on Craigslist for $155, so I was looking at ebay to see if that was a decent price. Those don't seem as common as the 3000s, but the prices were all over the place, but mostly too high, I think.
Well, good for me that I'm not desperate to add to the two Ive currently got, and I can just window shop and see what's what.
- •
Thread Starter- beak
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- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
You can get a sense of what things are 'worth' by looking only at SOLD items. Be patient, take a few weeks over it, and wait until you see what things really fetch. There are many places on the web where TWs are advertised for huge prices, but this is meaningless: look only at what sold.
That Hermes Baby was overpriced, IMO; be patient, and you will get one for far less.
Sincerely,
beak.
- Spazmelda
- Key Master
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
Re: New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
Right, make sense, and that's kind of what I've been doing. Except the ones that are crazy high and have 'make an offer', if they sell to the highest offer I don't think ebay lists what the highest offer was. Or if they do I can't find it. Looking at regular auctions that sold seems to be a good guide though. Then of course, you have to look at the description to see if there were any glaring defects or if they were being sold as parts/restoration machines, which would account for a lower sale price.
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Thread Starter- JanetLand
- Platen Punisher
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- Registered: 16-12-2013
- Posts: 99
Re: New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
I got a guy to take a significantly lower offer once because I was local and he wouldn't have to deal with shipping the machine.
- Spazmelda
- Key Master
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
Re: New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
Yes, that's how my local ebay find went as well. Got a significant discount since he didn't have to ship it.
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Thread Starter- Spazmelda
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
Re: New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
Hm, did I say I wasn't collecting typewriters yet. Went to an antique mall with my mom today and she bought me a present, lol. Woodstock no. 5. I think it's 1926 based on the serial number. It will need some cleaning, but really, everything seems to work so far. I'll update with a pic.
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Thread Starter- Spazmelda
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- From: Ohio
- Registered: 25-2-2015
- Posts: 830
Re: New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
After browsing typewriters on ebay for a week or so, I've decided that if I had the money and the know-how, I would buy a number of unremarkable typewriters, clean them up and have them painted pink. Then I would sell them on ebay. What is it about pink? It's a magical money maker. I'm sure some people would not want them if they weren't originally pink, but I'd be willing to bet they'd still fetch a lot.
Last edited by Spazmelda (27-3-2015 06:06:33)
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Thread Starter- beak
- Key Master
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- From: Qld Australia
- Registered: 24-3-2013
- Posts: 912
Re: New to this, but... Ebay prices crazy?
Take at look at the girl's toys section in any big chain. 80% of the stuff is pink, and the rest is purple.
Sincerely,
beak.
