The eBay Quote - a healthy debate

[King_Salamon]

Flea market prices are set in stone? Hell no they are not... I've bought tons of goodies from flea markets and price haggling is always involved.

 

A flea market and a garage/yard sale are pretty much the same thing.

 

By the way, I have an uber-rare non-working copy of Donkey Kong for the 2600 for sale.... I think it's worth about $100 so I'll give everyone a deal and sell it for $80 (that's a 20% discount!!).

[accousticguitar]

Stores have a right to sell things at any price let things sit unsold on the shelf, especially if they are just trying to stay open and give know-it-all collectors a place to slum around and act pompous.

Fixed that for you.

[potatohead]

Learn to haggle.

 

It's a great sport, and the rewards will stay with you throughout your life. I used to be totally offended by bad pricing, though I admit loving that wrong price that's a steal! Who doesn't?

 

A while back, I moved to a point in my niche where sales is involved. Prior to that, it was straight tech / manufacturing stuff. The very first thing I learned is things are worth what people will pay for them.

 

Where there is a lot of competition, prices are lower. Where there isn't, prices are generally higher.

 

The kinds of things we deal in, often run below the radar, and there just isn't a lot of pressure to keep prices sane.

 

What usually happens, is somebody figures out they can ask for seriously high prices, and they will sell because other people are not willing to call them on it. The other thing that happens is people learn to add value by bundling, or some other simple thing they can do to raise value perception in the mind of the buyer, without also raising their base cost in the same amount.

 

As a seller, it's in your best interests to do the following things:

 

Know your base value amount, where your costs are, and what your margin needs to be for it all to pay off. That's the don't sell below line.

 

From there, you add all the value you can! Each thing you can do to successfully increase the value proposition in the mind of your customer means added margin, and that's the work of selling, and how it's paid for.

 

Many people often forget that work. That involves listing the item, presenting it, stocking it, shipping it, and educating people about it. (among other things)

 

The sale is the raw cost of the goods and or services that would break even on hard costs, as in no money lost, plus some margin percentage above that, which is the profit earned from selling whatever it is. Sellers in fancy buildings, for example, will work a lot harder for those margins, because their cost of doing the work of selling is considerably higher than, say somebody snapping a photo for e-Bay, or who puts some stuff out on a table.

 

The final thing to know about the selling of things is one never, ever gives something away, unless they get something for doing that. Examples can be a cash sale, in exchange for a lower price, or perhaps a fast sale, if the item is typically one where terms come into play. Maybe the buyer will take plain old, wait a week ground shipping, etc.. Making those arrangements, keeping the overall value in balance is the work of the seller. The better they are at doing that work, the more profit they earn from doing the selling.

 

As a buyer, very similar things are true!

 

You never, ever grant consideration to the seller, without getting some thing for that. If they want it fast, you then push back with a lower price, because they are not showing you the value necessary to meet their price. Item dirty? Same deal! They've not done the work of selling, and that opens the door to push back, and pay for the value you are actually getting.

 

As sellers have the right to ask for their price, buyers have the right to push back and offer lower prices, or debate the value presentation. "this thing is dirty, how come it's listed at the same price as this clean one?" That's perfectly valid to do, and if the seller doesn't have a damn good answer, you probably are going to get a break on the price. Their loss, because they didn't do the work.

 

Demo / floor models are a great place to push back for seriously good price cuts. Most stores will try to frame this in terms that make it hard to ask. "full warranty", or "we have to eat the cost on these", or some other thing. The truth is, the value of the demo model, unless it's equipped in some special way, or bundled with goodies, is significantly less than the in the box ones. Never, ever pay the asking price on these.

 

The most effective push back on demo / floor model things is, "The lower price will comp me for the hassle of missing things, warranty service, cosmetic issues, etc..." Works damn near every time, and when you do get it home, with that missing cable, you call them, ask for a replacement, and when you arrive, let them know it's all good, because it was expected, thanks for the deal, etc...

 

There are a lot of things structured so that this interaction is not possible. The product of that is a lot of people expect to just get a good deal without having to bargain for it. The reality is often much different, and it pays to have the skill, and recognize when it can be used, and USE IT.

 

eg: I recently helped a family member purchase three HDTV's in a local video outlet. On the first TV, we took it at list, because the price was actually quite good. On the second TV, went back to the same guy, made damn sure he remembered, and basically told him the next two TV's were going through him, and asked for consideration. TV number two came at 5 percent off, and with a free stand. Third TV was 10 percent off, free stand, and floor model surround sound thingy, $50 off. (had a lost cable on that one, drove back, and they pulled one from somewhere, and all was good)

 

The combined savings on that was probably about $500! The time spent was probably 2 hours, for a nice $250 / hour work effort, and a good relationship with that TV sales person, who I've sent a little business to. Next time I walk in there, I'll get a nice spiff, or some extra goodies, or something, because I've done the work, and he's not having to work for the sale.

 

Many things in life are this way.

 

Here's another: Went to buy a new car a few years back. It was a SUV, and it was for family outings. The MSRP (which is the sucker price), was 42K. After some very hard dealing, I left the lot for 30,500. Took a few hours to buy that car, and I easily worked off $2K / hour. (That's sale price, bottom line on contract 5 percent loan, no trade in, 2K down --it was sweet.)

 

So when you see this crap, push back, think it through, and get your deals. That's all they are trying to do, and the better you get at it, the cheaper your life will be.

Edited September 5, 2010 by potatohead