Ebay Etiquette

[Henry Boogers]

The other day I was looking at Ebay for new Allen Edmonds in my size.  I came across a great looking pair that I already owned, but the BIN was $49.99... I thought about buying them to relist and pocket the $100 difference between the BIN and what it eventually sold for but I decided to let it go.

Would buying those shoes at $49.99 and relisting them make me a prick or an intelligent opportunist?

 

[FIHTies]

The other day I was looking at Ebay for new Allen Edmonds in my size. Â I came across a great looking pair that I already owned, but the BIN was $49.99... I thought about buying them to relist and pocket the $100 difference between the BIN and what it eventually sold for but I decided to let it go. Would buying those shoes at $49.99 and relisting them make me a prick or an inteligent opportunist?

I think that popular consensus has been Intelligent opportunist, (even if ya cant spell Â

) but its easy to have that hindsight and see that it sold for 150. What would have happened if you didnt get that 100 difference on the resell? JJF

 

[Henry Boogers]

Wat Speling eror?

 

[drizzt3117]

Why not try it?. You'd be taking a risk by doing so just by virtue of making a transaction, but it wouldn't be a huge one if you would use the shoes anyways, I do it all the time.

 

[kabert]

Well, considering there are something like 600,000 ongoing auctions at any one time in just the home furnishings category, I'd think you don't really need to worry about etiquette for buying to re-sell. No one's going to give you bad feedback for that reason.

 

[JohnMS]

Last year a seller was selling Robert Talbott Best of Class ties for $15 buy-it-now and Seven Folds for $40 BIN. A couple of people were buying the seven folds and turning them over for $100 plus. I just wished I had thought of that first.

 

[drizzt3117]

for the most part, Ebay is a perfect market, so the market will dictate the price, you're just a part of the market by flipping them for a profit

 

[Henry Boogers]

Fair enough...my original standpoint has always been 'if the market will bear it, go for it'. I should have gone for it. $100 is not a bad fee for listing an item the way it should have been listed in the first place.

 

[kabert]

The Filene's Basement near me for months has been selling hundreds of brand new Trafalgar suspenders for $19.95 (marked down from something like $60 or $80). Someone periodically cleans them out, then they get restocked, then cleaned out again, etc.... I'd bet it's someone putting them on EBay, as there seems to be a healthy market on Ebay for anything made by Trafalger.

 

[johnnynorman3]

Ahhh, flipping items from Filene's Basement that were poorly marketed and poorly priced. It is a poor man's NYSE.