FFS damn ebay!!!

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu May 19, 2005 1:56 pm

I tried selling my laptop on there a few weeks back.

It's no great shakes, but has 1GHz processor, 256MB RAM, 20 gig disk and loads of apps (inc. Office 2003).

It got less than £190

This is despite people I know buying items on there less than half the spec for more than that!

I just tried selling my BRAND NEW PS2 Slimline on there. ABSOLUTELY NEW. In box, 2 brand new games with memory card and controller. It is about 3 weeks old.

£87.

Is there some sort of damn conspiracy against me??

I'm not having that I'm afraid... fair trade aside I think the PS2 might have just been damaged due to storage conditions so I'm unable to sell it

I'd rather keep it than give it away for that price.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu May 19, 2005 2:03 pm

This is why I stopped selling my more valuable TFs at a penny start price.

I used to think "they're all overpriced anyway, I'm not going to drive the prices up" so I'd start things at 0.01 knowing that I'd get a decent amount for it anyway.

Until I sold my Darkwings set and Deszaras. They cost me £180 and £140 respectively (give or take, due to exchange rates).

How much did I get? £75 each.

Sod that.

I put my Star Saber up a few nights back. Cost me £110 when I bought it a few years back. I've applied the stickers since and the USD's taken a hit, so I doubted I'll get all that back. Still, I needed the £££ so started it at £80 and put a BiN of £125 (being optimistic - in reality I assumed it'd go for about £95 at most).

Only sold for the Buy it Now. w00t.

So, as of now, I only put a low start on things where I'm willing to accept any price for it. Anything where I've got a bottom line that I refuse to go below is starting for £10 more than it. Dammit. Janet.

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu May 19, 2005 2:08 pm

Sounds good to me! ^_^

Post by **Best First** » Thu May 19, 2005 3:17 pm

i need to ebay a load o; stuff... glad i read this.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu May 19, 2005 3:55 pm

Brendocon wrote:as of now, I only put a low start on things where I'm willing to accept any price for it.

Yup. Opening bid price should be the price you're willing to sell for IMO. Or use the reserve system... although I specifically avoid bidding on anything with a reserve price listed, personally, so other people may feel similarly.

If the BIN is comfortably close to opening bid price, people are more likely to go for it (assuming you're not competing with similar cheaper auctions.)

Karl Lynch wrote: I think the PS2 might have just been damaged due to storage conditions so I'm unable to sell it

TBH, you deserve the negative that'll probably result if the bidder has more feedback than you. eBay's just a mechanism for forming contracts, but they are contracts.

What's your slate like already? Wouldn't typically buy anything costing over twenty quid from someone with less than fifty clean positives, especially electronics.

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu May 19, 2005 4:56 pm

I have a feedback of 196 now I think. I'll happily accept his bad feedback rather than getting one good feedback at the cost of £120.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu May 19, 2005 5:33 pm

Right, so people have had reason to trust up to now. Was mentioning more for Besters—though I think he's bought in a fair bit of stuff from eBay, so he'll have f/b from that for selling out larger ticket items.

I think with PS2s there's probably a dip in interest with the new consoles being hyped.

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu May 19, 2005 5:38 pm

I'm untrustworthy *and* I've still got my PS2. Sounds like a good arrangement ^_^

Post by **Denyer** » Thu May 19, 2005 6:03 pm

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 08164&rd=1

^ This one? Only had PS in the title, which means it wouldn't have come up on a quick search for "ps2 slimline".

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu May 19, 2005 6:09 pm

futher compounding my idiocy

Post by **Denyer** » Thu May 19, 2005 6:39 pm

You did pretty well for just catching eyeballs in the category listings, though...

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu May 19, 2005 6:45 pm

Well whatever I do it's normally attention drawing

Currently pondering whether to build a PC system for my sisters...

For about £370 I can put together a 17" TFT monitor, 2GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 60GB hard disk, 128MB nVidia card and DVD-RAM (and keyboard and laser mouse).

If only there were a cheap way to get good TFT monitors

I may just have them suffer a cheaper one with a less impressive refresh rate...

EDIT- sorry, didn't mention am scouring for the parts on Ebay, hence the link to this topic

Post by **Best First** » Thu May 19, 2005 10:30 pm

my fb is all good but fiarly low.

May sell some vid games to try and get it up...

Post by **Denyer** » Thu May 19, 2005 11:22 pm

Yeah, should shift. Trade paperbacks generally do well, comics that aren't sets less so. Music has reached saturation point for some artists. Buying odds and sods such as pound auctions will get you some as well (people tend to see figures rather than investigating.)

Karl Lynch wrote:may just have them suffer a cheaper one with a less impressive refresh rate...

Er, refresh rate doesn't matter... that's sort of the point of a TFT...

You can pick up cheap 15" ones most places now, as manufacturers are moving towards 17" as a standard. 15" TFT is still the equivalent of a 17" CRT.

Karl Lynch wrote:didn't mention am scouring for the parts on Ebay, hence the link to this topic

Have a look at somewhere like www.ebuyer.com — would be better from POV of returns if you need to make one. One other tip; don't buy el cheapo RAM, and don't buy that from ebuyer if you were thinking of. Their good stuff is just from Crucial with markup.

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu May 19, 2005 11:39 pm

Denyer wrote:
Er, refresh rate doesn't matter... that's sort of the point of a TFT...

Not what I read? Older/cheaper TFT's leave ghosting effects o the screen due to high latency of refresh rates so I found?

Post by **Denyer** » Fri May 20, 2005 12:42 am

Ghosting hasn't been a problem I've seen since an old laptop I had—if you're worried, see it working before handing over cash. I'd actually recommend this anyway to avoid getting saddled with one with dead pixels—TFTs are one thing I wouldn't mail order. Try for a model Staples or PC World are selling for a reasonable price as they move on to new stock. (Dixons/Currys tend to be more gittish about showing a monitor working.)

http://www.zone365.com/content/10/102