polar-lemon
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2008
- Messages
- 1,686
- Reaction score
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Years ago, before the migration to the new forum platform, I regularly purchased and sold items on B&S. I always found the sellers to be fair, courteous, and prompt, and generally speaking, the buyers were respectful and appreciative. With that in mind, I recently returned to list a variety of relatively high quality items as I prepare to move.
Though it's certainly nice to make some cash, any seller knows that the photographing, measuring, answering questions, and shipping process is extremely time consuming--especially for international shipments. I also attempted to list my items at very fair prices compared to B&S averages. For example, Incotex cotton pants new used to go for $60-75, so my gently used price is $30-45. I think this is especially generous given that the Daffy's outlet has since completely dried up, and that was the main reason prices got as low as they did. I used a similar pricing rationale for items of all kinds.
Thus, my main motivation is to offer some great staple items at affordable prices for those looking to augment their closets. I took excellent care of all my clothes, and they have a lot of life left in them. It'd be a shame for a carefully curated business wardrobe to end up on the rack at Goodwill.
Though I've encountered courteous buyers in the past couple of weeks, I am dismayed to observe an extreme spike in the number of brazen, rude, and inconsiderate members. It's now perfectly typical to receive an initial message asking for additional measurements and photos, followed by "I'll definitely take this item, please send paypal info," followed by "Would you accept [<50% of asking price] oh and by the way I'm in Australia?"
As a buyer, I don't think I ever made an offer less than 10% lower than the asking price; if I thought an asking price was completely unfair, I usually didn't bother to PM the seller, let alone waste his time with numerous requests.
Now, it appears that it's perfectly normal to make boldly low offers, even if the item is a pair of $300 retail pants listed at $30 shipped. In the long term, this engenders distrust between buyer and seller; it forces sellers to artificially inflate prices in an attempt to include cushions, and forces buyers to make yet more aggressive offers to cut past these cushions. It's a vicious cycle.
At a certain point, this is where an auction style system like eBay starts to make a lot more sense.
I know, boo hoo.
I'm not sure that there's any solution to this issue, and perhaps this is not news to anyone but me, but it's bothered me enough that I thought I'd rant about it.
Though it's certainly nice to make some cash, any seller knows that the photographing, measuring, answering questions, and shipping process is extremely time consuming--especially for international shipments. I also attempted to list my items at very fair prices compared to B&S averages. For example, Incotex cotton pants new used to go for $60-75, so my gently used price is $30-45. I think this is especially generous given that the Daffy's outlet has since completely dried up, and that was the main reason prices got as low as they did. I used a similar pricing rationale for items of all kinds.
Thus, my main motivation is to offer some great staple items at affordable prices for those looking to augment their closets. I took excellent care of all my clothes, and they have a lot of life left in them. It'd be a shame for a carefully curated business wardrobe to end up on the rack at Goodwill.
Though I've encountered courteous buyers in the past couple of weeks, I am dismayed to observe an extreme spike in the number of brazen, rude, and inconsiderate members. It's now perfectly typical to receive an initial message asking for additional measurements and photos, followed by "I'll definitely take this item, please send paypal info," followed by "Would you accept [<50% of asking price] oh and by the way I'm in Australia?"
As a buyer, I don't think I ever made an offer less than 10% lower than the asking price; if I thought an asking price was completely unfair, I usually didn't bother to PM the seller, let alone waste his time with numerous requests.
Now, it appears that it's perfectly normal to make boldly low offers, even if the item is a pair of $300 retail pants listed at $30 shipped. In the long term, this engenders distrust between buyer and seller; it forces sellers to artificially inflate prices in an attempt to include cushions, and forces buyers to make yet more aggressive offers to cut past these cushions. It's a vicious cycle.
At a certain point, this is where an auction style system like eBay starts to make a lot more sense.
I know, boo hoo.
I'm not sure that there's any solution to this issue, and perhaps this is not news to anyone but me, but it's bothered me enough that I thought I'd rant about it.
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