Each country has different pricings, but Ebay seems to be invariably EXPENSIVE. Here are some price guidelines which seem to be agreed by most sellers in Spain.

- If it´s black it´s going to be at least 100 €. Condition matters not.
- If it´s been manufactured before WWII it automatically becomes a 19th century typewriter (Price x 4)
- If it´s from the 50´s, it becomes "from early 20th century". (Price x 2)
- If it´s from the 70´s or later, then it´s "vintage". (Price x whatever. Hey, it´s vintage, man!)
- If it´s a hopeless bucket of rust, then it´s a "restoration project". (Price x 0,5)
- If it´s as common as pigeons, then it´s "extremely rare". (Price x 5)
- If it´s a bubblegum pink Hispano Olivetti Pluma 22, it automatically costs more than 250 €.
- If it looks weird (Adler 7, Mignon, Gunkda...), then it must be extremely rare and condition is irrelevant. (Price x 3)
- If it´s utter crap, it´s not my fault and if you dare to give me a low rating because I´ve sold you a piece of junk I´ll give you an even lower rate. (Extremely common in Andalusia)

The most outrageous thing I´ve seen was an Hispano Olivetti M40 at 4.000 €. The excuse for the absurd pricing was that the typewriter had been restored. And it had been restored, yeah, but... A 100€ typewriter (less if you wait for a good chance)... What kind of reparations do you need to multiply the price by 40?!

Unrealistic prices have a nagging side effect, because if there´s an Underwood 5 trying to be sold at 15€ for years, most probably the next guy who´s going to post another Underwood 5 will take that price as a reference. What a domino effect, but no one seems to pause an think that if a typewriter isn´t selling at that price it´s because it´s OVERPRICED. But at the same time many sellers are in no hurry, maybe someone will catch the bait... sooner or later.

 

I had a person try and sell me a rusted Remington based upon it's weight (it's heavy so it must be valuable). He wanted $125 and was annoyed that I didn't think it was worth it. I gave him some links to help him determine it's value and walked away. 4 months later I see it is reposted for $25. Sometimes sellers just need to figure it out on their own.

It's pretty hard to tell someone that, while you're interested in their typewriter, you'd only pay maybe 1/4 of what they're asking for it. Even if they're clueless about what a reasonable price might be, delivering a lowball offer like that is something I figure they simply won't listen to. So I usually just don't even bother contacting them.

I've had a little bit of success with two strategies. The first is asking them how they came up with that price. Often times they will say something along the lines of I checked on Ebay etc or some other rationale. When they realize they pulled the price out of thin air, they seem more open to a lower price. The second method I think was mentioned somewhere on this forum, ask them if they checked the "sold items" on ebay rather than the active auctions. When they see that the ones that sold are lower than what they are asking they are willing to drop the price. Of course walking away still remains the best way to let them know it is too expensive.